by Becca Steele
“Really?” My dad turned to her. “Because I don’t.”
Instead of replying to him, she turned back to me. “Speak, Carter.”
“Okay.” I swallowed, then went for it. “I like Raine. What I don’t like is your constant comparisons between me and her.”
My dad frowned. “What do you mean?”
“You’re always comparing me to her. Everything she does is perfect, in your eyes, and nothing I do is ever good enough. You’re always asking me why I can’t be more like her.” My fucking voice cracked, and I cleared my throat, clenching my jaw so tightly I knew I was going to give myself a headache.
“Oh, Carter.” My mum’s eyes filled with tears. “Is that what you really think?” At my nod, she sniffed a little, before she gathered herself. “I’m so sorry that you thought that we were comparing the two of you. That was certainly never my intention. We, well, I praise her because she doesn’t have anyone else to do so. You know what Pam can be like. She takes Raine’s intelligence for granted. And I’m not blind, Carter. I know that she doesn’t seem to have much of a social life, and I know that you’re the…the opposite, I suppose. Popularity has always been a part of your life. You’re used to the adoration of your friends, and Raine…I get the impression that she doesn’t really have the same support network you do.”
My dad nodded. “I concur. And Carter, the reason I ride you so hard about your schoolwork is because I know how intelligent you are, and I know that if you apply yourself, you can reach the same high standard in all your classes.” He sighed heavily. “I hadn’t realised that you felt that way. You never said anything before.”
“I shouldn’t have had to. It would be nice to have some support from my own parents,” I said bitterly.
“You like her as more than a friend, don’t you?” My mum had been studying me silently, her eyes still a little watery, but a gleam came into them as she spoke.
I nodded. No point denying it.
A smile flitted across her face, before she turned to my dad. “I think I speak for both of us when I say that we’ll make an effort here. But I want you to try, too.”
“Don’t think I’m going to stop giving you a hard time about your schoolwork,” my dad added gruffly. “But I want you to know that we’re proud of all you’ve achieved.”
“Okay. Good. Thanks.” Suddenly I wasn’t sure what to say, and I shuffled in my seat, suddenly needing to get away. My dad cleared his throat.
“Was that everything you wanted to discuss?”
“Yeah. That was it.”
“Alright. Then if you’ll excuse me, I need to make a couple of phone calls.” He stood, placing a quick kiss on the top of my mum’s head, before leaving the dining room.
My mum also stood. “Be careful with Rainey, Carter. She needs to be taken care of. But for what it’s worth, I think the two of you could have something special.” She smiled at me, before leaving me alone with my thoughts.
Since that conversation, my parents had backed right off. Still riding me about my schoolwork, but no more comparisons. I’d roped Imogen into the rest of my plan. She made me fucking grovel when I told her what a dick I’d been, and to start with I wasn’t even sure she’d help me. When I flat-out begged, I think she finally realised I was serious, and she’d agreed to help.
All through the game, my focus had been on football. I owed it to my team to play my best game and not allow any distractions. As soon as the final whistle had blown, though, the euphoria from our win was drowned out by the pressing need to get to Raine and put in place the final part of my plan.
I hadn’t even allowed myself to look for her in the stands, but I saw her straight away, watching me with the same intensity I was watching her. As I ran towards her, I could see the apprehension in her expressive hazel eyes, and all I could do was hope that the statement I was about to make was enough for her.
When I lifted her over the barrier and into my arms, the win suddenly became completely insignificant, and I knew that this was the most important moment of my life so far. As I staked my very public claim on her, everything inside me settled. Nothing and no one was more important than her, and I intended to show her just how much she meant to me.
“Mate. That header was fucking epic,” I called to Kian across the changing room as I finished pulling my clothes on after the showers. “Nice work.”
“I know.” He gave me a smug smile as he grabbed his jacket from the peg next to him. “Give yourself some credit, though.”
“Oh, I have,” I assured him, making him laugh and roll his eyes.
“Great teamwork,” I added. “All of us. I’m really fucking proud of us.”
He grinned, picking up his kit bag before moving over to Preston. “Yep. Although, with me back on the team, a win was inevitable, really.”
Preston gave him a pointed look and he grinned. “I suppose our golden boy had something to do with it, too. I’ll share the praise with Preston, since we both scored a goal.”
“How generous,” Preston muttered, but he was smiling as he grabbed Kian’s hand.
I laughed. “Look at you. You finally learned to share, and it only took you eighteen years.”
“Fuck off.” Kian threw up his middle finger at me, and I returned the gesture, before I pulled on my hoodie.
“As much as I’d love to hang around and insult you all night, I’ve got my girlfriend waiting for me.” Grabbing my bag, I hauled it over my shoulder and pushed past Kian in my rush to get outside, leaving him laughing behind me. The friends and families of the players were clustered around waiting for us, but I couldn’t see Raine anywhere. Frowning, I leaned against the wall, pulling out my phone to check if she’d sent me a text. Nothing.
The crowds thinned out, and soon there were only a few people left. Glancing at my phone again, I saw almost fifteen minutes had passed. Where was she? I hit Xavier’s number and waited.
“Carter! What’s up?”
