by Kent, Rina
“Go upstairs and get ready for bed.”
“I’m going out,” I say slowly, in case she’s already going senile.
“You’re grounded.”
My mouth falls open. “You can’t ground me.”
Marigold tilts her head. “Really? Did I miss a few months and not realize you’ve turned eighteen already?”
I bite so hard at my bottom lip, a piece of skin comes off. I swallow it down, grimace at Marigold, and storm upstairs.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Briar
I’m woken by a new message from Addy. I have to read it twice to get it through my sleep-fogged mind, and then I let out a dry laugh and collapse back on my bed.
I try calling the number, pissed off with this childish back-and-forth, but it goes straight to voice mail.
Her phone’s off.
So I call Marcus instead.
“You were right,” I say as I head downstairs to get a cup of coffee. “She wants money.”
“How much?”
“Five hundred kay.”
“Shit,” Marcus breathes into the phone. “You even got that kind of green laying around?”
“Jesus, no. How rich do you think we are?”
“Pretty fucking rich,” Marcus says, but it sounds as if he’s about to laugh.
“You think this is funny?”
“Dude, relax. If she wants money, it means she can be bought. Which means she’s probably willing to negotiate.”
“Didn’t sound like it. And anyway, what guarantee do I have she’ll get rid of that video? She could keep it and then pull this gig a month down the line.”
Marcus is quiet for so long, I glance at my phone’s screen to make sure we’re still connected.
“You there?”
“Yeah. Lemme think on it.” Marcus hangs up and I toss my phone onto the kitchen’s granite countertop.
I drum my fingers, waiting for Marcus to phone back, but by the time my cup’s finished, he still hasn’t.
Fuck this. I’m done having Addison Green fuck with my life. If her plan was to get a rise out of me, then it worked. But she seems to forget — keep poking at that tiger, and he might get pissed off enough to break open his cage.
And then you’d just better run like hell.
I stick around in the hall at Lavish Prep that morning, hoping to catch a glimpse of Addison, but I have a feeling she’s not gonna show up today.
Why should she? She’s got such a tight grip on my balls, she doesn’t even have to be in range to squeeze hard enough to make me puke.
I’m just about to head to homeroom when I spot a dark head bobbing through the crowd. If I hadn’t been so tall, I would probably have missed her — Indi being a few inches shorter than most of the seniors.
She spots me and instead of dropping her eyes or changing direction, heads straight over.
I lean my hip against my locker, a smug smile touching my mouth as she gets near. Strange how just the sight of her can change my mood.
“Morning, Angel,” I say.
Astonishingly, instead of giving me one of her usual death glares, she smiles. It’s a bit stiff, but it’s a fucking smile.
What the fuck?
“Morning.” She looks around, and then turns back to me and shrugs. “You seen Addy anywhere?”
I bark out a laugh. “Yeah, I keep real close tabs on her.”
“So that’s a no?”
I narrow my eyes at Indi. What fucking game is she playing? A comment like that would have deserved some snarky response, not a polite reply.
Then I remember about our talk in the woods yesterday. I guess, for this chick, every day’s a roll of the dice. I rub the back of my neck, and turn up my smile a little.
“Think she’s off sick,” I say.
“Shit.” Indi shakes her head and lets out a long sigh. Then she glances up at me through her lashes.
My body straightens on cue.
That look makes my nether regions start paying way more attention to this conversation than before.
“You busy?” she asks. “I don’t know if you smoke, but I usually have a morning blunt with Addy, and now I can’t find her, and I just thought…maybe…” And then she bites her bottom lip.
The fuck did I just get a semi for? I turn back to my locker and open it again as if I forgot to take something out, willing my dick to get its head out of the fucking gutter. I shove an extra textbook into my backpack and close the door again.
I pivot. She’s holding one side of her blazer away from her small, curvy body. It takes me way too fucking long to see anything more than her cotton shirt clinging to her perky little tits. In fact, she has to wiggle the joint she’s letting peek from her pocket before I spot it.
“Oh, yeah. Okay. Sure.” I rip away my hand from the back of my neck and nod at her.
She smiles and lets out a rough laugh that makes my skin grow warm. “You okay?”
“Yeah, sure. Just…” I grab her elbow and hurriedly steer her through the crowd of students milling about the hallway. “We probably shouldn’t be seen together.”
“Right, detention and shit.” She laughs again. “My first time, but probably not yours, right?”
