It's been years since my mother was in my life. I healed. I learned to accept love. I lived. That's all done. She was away, and now she's back. I avoided her for a year and a half, but I couldn't hide anymore. Mason had an internship in Fallen Crest, so we headed back for the summer. And when we got there - no one was prepared for what happened.

Samantha, Mason, and Logan are all together and united with one common enemy: Park Sebastian, the king of fraternity douchebags. With professional football scouts eyeing his every move, Mason Kade has to walk the line for the first time in his life. Any move he makes against Sebastian has to be perfect and under the radar. One mistake, and his career is over.

My mother tried to destroy me. She doesn't exist to me anymore. And my father - the one who raised me - and the biological one are both works in progress. The only two people that I can trust are Mason and Logan, and they're the two people who I could lose. It won't happen. I won't let it. No matter the truth, no matter who loves me, I won't let anything or anyone come between us. They're my world. They're my life. They're my family.

Sam's first day at Fallen Crest Public doesn't go well. Some girls want to be her. Some girls want to destroy her. And some just don't like her. All in all, despite being protected by Mason and Logan, it's still only the strong who survive. Sam will not only have to survive, she will need to learn how to conquer too. But there's another battle growing. Things are about to come to a disastrous end between the towns of Roussou and Fallen Crest. Sam's other main dilemma?

Mason and Logan Kade are two brothers who did their own thing. They were rich and expected to attend Samantha's school, Fallen Crest Academy. They chose public school, and now Samantha has to live with them. The problem is that she doesn't care at all - about them, about her friends, about her cheating boyfriend, or even about her parents' divorce. But maybe that's a good thing. Maybe change is a good thing.

To survive where I live, you have two options. You can be a Normal - a cheerleader, jock, member of the debate team, or on the yearbook committee. You pretend everything is normal. Or you can be crew. You insult us? We hurt you. You hurt us? We really hurt you. And if you f--k with us, we will end you. My name is Bren. I'm the only female in the Wolf Crew - the best, fiercest, and most dangerous crew there is - and we have a rule: There's no falling in love. Well...too late.

Nate Monson was gorgeous, obnoxiously wealthy, and a player. He was also the person who could destroy my world with a single decision. I walked into that bar looking for him. He saw me. I saw him. The chemistry sizzled between us, but no. I hated Nate Monson. I hated him with everything in me, even though my body did not. It didn't matter. Nothing I wanted mattered. He thought I wanted to get laid. What I wanted was for him to disappear. But first, I had to tell him that he had a daughter.

Being crew is walking between two worlds. One world is normal: Prom. Parties. College. Those are the concerns they worry about. In our world, we deal with other situations. Cops. Drugs. Brawling. That’s a typical day for us. But what if it wasn’t? What if there came a day when you stopped? When you considered letting your enemies win? When you didn’t fight back? When you chose a different path? First I lost my family. Then I got the Wolf Crew. I couldn't lose them too. But what happens when Cross, Zellman, and Jordan keep going...and I don’t?

For the longest time, I was Bren Monroe. I lived in Roussou, California. I had no parents, no brother, but I had a crew. Then things started to change. I never planned for any of it. I didn’t think I’d fall in love. I didn’t think I’d have a relationship with my brother again. I didn’t think that he’d come back.

Sam and Mason return to Fallen Crest for a camping trip. They head north, meeting up with a few friends from Roussou and enjoy a night of booze, some leapfrogging, and there's a small therapy session to air out some tension in the group. Empty chair, anyone?

I have loved Channing Monroe all my life. In first grade, he asked for my Trapper Keeper. I hit him in the head with it. Third grade, we were best friends. We kissed in seventh grade. In eighth grade, he turned into a bad boy and the rest was a tumultuous storm. Growing up, the problem was never love for us. Bad times. Good times. There were times when I felt our love in every inch of my body, vibrating, making me feel like it could bring me back to life. The problem was us. The problem is that we're living in two different worlds now. Fallen Crest and its millionaires for me. 

You know that group of people in school that everyone fears? Popular. Beautiful. The in-crowd? That was my family. Kind of. We were above that group. We held court over everyone else. We were the best looking. We were the mysterious and elusive ones. Most of the girls wanted to (and did) date the guys, but they didn't want to be one of us. They couldn't be. They were our prey. We were the feared. But like every family, nothing is as it seems. That was my truth. Kellan was in his own league.

He told me to settle. He asked what was wrong with me. He called me an easy target. That was within minutes when I first met Caden Banks. I labeled him an asshole, but he was more than that. Arrogant. Smug. Alpha. He was also to-die-for gorgeous, and my stepbrother's fraternity brother. Okay, yes I was a little naive, a tad bit socially awkward, and the smallest amount of stalker-ish, but if Caden Banks thought he could tell me what to do, he had another thing coming.

I asked for his criteria for bed buddies - that's the PG version. He swore at me and said he didn’t do groupies. And just like that, our friendship was off to a great start. Reese Forster was the starting point guard for the Seattle Thunder. Gorgeous. Cocky. Loved by the nation. He’s also attending preseason basketball training camp where I used to work.   

He walked into school on his first day and owned it. I guess that's what happens when you're a prick, rich, and you're best friends with the ruling school's king. Also didn't hurt that he's drop-dead gorgeous. That's all fine. I mean, I have nothing to do with them. I'm a loner, invisible, and that's how I wanted it to be. I was even proud of it, until I wasn't. His name is Blaise Devroe. My name is Aspen Monson. He only knew how to get, command, and demand attention. I knew how to do everything but that. And this is our story.