He touches my face again and, for some reason, it’s all I can do not to recoil.
“Come over to my house tonight,” he says.
Not a chance. “I’m busy … studying.”
He rolls his eyes. “You don’t have to study and everybody knows it. We’re having a list party.”
Through superhuman effort, I manage not to blink in shock and disbelief. “A list party?” No one told me about it.
“Just some friends and, of course, the girls on the Hottie List.”
Why wouldn’t one of them text me about this? After all I told them last night? I search for a response that won’t give away my thoughts. “Nobody calls it that anymore, Josh.”
“Hey, it’s legacy at Vienna High. You should love being on it.”
I look at him like he’s lost his mind because, well, he has. “Two girls on that list are dead, Josh.”
“They had bad accidents, but we can’t stop living, babe.”
With a small shudder, I look down again, stealing a glance at his father’s face.
“You don’t like when I call you that, either.”
“Just Kenzie,” I say. “Because I’m not your girlfriend.”
“Could be,” he says without a second’s hesitation, moving a little closer and tunneling his hand under my hair possessively. “I’d like you to be.”
I can barely breathe. “Josh, I …”
“Think about it, okay?” He leans so close he puts his mouth against my ear. “I really like you, Kenzie. Come tonight and we’ll make it official.”
How could I not go tonight? I could find something out, or learn more about the coins—even Jarvis. And all the girls will be there, as vulnerable as possible. But do I want to put myself in a dangerous situation?
“I don’t know,” I say vaguely. “I really have to study.”
He glances down at the book on my lap and my heart absolutely freezes. My one hand is splayed over the cover, hiding the year but not what it is. Only an idiot would not ask why I’m reading thirty-year-old yearbooks. Maybe he’s an idiot. Please be an idiot.
“What are you doing studying old yearbooks?”
He’s anything but. “I’m just …” Empty. Totally without anything that could be a plausible explanation. “Looking back at …”
He smiles. “Previous hotties.”
That’ll work. In fact, it’s like he handed me an answer. “Just curious what became of some of those girls.”
His expression softens with sympathy. “You’re worried about the curse, aren’t you?”
“Sort of, yeah.”
“Then you have to come tonight.”
“Why?”
He cozies up next to me, his hand on my back. “Listen, Kenz, a bunch of us have been talking and we know there’s something … serious going down with this year’s list.”
I try to back away but he’s holding me close, his voice nothing but an intimate, airy whisper, appropriate for the library, a little too personal for me. “I’ll say.”
“And that’s why we’re getting together tonight. Gonna put an end to this shit before anybody else … gets hurt.”
Does he feel the chills that are dancing on the nape of my neck? “How?” I ask.
He doesn’t answer for a minute, but somehow manages to get closer. “I can’t tell you now because walls have ears, you know?”
“I need to know,” I tell him. “Otherwise I’m not coming.”
He plants a kiss on my temple, holding me tight, then moves his lips right over my ear again. “Someone’s gotta take the fall.”
I jerk back. “What does that mean?” Images of unprotected platforms thirty feet in the air flash in my head. “Who?”
“We don’t know who yet, but it’ll be the right person. I have some ideas.”
“Someone else is going to die?” I practically shriek and he slams his hand over my mouth.
“Shhh! No one else is going to die.” His eyes are bright blue, reminding me of the gas flame that flickers when I turn on the stove.
Or someone else turns on the stove when I’m upstairs.
“But I have to take control of this situation, or what kind of guy would I be?” he asks, clearly a rhetorical question. “What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t protect you and put a stop to this?”
“What are you going to do?”
“We’re going to have a meeting, all the guys and girls who are involved. We need to put the blame where it belongs, and then, once we do, the rest of you girls will be safe.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Kenzie.” He cocks his head to the right. “I put the freaking list together, I can do whatever I want.”
The burn in my chest is like a five-alarm fire now, so wild it actually hurts with each out-of-control heartbeat. “You put it together?”
“With some help. Listen, babe.” He slides his hand back under my hair, holding my head a little tightly. “I’m going to do what I have to for my girl.” He kisses my hair again, then adjusts my face so I can’t look anywhere but at him. “Be there at ten tonight. And wear sneakers or boots.”
“Why?”
He smiles. “We’re going into the woods.”
Before I can react, he pushes up and pulls me with him, and the yearbook I’ve been clutching falls open to the page I’ve practically marked by holding my hand in the spine all this time.
Of course, he leans over and squints at it. “That’s my dad.”
“Really?” I do a magnificent job of acting surprised.
He looks hard at me and I brace for the accusations and questions. But his face relaxes into an easy smile. “Looking up my dad, huh?”
I just stare at him.
He plants another kiss on my head. “I knew you liked me a lot.”
Thank God he has a massive ego. He steps back and points a finger at me. “Ten tonight. I want you there, Kenzie. Promise me you’ll be there. Promise.”
“I …”
“Oh, and by the way,” he adds while I’m thinking. “My grandfather is setting up a special course for you to do the ropes. He said he’s been looking into your grades and references and he’s dying to give you that scholarship, so he’s gonna make it easy for you. I know he’d like to see you, too.”
