Those Heartless Boys

by E. M. Moore

  “It’s my first time, too,” Lucas says.

  Jeez. I would hope so. I’d hate to think that the moment he’d gotten into town he was already invited to the primo party spot while I’ve waited for years to party it up in a secluded, sparse, somewhat dangerous place.

  “What do they call it again?”

  “Devil’s Hole,” I tell him.

  He snickers, and I can tell from the alcohol coursing through his veins right now that he isn’t himself. This is the most I’ve heard him talk.

  I lean against the rock with him. “It’s actually kind of cool,” I say, glancing over at the ring of stones that are just to the west of where everyone else is enjoying themselves. Someone turns the radio up, and a rap song splits the air that’s so at odds with where we are, but still, it can’t take away from the view. Stars sparkle in the sky, highlighted by different colors. It’s almost as if I could reach up and pull the Milky Way right out of the universe.

  “How so?” Lucas asks.

  I blink, returning down to earth. “Well, the Apaches think this is the gate to hell.” I point out the stone circle to him. “They hold rituals here to keep the devil down there and us up here. They think removing the barrier could be a very bad thing.”

  Lucas’s gaze turns sharp. “That’s not hell,” he says abruptly. He nods toward the depression. The reflection of the fire in his eyes darkens as he casts a curious glance over it. “I’ve seen hell, and that’s not it.”

  He flicks his bottlecap, snapping his two fingers in front of him, and it lands in the dirt in front of us. Hopefully, we’re not too far away from the fire that the snakes and scorpions stay where they are and don’t come out. If you’re from here, those things aren’t that big of a deal, but if you’re an out-of-towner, you might just pee your pants a little at your first sighting.

  “Are you going to sign Lance’s contract?” Lucas asks after taking another drink from his beer.

  The note about my father burns in my brain. It has to be from Jacobs. There’s only one group worried about the treasure right now. “I don’t really have a choice,” I say sharply.

  Lucas sighs and takes another swig of his beer. “I was afraid you were going to say that.”

  He doesn’t sound pissed. Just resigned. Not that he has any right to sound anything. I almost completely forgot who I was having a chat with. His purring voice, his inebriated openness pulled me in. None of Jacobs’ guys are my friends. I turn toward him. “You know, Dean Smith had a chat with me today.” The noises of the party heighten as more people arrive. “College is the only thing I have left, and you assholes are trying to take it from me,” I tell Lucas, fixing him with a look that I hope says I mean business.

  A guttural growl comes from the back of Lucas’s throat. “You don’t know—.”

  “I know enough.”

  “You don’t know anything. That’s the sad part, Dakota.” He lifts his hand, skirting around the bandage on my shoulder, then up to the curve of my neck. He tightens his fingers there, holding me in place. “You really don’t know anything.”

  Nerves skate through my body on fine edges of discomfort and pleasure. I should be scared, but the way Lucas looks at me doesn’t give me any vibes other than dampening my panties. I shake my head, but his hold on me only tightens. I grab for his hands. As a warning or something else I’m not entirely sure about.

  My breath heaves in front of me, my nipples rubbing against his chest with every intake of air. They turn to stone, peaking to the point of pain. It should be illegal for Lucas to have this effect on me. He pulls back, creating a space of mere inches. I want to kiss him. I want him to kiss me. His gaze mirrors the sentiment, casting me in a heady glow.

  But no, I’m too damn proud for that. Also, I’m not an idiot. He runs with the Jacobs, not the Wilders.

  I slam my hands against his chest and push him. “Get away from me.”

  Lucas smirks once he regains his balance. “I hope you know you’re only making this more fun for us. It’s about the hunt, right? Not the actual find.”

  I swallow. He just took words my dad said only a few thousand times in his lifetime and made them dirty. Confusion pricks at me. I push past him, skirting around the edge of the crowd with my mind and my core still at odds. Since they’re determined to play this game, I have to be smart about things. It doesn’t matter what comes out of their mouths, I’m not the small-town girl who’ll drop her panties at their whims. What’s frustrating is that they’ll stoop to any level to get me to sign that damn contract.