“Is Raine with you?” My eyes kept scanning the area around me, in case she appeared.
“No, I thought she was with you?” His tone instantly put me on alert. “When we left her, she was walking to meet you. We didn’t hang around because I knew you had plans with her on your own, and we didn’t wanna be in the way.”
“She’s not here.” I swallowed hard. “She’s not…I haven’t seen her. How long ago did you see her?”
There was a pause. “Uh…I think about forty-five minutes ago?”
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“I’m gonna try her phone.” I hung up on him without saying goodbye and immediately dialled her. The phone rang and rang and eventually went to her voicemail. Frustrated, I navigated to her social media to see when she was last online. As I did, my phone sounded with a new message alert. I hit it instantly, and the relief at seeing her name was instantaneous.
Raine: Went home. Feeling sick. Sorry. No drama, I promise. I’ll feel better after a good sleep. See u Monday. BTW don’t forget your business studies homework!
My stomach churned. Something wasn’t right. And what the fuck was she talking about my Business Studies homework for? She wasn’t even in that class with me.
The unease grew and grew, until it was suffocating me.
“Raine! Raine!” My head flew around just in time to see the large black shadow take flight against the darkening sky, the urgent caw echoing around me.
That was the only sign I needed.
I ran for my car.
36
As I drove, speeding through the streets of Alstone, I called Xavier back. “She sent me a text saying she’d gone home ill. Something isn’t right; something seems off about the whole thing, and I can’t put my finger on it.” Even I could hear the anxiety threading through my tone. I willed my car to go faster, while at the same time praying there were no police around to pull me over.
“What’s the plan? What can I do?” Xavier was instantly on alert.
“I’m on my way to her house. Can you…
I don’t know. Fuck. Can you be on standby in case I need you?”
“On it.” His words were simple and firm. “I’m calling reinforcements, if we need them.”
Ending the call, I sped up, shooting through a set of traffic lights as they changed to red, and threw my truck into a sharp turn, spinning the wheel and sending me skidding onto Raine’s road. I screeched to a halt outside her house and threw open my door, barely allowing the engine to stop before I jumped out, keys in hand.
I ran up to the front gates, wrenching them open, and up to the front door. The house was dark and silent, and no one answered my increasingly frantic pounding. Fuck. What was I supposed to do? Ducking around the side of the house, I made my way to the tree I used to climb up to her room and scaled it as quickly as possible.
As soon as I drew level with her window, I sucked in a harsh breath. Her curtains were wide open, and the moonlight allowed me to see clearly into her darkened room. The bedcovers were undisturbed, and there was no sign of her. No sign of life anywhere in the house that I could see.
She wasn’t home.
Where the fuck was she?
“Mate. She’s not at home.” As I called Xavier back, I realised that my hands were shaking. “I need help. Please.”
“On my way,” he said, and then he was gone.
Think. What else could I do?
Scrolling through my contacts, I hit the button of someone I hadn’t spoken to in a long time.
“Weston? It’s Carter Blackthorne.”
Weston Cavendish’s voice came over the line, sounding confused. “Alright, mate? What’s up? I heard about your win earlier. Good job.”
“Yeah, yeah, never mind that,” I rushed to interrupt him, not wanting to waste any more time. “Not wanting to seem rude, mate, but I really need to get hold of Lena. Have you got her number?” I crossed my fingers, hoping he’d come through for me. He was Cassius Drummond’s best mate, so he was my best bet at getting hold of Lena since I didn’t have Cassius’ number.
“Lena?”
“Yeah. Look, I know you probably don’t want to give her number out, but my girlfriend’s missing, and Lena’s her closest friend at school. Please, West. This is really fucking important.”
I heard him mutter “shit,” and then he was speaking again. “Forwarding it now. If there’s anything I can help with, call me, alright?”
Thanking him, I ended the call and immediately dialled Lena. She answered after a couple of rings. “Carter. Please don’t tell me you fucked up already.” Her tone was accusing.
“How did you know it was me? Never mind, I don’t care. Have you seen or spoken to Raine?”
I heard her sharp intake of breath. “No. I haven’t spoken to her since before the football match. Hours ago. Why?”
“She’s missing.” Panic was starting to set in now. “She’s missing and all I have is one fucking text that said she was going home because she was ill, but she’s not here.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m at Raine’s house.”
I heard footsteps running and the sound of a door slamming. “I’m coming now. Be there in ten.”
Fifteen minutes later, after I’d paced up and down Raine’s driveway so many times that I was starting to wear a groove in the gravel, my friends arrived. Xavier and Imogen, followed closely by Kian and Preston, and finally, Lena. I gave them a rundown of the situation, showing them Raine’s ambiguous text.
Raine: Went home. Feeling sick. Sorry. No drama, I promise. I’ll feel better after a good sleep. See u Monday. BTW don’t forget your business studies homework!
“There’s something not right about this, and I can’t put my finger on it.” I kept pacing, unable to stand still.
“Yeah. I know Raine, and she wouldn’t say ‘no drama,’ or use a ‘u’ instead of writing out ‘you’ as a proper word,” Lena muttered.
