Then…he turned and left, his threat echoing through my ears as it took a moment to realize what had just happened.
I blinked, locking my knees under me as I quickly closed my shirt and covered myself.
Dammit.
Aydin was right.
Will wasn’t an ally.
Will
Nine Years Ago
“Arion Ashby’s having a party,” Damon told us, lying on the hood of his car and blowing a stream of smoke up toward the sky. “Her parents will be out of town.”
Kai groaned, and Michael laughed at him under his breath.
“What?” Damon taunted. “Are you bored, Kai? Restless? Need a new kind of fun?”
“Me?” Kai retorted. “Never. I’m perfectly content. Loving life.”
Damon smiled to himself, taking another drag off his cigarette, looking like he didn’t believe Kai for a second.
The school parking lot swarmed with students, all of us hanging out and trying to soak up the rare, warm October morning before classes started. A calm breeze swept through the trees, clouds rolled in, the air charged, and I looked around for any sign of Emmy Scott.
Without looking like I was looking for her.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want my friends to know that I was into her, because they already knew I was, but if she got the slightest attention for it, she’d get scared off, and she was already constantly bolting away from me.
My eyes lifted, covertly scanning the crowd.
She wasn’t waiting for me this morning.
I mean, of course she wasn’t, but still. Pretty sure I would’ve died, seeing her waiting on the corner of her block for me, but as much as I wished I didn’t know, I did.
She would never make anything easy.
Or maybe she couldn’t. Something kept bugging me about Friday night. Dropping her off at her house, I could hear it in her voice when she demanded I stop a couple houses down, instead of right in front of her driveaway. It was fear.
Almost like she was panicked.
I tied my tie, keeping it loose around my collar, and watched cars enter the gates, parents drop off their freshmen, and some students head through the parking lot on foot.
I was one of the first here this morning. Where the hell was she? Was she already inside?
“Same parties. Same girls,” Michael mumbled. “I’m fucking bored.”
“I know.” Kai let out a sigh. “I’m feeling it, too. I need something to happen.”
“Something to obsess over,” Michael added.
And then Damon chimed in. “We should kill someone.”
Michael snorted, Kai rolled his eyes, and I plucked the cigarette out of Damon’s mouth, taking a drag and shaking my head.
Michael whipped his uniform blazer at Damon. “I was thinking I needed the season to start, you fucking psycho.”
“Or maybe you need to fall for someone,” Kai told him, pulling his jacket out of his Jeep and slipping it on. “I’m ready to have my guts twisted into knots.”