  10

  Lucas follows me, but I don’t acknowledge his presence. The partygoers sit in a horseshoe-shaped ring around a bonfire, no one situated with their backs to the Hole. I guess some legends just can’t be shaken.

  A few stand in groups, others are sitting on rocks or large pieces of wood that have been dragged out here from who knows where because logs sure as hell aren’t derivative from this area. Most everyone has a beer in hand, and I follow the tracks of two girls who are just now getting to the party back to a cluster of guys. That’s where I spot the coolers, so I head that way. I didn’t come all the way out here just for the guys. No, I finally got invited to my first Clary party, so I’m going to make the most of it, whether I’m the odd one out or not.

  My father never shied away from giving me a taste of alcohol here and there. He liked his hard liquor, sipped from a tin cup. If I asked for some, he’d let me have a small swallow. The burning liquid would scorch down my throat and warm my belly. I never sat and got drunk with him. Not that I wanted to. That would be the ultimate depressing thought. Father and daughter, drowning their sorrows together. We weren’t that type of family. Plus, alcohol was a luxury in our house.

  Skirting around the guys, I pull a beer out of the cooler, wiping the water still clinging to the glass off on my jeans. One of the guys holds his bottle opener out and pops the top for me. I take a long swig.

  Dear God. This stuff is disgusting. I choke it down. Must be my tastes run finer than this shit. I glance at the bottle, but I have no idea if it’s a cheap beer or an expensive one. Judging by the fact that we’re all students, I’d bet cheap. I shrug it off because whatever works. If that’s what they’re drinking, that’s what I’m drinking.

  I scan the crowd, recognizing most of the people here from either high school or college...or obviously, both. There’s a whole big sky out here, mirroring what a huge world we live in, and I wonder if I’m ever going to have a bigger circle than this right here. The sad part is that I’m not even part of this circle. I’m like a drifter, only pretending that I actually fit in.

  A giggle to my right interrupts my thoughts that are just way too deep for my current company and piss-tasting beer. I roll my eyes when I spot Meghan sitting next to Stone on top of a tall boulder. She’s cuddled into his side, even though he’s not paying any attention to her. Lucas has just joined them and the three have their heads together. Meghan doesn’t notice she’s being ignored though. Her sharp eyes have focused on me. “I never thought I’d see the day,” she slurs. “Blue’s Clues at Devil’s Hole.” She laughs loud as if she’s said a hilarious joke. “That’s definitely a juxtaposition.”

  Not to sound too bitchy, but I’m surprised she even knows the meaning of that word.

  When no one pays her any attention, her voice pitches higher. “Maybe you should get a clue and leave because no one wants you here.”

  Of course, the song happens to end at that moment, and everyone twists their heads toward us to find out what’s going on. Meghan seems almost stunned by the attention, but she doesn’t dare lose it either. She’s thrived on people fawning over her her whole life.

  She slides off the rock, landing in the hard-packed clay with a thin layer of dirt. She saunters toward me, but I don’t fix my gaze on her. I look over her head to the guys who are watching with interest.

  “Actually,” I say, knowing full well this could blow up in my face. It more than likely will, but I
can’t stand to see her preening like a peacock. “Stone invited me.”

  Meghan barks out a laugh. She turns toward Stone as if she needs clarification. Or because she’s trying to get him to sound off on what a ludicrous thing I’ve just said. I can tell by the lilt of her shoulders that she’s not quite sure. He is new, after all. He might as well be a big question mark in her world, but I understand her concern. She’s not used to being second-guessed. Especially not by me.

  “Now, if you’ll excuse me,” I say, running into her with my shoulder. “I have things to discuss with them.”

  “What?” she screeches, and I swear high school was two years ago, but you’d think we were smack dab in the middle of those suffocating halls. I guess old habits die hard.

  I burn the trio with my gaze, daring them to say they didn’t invite me here. The heat from the fire makes me sweat, but so is waiting for them to decide what they’re going to do next. “Ready?” I ask as soon as I get to them, my heart in my throat.