What was that? An invitation … or blackmail to get me there? I just nod. “Okay.”
And that’s enough to make him grin and walk out, leaving me feeling really, really sick.
“I have to go.”
Levi stares at me and somehow I’m able to look beyond the dreamy eyes and exquisite lips to brace for his response. “Over my dead body.”
Exactly what I expected. “Under the circumstances, I think that’s a terrible answer,” I tell him.
We’re lying side by side on a grass hill where we’ve spent all of our lunch period and half of my AP Lit class. It’s warm today and we both took our jackets off to relax under rare blue skies.
I don’t even care about school anymore, which is probably the most unnatural thing about everything going on. I’m a regular class-cutter these days. When I saw Levi in the hall and he suggested we leave, I didn’t even think about it, happy to hop on his motorcycle and get out of Vienna High.
“You don’t have to go,” he says. “Dena can tell you what they’re planning, if she really goes.”
“She’ll go. All the girls on the list said yes to the invitation.”
“Not a single one had the good sense to think that maybe it’s not safe?”
“Most of them are still certain there’s a curse. Dena and Candace are the only sensible ones, and Dena wants to party and Candace wants to kick someone’s ass for ruining her hair.”
“What about Molly?” he asks.
I close my eyes, remembering her silence when we were at our lockers at the same time, and how she walked away without eye contact. “She’s mad at me,” I say, having already told him what happened the night before.
He gives me a sympathetic p
at on the shoulder. “You’ll work it out with her,” he says. “And we’ll figure this out.”
“How?” I ask, still not sure what “this” is.
“For starters, I searched the Internet for information on some of the art you listed.”
I’d given him the names of any pieces I remembered from the vault in the woods and he’d promised to find out anything he could about them.
“None of the things on that list are listed anywhere as stolen,” he says. “All of them were sold to private collectors.”
“Maybe some private collector hides them underground so they don’t get stolen,” I suggest. “If Rex Collier is the collector, it makes sense, because his house is not exactly secure with all those parties he lets Josh have.”
He blows out a breath and looks up at the sky before turning to me.
“If I get wrapped up in anything illegal, I’m not going to get a second chance. I’ll be back in juvie or even prison if I do one stupid thing wrong.”
“Then don’t do anything wrong.”
He gives me a slow smile. “Would kissing you be wrong?”
Something melts inside me, the urge to kiss him so strong it takes my breath away. “I’ve wanted that for a while,” I admit.
He leans over and gives me a tentative kiss, then threads his fingers through mine, bringing our joined hands up to press his lips against my knuckles. “Don’t go to that party, Mack.”
“I have to,” I tell him. “I have to know what the connection is with the Colliers and that guy in the truck.”
He falls back against the grass, frustrated. “Then I’m going, too.”
“Um, hate to say this, but I don’t think you’re invited.”
“Who needs an invitation?” he scoffs. “I know my way around those woods. I know how to climb a platform and watch. And you just keep texting me and let me know where you are every minute.”
More melting inside. By now I’m mush. “That’s very heroic, but—”
“No buts,” he says.
“But—”
He stops me with a kiss, and this time it’s sure and certain and not soft at all. This kiss has a purpose. In a few seconds, he rolls around again and pulls me closer, deepening our contact. I just keep my eyes closed and ride the crest of the wave, enjoying every second, every strangled breath, every touch of his tongue.
I finally sigh into his mouth and open my eyes, half expecting the world to be spinning since I’m so dizzy. “Josh asked me to be his girlfriend today.”
He laughs and I can feel his breath. “And you’re telling me this why?”
“So you know I don’t want to be his girlfriend.” I close my eyes and reach up to touch his hair. Oh my God, I could touch this hair forever. “I want to be yours.”
He kisses me again, then trails a few down my neck, making me want to scream. “You already are,” he whispers.
“I am?”
“You think I’m going to fly through the jungle to save just any girl?”
“Good,” I say, still grinning.
“But you have to make me a promise, Mack.”
I nod, waiting.
“Don’t do anything stupid. Don’t go anywhere alone. Don’t try a zip line or drink something someone hands you. And for God’s sake, tell that moron you’re not going to be his girlfriend.”
I curl closer and kiss him first this time. “Done and done.”
CHAPTER XXIV
Everything works in my favor for leaving the house that night, including Mom’s decision to take Dad up on his offer of dinner and a movie. He asked us both to go, and I know why: tomorrow is the anniversary of Conner’s death, and Dad wants to help Mom handle what will surely be a bad day.
It’s really best that I don’t go, so I use a Latin tutoring job as an excuse, and a few minutes after Mom leaves, Dena picks me up.
When I get in her car, we share a quick hello, and I feel the pressure building up inside my chest. Taking out my phone, I read Levi’s last text.
I’m here, waiting.
That should calm me, but it doesn’t. Where is he? What’s he doing? How does he know where to go? Teenagers are pretty adept at carrying on a conversation with one person and texting another at the same time, but I’m paralyzed.
