Lila (Boyle Heights #1)

  Books by Elizabeth Reyes

  Desert Heat

  Defining Love

  Moreno Brothers Series

  Forever Mine

  Forever Yours

  Sweet Sofie

  When You Were Mine

  Always Been Mine

  Romero

  Tangled—A Moreno Brothers novella

  Making You Mine

  5th Street Series

  Noah

  Gio

  Hector

  Abel

  Felix

  Fate Series

  Fate

  Breaking Brandon

  Suspicious Minds

  Again

  Rage

  His to Guard

  Uninvited

  Boyle Heights Series

  Lila (2017)

  Lila

  (Boyle Heights #1)

  Elizabeth Reyes

  Lila

  Elizabeth Reyes

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Copyright © 2017 Elizabeth Reyes

  Edited by Theresa Wegand

  Cover Design by Amanda Simpson of Pixel Mischief Design

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  What’s next?

  Also by Elizabeth Reyes

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Prologue

  Lila

  “Which one?”

  Lila scanned the lunchroom full of loud rowdy kids, the one she rarely stepped foot in. She spent her lunch time by herself on the bleachers.

  “It was only the one time, Lila,” Ali said nervously, already tugging on her arm.

  “One time too many.” Lila stared out into the crowd, hoping it was someone in the group of Barbie dolls she hated so much. “You let her get away with it one time, and she’ll do it even more. Which one?”

  “You’re gonna get suspended,” Ali urged. “Can’t you at least wait until after school when we can do this off school grounds?”

  “No. I want every one of her fucking little friends to know what they’re in for if they ever do that to you again.” Lila turned to her anxious sister. “Now tell me,” she said as her fingers fisted at her side. “Which. One?”

  Ali’s shoulder slumped and she exhaled loudly. “Missy,” she finally blurted. “She’s on the left with that big group.”

  Lila started toward them immediately. “Are the assholes that were with her when she pushed you here too?”

  “Yeah, most of them anyway.”

  “Good. Which one’s Missy?”

  It wasn’t the Barbie dolls like Lila had hoped. But knowing this group had been bullying her sister for weeks and Ali hadn’t said anything until they hurt her, made Lila hate them just as much. More.

  “She’s the tall one with the backwards baseball hat.”

  “The big bitch?”

  “Yeah.”

  Lila scoffed under her breath. Typical big girl who used her size to intimidate others. She was pretend tough. Lila was about to show this broad and all her stupid friends how tough the big bitch wasn’t.

  As soon as they were close enough to Missy’s crowd, some turned and snickered when they saw Ali, no doubt still amused by the scrape on her cheek from where she hit the asphalt when Missy shoved her from behind. The instant Lila reached them and stalked right through their crowd to get to Missy the snickering ceased.

  Missy smirked when she saw Lila coming toward her. It was a nervous smirk, one Lila knew all too well. Any time one of these wannabe tough girls ever got called out on their shit, they had no choice but to pretend to not be scared. Lila could already smell her fear.

  She turned around, thinking Ali would be right behind her. But she’d fallen behind as the crowd apparently closed in around Lila and Missy. Lila knew she had to move fast; the growing crowd around them would only get the attention of the dean or someone to break this up too soon, and she wanted to make sure they all saw the consequences of messing with her sister.

  This wouldn’t be the first time she’d be suspended, possibly expelled from school, but it already felt like it’d be the most satisfying.

  “C’mere,” she said, holding out her hand to Ali.

  A few of the girls blocking Ali from getting through, moved out of the way, but one was still blocking her, so Lila shoved her. “Move!”

  As soon as Ali was close enough, Lila took her arm and turned to Missy. “You’ve been bullying my sister and then did this to her.”

  She pointed at the scrape on Ali’s face, which only lit her insides more, like it had when Ali finally admitted how she’d gotten it yesterday.

  Missy shrugged. “I don’t remember.”

  “Well, let me help you remember, you fucking bitch!”

  Lila’s fist nailed Missy right on the nose, getting a thunderous response from the crowd, mostly loud gasps and guys yelling “damn!” then cheering. Before Missy could bring her hand up to her already bleeding nose, Lila landed another blow making blood splatter onto the nosey onlookers standing too close, and Missy fell back onto the lunch bench. The moment she was no longer taller than Lila, she went in for her move. Grabbing a handful of Missy’s hair to hold her firmly in place, Lila proceeded to pound her face repeatedly.

  She’d been right. Hearing and feeling the crush of Missy’s nose and then the crackle and slush of her bloodied face with every punch that followed was beyond satisfying. How dare this bitch put her hands on Lila’s baby sister?

  As expected, the big tough bully never laid a hand on Lila, except to try and block some of her punches. Her attempts at even that were laughable. If Lila had to guess, Missy had never been in a fight in her life.

