by Mae Doyle
That’s all I could get out. I was close enough to the edge that the way he was moving in me threw me over it. I shattered around him, calling out his name and digging my nails into his back. We stayed like that a long time, breathing heavily, his body crushing mine under him. I loved it. I loved feeling like I was safe and secure in place instead of floating around in a way that left me open to attack.
For the first time in a very long time, I felt completely grounded. Our breathing slowed and he slipped form me, turning me so that I was curled and pressed into him.
“Rose, my Rose,” he whispered, his breath warm on my cheek. “You are the most beautiful thing.”
◆◆◆
When I woke up the next morning, I reached back for him, but Kaleb was already gone. Disoriented, I sat up, reaching for the blanket to cover myself. The room was quiet, but I could already hear some of the students out laughing and playing on the beach. I was debating getting up when someone unlocked the doors.
I didn’t even have time to move, although I wanted to throw myself out of bed and hide, but it was just Kaleb. He had a tray with breakfast foods and a pot of coffee balanced precariously while he walked in.
“Oh, good, you’re up! I was hoping that you’d be awake to share this with me, because otherwise I know that I could eat it all. You hungry?”
My stomach grumbled in response, and he laughed, climbing onto the bed with me and setting the tray between us. I grabbed a croissant and took a bite, closing my eyes as the flaky layers melted on my tongue. “That is amazing,” I told him, pouring us each a cup of coffee.
We ate in silence, both of us starving, and when we were full, he put the tray on the floor and stretched out on the bed, motioning for me to curl up with him. I did, resting my head on his chest and listening to his heart.
“You okay, Rose?” He finally broke the silence, and I nodded. I was more than okay. I felt better than I had in months, and even though I knew that I’d have to deal with the harpies later in the day, I didn’t really care. It didn’t feel like anything could take my happiness from me.
“I’m great. Are you ready to start this day?” Sitting up, I grinned at him. There was just something about being with my boys that made me feel alive.
“Let’s do it. I’ll walk you to your room and then we’ll meet everyone else on the beach. I think they’re all waiting on us. Sound good?”
It did, and I took a quick shower while he waited outside. By the time I was ready, I was feeling refreshed and the morning was getting hot. Since we’d all be heading back to campus the next day, I wanted to make sure that I spent as much time as possible outside with my friends, but there was just one thing that I had to do before we went down to the beach.
“Has everyone eaten yet?”
Kaleb raised one eyebrow at me and shook his head. “No, I think that some of the harpies are still in bed. Why?”
I shrugged. “Thought I’d grab another cup of coffee.” We walked in silence down to the cafeteria. I had Kaleb wait for me outside and then walked confidently to the coffee pot, pouring myself the last of it and setting a new pot on to brew.
Before I left though, I had something to put into the coffeepot. I’d paid a visit to the chemistry lab before our trip and now pulled out a bottle of glycerine, quickly tipping it into the pot as it finished brewing. The coffee smelled amazing and I took a huge whiff before turning around.
Sara was just coming into the room, rubbing her eyes. “What are you doing here, you slut? Get out.”
“Just getting coffee.” I held my cup up to show her and took a giant sip.
“That’s what I’m here for. Amelia went out for a run and asked me to get coffee for everyone when she got back.” She sashayed past me and grabbed the entire pot along with some paper cups. When she noticed me still standing there, watching her, she scowled. “Ugh, why did I tell you that? Don’t you have somewhere else to be? Someone’s day to ruin?”
“Yep.” I darted out of the dining hall, grinning to myself. Sara was taking all of that coffee to the harpies, I was sure of it, and they were going to have a hard afternoon once the glycerine kicked in.
“Big plans for the day?” Kaleb draped his arm around my shoulders as I sipped my coffee and we walked to the beach. “Because I wouldn’t mind a repeat of last night.”
I giggled and snuggled closer to him. As much as I loved being with him and had loved the night before, I wanted to make sure that I spent enough time with all of my boys while we were here. It was nice to be out of school and to feel like we had a little freedom, even though I knew we still had to watch out for the harpies.
