Face off, p.1
Face-Off, page 1
Face-Off
Shadows Landing: The Townsends #1
Kathleen Brooks
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons living or dead, actual events, locale, or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Without in any way limiting the author’s (and publisher’s) exclusive rights under copyright, any use of this publication to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.
An original work of Kathleen Brooks. Face-Off copyright @ 2023 by Kathleen Brooks.
* * *
Kathleen Brooks® is a registered Trademark of Laurens Publishing, LLC.
Also by Kathleen Brooks
Bluegrass Series
Bluegrass State of Mind
Risky Shot
Dead Heat
* * *
Bluegrass Brothers
Bluegrass Undercover
Rising Storm
Secret Santa: A Bluegrass Series Novella
Acquiring Trouble
Relentless Pursuit
Secrets Collide
Final Vow
* * *
Bluegrass Singles
All Hung Up
Bluegrass Dawn
The Perfect Gift
The Keeneston Roses
* * *
Forever Bluegrass Series
Forever Entangled
Forever Hidden
Forever Betrayed
Forever Driven
Forever Secret
Forever Surprised
Forever Concealed
Forever Devoted
Forever Hunted
Forever Guarded
Forever Notorious
Forever Ventured
Forever Freed
Forever Saved
Forever Bold
Forever Thrown
Forever Lies
Forever Protected
Forever Paired
Forever Connected
Forever Covert (coming Jan/Feb 2024)
* * *
Shadows Landing Series
Saving Shadows
Sunken Shadows
Lasting Shadows
Fierce Shadows
Broken Shadows
Framed Shadows
Endless Shadows
Fading Shadows
Damaged Shadows
Escaping Shadows
* * *
Shadows Landing: The Townsends
Face-Off
Targeted (coming April/May 2024)
* * *
Women of Power Series
Chosen for Power
Built for Power
Fashioned for Power
Destined for Power
* * *
Web of Lies Series
Whispered Lies
Rogue Lies
Shattered Lies
* * *
Moonshine Hollow Series
Moonshine & Murder
Moonshine & Malice
Moonshine & Mayhem
Moonshine & Mischief
Moonshine & Menace
Moonshine & Masquerades
Family Trees
Davies Family Tree
* * *
Keeneston Friends Family Trees
* * *
Extended Family Tree for Keeneston and Shadows Landing
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
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Epilogue
Also by Kathleen Brooks
About the Author
Prologue
Stone Townsend hefted his backpack over one shoulder and strode down the hallway of his middle school. School was over for the day, thank goodness. He wasn’t bad at it, but sitting still that long when he felt the energy radiating up his legs wanting to explode, made the day go by so slowly.
Up ahead a group of the older kids—the eighth graders—had snared another victim. That group of basketball players were assholes who took pleasure in torturing those weaker than them.
“Are you going to cry about it?”
“You’re such a dork.”
“Nothing but a nerd. You know what we do to nerds, right?”
They all taunted their latest victim.
“I may be a nerd, but one day I’ll be someone and you’ll be nothing but the boys who peaked in high school. They’re called pathetic losers in case you’re too stupid to know that.”
Stone’s stomach filled with dread at the sound of his younger sister, Olivia. She was nothing but a slip of a fifth grade girl against the pack of eighth graders. Their routine was for her to walk over to the middle school so she could walk home with Stone since most of their other siblings had afterschool activities. She made an easy mark for the eighth graders.
The energy that he had tamped down all day sprang to life as he ran the length of the hall. The boys knocked Olivia’s books out of her hands, sending them crashing to the floor, but Olivia refused to cower.
One of the boys dared to put his hands on Olivia’s arm and Stone saw nothing but red. “Don’t you touch my sister!” Stone roared.
He dropped his backpack on the ground and launched himself into the backs of two of the boys, slamming them onto the floor. Stone rolled off their backs, making sure to dig his knees into their kidneys as he stood up. He grabbed Olivia and shoved her behind him.
“If you want to bully my sister, you have to get through me.”
Olivia touched his arm. “They’re not worth it, Stone,” Olivia whispered.
“Aw. Now the little dork is protecting her brother. Listen to her, Stone. I’ll kick your ass and then shove your sister in a locker and laugh about it all the way home,” the ringleader said as he high-fived his friends.
