by Rina Kent
You’d never think, looking at him, that he murdered a girl in cold blood. I guess pushing someone off a bridge isn’t as chilling as stabbing or gunning them down, but still.
“What?” Marcus asks, and I realize I’d been staring. I look away, grab my beer, and chug at it.
“Thinking how I’m gonna kick your ass.”
“We’re on the same team, Briar,” Marcus says slowly. “Always will be.”
Of course we are. I don’t know why the fuck I ever doubted him.
Chapter Eighteen
Indi
My footsteps echo as I enter Lavish Prep’s gymnasium. According to my timetable, this is where we have assembly on Fridays. It must be Friday already, or there’s a special assembly, because the benches are packed.
But something’s not right. The principal’s podium is missing and it’s too quiet.
With no teachers in sight, the kids should have been chatting and laughing and fidgeting, filling the gymnasium with a hushed cacophony that would only end once the principal called the assembly to order.
But no teachers.
No noise.
Just thousands of blank, expectant faces.
I’m nervous enough to be sweating, but at the same time I’m detached from my body. Like I’m floating, tethered to myself by a very short string as I lumber over the empty floor.
Everyone’s looking at me, and it’s no wonder. The only thing making any noise right now are my shoes.
Clomp. Squeak. Clomp. Squeak. Clomp.
Someone’s behind me. I can feel their presence. But I can’t turn; I’m too scared it’s Briar.
As if the crowd read my mind, they begin to chant.
Briar.
Briar.
Briar.
Shoes thump on wood. Hands clap.
Briar!
Briar!
Briar!
Why wouldn’t they cheer for him? They let him walk loose among them as if he’s nothing close to the wild predator Addy suspects him of being. An animal I know him to be.
My skin feels a size too small.
I try walking faster, but my disengaged body just keeps plodding along at the same pace.
When I try to look behind me, my eyes remain fixed forward.
Briar! Briar! Briar!
Addy’s standing at the foot of the benches wearing a pink, glittering cheerleader’s outfit that doesn’t look anything like Lavish Prep’s gold and black uniform.
A pair of pink pom-poms dangles at her side as if she’s lost every bit of enthusiasm.
I stop in the center of the gym.
Breath stirs fine hairs against my neck.
Shit, he’s so fucking close.
Briar! Briar! Briar!
I want to close my eyes, but they stay wide open. I have no choice but to stare at Addy as she stares back at me.
No, not me.
She’s looking past me.
Briar! Briar! Briar!
Why am I stuck? Why can’t I move? I don’t want to stand here in the middle, not with Briar this close. What if he pulls up my skirt or shoves me to the floor?
My insides grow tighter and tighter.
Briar! Briar! Briar!
Hands slide around my stomach, draw me back. A hand closes around my throat, firm but not too tight.
My core clenches as tingles start spreading through me.
Addy starts to dance. Her pom-poms dazzle, despite how reluctantly she thrusts them into the air. Her lips move, but her chanting comes from everywhere at once, like she’s wired to a mic.
Who’s number one? He only wants some fun.
Lips touch the side of my neck. My body aches in response, and I melt against the hard body behind me.
Who’s perfect too? He’s right behind you.
Addy twirls around and does a perfect backflip. When she straightens, there’s a pained smile stretching her glossy lips.
The hand around my throat squeezes, while the other trails down my belly, heading for my navel. I shudder, my core clenching tight in pained anticipation as those fingers creep closer and closer.
Who’s wild and free? Not you. Not me.
Addy spins around, shoves her pom-poms in my face, and then flips away from me again. Her brown eyes are slitted now, her teeth bared in rage.
Air rattles in my throat as the hand squeezes even tighter. But before I can protest, fingers scrape over my pussy.
I’m stark fucking naked but I remember the sound my shoes made just moments ago. What happened to them?
Shame battles lust which battles utter, desperate confusion. Addy’s grin turns ferocious, and she bites at her bottom lip as if trying to be coquettish without really wanting to be.
Blood pools and trickles down her chin.
Give me a B!
Her pom-poms flash up, and she jiggles them until the glittery strands infuse the air with scattered reflections.
Fingers delve inside me. There’s a hard cock pressing against my ass, sliding up and down. Inching closer to my pussy.
Give me an R!
I groan as I try to move. I have no idea if it’s to get away, or to get closer. The tip of his cock presses against my entrance.
This is the furthest I’ve ever gone with anyone. The guy who was going to take my virginity at that party last week was too drunk to get more than a semi. But this doesn’t feel anything like that. This feels raw, and wrong, and horrible and I don’t know why because I know I want to fuck Briar. I know it like I know my own name. Like I know my mother’s death was my fault.
Give me an I!
The entire crowd screams out the vowel. My knees go soft, but the hand around my throat tightens and drags me up again.
Give me an A!
Something’s wrong. It’s not just the blood dripping down Addy’s chin, splashing onto her trippy cheerleading outfit. It’s not just the fact that I’m about to get fucked in front of the entire school without a say in the matter.
Give me an R!
R!
My ears are ringing. I feel wet and tight and so fucking horny I could die. But there are tears running down my face. The hand around my throat tightens. Tightens.