“I think that I just want to spend as much time outside as possible. I want to burn to a crisp, eat really good food, and sleep hard so that I forget all about having to go back to school.” Kaleb turned and planted a kiss on the top of my head when I said that.
We stepped onto the beach and Brett walked over. His trunks were slung low around his hips and his dark skin practically gleamed under the heat of the sun. “Can I steal Rose away?” Kaleb dropped his arm from my shoulder, but not before he leaned down to whisper in my ear.
“I can’t wait until I can have you all to myself again.”
I shivered as he walked away, but when my eyes fell on Brett, the shivers turned to trembling. He shook me to my core. Always had, even since we were younger, and probably always would. There was just something about him that drew me to him, no matter how dangerous he may be, no matter how different we were.
“What’s going on, Brett?” I started walking to the ocean and he fell in place beside me, reaching for my hand. As soon as we touched, I felt a surge of energy pass from his fingers to mine and I had to concentrate on walking and not turning to him.
“I just wanted to make sure that I was able to steal some time alone with you on this trip. You’re a hot commodity, Rose, and I know that I’m not the only one looking for some quality time.” His voice was lazy and slow, and I realized, that away from the pressure and stress of Taylor Prep, he’d finally had time to relax. I liked this calmer, less stressed Brett.
“You seem more yourself on this trip.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them, and he turned to me on surprise.
“You think so?” He paused, as if thinking, and dug his foot into the sand before pulling me to him in a hug. His body was hot from the sun and my skin burned where I pressed against him. “I feel it. Ever since I found you, Rose…and getting away from Taylor Prep. I just feel…better.”
“Better? Have you been sick?” I pulled back to look at him, but he just chuckled and leaned down to kiss him, his lips hot on mine. I kissed him back, but refused to give myself over to it. I wanted to be with Brett, but now was not the time. I had to figure out exactly what he was talking about. “Tell me what’s going on, Brett.”
“Let’s walk.” We turned away from everyone and started strolling along the beach. His hand was firm on mine and I walked in the foam, letting the small waves lap at my feet. When we were a few hundred yards from everyone and could no longer hear them shout and play, he stopped and turned to me. “Okay, Rose. I need to come clean with you.”
Immediately I felt icicles shoot through my veins. He was going to come clean with me and tell me how he killed his dad. I wanted to take a step back, but my feet felt stuck in the sand.
Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair and looked out at the ocean for a minute before turning back to me. “You know that my adopted dad was abusive. I mean, hell, everyone knew it, but nobody was willing to do anything about it.” He stopped for a moment and I squeezed his hand until he looked back at me. “I’m sorry. This is just…”
“Hard. I know. And you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
He shook his head. “That’s not fair to you, Rose. If you’re going to do this – if we’re going to do this – then I need to come clean with you and let you know what really happened.” He fell silent again, and just as I was about to sa
y something, he started talking. “He was abusive and I attacked him one night. He’d been drinking, and I was playing football, so I was stronger than I had been in the past. I didn’t mean to hit him over the head so hard, but he threatened me, and he threatened my mom.”
Sighing, he squeezed my hand. I gave him an encouraging smile and waited. “You saw me there, with his body, so I knew that you knew what I had done, but there was someone else you didn’t see.”
My heart dropped in my chest. Who else had been there?
As if to answer me, he continued. “My mom saw it all. Hell, she encouraged me to hit him, to stop him from hurting us, but even she didn’t know I’d kill him, I don’t think. But I did. Then I saw you, and I knew that if she saw you that you’d be in trouble.”
“Trouble?”
He nodded. “She’s the one who hid the body, not me. There wasn’t any way that I could have done it on my own, so she told me to go in and get cleaned up, then she got rid of it somewhere. Honestly, I don’t know what she did with it, just that I had to hose the blood off of the porch.” He shifted his feet in the sand and looked at me, his dark eyes capturing all of my attention. “Then I told her years later that you saw it all, but I really didn’t think that I’d ever see you again. When you came to Taylor Prep, she already knew that you knew the truth. I had to go to the council and tell them that you didn’t belong here.”
“And they believed you at face value? They didn’t ask you why I should leave?”