Stone squared his shoulders. He was a year younger than they were, but that didn’t bother him. He’d been wrestling his older brother, Damon, since Stone first learned to crawl. Those assholes had nothing on Damon, who, thanks to his birthday, was now a freshman even though he was only a year older than Stone.
The ringleader tried to sucker punch Stone, but it didn’t work. Stone used his forearm to block the punch and then let all that pent-up energy loose. He slammed his fist into the boy’s face before kicking out and slamming his foot into the shin of another of the boys.
Punches were thrown. Kicks connected. Stone landed most of his, but took a couple of hits, too. He absorbed them the way Damon taught him and fought back. He made sure Olivia was always behind him until help arrived. Unfortunately, help came in the form of the principal who already didn’t like Stone. Stone had been sent to the main office for disrupting class a few times, but that didn’t make him a bad kid. He was just a bored kid. But in the principal’s mind, they were one and the same.
“Stone Townsend. Why am I not surprised to see you involved in this mess?”
“My brother was defending me from these bullies,” Olivia said, now stepping in front of Stone as if she could protect him. “I believe the school has a zero-tolerance policy on bullying. They need to be expelled per the student handbook,” Olivia pointed out.
“There’s a zero-fighting policy too, Miss Townsend. That means your brother will also be expelled.”
Olivia frowned. “But that’s not fair. Stone was defending me. They were threatening me. Is he not supposed to protect his own sister? In the legal system, defense of yourself or another is an affirmative defense, meaning . . .”
The principal crossed her arms over her chest. Stone knew that look. She was getting pissed. “Don’t tell me about the law, Miss Townsend. Now, I believe a fair punishment would be three days of in-school suspension for all involved.”
“My record,” Olivia gasped.
“Not you, Miss Townsend. Unless you threw a punch?”
“She didn’t,” Stone cut in. Olivia could be stubborn and he didn’t want her to go down for this. “It was just us boys.”
“Good, then report at seven Monday morning to start your suspension,” the principal instructed the boys.
“Come on, Liv.” Stone put a protective arm around his sister and got them out of there as fast as he could.
“Wake up, Stone.”
“Go away, Damon,” Stone mumbled into his pillow. It was Saturday. His parents had already reamed him for the in-school suspension starting on Monday and given him s o many chores to do that weekend his head was about to burst just thinking of them.
Damon, the eldest of the Townsend siblings, yanked the sheets from the bed. “You want to hit someone?”
“Right now, I want to hit you,” Stone muttered as he tried to reach for his blanket. It was freaking cold in upstate New York in December.
“Good. Then hit me.”
Damon reached into a bag he was carrying and handed a pair of hockey skates to Stone. “But you have to hit me on the ice.”
“With pleasure,” Stone snapped before grabbing the new skates. “Where did these come from?”
“I bought them for you. I thought you’d appreciate not wearing Dad’s old ones.”
“Where did you get the money for that?” Stone asked. Damon took on too much. Yes, he was the eldest of nine, but he wasn’t their parent even if he acted like it.
“I’ve been shoveling driveways. Don’t worry, you will pay me back. You owe me the next ten driveways. Now, meet me down at the pond. I’ll wear Dad’s old skates.”
Stone watched his older brother disappear down the hallway of their house. Stone stood to get dressed and glanced around the bedroom. Damon’s bed was already made, while their younger brothers, Hunter and Kane, were still asleep in their bunk beds. Down the hall he was willing to bet the twins, Forrest and Rowan, as well as Wilder were also still asleep. Olivia would probably be reading a book while the youngest, Penelope, was probably already up with their mom.
Stone got dressed in warm clothes, grabbed the skates, and snuck from the house. He didn’t want another lecture from his parents. Damon was skating around the small pond at the back of their property, waiting for him.
“Grab the snow shovel and help clear the ice,” Damon instructed as soon as Stone had his skates on. A shovel was in the snow next to two hockey sticks that had seen better days and a black puck.
“What is all of this?” Stone asked.
“I figured if you had all this energy and fight in you, I might give you something to use it all on.”
“Hockey?”
“Considering you just beat the crap out of the basketball team, I thought hockey might be the better team to join.”
“I’ve never played before and you want me to join mid-season?” Stone was pretty sure his brother must have a concussion or something.
“That’s right. We have a lot of work to do.”