  Stone jumps down from the rock, landing just in front of me. He towers over me, especially with the slight incline leading to the rock, but I’m not going to let him intimidate me. He smirks. “Let’s do it.”

  Stone throws his arm around my shoulder, and a shocked gasp comes from Meghan. The noise quickly fades into the background. In its place is feeling him next to me. It’s hard not to feel the pull, even if my mind rejects it.

  Wyatt leads the way back to the parking lot where he lowers the gate on his truck. He jumps in then holds his hand back to me. I grab it, and he heaves me up into the bed. I find a place to sit, my feet resting on top of the wheel well as the others climb up and find a spot, too.

  Once we’re all sitting in the back of the truck, the area behind my eyes heat, but I swallow the emotion down. Only Dickie seems to realize what the loss of my father has done to me. I take a deep breath and let it out, addressing the guys. “I had a chance to look over the contract.”

  Stone nods. “My father is eager to hear your decision.”

  “I bet he is.”

  His lips thin, but he doesn’t bite.

  I tap my finger against the bottle and take another swig. It doesn’t taste nearly as bad as it did in the first swallow. I guess this is the kind of shit that grows on you. What doesn’t grow on you is being blackmailed to betray your family. Generations of work. Generations of blood, sweat, and tears. Hopes that are at my fingertips. I can’t just hand them over, and definitely not to the Jacobs. “Before I answer, I want to know why now. Why ask me about my family’s stuff now? Why not when Dad was alive?” I have a suspicion that I know the answer, and if I’m right, they can all go fuck off.

  “Jesus, Dakota. Really? It’s a simple business decision,” Stone says. “You either give up the stuff or you don’t.”

  Anger flares inside me. “You’ve made it a terrible decision. It’s not easy at all. I either give up what my family has worked so hard for, or I give up my life. Yeah, super easy.”

  Stone grits his teeth. His perfect face is on edge, but there’s a wariness about him, too. Why do I feel like I’m more like these guys than not? Caught between a curse and a need so deep. The treasure runs through my veins. I may not have been born with it, but it’s taught in Wilder blood from birth. This is how you rock climb. This is how you spend the night in the mountains without dying. This is how you make sure a scorpion doesn’t sting you. I could go on and on and on. I know more about the treasure than I know about any other single thing in this world.

  I pause at that thought. It’s kind of sad when you think about it. It’s always just been Dad and me for as long as I can remember. I didn’t just get to do things like this, even if I’d wanted to. There wasn’t time for it. It was always research, search, treasure, treasure, treasure.

  Stone snaps his fingers in front of my face. I bat his hand away, and he snarls.

  “Give her a second, man.”

  All three of us turn toward Lucas. He stares at me, those brown eyes awash with conflict. I feel his stare all the way down to my toes.

  No, no. This isn’t good.

  For so long, these three were like the forbidden fruit. It’s surreal to even be talking to them. They’re every bit the entitled assholes I thought they were, and that’s fine. Lucas just can’t go being human on me now. They are not allies.

  Stone glares at him then moves his stare back to me. He clenches his hands to fists, and it’s apparent he’s trying to keep himself under control while they wait to hear what I have to say.

  Lucas chugs his beer and stands, throwing the bottle. It flips end over end until it moves out of sight. It doesn’t make a sound when it lands, which is unnerving, but my guess is it hit a patch of sand. He shrugs. “This fucking treasure, man.” His laugh is empty and indecipherable, almost mocking. “It’s ruining our fucking—”

  “Hey,” Stone says, interrupting him. I wish I could see enough to decipher the look he’s giving Lucas right now. “Dude, get your fucking shit together.”

  I pick at the label of the beer bottle with my fingernail, ignoring the boys’ stare off. My mind keeps going back to the letter. I can’t let it go, and I certainly won’t help them if…what? I don’t even know. My mind is giving me a thousand possibilities. “Tell me one thing,” I say finally. “Do you know where my dad is?”