He looked pained and closed his eyes, breathing slowly through his nose. “They asked, and my mom told them a lie. Rose, I’m sorry. I didn’t know what she was going to do, and if I had, I wouldn’t have let her do it.”
My heart slowed down and felt like it was barely beating, but I had to know what was said. I needed to know what she had told the council to firmly turn them against me. “What did she tell them, Brett? You have to tell me. Please.”
I didn’t want to beg, but I needed to know the truth.
“She told them that you were there. That you wanted to sleep with my dad and that you’re the one who murdered him. They think that you’re a murderer, Rose, and now they won’t stop at anything to get rid of you.”
Even though we were standing in the sun, goose bumps popped up all over my arms. I took a step back from him and let his hand slip from mine. “They think that I killed your adopted dad?”
He nodded. Before he could say anything, though, there was movement off to the side of us. Someone was running away from between the sand dunes. I started to chase after them, keeping my eye on their long ponytail, but I couldn’t catch up.
It didn’t matter.
I already knew that it was Amelia.
Chapter 24
“Let me go!” Brett had caught me around the waist and was pulling me back from the dunes. They were clearly marked with a sign that nobody should enter, but I didn’t care. I wanted to tear through them, to chase her, to find her.
I had to stop her.
From doing what, I don’t know, but all I knew was that she was getting away, and now she knew the truth between Brett and me.
“You can’t catch her, Rose.” His strong arms relaxed when I stopped fighting him, and he turned me around to look at him. “She’s gone, and there’s no way you can catch her.”
“What do we do? She knows the truth! She’ll go to the council! She’ll get us both kicked out now!” My voice was rising higher and higher as I spoke, but I couldn’t seem to control it. Brett rested his hands on my shoulders and leaned his forehead down, resting it against mine.
“Rose, it will be okay. I promise. I told you that I’d do anything I needed to so I could protect you, and I meant it. You’re the most important thing, Rose. Do you understand?”
I did, but there was still a current of panic running through me. It was fine for Brett to think that he could just protect me by trying to take care of me, but how in the hell was I going to protect him?
“But, Brett – ” I began, but he stopped me talking by pressing his lips to mine.
“It will be okay, Rose.”
“It won’t.” I shook my head. Why wasn’t he understanding how very bad this was? Now that Amelia knew the truth she and her cronies weren’t going to stop until we were both gone. “Why are you being so calm about this? Don’t you understand that I love you and I’d do anything to protect you, but you’re making it impossible right now!”
The wind whipped away a lot of my voice, but Brett still paled as I yelled at him.
“Rose.” He cupped my chin and lifted my head to look at him. “I love you. Don’t think that I’m going to leave you just because of Amelia. She doesn’t scare me, Rose, but the thought of losing you tears me apart, so I’m not going to let that happen.” He kissed me then, his mouth needy as his hands pulled me to him. I wanted to fall into his arms and let him take me away, but there was something else that we needed to do first, so I pulled back.
“We need to tell the others.” My voice was breathless and my entire body was screaming at me to run back into his arms, but I held my ground. “Brett, we need to make sure that they know about Amelia. She’ll come for them, too.”
He shook his head. “She may act like she hates her cousin, but she won’t hurt him.”
I paused, chewing on my lower lip while I thought. “I think that you’re wrong, Brett. I think that Amelia will do anything she can to destroy us, even if that means taking other people down, too. We have to stop her.”
He kissed my forehead and then took my hand, pulling me back along the beach to our friends. They looked tiny off in the distance, all laughing and having fun, and it struck me that they didn’t have any idea what was coming their way.
“Okay, Rose,” he said, walking quickly next to me. “We’ll go tell them, but do you have a plan? Do you have any idea what we can do about Amelia?”
“I think I do.” It was bold, and daring, and may possibly end up in me getting hurt, but if I could protect the rogues, then I was willing to do what it took. I loved them, and I loved my friends, and Amelia had threatened them.
I hadn’t managed to take down the council yet, and I hated myself for that, but I wasn’t done trying. But Amelia? Amelia was running and I was coming for her.
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