The Fight In Us: A Brother's Best Friend College Romance (The Four Book 4) Read online

  The Fight In Us

  The Four - book 4

  Becca Steele

  The Fight In Us

  Copyright © 2021 by Becca Steele

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Editing by One Love Editing

  Cover photography by Miguel Chazo

  Model: Sergio Carvajal

  Becca Steele

  www.authorbeccasteele.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s crazy imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Contents

  Playlist

  Author’s note

  Another note

  A Quick Recap

  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

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Epilogue 1

  Epilogue 2

  Thank You

  Acknowledgments

  Also by Becca Steele

  About the Author

  Playlist

  Daisy - Ashnikko

  Just My Type - The Vamps

  Like A Boy - Ciara

  I Think I’m OKAY - Machine Gun Kelly, Yungblud

  Fighter - Christina Aguilera

  Only One - The Score

  Let You Down - NF

  These Are the Lies - The Cab

  I Know You - Craig David, Bastille

  Unsteady - X Ambassadors

  Please Don’t Go - Joel Adams

  Just A Dream - Nelly

  The Wreck of Our Hearts - Sleeping Wolf

  Paralyzed - NF

  LoveYou - dxvn.

  All I Want - Kodaline

  Angel With a Shotgun - The Cab

  Carry You - Ruelle, Fleurie

  Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap

  Wonder - Shawn Mendes

  Born To Be Yours - Kygo, Imagine Dragons

  Find the playlist on Spotify or YouTube

  Author’s note

  The author is British, and British English spellings and phrases are used throughout.

  This book contains topics that may be triggering to some readers.

  Another note

  While The Fight In Us is a standalone novel, it is best enjoyed after the previous three books in the series, in order to gain an understanding of the characters and continuing storylines. All are available on Amazon, and are in Kindle Unlimited.

  #1: The Lies We Tell

  #2: The Secrets We Hide

  #3: The Havoc We Wreak

  If you haven’t read them, or read them a while ago and need a reminder of what happened, read on for a quick recap of the trilogy. Please note that this recap contains MAJOR spoilers!

  Becca xoxo

  A Quick Recap

  *Contains spoilers for the first three books in the Four series*

  Winter Huntington moved to Alstone in order to investigate her father’s mysterious death, moving into an apartment on the campus of Alstone College, which she shared with Kinslee Stewart, who would later become her best friend. When she arrived in Alstone, she reconnected with her estranged mother, Christine Clifford. Christine was now married to Arlo Cavendish, one of the three founding families of Alstone Holdings and a powerful man.

  Arlo had two sons, Caiden and Weston, who lived with their two other best friends, Zayde Lowry and Cassius Drummond. Collectively they were known as the Four. All sexy, tattooed, girls falling at their feet…you know the type.

  While Weston was friendly enough to Winter, Caiden hated her. Or so he tried to tell himself. This all stemmed from the fact that he despised Christine, who had been having an affair with his dad. During their affair, Caiden’s mother had committed suicide (a fact that Caiden and Arlo took care to keep hidden from Weston, to protect him. Instead, they’d told him that she’d passed away from a brain haemorrhage).

  Then came the story of boy meets girl, boy hates/lusts after girl, girl is confused, oops we kissed, we kissed again, my dick slipped into you, some fireworks, and yay we actually like each other!

  Alongside all that, the investigations continued, and Winter and the Four drew closer to the answers. Weston was a computer genius, and with the help of his hacker connection (codenamed Mercury), he was able to procure information that would help them. At a party at the Cavendish residence, Winter met Cassius’ younger sister, Lena, for the first time, later finding out that Lena was there to investigate an illegal dog fighting ring, which was being live-streamed in one of the side rooms at the party. She later helped Winter and the Four, becoming a friend to Winter in the process.

  There was a situation involving Winter’s friend James Granville, ending up with Caiden jumping to the wrong conclusions and telling Winter it was over between them. Unfortunately right after that happened, Winter ended up being knocked out and taken by the Belarusian gang that were working with her mother, and when she was eventually found, things were a little awkward between her and Caiden.

  Circumstances kept them apart (i.e. Caiden needing time to come to his senses), and at a masquerade ball, they finally reconnected, although they’d both been coerced into attending with other dates (Caiden with Jessa De Witt, and Winter with Cassius).

