Sweet Seduction Serenade by Nicola Claire Read Free Book Online

have, because at this point nothing would have stopped Levi from his goal.
    Ryder handed over my dream guitar to an almost panting with anticipation Levi, who turned slowly to look me in the eye.
    "This ain't the one you used to play on at the Reserve," he said slowly, strumming his fingers down the strings in a piss-poor attempt to look like a rock star.
    "It's one of my spares," I muttered, the only defence I could muster right now. To claim it wasn't my precious, favourite, expensive Martin D28 Acoustic Guitar.
    "I always wanted to be a rock singer," Levi announced.
    "You got the name for it, Levi," Tyler said from beside me, his fingers biting into my upper arm. Levi just continued to strut his stuff around the backyard, strumming too heavily on the strings, whacking the back of the guitar against his fat thighs, wrenching the neck as though he could wring a tune out of the darn thing just by being a prick.
    "That's where you went wrong, Eva. Rock songs is where it's at," Levi declared, but as he wasn't expecting an answer and I was now holding my breath with every heart wrenching strum of the those strings, I stayed mute.
    "Or rap," Leo said at my shoulder.
    "R & B," Ryder threw in and received a few punches in the side of his arm from Levi, which thankfully ceased the strumming for all of ten seconds. It sucked to be the youngest of the Russell clan it seemed.
    "Well," Levi said, returning his attention to me, a gleam starting up in his eyes. "As you're obviously too important, too big, for us now, I think we should get rid of your toy. Make you go home to get your others, then maybe you won't come round here anymore."
    I closed my eyes, knowing now there was nothing I could do to stop what was going to happen. I didn't want to watch. For the first time in my life, I considered revenge. I can take a beating, as long as my fingers don't get hurt. They can call me any name under the sun. Tell lies about me to all my friends and family. Let down the tyres on my bicycle, chuck my school bag in the creek on the pathway home, make me trip over in the cafeteria in school, so I land in a pile of sodden sandwiches and stolen chips at the feet of the cutest boy in tenth grade.
    They could even cut off my hair. I'd fight them, but when it was done, I'd let them walk away.
    But no more. This was it. The straw that broke the camel's back, so they say.
    "Open your eyes, bitch," Levi ground out from directly in front of me.
    Leo began to cut off my air by tightening his hold around my neck. Ryder just dug his fingernails into my flesh, drawing blood - I could feel it trickling down my arm. And Bailey, having recovered from my booted foot to his nuts, yanked on my hair to bring my head upright, from where I'd been frowning at the ground. All that left was Tyler and Levi. Levi was holding my guitar before me, a snarl marring his face.
    "Watch," he whispered, as he raised my guitar in two hands above his head, lifted his knee and brought the back of Martin down hard across it. Shattering it in two.
    I didn't show a reaction at all. I just stared at him in the eyes, let him see my hatred, let him know to watch his back from the look on my face alone.
    His smile grew bigger. He nodded, the hell if I knew who to, and then dropped the remnants of the guitar in the dirt and turned and walked away. Leo's arm relaxed at my neck, Ryder released his hold, his fingernails no longer drawing blood in skin and Bailey gave one more hard tug on my hair, then stepped back.
    And Tyler swung his fist at my face, connecting with my jaw.
    I could hear their laughter as they stormed off around the side of Dad's flat, while I lay stunned on the hard packed back lawn. My jaw ached, a bruise already forming. But what was left of my tattered heart, shattered even more. I rolled over and reached out for my guitar, pulling it towards my chest, tucking it protectively underneath my body.
    It was like this, that Nick found me an hour later, after a neighbour had