“You okay?” Dena asks as we head across town.
“Just … you know.”
“I know.” She drags out the word. “This whole thing sucks.”
I try to get comfortable but the seat belt is pressing on my chest. Along with guilt and fear and worry. “I’m not sure what this is going to accomplish tonight.”
“We have to put a stop to this curse, Kenzie.”
I just look out the window while she chatters about rumors and curses and all manner of BS that is floating around school. I barely answer, almost relieved when we reach Josh’s estate. There aren’t nearly as many cars as there were at the last party, but there are some kids gathered in the long drive. As we get out, Josh ambles over to me, his letter jacket hanging open, his expression serious.
“Hey, babe.”
I can’t fight that nickname and, hell, it’s better than Fifth. I give him a smile and shoulder deeper into my own jacket, my hand closing around my cell phone like it’s my lifeline. Because, well, it is.
“Everybody’s here now,” he says to the group, putting an arm around me. “Grab a beer and let’s go.”
I do a quick head count of the other seven girls on the list, inching away from Josh’s side to get closer to Kylie. When I reach her, she smiles warmly.
“Glad you came, Kenzie.”
“I still don’t know why I’m here.”
She angles her head. “There has to be a plan to stop this. I’ve talked to some list legacies. And Josh and the boys are going to help us. We’ll talk out in the woods.
“Why?” I can’t keep the frustration out of my voice. “Why do we have to go back there? I don’t understand why we can’t just sit in someone’s living room and have a normal conversation and not some kind of—of—witches’ council.”
“Are you afraid, Kenzie?” The deep, masculine voice comes from behind me and shocks the shit out of me. I spin and come face to face—well, face to chest—with Rex Collier.
My first thought is what is this old man doing out here with these drinking teenagers? Doesn’t he have anything better to do? “Hi, Mr. Collier.”
“Are you afraid, Kenzie?” he says again, stepping a little closer.
“I’m not a fan of the woods at night,” I admit, trying for a laugh but coming off kind of dorky.
He gives me a patronizing smile and puts a hand on my shoulder. “Come with me.” He adds some pressure and urges me away from the group.
I glance toward Josh, who’s busy with his hand in a cooler; none of the other kids seem to notice me.
“This way,” Rex insists, steering me farther back. My feet are like lead, and I almost trip from my determination not to follow him.
He laughs softly. “I have that paperwork we discussed for you.”
I draw a blank. “Paperwork?”
“For the scholarship. I have a special option for you.”
“Josh told me, but …” I’m still scared spitless. “I don’t think I’m going to do that course, Mr. Collier.”
“Don’t you want to go to Columbia?”
Of course I do, but do I want a scholarship that badly? “I don’t want to miss the party,” I say.
“You won’t. Josh!” he calls. “I’m going to give Kenzie the papers I told you about. Wait for her, please.”
Josh raises a beer can to his grandfather in acknowledgment and Rex gives me a “Feel better now?” look as he nudges me down the walk to an open front door. “I’ll just keep you a moment, but I think you’ll be very happy with what I came up with for you. A very personalized course with special instructions.”
My steps are slow, but he’s determined.
“You won’t need that pesky parental form signed at all,” he adds.<
br />
“How can you do that?” And, moreover, why? I take one more glance over my shoulder to see most of the kids—about twelve in all—heading in a pack across the lawn toward the darkness of the woods. Josh is with them, next to Tyler Griffith.
“Wait,” I say, freezing in place. “Josh is leaving.” I do not want to be alone in that house with this man. Every instinct of mine is blazing with that certainty.
He smiles, but his patience is obviously wearing thin. “Just wait here, Kenzie. I’ll get the papers.”
He jogs up the stone steps and leaves the door wide open while he disappears into the house. Maybe I am overreacting. I stand for a minute alone, feeling super awkward.
Out of habit, I pull my phone out of my pocket to check for texts and realize that I’ve totally broken the promise I made to Levi. I press his last text and quickly thumb a response.
Not with the group going into woods yet. Still at house.
G-father getting me something. Alone right now.
Then I stare at the phone after I hit Send and will him to reply, which he does, almost instantly.
Is the garage door open?
See if there are any *trucks* in there.
Good thinking, Levi. I type back a quick K and walk toward the driveway again. There are five double garage doors and the one at the far end has been left open. With a quick glance over my shoulder, I jog across the driveway to peek into the garage. It’s dark, so I click the flashlight app on my phone and shine the beam on an empty bay, the walls just rows of closed cabinets, the whole place impeccably clean. I take one step deeper into the garage and look down the row, past Josh’s Audi, a small sports car, and a big white SUV.
No black truck in here.
All of a sudden, I’m blinded. A light so bright it actually hurts shines directly into my eyes, making me throw my arms over my face and back away, my heart exploding with hot, holy terror.
“Looking for someone?”
I suck in a loud breath at the low, menacing voice coming from deep inside the garage. The light is relentless, an assault of white that makes me turn and stumble toward the open door.
“Kenzie!” It’s Rex, calling from the front porch. “Where did you go?”
They All Fall Down Page 19