  There was more fun/stress, some more sex, an argument or two, and then Joseph Hyde (James Granville’s cousin and a complete asshole) cornered Winter on New Year’s Eve. It wasn’t pretty, but Zayde and Caiden saved the day.

  Winter went rogue, and found out that the Cavendish butler, Allan, was also involved. It eventually came to light that he was even more involved than they’d originally thought.

  Winter and Zayde decided to get help from Credence Pope, aka Creed. He was one of the most powerful men in the country, and his connections were far-reaching. Thanks to him, they ended up with a surveillance van and all sorts of fun things, culminating in the interception of a meeting between Christine, the Belarusian Strelichevo gang, and the Hydes. Shit went down, Winter nearly got caught, but they managed to capture Joseph Hyde and Allan. It was time to get some answers.

  Answers were forthcoming, but Christine was one step ahead. She’d managed to kidnap Jessa thanks to her mistaken belief that Jessa was Caiden�
�s girlfriend, and she blackmailed Caiden to release Allan and Joseph in order to set Jessa free.

  It was time for the showdown at Alstone Docks. Christine went full-on villain, and revealed that she’d not only had Winter’s dad killed, but she’d been behind Caiden and Weston’s mother’s suicide. She was planning to take over Alstone Holdings, and get rid of the rest of the Cavendish family.

  She shot at Winter, and Caiden pushed her out of the way to save her, getting himself shot in the process. His lifeless body fell to the floor, and it broke Winter. In the ensuing chaos she stabbed Christine, Arlo turned up and shot Christine, and Allan was killed.

  Later in the hospital, Caiden woke.

  They gradually managed to start rebuilding their lives, and Winter became a permanent member of the Four, and her relationship with Caiden went from strength to strength.

  As for the true cause of Caiden and Weston’s mother’s death? Caiden and Arlo had planned to tell Weston, together.

  The time never seemed right.

  Soon, it would be too late…

  For Claudia (again)

  Anything worth having is worth fighting for.

  Susan Elizabeth Phillips

  ONE

  AGE EIGHT

  He was here again. The boy with the dark hair and the bright smile.

  Weston Cavendish.

  I sat back against the wall of the playroom, hugging my knees, the unfinished LEGO next to me forgotten. My older brother, Cassius, and Weston’s brother, Caiden, slumped down on the beanbags in front of the TV, ready to play a racing game.

  Weston’s gaze travelled around the room and landed on me, and that smile appeared on his face. It gave me a funny fluttery feeling in my tummy, and I had to look away from him.

  “What ya making?” He came to a stop in front of me, crouching down and staring at my unfinished piece with his head cocked.

  “A-a house.” My voice came out all scratchy, and my cheeks felt hot as he turned from the LEGO to look at me with his colour-changing eyes. They were like magic. Kind of a deep blue, but with greys and greens swirled in. Like the sea that I saw from the windows of my house every single day.

  “Cool. Can I play?” Not waiting for a reply, he took a spare board from the open box next to me and started laying out pieces. We built in silence for a while, just us two in our corner of the room, our brothers occupied by their game.

  “What do you wanna be when you grow up?”

  His voice made me jump, and the piece of LEGO I’d been holding fell from my hand. “What do you wanna be?” I asked him, while I tried to think of an answer that would impress him.

  “I want to be like Tony Stark.”

  I bit my lip. “Who’s that?”

  He rolled his eyes and huffed. “Iron Man. He has all this cool computer stuff, and he invents robots and things like that. And he defeats villains like Galactus.”

  My cheeks were getting redder as I looked at him, unsure. “Y-you want to be a superhero?”

  “Kind of, yeah.” He puffed out his chest, grinning. “A computer superhero.”

  “Me too.” The words slipped out before I could think about them.

  His eyes widened. “You want to be a computer superhero?”

  “Yep.” I nodded, trying to sound confident even though I felt sick with nerves. I didn’t even have a computer of my own. “I love computers.”

  His whole face lit up, like I’d never seen before, and my breath caught in my throat as his eyes focused on mine. “Me too.” He repeated the words I’d just said, smiling shyly at me from under his lashes.

  That was the moment I knew I’d do whatever it took to keep that boy smiling at me, the way he was right then.

  That was the moment I knew I loved Weston Cavendish.

  TWO

  AGE EIGHTEEN - LAST YEAR

  We hadn’t even been at the party long, and I was already bored out of my mind. My dad, Arlo Cavendish, and stepmother, Christine Clifford, had forced us all to attend. The primary objective was to keep up the charade that we were a happy family, now that my stepsister, Winter Huntington, had moved to the area and was attending Alstone College with us.