  By the time the narks pulled Lila off Missy, the girl was a bloody, blubbering mess. Even seeing the damage she’d done when they’d contained her flying fists, Lila still threw a few kicks while she was close enough.

  She stopped fighting the narks once she was too far to do anymore to Missy and turned to the stunned group of Missy’s friends instead. “You see that?” she barked.

  They all stared at her, wide-eyed. Some held their hands over their mouths. One of them even cried. She knew what she looked like to them at that moment, a raving animal. One of her foster parents had called her that once because it’s what she felt like anytime her temper crossed the boiling point.

/>   “Remember that the next time any of you even think of looking at my sister the wrong way,” Lila barked at the still stunned crowd. As the narks began walking her away, arms twisted and held tightly behind her back, she turned to Missy, who was still crying as a few cafeteria workers tried cleaning her bloodied face. “Shake it off, bitch! Isn’t that what you said to my sister yesterday when you shoved her to the ground?”

  The very thought made Lila want to pound her some more, and she tried in vain to break free of the narks’ hold. That only made them twist her arm farther up. “Enough, Rico!” the dean said. “You’re already in enough trouble. Don’t force me to expel you too.”

  It was a slight relief to hear this wouldn’t be an automatic expulsion, not that she gave a shit about the school. She and Ali had only been attending this one for a little over a semester, and unlike Ali, who made friends almost immediately, Lila always preferred to keep to herself. Now she knew why they’d lasted this long in one place. Ali had been keeping the bullying from her. It burned her up to know this had been going on for weeks, maybe longer.

  The whole way to the dean’s office, Lila tried her hardest to stay on her best behavior, which was difficult given the adrenaline still pummeling through her veins. Her biggest incentive by far for not getting expelled again was Ali. The last time her fists had gotten Lila in trouble at school, she’d been warned Ali wouldn’t be coming with her if she had to go to a new school. She hadn’t wanted to chance being separated from her sister, so, for months, she’d kept to herself and steered clear of any trouble. This time it just couldn’t be helped.

  For nearly an hour, she’d sat just outside the dean’s office, waiting on him—first while he checked on Missy’s condition and talked with her parents in another office and then while he made phone calls in his office to Lila’s foster parents and therapist, no doubt. The last time she’d been in trouble with her foster parents was when she’d nearly strangled a middle-school punk from up her street. For weeks, he’d been a dick to the poor young pit bull he dragged around on a leash. He wanted to show off, but he didn’t know the first thing about training it, so he’d drag the pup who’d often sit like a stubborn mule and refuse to move. The punk made the mistake of kicking the dog in the head to get him to move, right in front of Lila’s house as she sat on the porch. It was all she could take. She jumped her own fence to grab the leash and wrapped it around the idiot’s neck.

  That probably would’ve been enough to teach the kid a lesson. Unfortunately, once in a rage like that, it was hard to come down from it and stop. Luckily for the stupid kid, she’d been pulled off him before she did too much damage. And fortunately for her, the boy had been too embarrassed to want to call the cops or report to anyone that a girl had kicked his ass.

  But her foster parents had insisted she get back into therapy. After many hours of talking to her therapist, it had since been established she was “very angry.” What a joke. She could’ve told them that from day one and saved them all a ton of money and time.

  Finally, the door to the dean’s office opened, and he motioned for her to come in. Dean Martinez was a tall muscular man with a wicked glare. He had a penchant for making examples out of smartasses who were stupid enough to talk back to him. But for the most part, the loud hallways literally quieted when they saw him coming. Lila could see herself being a dean someday, putting the fear of God into all the smartass trouble makers, if she was any good at school, that is. She wasn’t stupid; she just hated all the boring shit, and she didn’t think she could handle another four years of it, once she finally graduated from high school.

  “Close the door behind you and have a seat,” he said as he walked around his desk and sat down. “Why are you trying to get kicked out of school, Rico? You have less than a semester to go.”

  “I’m not,” she said; though she was aware her indifference was anything but convincing.

  “You know we have a zero tolerance for fighting here.”

  “And you’re supposed to have a zero tolerance for bullying. That bitch—”

  “Language!” his deep voice bellowed.

  Lila took a deep breath. “She and her friends have been bullying my sister for weeks. Probably longer. That scrape on Ali’s cheek is from that—” She paused to take another deep breath as her therapist had taught her to do to calm herself. “That Missy chick and her friends did that to her. You do that to my sister; you answer to me.”

  Lila looked him straight in the eye, matching his wicked glare. Zero tolerance or not, this man had to understand that, unless he could promise no one would mess with Ali, she couldn’t make any promises about her behavior either.

  “You’re very angry,” he said.

  For the first time that day, she chuckled, sitting back in her chair. “My therapist tell you that?”