I gasp, struggle, but I’m pinned too tight.
What does that spell? Addy demands.
A double backflip has her right in front of me, teeth shining dark with blood, eyes lit with anger, frustration, betrayal.
I groan at her, caught on the cusp of an inexplicable climax that feels like it will never reach me.
Then her eyes flicker past me, over my shoulder.
Hands grip me, turn me. They must be Addy’s, because that other hand — impossibly — is still around my throat. The other gripping my pussy.
My heart stops beating when I see who was standing behind me. Eyes the color of a basement at midnight consume me.
Marcus smiles, slides a finger deep inside me, and whispers, “Marcus Baker, bitch.”
I slept much better last night with the baseball bat leaning up against my nightstand. Although, taking into account the nightmare I had, I wish I hadn’t slept at all.
I shoot out of bed just before six, my heart pounding and holding mom’s necklace in a fist. I’ve taken to sleeping with it. That way, I can almost pretend she’s beside me, her smell encompassing me as I drift off to sleep.
A hard rap to my bedroom door makes me yell out, and I barely manage to drag my sheets over my body before my gran is inside my room. “I heard noises,” she says, her nose twitching.
I shift, and realize my thighs are coated with my own arousal. God, can she smell me? My cheeks glow but I shrug, and try to sound diffident. “Maybe it came from outside.”
“No. It came from here.” Her eyes narrow. “You don’t have a radio in here, do you?”
I shake my head. I’m too fucking tired for snark, and that would just get me into hot water again. Instead, I stare down Marigold until she sniffs and leaves my room. I hold up mom’s necklace, watching light glimmer from it in ray
s of blue and white. I’m tempted to wear it under my school clothes, but then I’m sure the smell would wear off too soon. I take it off and put it back in its box, and then hide it in the back of my closet. Then I grab my uniform and dash to the bathroom for a quick shower.
Not wanting to run into my grandmother again, I sneak out the front door while she’s busy in the kitchen, climb carefully into my car, and freewheel the first few yards before turning the ignition.
I glance in the rearview mirror, expecting to see her standing on the porch, arms crossed and lips pursed, and breathe a sigh of relief when she’s not there.
Most of the trip to Lavish Prep I spend thinking about Addy. In all the fun and excitement lately, I’d forgotten I have a bone to pick with her.
I park and head over to her sports car. She gets a fright when I rap on the window, and I frown at her as she unlocks the door.
“Everything okay?”
Her hair isn’t as smooth as it usually is. She’s only wearing a touch of mascara, as if she was in a rush or couldn’t have been bothered to do her usual morning makeover routine.
“Yeah, course.” She smiles at me, and grabs a joint from the ashtray. Half of it’s gone already.
So that accounts for the red eyes. For a moment, I’d thought she’d been crying.
She unlocks the passenger door for me, and hands me what’s left of the joint as I slide in. It’s already lit, and I hit it hard as she starts to speak.
“So you ready to—?”
“Why didn’t you tell me you argued with Jess that night?” I exhale a plume of smoke.
Addy looks away, grabs the steering wheel, and straightens her arms. “I didn’t?”
“Tiffany said you two had a huge fight.”
“Tiffany exaggerates about everything.”
“So you didn’t fight?”
Addy licks her lips. “I’ve never seen her that drunk before.” She glances at me and then stares straight ahead again. “But she didn’t want to leave.”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah.”
“So your fight had nothing to do with the fact that you both had a thing for Briar?”
Addy’s hands fall into her lap as she lets out a rough laugh. When she turns to me, her eyebrows are arched. “What did you say?”
“You. Briar.” I use the joint to gesture from one side to the other, trailing smoke. “Nothing going on there?”
“Pfft. As if. He’s a fucking prick.”
Which isn’t a no. Not even close.
But I’m also not getting any jelly vibes from her.
“Sure there’s nothing else I need to know?” I lean to the side a little, trying to catch Addy’s eye. “I mean, we are about to go after this guy for rape and murder. I need to know what I’m getting myself into.”
Addy grabs the wheel again, and chews on her lip. Then she snatches the last bit of the joint from me and finishes it. When she grinds it out in her ashtray, her long manicured nails come back dusted with gray.
“I…after the cops dropped the case, I went…I kinda went a bit nuts.”
“How nuts?”
Addy shrugs, and then clicks her fingers at the cubby hole. I open it and take out a packet of wet wipes. She plucks one out and cleans her fingers, eyes downcast. “Briar almost got a restraining order against me.”
“Wh-what?” I say through a laugh. “You’re shitting me!”
“I know he did it, Indi. I fucking know it.” Addy’s throat moves as she swallows. “Turns out I was the only one.” When she looks at me, there’s moisture welling on her bottom lids.
“Can you prove it?” I murmur.
Addy’s silent for the longest time.
“Addy?”
“Proof,” she says. “Everyone always wants fucking proof. We don’t live in a perfect world. If we did, people wouldn’t get away with shit like this.”
She blinks fast, and then turns away to stare out the window.
“I hear you,” I murmur.
My mom’s murder case is still open, but before I left Lakeview, the police told me they had no suspects. Despite the mess the thief had made, he hadn’t left much useful evidence behind besides a partial fingerprint, and it wasn’t in the system.