  Stone leans forward until the moonlight washes over his face. I peek up at him, expecting the same raw hatred he’s shown me tonight, but what’s there is much more welcoming. “Why would you ask us that? Your dad went up into the mountains and never came back. We helped search for him.”

  My hands tighten around the bottle. It would be so easy if they knew what happened to him, right? Maybe that’s why my mind went there, but Stone actually looks sincere for once.

  Lucas prowls toward me, moving into my line of sight. He bends, squatting in front of me while he fixes me in place with a glare. “Why did you ask us that?”

  I stand, shoving him out of the way and shake my head. None of this is making sense. “I know.” I spin toward Stone. The feelings that letter conjured threaten to spill out. “Your dad sent it then. Why?”

  Stone stands now, too. “Sent what?”

  “Please,” I say, holding onto the thread of hope I have. A glimmer that I might actually know what’s going on.

  Lucas gets in between Stone and I again. He actually reaches for my hands, squeezing my fingers in his sure grip. “This is important, Dakota. Please tell us what someone sent you.”

  Lucas’s plea sends me reeling, but his touch holds me firmly in place. I search his eyes for the thread of truth to his words. I find it. It’s there, but just because he doesn’t know about the letter doesn’t mean Lance didn’t send it.

  Lucas reaches up to cup my face. “Please.”

  Jesus. Being touched like this feels good. It’s like the universe has stopped spinning off course. Stone and Wyatt may as well not even be here because I’m transfixed in place. “A l-letter,” I say finally. “I got it yesterday right before I walked into history class and found Stone standing at the front of the room.”

  I glance toward Stone, and Lucas follows my gaze. Stone just continues to stand there, his knuckles turning white.

  “Who gave it to you?” Wyatt asks, voice like thunder in a storm.

  I pull away from Lucas and breathe out. Being in his vortex is suffocating, choking every sane thought I have out of me. I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter. I’m ready to give you a decision now.”

  “But—”

  Stone shushes Lucas.

  I close my eyes. My mind has been working on a solution, and I think I have one. It’s only half a betrayal of my family, but if it means finding my father, I’m all for it. I take the last swallow of my beer and toss the bottle to Lucas. He catches it out of thin air like he hasn’t had a shitload already to drink. Both he and Wyatt watch the standoff between us, gazes flicking back and forth. “My answer is…” The air seems to settle, draping over my sh
oulders like a weight. The only thing you can hear between the four of us is our collective breaths and the insects chirping just outside the perimeter of the truck. “I told you before that if you wanted what my family had then you needed me.” I can’t even open my eyes while I say this. If my dad’s dead and watching from above, I can imagine the pain he’ll feel in about two seconds. But if he’s alive…and I have the chance to find him, I have to take it. It’s a fine thread, but I have to keep pulling at it and pulling at it until I find the truth. “You guys can’t have my father’s papers, but you can have me.” I swallow. “I’ll help you search for the treasure.”

  Stone takes a deep breath, letting it out between us like an exorcism. An expulsion of what? I don’t know. Eventually, he says, “Fine.”

  “No,” Lucas blurts.

  I turn my head to face him. I guess I wasn’t seeing through all his exterior bullshit. He is his exterior bullshit.

  “Stone…” he says in warning, panicked eyes meeting his.

  There’s so much going on here that I don’t understand, but I’m still getting my thoughts in check. I just agreed to partner up with our rivals. The fucking Jacobs. “Your father backs off of me. He leaves my college status alone. And if he sent that letter, I’ll kick his fucking ass.”

  Stone shrugs. “We’ll start tom—”

  “We’ll start when I say,” I demand, cutting him right the fuck off. “You’re not running the show. No one knows more about the treasure and those mountains than me, so we work on my schedule and my timeline. You understand?”

  It’s Stone’s turn to look pissy. “Maybe you don’t understand what a partnership means.”

  “Listen here,” Wyatt says, jamming his hands into his pockets. “There’s something you don’t know.”

  I glance over only to find the brim of his cowboy hat. I swear he wears that thing on purpose. Not that it doesn’t look sexy on him, but he also gets to keep his expressions guarded.