Wicked Saint: Sinners and Saints Book 1 Read online

  Wicked Saint

  Sinners and Saints Book 1

  Veronica Eden

  WICKED SAINT

  Copyright © 2020 Mara Townsend writing as Veronica Eden

  All rights reserved.

  No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the author at this website:

  www.maratownsendauthor.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, businesses, companies, organizations, locales, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons, living or dead, is unintentional and co-incidental. The author does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  Contents

  Author’s Note

  About the Book

  Playlist

  1. Gemma

  2. Lucas

  3. Gemma

  4. Lucas

  5. Gemma

  6. Gemma

  7. Lucas

  8. Gemma

  9. Lucas

  10. Gemma

  11. Lucas

  12. Gemma

  13. Gemma

  14. Lucas

  15. Gemma

  16. Lucas

  17. Lucas

  18. Gemma

  19. Lucas

  20. Gemma

  21. Gemma

  22. Lucas

  23. Gemma

  24. Lucas

  25. Lucas

  26. Gemma

  27. Gemma

  28. Lucas

  29. Gemma

  30. Lucas

  31. Gemma

  32. Lucas

  33. Gemma

  34. Lucas

  35. Gemma

  36. Epilogue

  Thank You + What’s Next?

  Acknowledgments

  Join Veronica’s ARC Team

  Preview the Sinners and Saints Series

  About the Author

  Also by Veronica Eden

  Author’s Note

  Wicked Saint is a dark new adult high school bully romance intended for readers 18+. The Sinners and Saints series boys are all devilish bullies brought to their knees by a spitfire heroine, so if you love enemies-to-lovers type stories, you’re in the right place. This mature new adult romance contains crude language, dubious situations, and intense graphic sexual/violent content that some readers might find triggering or offensive. Please proceed with caution.

  If you like weak pushover heroines and nice guys this one ain’t for you, but if you dig strong females and smug antiheroes, then you’re in the right place! Hold onto your hearts, because these guys aren’t above stealing.

  Each book is part of a series but can be enjoyed as a standalone.

  Sinners and Saints series:

  #1 Wicked Saint

  #2 Tempting Devil

  #3 RB (Book 3)

  #4 SW (Book 4)

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  About the Book

  GEMMA

  he stole my first kiss…

  and now he thinks everything else is his.

  I said no to the one person no one at this school dares to refuse.

  Now I’m targeted by jealous girls, guys that compete to be the first to “break the prude”, and by him. After one kiss, the king of the school hunts me down like I’m a conquest to win. He’ll have to fight harder than that, because I’m no one’s trophy.

  They all want a piece of me, but I will not bend or break for them.

  LUCAS

  no one refuses the king.

  One case of mistaken identity and a hasty kiss turned my world upside down.

  The new girl refused me. Not only that, she threw down the gauntlet. That won’t stand. No one ever says no to me. This school is mine and she’ll learn her place as a loyal follower or her life is going up in flames.

  I’ll make her say yes. She’ll be screaming it before I’m finished breaking her.

  Playlist

  (Spotify)

  Trouble—Ralph

  Fuckboy—Dillistone

  Ordinary Love—Yianna, Dillistone

  All the good girls go to hell—Billie Eilish

  Stupid—Tate McRae

  New Girl—FINNEAS

  King of Everything—Wiz Khalifa

  Location—Khalid

  There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back—Shawn Mendes

  Tempt My Trouble—Bishop Briggs

  Young God—Halsey

  Waiting on the weekend—YUNGBLUD

  Wow—Post Malone

  Mad Love—The Pretty Reckless

  Wicked Ones—Dorothy

  Here—Alessia Cara

  Molotov—Dillistone

  Hard Pill to Swallow—Yianna

  Survival of the Fittest—Ariana and the Rose

  Cold—Mating Ritual, Lizzy Land

  There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back—Shawn Mendes

  Liar—Camila Cabello

  Tongue Tied—Marshmello, YUNGBLUD, blackbear

  Original me—YUNGBLUD, Dan Reynolds

  Keeping It In the Dark—Daya

  This Baby Don’t Cry—K.Flay

  Midas—Dillistone, LILI N

  Circles—Post Malone

  Young and Reckless—Charlotte Lawrence

  Tables Have Turned—Ralpth

  To dreamers. Dare to dream big.

  One

  Gemma

  The minute I pull into the upscale, gated community of Silver Lake Forest Estates, my muscles seize.

  Forging ahead is the only option. I focus on the GPS directions from my mounted phone. The cheery cartoon map is at odds with the anxiety slithering in my gut. I have zero interest in going, but here I am.

  The sour taste of beer is still fresh when I think of the last party I went to.

