Shift (The Disciples' Daughters #2) by Drew Elyse

looked up at the bitch in question. Thin in a desperate way, dressed like the club girls who hung around the Disciples, makeup like she was going out to party. I knew her. Tori. The guys had talked about her and pointed her out once. She was pretty popular for certain oral skills.
    Ash didn’t say anything. Her shoulders curled in until she nearly hunched over the food she was no longer eating. I could feel my blood pressure rising. I didn’t know what the fuck Tori was trying to imply. Fact was, Ash had always been around guys more than chicks. That was part of growing up with the club. That didn’t change facts, though. Those facts being that Ash was definitely still a virgin—she hadn’t even been kissed, for fuck’s sake—and anyone around her for more than a few minutes could guess it. Where a bitch like Tori, whose reputation was probably more than just rumors, thought she got off running her mouth like that, I didn’t know.
    Tori’s eyes came to me. “Gabe, you might want to rethink that one,” she said, sending a sneer Ash’s way that had me clenching my jaw. “There’s way better for a guy like you.”
    With that, Ash was out of her seat. Before I could even speak, she was nearly running from the room. I had a lot of shit I wanted to say to the bitch next to me, but she wasn’t my priority. Ash was.
    Ash was always my priority.
    I caught up to her just beyond the cafeteria, grabbing her arm to stop her.
    “What the hell was that?” I demanded.
    “Nothing.” She wouldn’t look at me.
    “Fuck that, Ash. That was not nothing.”
    Her face was set as she looked at my jaw. “I said it was nothing. Leave it alone.”
    I cupped her cheek, drawing her blue eyes up to mine. “Don’t do that, Firefly. Talk to me.”
    Her eyes darted away again before she said, “It’s not a big deal.”
    That’s when it hit me. I’d been thinking maybe Tori was being a bitch because she had some illusion of getting with me and was trying to tear down Ash when she saw us together. That wasn’t it, though. Whatever was going on, it wasn’t new.
    “How long?”
    Ash didn’t cover the way her eyes flared in surprise. “What?”
    “How long has this been going on? How long have you been keeping this to yourself?”
    My body was starting to vibrate with fury. No one fucked with her. No one. She shook her head and tried to pull away from me, but I wrapped my arm around her waist and brought her closer.
    “How. Long?” I demanded.
    “Always!” she shot back at me, pushing away. “They’ve always done it. Since we were kids! It gets worse every year.”
    My vision tunneled. I stormed back into the cafeteria. Ash was behind me, calling my name to stop me.
    Fuck that.
    I found Tori a table away from where we’d been and went right to her.
    “Apologize.”
    Her whole posse looked at me, fear flickering in some faces. Tori was too fucking stupid to feel the same. “What?”
    “Apologize to Ash.”
    Her eyes moved beyond me and she spoke to Ash, proving just how fucking dense she was. “So, are you fucking him, too? Is that why he’s standing up for you?” Her eyes came back to mine. “Guess what, new kid? You’re not the only one getting that service around here.”
    I was going to fucking explode.
    Ash cowered behind me in the same way she hid behind her dad the day we met. I hadn’t seen her actually hide that way in years.
    I slammed both fists onto the table.
    “You don’t fucking talk about her that way. You don’t say a goddamn thing to or about her ever again. You want to run your mouth? Maybe you should run it about your own shit. I might be new, but I know how many guys you sucked off at the football after-party last week. How about we start talking about how the whole offensive line got a chance?”
    Turning from her, I looked up to the quiet room to find everyone looking my way. I pointed at Ash. “Any of you thinks to fuck with her, you answer to me, and you answer to the motherfuckin’