  My brother, Caiden, and I barely got along with our dad, and with Christine on the scene, being around them was almost intolerable. There was no love lost between Winter and her mother, either. They’d been estranged until recently. Winter had grown up with her dad, John Huntington, who had passed away almost a year ago. Now, she was living here in Alstone.

  So here we were—me, Caiden, and Winter, all of us uncomfortable and wishing we could be anywhere else but here in my dad’s mansion, surrounded by members of the Alstone elite and whoever else was currently trying to suck up to my dad and stepmother.

  “Hello, beautiful.”

  Turning from the bar, I watched James Granville, a guy that none of us particularly liked given that he was related to our business rivals (a rivalry that dated back years), greet Winter. She returned his greeting with genuine happiness, throwing her arms around him. Caiden’s eyes darkened, and his mouth set in a hard line. As one, we moved to stand on either side of Winter, reminding James of his place.

  Although, I was certain that Caiden’s hostility towards James had little to do with our family rivalry, and everything to do with our new stepsister. I could pretty much guarantee how this would go down. Cade would get jealous, probably do something like flirt with, or worse, fuck Portia or Jessa or another one of the vapid girls who hung around us at these events, in an attempt to make himself forget, and then get wasted and hate himself.

  Yeah, my brother was all kinds of fucked up right now.

  “Granville,” Caiden growled, and James replied in the same tone, stepping forwards. Internally rolling my eyes, I ignored their dick-measuring contest, my gaze drifting to the girl he’d arrived with.

  Lena Drummond. My best friend Cassius’ younger sister. All dressed in black, as usual, her long blonde hair loose and poker straight. Something flashed in her blue eyes as they met mine, but it was gone before I could read it, and her face defaulted to its usual unsmiling expression.

  Wait. She’d turned up with James Granville. A weird sensation twisted my stomach, something I didn’t quite understand. The words came out before I had a chance to think about them. “Lena? What’re you doing with Granville?” She held my gaze for a moment, and it looked like she was trying to read something on my face. What, I had no fucking clue. When I remained standing there, waiting for her to explain, she breathed out heavily and rolled her eyes.

  “He gave me a lift. Get over it. I’m here—that has to count for something.” Before I could say anything in reply, she turned on her heel and disappeared into the crowds.

  “Who was that?” Winter asked me curiously.

  “Lena Drummond. Cassius’ sister. She’s seventeen and…mad at the world? Or something? I don’t know. She’s moody.”

  “Right.” She sighed. “Thanks for your insightful comments, West.”

  I grinned at her, grabbing my drink from the bar and lifting it to my lips. “Pleasure.”

  Downing my pint, I tuned out James and Caiden as I scanned the crowd. I caught a flash of blonde hair out of the corner of my eye, and my heart sped up.

  What the fuck?

  I was interrupted from my thoughts by Winter threading her arm through mine. She smiled up at me. “Shall we go and mingle?”

  Yes. I stared in the direction of the blonde head, all the way over the other side of the room, but gave a groan. Couldn’t seem too eager. “We’d better. Come on.”

  By the time we’d made it to the far side of the room, Lena had disappeared.

  Hours later, the party was still going strong, but I’d escaped to the relative peace of the study with Cassius and our housemate, Zayde Lowry, who was also my brother’s best mate. Cass had dragged a girl in with him, and while I’d normally do the same, I wasn’t feeling it tonight for some reason.

  “Wanna play?” I suggested to Zayde, alrea
dy heading over to the dartboard and pulling down a handful of darts.

  “Only if we make it interesting.”

  “Play for money?”

  Zayde nodded, and I stepped back from the board. “You go first.”

  We’d been playing for a while, and it was a fucking miracle, but Zayde was off his game. I was in the lead. This shit needed to be documented, because I doubted it would happen again.

  Just when I’d taken my phone out to take a photo of the scoreboard, there was a series of knocks on the door.

  “Who’s that?”

  “How the fuck would I know?” my brother muttered in reply to my pointless question, all sighing and sulky, stomping over to the door to open it. He seriously needed to get laid or something. His brooding anger was on a hair trigger, even more so since Winter had shown up in our lives.

  Lena appeared in the room, and I forgot all about the game as I took her in. Dropping her phone to the sofa next to Cassius, she glanced around the room. “Can someone take me home?”