  It’s funny how weird details like that linger when all you want to do is forget the whole thing.

  Shoving the mounting dread aside, I grip my steering wheel and remind myself that this time isn’t like before. I’m not joining in.

  Get in, get out. That’s the plan.

  I’ll get through this as fast as possible.

  My body hasn’t gotten the memo, stomach flipping in protest as I pass a sign for a pool and two tennis courts.

  Despite not wanting to be on this errand, I have no choice. Mom had to guilt trip me into venturing into the fray to bring Alec home. Damn her wily, motherly ways of applying pressure to all my weak points.

  If I didn’t pick Alec up, I could kiss my use of our shared Honda CR-V goodbye and forfeit the keys to Alec’s control. I don’t give up control over anything anymore.

  Just the thought of being at the mercy of someone else’s decisions, even my family’s, makes my fingers tighten on the wheel.

  I can only guess what awaits me at Lucas Saint’s house. The local golden boy is throwing a big bash tonight to kick off senior year. No one would shut up about it as I tried to navigate the halls of my new school.

  A girl in my math class didn’t clock my leave me alone vibe and told me his huge birthday parties always marked the start of the school year.

  Catch me running as fast as possible in the opposite direction.

  At least, until I was voluntol
d to go pick up my twin brother.

  Siblings are such a blessing.

  I love being a taxi service, said no one ever.

  The corner of my mouth lifts in a humorless half-smile.

  Unlike me, it thrilled Alec to dive into the social scene. I guess it was his way of soothing the fits he pitched over moving away from our hometown. As soon as we started senior year at our new school, he tried out for the football team and made varsity for his agility.

  He has no trouble fitting in with the crowd while I prefer to keep my head down and watch from afar.

  The closer I drive to the party at the far point of the private lake, the tighter my stomach twists.

  This neighborhood is way fancier than Ridgeview’s east valley, where my family moved to in July. I drive by a rock climbing gym, for fuck’s sake. What kind of rich people nonsense is this?

  I roll my eyes as I turn onto the winding road that cuts back and forth along the incline. Silver Lake Forest Estates sits up on the mountain that divides the town of Ridgeview. Each house I pass is more extra than the last. The ones that boast lakefront property take the cake, with docks and boathouses large enough to count as a modest house.

  This side of town is unfamiliar to me. I’ve only spent time getting my bearings and learning my way around my new house, where the middle and upper middle-class families are apparently peasants compared to the people living it up here on the west ridge.

  A private security truck with the gated community’s logo comes around the bend and heads in the direction I came from.

  “Your destination is ahead on the left,” the automated voice of the GPS tells me.

  My stomach feels like the crunch of gravel beneath the tires as I pull up to the party, parking amongst Range Rovers and BMWs. The silver CR-V sticks out like a sore thumb.

  The last place I want to be right now is some spoiled rich brat’s party. This is not my scene at all. It hasn’t been for over a year, not since I was sixteen.

  Taking a second to give my quivering insides time to settle, I rub my belly and take in the luxury lakeside house. It looms high into the trees with a huge deck jutting from one side and a wraparound front porch. Kids from school swarm the property like rabid ants, clutching red plastic cups that slosh over while they dance and shriek over the music blasting.

  God, I hate parties.

  They only bring up bad memories and bile in the back of my throat.

  My stomach gives another unimpressed roil.

  “Let’s get this over with,” I mumble to myself.

  As soon as I climb out of the car, I sidestep to avoid two streaks of dark hair and bare, bouncing boobs that dart past me in the inky dusk falling over the mountains.

  I don’t even bother snapping at them to watch it. Things are better for me if I don’t engage.

  The streaking girls are followed by two impatient meatheads from the football team. The girls giggle as they strip out of their matching cutoff shorts halfway down the long dock and the guys peel off their practice jerseys.

  A muted scoff escapes me as the four of them dive into the lake, the girls’ squeals echoing.

  They aren’t the only people in the water. Several other classmates splash around and huddle close.

  Today’s one of those cool early fall days in Colorado, not exactly ideal for skinny dipping.

  A round of cheers from the deck draws my attention. I roll my lips between my teeth and try to push down the memories sinking their claws into me. I don’t want to be here, but I need to pick up Alec.

  Shoving my hands into the pockets of my jean jacket, I trudge up the stairs to the deck, keeping my eyes peeled for my brother. The sharp, skunky tang of weed cuts through the wood smoke of the fire burning in the outdoor stone fireplace.

  I weave through the people milling around the deck. It’s tough to look for someone and keep your head down at the same time.

  Somebody tries to hand me a beer and I swerve away hard, balling my fists in my pockets while my nostrils flare.