“And what’s the Business Studies bit all about? She isn’t in our class,” Kian added. He pulled his lip ring between his teeth, thinking hard. “Is there something in our homework that could be relevant?”
I shook my head. “I already thought of that. We didn’t even have any homework.”
“What if it’s like a coded message?” Preston’s voice sounded loud in the night air. “What if she’s trying to tell you something without saying it, if that makes sense? Maybe she’s with someone and doesn’t want to alert them?”
Fuck.
I stopped dead.
My blood ran cold.
Swiping up through the message thread, I paused, my finger hovering over the message she’d sent me so long ago.
Raine: He’s in drama club with me. He works on set design. I think he’s in your business studies class???
“Oh, fuck.” My grip tightened on my phone, as the memories assaulted my mind. Raine, running to me in the warehouse, terror all over her face, insisting a masked figure had tried to grab her. Raine, getting into his car after drama club. The way he looked at her, the same way I looked at her.
I licked my lips, my throat suddenly dry. My heart was pounding as I forced the words from my lips. “Does anyone know anything about Dylan Rossiter?”
37
I awoke, disoriented and confused. Where was I? The last thing I remembered was Dylan waving me over on my way to meet Carter, asking if I could spare a minute to check something with him. Then…nothing.
As I became aware of my surroundings, I realised I was in a moving car. A car I recognised. A car that I’d ridden in every Monday afternoon for a while now. Remaining perfectly still, I tried to make sense of what was going on. Why was I in Dylan’s car? I was supposed to be meeting Carter, wasn’t I? Or had that been a dream? My head was so fuzzy; I couldn’t make sense of anything.
I trusted my instincts, though, and all my senses were on red alert. Something was wrong, and I didn’t know what.
“Dylan?” It was an effort to form the words. My tongue felt thick, like it was too big for my mouth, and my voice came out as an unsure mumble. “Where are we going?” Turning to look at his profile, I watched a smile appear on his face.
“I wondered when you’d wake up. How are you feeling?” His tone was light and conversational, but there was something so off about him. He was all jittery, clasping and unclasping the steering wheel, his breaths coming in shallow pants.
“My head feels funny.”
He chuckled. “That’s an unfortunate side effect of the sedative. Don’t worry, it won’t last. I only gave you a small dose.”
He sedated me? My brain tried to make sense of his words. It was such an effort to think.
I suddenly realised that he’d brought the car to a stop by the side of the road. “We’re not getting out, but I need you to do something for me. I need you to send a text to Carter to tell him you’ve gone home, okay? Tell him you’re not feeling well.” He reached his hand out towards my face, and I jerked away on instinct. His eyes narrowed, and he shook his head. “No funny business, Raine. No trying anything stupid like attempting to run away. I don’t want to hurt you, so please don’t make me.”
Make him? I could only watch as he placed my phone into my hands and waited, expectantly. Everything seemed so sluggish, like I was underwater or something.
“Send the text,” he prompted, when I remained still.
Right. The text. Think.
I typed slowly while he watched my every movement, reading the words as I wrote them. “I’m making it sound more personal.” I coughed, then licked my lips. “So…so he won’t get suspicious.” As soon as I hit Send, Dylan took the phone from my hands and turned it off, then threw it into the back of the car. All I could do was hope that Carter would understand my coded message. If he didn’t…I couldn’t let myself think about it. I had no idea what was happening, but the fact that Dylan had not only sedated me but had basically kidnapped me…my odds weren’t looking great.
I felt a sudden, sharp sting in my neck, and everything faded to black.
“D
ylan Rossiter? Mr. Jackson’s nephew?” Preston gave me a questioning look, his brow raised.
“How do you know he’s his nephew?”
“Who’s Dylan Rossiter?”
“What’s all this about?”
Everyone was suddenly speaking at once, and I held up my hand. “Stop. Preston, what was that about Mr. Jackson? Are you talking about the school caretaker?”
Preston nodded. “Yes. I got talking to Mr. Jackson one afternoon—his cousin lives in Connecticut, close to where I’m from, and anyway, he mentioned his nephew attended AHS and told me his name. I’m not sure if it’s common knowledge.”
I doubted it was. Dylan was one of those people who, like Raine, flew under the radar. I barely knew who he was—it was only through his connection to Raine that I’d had any idea. But being related to the caretaker—that could explain how he had access to the office of the head of the drama department. That was if he was behind the other things that had happened to Raine.
The more I thought about it, the more the idea solidified. I didn’t have any proof, yet every instinct was telling me that this was our guy. And if he was behind it all, and if Raine was worried enough to send me a coded message, then she could be in real danger.
Passing my phone to Xavier, I showed him Raine’s earlier text, and he immediately came to the same conclusion. “You know, she was telling us about all this stuff that had happened to her, earlier. She thought Ana might have been behind it. Do you think this Dylan guy could be the culprit?”
I shrugged. “I have no proof, but…yeah. Yeah, I do.”
He nodded. “Then we need to act. And fast.”
“Where has he taken her? We don’t even know his address.” The panic was rising again. “Fuck. What do we do? Do any of you know where he lives? Can we…wait. Can we get into the school records?”