Either it was his first crime, or it was the first time he was careless enough to leave a clue.
I don’t know if Mom’s murderer will ever be found, and even if he is, who knows if he’ll get the justice he deserves? I hear about cases being thrown out on technicalities all the time.
Cases like Jessica’s.
Because who’s gonna investigate a suicide?
I reach over and squeeze Addy’s shoulder. It makes me think back to when she did the same to me a few days ago.
“We’ll get him, Addy. You hear me? He’s gonna pay for what he did.”
“How?” She throws up her hands. “I’m not even supposed to be talking to him. If the principal sees me anywhere near him, then—”
“Then it’s a good thing we’re friends, isn’t it?”
Addy glances over at me. “Talking isn’t going to help. I’ve tried that. No one saw anything.”
“Briar did.”
Her eyes narrow and she shakes her head. “I don’t like where you’re going with this.”
“You know what they say about why boys pull your hair, right?”
Addy rolls her eyes. “He’s done more than just pull your hair.”
“We’re not kids on a playground anymore.”
“So what, you’re gonna seduce him? Get him drunk? Hope he tells you everything while you record him?”
I purse my lips, sticking my fingers through a gap in my shirt and rubbing my collarbone. “Not a bad idea.”
“It’s a fucking terrible idea. Jess was his girlfriend, and you know how she ended up.”
“I’ll be careful.”
“You’ll be dead.” Addy’s brown eyes are round, her lips in a thin line. “Don’t do this. We’ll think of another—”
“You’re right,” I say, waving away the idea with a grimace. “I mean, he’s probably forgotten all about his new bully victim.”
Addy nods, and gives me a tremulous smile. “We’ll figure something out.”
I let out a long sigh and sink back into the seat. Is it weird that I kinda wish I could go ahead with everything Addy said? I’ve never tried seducing someone before — I’ve usually been the prey, not the predator. Could be fun, especially with an arrogant prick like Briar. Getting him to bend to me, instead—
“Shit, we have to go,” Addy mutters. “School’s starting.”
I sigh again, reluctant to move. But she’s right — we won’t be solving any crimes sitting stoned in her car.
I have to get close to Briar. Maybe even through one of his friends. Addy said his whole crew was still there when she left. One of them must have seen something.
Especially that guy that sticks to him like a burr.
“Yeah, let’s go,” I say, levering my stoned ass out of the car. “Do you still speak to any of Briar’s friends?”
Addy laughs. “As if.”
Damn. Guess I’ll have to work my way into their circle by myself. If I can figure out who the weakest link is… maybe, just maybe, I can get someone to talk.
Chapter Nineteen
Indi
I’m lost in a fog of jumbled thoughts, moving on automatic as I head for my locker. I’m vaguely aware that Addy’s chatting to me, but I honestly couldn’t have remembered a word she said if she’d held a gun to my head.
There’s a strange smell in the air when I reach my locker, but there are so many different smells inside a school that I don’t think anything of it.
I should have.
My locker opens easily. Too easily.
I yell out in surprise. Red roses spill out and land on my shoes, thorns scratching my bare legs.
Music blares out of my locker, and everyone around me stops to stare as something blue tumbles out and lands on the
floor.
Like a virgin, touched for the very first time.
Madonna screeches out to my massive audience.
Like a vi-ir-ir-ir-gin—
The entire school erupts into laughter. Addison pulls up short and throws me a wide-eyed stare before slowly coming closer. She reaches down to pick up the thing on the floor where it lays in a pile of long-stemmed red roses and petals.
“Don’t,” I say in a strangled voice.
But everything moves like a dream, and my warning comes too late. Addison picks it up, holds it out.
Lingerie.
Dark blue, ridiculously sexy, lingerie.
I snatch it from her. Then I fumble around inside my locker until I find the offending Bluetooth boombox, and pluck it out so hard that it stops playing the moment it hits the floor.
But that doesn’t stop the laughter. That does nothing to prevent red-hot shame flooding my face.
I see movement further down the hall.
Briar.
He’s at his locker, the door partly open, but with zero interest for what’s inside.
Instead, he’s watching me.
Waiting for my reaction.
Hey, maybe it’s because I’m still stoned. Or maybe it’s because I have a fucking death wish.
Instead of running away to go sob in the bathroom like anyone else in my position most likely would, I push back my shoulders, take out the lingerie, and hold it up for him to see over the laughing crowd of students.
“How thoughtful,” I yell out. “Guess it’s a good thing I’m the same cup size as Jessica.”
“What are you doing?” Addison murmurs, coming closer and making a grab for the underwear.
I move out of her way and hold the piece of erotic blue fabric even higher. “I mean, it’s not as if she’ll be needing it anymore, amiright?”
Briar’s face turns to stone. He slams his locker so hard it rattles, and storms off down the hall. His entourage breaks away from their lockers and follows him like sheep.
All except one.
I catch sight of Marcus. He’s wearing an open leer on his face, as if he’s picturing how I’ll look in the lingerie. I hurriedly shove it back into my locker.
When I look up, Marcus is gone.