  I’m so busy getting the hell away from whoever tried to ply me with a drink that I plow right into the girl from my math class.

  “Hey!”

  Her soda—and whatever it’s mixed with—splashes over the rim of her cup. I blank on her name and strain to remember the roll call Mrs. Ellis took this morning in math. Alana?

  “Oh, new girl! Hey,” Maybe-Alana repeats, her voice changing to a friendlier tone. She licks the excess soda dripping from her finger and hooks her arm with mine before I have a chance to move on. “You made it after all. Come on, let’s go wish Lucas a happy birthday.”

  I dig my heels in. “Uh, I’m actually just here to get my brother.”

  “You have a brother?” Maybe-Alana ignores my disinterest and waves enthusiastically to one of the cheerleaders. “I think I saw Lucas inside. Let’s check.”

  “Elena! Where you going, girl?” A bulky guy in a Silver Lake High School Coyotes football hoodie calls to us. “I thought you were my beer pong partner next?”

  Elena. Shit. I’m glad I didn’t call her by the wrong name aloud.

  She flips off the football player and sends him a cheeky grin over her shoulder. “Later! We’re on a mission.”

  We wade through the haze of cigarette, weed, and vape smoke blanketing the deck.

  Elena’s sleek black curls bounce as she leads me inside through a folding glass door. Except, it can’t really be called a door when it’s three panels wide and folds to open an entire wall of the kitchen.

  “Damn,” I mutter.

  “I know, right?” Elena titters. “The first time I came here I thought it was Mount Olympus or some shit. But I was, like, ten. The Saints invited the whole fifth grade class for a swimming party for Lucas’ birthday.”

  It’s just as packed inside, maybe more so. There’s a set of gold jumbo balloons in the number eighteen stuck to the wall. People dance in a writhing mass in the living room to music pouring from a speaker system attached to exposed beams in the vaulted ceiling.

  For a second I freeze. My heart rockets into my throat and I’m sent to that night. A clammy cold sweat breaks out on the back of my neck.

  Elena doesn’t notice—or possibly doesn’t care—as she babbles about knowing Lucas Saint since elementary school.

  The interior is like a staged design out of an upscale magazine. I focus on that to claw my way out of my memories, back to the present. The kitchen has a massive island at the center with pendant lights that hang over the white granite countertops.

  Rows of liquor bottles line the island along with stacks of plastic cups, set up as a self-serve bar. From Jack Daniels to Patron to Grey Goose, they’ve got it all. Pick your poison.

  There’s a farmhouse table by the windows where a rowdy game of flip cup is in progress. The groups playing shout nonsense at each other and I spot my brother amongst them, reveling in the fun.

  A burst of relief spreads through me. I can retrieve Alec and get the hell out of here.

  “There’s my brother.” I tug my arm from Elena’s grip and jerk my thumb in his direction. “I’m just going to grab him and go. Um, thanks for showing me around.”

  “What? No!” Elena reaches for me, but I shuffle back. “Stay and hang out!”

  “Another time.”

  I hold up my hands and back away. I don’t have to tell her I’m lying. She’s been nice enough, but I’m not looking to join in at Silver Lake High School.

  Elena pouts, but is easily distracted by a group of girls that lure her on to the makeshift dance floor.

  I hover behind Alec and watch the game with a detached fascination, seeing an entirely different game with other players unfold before my eyes like an out-of-body experience.

  “Come on, come on, come on!” Alec howls as he jumps up and down for his petite teammate to flip her cup. “You’ve got this! Do it!”

  He’s the last one in the lineup, just like that night when we were sixteen.

  My eyes slam shut. I
take a minute to draw measured breaths through my nose, counting backwards.

  “Alec,” I say in a tight voice.

  He ignores me.

  Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I jab him in the side with my fingers. “We’ve gotta go. Mom wants us back before she leaves for her shift at the hospital.”

  Alec flashes a flat look over his shoulder. Aside from being identical in our dirty blond hair and green eyes, he stands five inches taller than me at five-foot ten. He shakes his head and ruffles the longer hair on top of his head.

  Across the table, the other flip cup team shouts unintelligible gibberish, encouraging their final player to flip the cup from the edge of the table. Alec tenses and bangs out a beat on the thick wood.

  The petite girl beside Alec manages to flip her cup upright and Alec wastes no time downing his beer. He’s off like a shot flicking the plastic cup. It only takes him two tries before he lands it, sealing the win for his team while the opposite player is still flipping.

  “Yeah!” Alec pumps his fists in the air.

  The group around the table erupts in an uproar.

  My body tenses and I shove my hands back in my jacket pockets.