  “He didn’t have to. I saw what you did to that girl.”

  “And I’d do it again,” she said, sitting up. “I’m all my sister has and I’ll be damned if—”

  “I get it,” Martinez said, holding up his hand. “And trust me. I understand. But doing what you did to that girl is not the answer—”

  “Bullshit! If she’s gonna fuck with my—”

  “Rico! I warned you about the language. I don’t care how angry you are. You will watch that mouth when you’re in my office.”

  Lila glared at him and nodded, remembering she did not want to get expelled.

  “Tell me something.” He sat back in his seat. “What are you gonna do if one day you beat someone so bad you get thrown in jail? Who’s gonna look after your sister then?”

  Still staring at him, she swallowed hard. This wasn’t the first time she’d been asked this. Most of the times she’d lost it so bad were because someone had messed with her sister. The foster care system had been brutal, and she and her sister had found out real fast the only people they could rely on were each other. Ali had been born with numerous medical issues. She was better now, but those issues had done some permanent damage. Because of her hypothyroidism, she’d always struggled with her slow metabolism.

  Coupled with her stunted growth, being short and plump most of her life made her a target for bullying. Even when they were very young, Lila had made sure she was clear to the bullies what they were in for if they chose her sister to pick on. Her therapist and her foster parents were always quick to point out she’d be no help to anyone if she was locked up.

  Her rage was only getting worse. She felt it today. The reality was she could’ve killed Missy, and that was the real reason why she’d chosen to give her the beating in school. As incensed as she’d felt yesterday when Ali had gotten home with a swollen and scraped cheek, Lila hadn’t trusted herself to beat whoever was responsible somewhere where she might have too much time to inflict her punishment on them. Even if it’d been a guy, she’d been ready to take a bat to his fucking head.

  “I’m working on it,” she muttered.

  “Really?” This time Martinez chuckled. “How’s that working out for you?”

  Lila rolled her eyes, looking out the window. “I’ll double up on my therapy.”

  “No, I don’t think that’s gonna work.” He sat up, moved his mouse around his desk, and then typed something on his keyboard. “I hear your mother was a fighter. Boxing.”

  Lila shrugged, glancing back out the window, refusing to show any emotion. This wasn’t something she wanted to talk about, and she didn’t want to lose her patience. All she wanted was for him to tell her how long she’d be suspended for and how else she’d be paying for today. Detention? Saturday school? Whatever it was, it’d been totally worth it.

  “Ever think about fighting? Like in the ring?” He peered at her curiously. “Like your mom did?”

  “Nope.” She glanced down at her already swelling knuckles.

  “Why not?”

  “Because it’s stupid.”

  “Oh, that’s stupid.” He chuckled again. “Fighting in a controlled environment with a ref and r
ules to abide by is stupid. But fighting in the streets or school isn’t?”

  Lila didn’t respond to that. She stared at the knuckles she needed to get home to ice. They were starting to hurt. Only she knew the pain would just be a pleasant reminder of how much more pain Missy was in.

  “Why’s it stupid?” He raised his brows, confused. “You’re good at it. I saw what you did today against that big tough girl and—”

  Lila scoffed, finally looking up at him. “Tough? She’s not tough. She’s nothing but a big bitch who likes bullying weaker and smaller kids because that’s what makes her feel tough. And that wasn’t fighting.” Lila pointed to the door. “That was me kicking her ass because she deserved it, not me against some trained fighter who might actually have a shot at hitting me. Fighting out of necessity isn’t stupid. Fighting for the sport of it is.”

  “Is that why you’re so angry at your mom?”

  Lila glanced away. She was not going there today. “Am I suspended?”

  “Yes.” He turned from his computer screen and faced her. “And, technically, I can expel you. Missy’s parents are pissed that the cops weren’t called. They were talking about pressing charges.”

  “What about what she did to Ali?

  Martinez nodded, holding up a hand again. “I explained all that and that Ali is not the first one she’s bullied. They know this. Based on our zero tolerance for bullying, I could have Missy expelled too.”

  “Then why don’t you? She shouldn’t be allowed—”

  “Because I made a deal with them,” he said before Lila could go on with her rant. “Technically, Ali could press charges against Missy too. She still has the marks from the injuries Missy caused. Dozens of witnesses saw Missy do it and others have come forward with their own complaints about Missy. The damage you did to her today is bad, Lila, and while I think it was excessive, this will probably end her days of bullying. She’ll be wearing those scars for a long, long time. But I was able to convince her parents that it may be for the good of everyone involved if nobody presses charges and we all let bygones be bygones if we can all agree to no more violence.”

  Hearing the words “press charges” and the possibility of ending up in jail scared the hell out of Lila. She gulped, staring at her knuckles. “If she stays away from my sister, you have my word I won’t touch her again.”