Letting You Go (Stone Lake 1)

“Yeah, he left her naked in the snow. Police found a black rose frozen against her chest.”

“Frozen? A black rose?”

“Yep, creepy stuff.”

“You have to go talk to Principal Issacs,” I urge her, panic hitting me.

“What are you talking about?”

“A black rose? Like the one that was in your locker? Jules you need to report it now, this is just too scary.”

“Oh, come on! Getting a flower in your locker is a long way from being stabbed in the snow, Luna.”

“Not that much, besides you’ve been getting those notes for a while too. You need to tell Principal Issacs.”

“And have my parents go crazy and ruin my date with Darren? No way.”

“Luna’s right.”

Jules and I look up to see Attie standing over us. I hadn’t even heard him come back. He leans down and picks up his Algebra textbook he left lying on the cafeteria table.

“She’s just being—”

“She’s being smart,” Atticus responds, interrupting Jules. “You need to tell him and if you won’t, Luna and I will.”

“Why do you care?” she asks, studying his face.

“You’re my friend. I care about you,” he says. Jules seems to study his face. The interaction between them is weird and it feels like there’s some kind of message being transferred between the two of them that I don’t get. Have I lost touch with my friends that much? I’m going to have to start doing better with that.

“It’s like that,” Jules says and Attie nods his head slowly.

“It’s exactly like that. Either you tell or we will, Jules. This is too serious to ignore,” I add, determined that she’s not going to ignore the danger of this situation.

“Fine. I’ll go to the office after school.”

“Nope. We’ll go now. All three of us.”

“All of us?” Jules asks, looking at me and Attie.

“Yep all three of us. The three musketeers,” I joke, smiling at the two of them.

It takes a minute, but they slowly smile too, and we all get up and dump our lunches. We walk down the hall together and I feel better. My life and my relationship with Gavin may be a mess, but I’ll always have my squad.

Chapter Thirty Three

Gavin

“I can’t believe they aren’t more concerned,” Luna huffs, but I don’t stop to see what her and Jules are talking about. Hooking my arm around her waist, I pull her against me and I turn us so that her back is pushed against the lockers and I’m pressed against her. “What—” she gasps, but I don’t let her finish. Her mouth is open, and I want in there, so I claim her lips, thrusting my tongue into her sweet depths and kiss her with all the pent-up hunger I have.

Which is a lot.

I haven’t seen her in eight days.

Eight fucking days.

I haven’t spoken to her. I haven’t seen her. I haven’t had any contact at all with her.

I got desperate a few times and wanted to ask Atticus about her, but I knew it wouldn’t do any good. Having her in my arms again feels like heaven.

“Gag,” Jules mutters. I want to ignore her, but Luna pushes against me and I step back, releasing her mouth, but keeping her in my arms.

“You’re back,” Luna whispers. “I missed you so much.”

“God, I missed you too, Moonbeam,” I tell her, not even bothering to try and play it cool.

“Damn the great Gavin Lodge is pussy whipped,” Jules mumbles and we turn around to look at her.

I scowl, because I don’t like that term, especially in reference to Luna. She deserves better.

“Shut up, Jules,” Luna laughs, turning, but staying in the circle of my arms. “What are you going to do about your parents?”

“There’s nothing to do. I told you and Attie before, this was a waste of time.”

“It’s not. It’s serious. I can’t believe your parents are being such morons.”

“What’s going on?” I ask, completely lost.

“Jules has gotten two notes in the last three days from her stalker.”

“Did they threaten her?”

“No, but…”

“But what?”

“They had the black roses, just like that girl in Hagerstown.”

“What happened in Hagerstown?”

“Don’t you ever watch the news, dude?”

“Not really.” I shrug. I’m not about to explain we’re lucky to keep the electricity on most months, forget about television.

“There was a girl murdered in Hagerstown. She was stabbed repeatedly like twenty times and for some reason Attie and Luna think the same thing will happen to me.”

“I uh…” I don’t know exactly what to say to that, I’m kind of siding with Jules. That seems like a huge jump in thought.

“Don’t you get it,” Luna says. “That girl—who was stabbed twenty-four times by the way—was found naked in the snow with a black rose on her chest.”

“Oh… Had she been getting notes like Jules?” I ask, kissing the top of Luna’s forehead… because I can.

It really feels fucking great to have her in my arms again. I felt like I was dying without her.