Stone shook his head at his brother as he cleared the pond. “You don’t even play hockey and you’re going to teach it to me?”
“If you can’t do, teach. Isn’t that the saying or something?” Damon shrugged and picked up a stick. “I might not know how to play, but I know how to hit. You might not be the best skater, but you’ll be the toughest. Now, let’s get to work.”
* * *
Stone gasped for breath as he stared up at the gray snow clouds. Damon had just leveled him. They’d only been playing for ten seconds. However, the familiar school day feelings of annoyance weren’t there. Instead, that bright fountain of energy he seemed to always have bubbled up to his lips. He grinned up at the sky. This was gonna be fun.
Stone got back up on his skates. They’d grown up skating on this pond. He could skate and he could hit. Now he just needed to put them together. “Catch me if you can,” Damon taunted, giving him the middle finger and then taking off.
Stone pushed forward, his speed building as they shot across the pond. Damon tried to turn, but Stone predicted it and cut him off short. Stone slammed his shoulder into Damon’s arm, sending Damon careening into a snowbank.
“Whoa! This is fun.” Adrenaline spiked and laughter spilled out of Stone’s mouth as he skated around the pond at full speed.
At first, they only skated and hit each other. Then Damon handed him one of the hockey sticks he’d found in the trash of one of the houses he’d shoveled that morning. “I think you’re supposed to hold it like this,” Damon said, showing him.
For the next hour, they worked on skating with a stick, which only made hitting your brother that much more fun. The next day they spent all morning hitting, skating, and shooting before chores. It was clear, even then, that Stone was a natural and he relished beating the crap out of Damon.
Come Monday morning, Olivia escorted Stone to in-school suspension where the hockey coach was waiting. She argued that a more appropriate punishment for Stone was to join the hockey team. The practices and the discipline would teach him more than sitting in a silent room.
The coach agreed and eventually the principal did too.
* * *
Middle school hockey that first season was a mess of too much natural talent and not knowing what to do with it. Stone had to work on technique and learn the rules of the game. He learned math, angles, speed, force, and a lot about puck handling. Something the others had been doing for years. But by eighth grade he was playing on the high school team. He was named captain as a sophomore.
The college recruits came then. By senior year he had more college offers than he could count. He was ready to accept one for a college in Boston when he overheard his parents talking in the kitchen one night.
“I picked up an extra shift,” his father said. “But with renting ice time for Stone and all the travel for Olivia’s academic team, and not even counting all the younger kids’ activities, we can’t afford Christmas presents this year. Hell, paying the heating bill will be hard enough.”
“I told you I can help,” Stone heard Damon say as their mother sighed with worry.
“You’re already paying for Penelope to take dance lessons. It’s not your job, Damon. You’re their brother and our son. You’re not their parent. You should be in college, not working as a mechanic and signing over your paycheck to us,” his mother said.
Stone frowned. He wondered why Damon still lived at home. Was this why?
“They’re my family. Of course, I’m going to help. And you know college wasn’t in the cards for me. I’m not a good student but I’m great with my hands. I even have a client who wants to pay me a thousand dollars to customize his motorcycle. That could buy gifts for everyone and pay the heating bill,” Damon argued.
“Thank goodness Stone is getting a scholarship. He can go to college for free,” their father said, sounding somewhat defeated. “I don’t like doing this, Damon. But if you could pay the heating bill, I’d really appreciate it.”
Stone stepped back from where he was listening and went back to his room to signal for Hunter to follow him before they went and knocked on Olivia’s door. “Come in!” she called out.
“Liv,” Stone said as he looked at Penelope twirling around in her tutu that Damon had paid for.
“Hey, peanut,” Hunter said to Penelope. “We need to talk to Liv.”
Stone smiled at the youngest Townsend. “Damon is in the kitchen and I know he would love to see you dance. Can you go show him what you’ve been working on?”
Penelope ran from the room, eager to show off her dance moves. Stone took a seat on the floor and looked up at Olivia. Gone was the gawky pre-teen and in her place was a beautiful young woman who, as a sophomore in high school, got perfect score on her big pre-admission tests and had interest from several colleges.
“Did you two know Damon paid for Penelope’s dance lessons?” Stone asked them.
“He did? Why?” Hunter asked before Stone filled them in on the conversation he’d heard.