I let out a strangled laugh and hesitate. We’ll be in shit if we’re spotted anywhere on the grounds.
“We could just drive around the block?” Indi says.
I glance down at her and do a double take, but in that instant her expression changes.
“Yeah, sure. Sounds good.” I release her and head for my car.
Was I imagining it, or had there been trepidation in her eyes?
No, of course not. Only time I’ve ever seen anything resembling fright in those fierce eyes of hers was when I had her pinned against a tree.
And she wouldn’t suggest we go someplace quiet if she was scared of that happening again.
I hesitate at my car door and glance back over my shoulder. She’s standing a few yards away, a hand on the strap of her backpack, no expression on her face.
So why is she suggesting this?
But there’s no time to give it more thought — as if she comes to some kind of decision, Indi heads for me again.
This time, she’s wearing an expression I’m more familiar with.
Determination.
Indi
Briar’s car smells just like him, but with hints of leather and car polish thrown in for extra manliness. I won’t lie, the inside of his Mustang is as stunning at the exterior — white, red-trimmed bucket seats, a red console, and immaculate everything.
A gift? He sure looks after it as if it were one.
And it suits him like a well-worn glove.
I run my hands over the leather console, my fingertips thrilling at the feel of the supple leather. Briar climbs into the driver’s seat and watches me for a moment before turning the ignition.
“Like it?” he asks.
He twists, sliding an arm behind my seat as he stares out through the rear windshield. I jerk at his unexpected closeness before I can stop myself, and the tiny twitch of his mouth tells me he noticed.
Shit, Indi, get a fucking grip. He’s supposed to think you’re crushing hard, not pissing yourself with fear.
Am I doing the right thing? Will this harebrained plan of mine even work? I wish I could have spoken with Addy before making a decision but…Seems she’s been lying to me again. Or, at least, withholding rather important fucking intel.
I mean, she must have something solid on Briar, right? Else he wouldn’t have sounded so pissed off last night. But why did she hold onto it until now? Why didn’t she give it over to the police? Why didn’t she tell me?
Thoughts like these drove furrows through my mind as they raced back and forth last night.
It doesn’t matter what Addy has — I can’t trust her anymore. And this thing has gone further than rape and a dodgy suicide.
Marcus and Briar conspired. Who’s to say they didn’t have this planned out like cold
-blooded murderers?
Boys like these…they become the type of men who torture and kill and then set houses on fire.
Even just for the sake of my own sanity, I have to find out what happened to Jessica.
“You try calling Addison?” Briar asks in a tight voice as he guides his Mustang out of the school gates.
“Phone’s off.” I toy with a button on my blazer, doing my best to avoid eye contact.
I shift a little, shrugging my shoulders. I left my hair down this morning — and I even fucking brushed it — but now it’s just irritating me. My makeup went up in smoke, and Marigold was still in her room when I left this morning, so I couldn’t sneak in and steal hers.
Mother’s room was locked again.
So I put a brush through my hair, left off my tie, and undid the first three buttons of my shirt.
Which reminds me…
“Gosh, is it just me or is it getting warmer every day?” My voice cracks a little, no doubt because improv is far down on my list of polished skills, and I blush as I struggle out of my blazer. “That’s better,” I say through a sigh, and hastily turn to look out the window in case Briar catches sight of my red cheeks.
Holy shit, I didn’t think this was going to be so difficult. Honestly, I thought I’d be more scared than flustered.
But again, just like it has before, Briar’s no longer some monster straight out of a Grim Brother’s story.
“Haven’t really noticed,” he says. “Should I turn on the—?”
“No, this is fine.” I roll down the window and tug the joint from my blazer. It got a bit smushed from my struggle to undress, but I squeeze it back into shape and look around for a lighter. Briar pulls a gleaming zippo from his pocket and holds it out for me, already lit, without taking his eyes off the road.
So smooth, Briar. Did you pull these moves on Jessica too?
I light the joint and puff on it until it takes. Briar watches me from the corner of his eye, and then indicates and turns away from Lavish Prep.
My heart kicks up a notch, but I manage a semi-casual, “Where are we going?” I pass across the joint, but he waves it away.
My limbs start tingling. Fuck, he isn’t going to smoke? Is that so he can make sure he has the upper hand?
I force a deep inhale, and smile at him as I shrug and take back the joint.
Fuck it. Might as well meet my maker while I’m high as a fucking kite.
“Thought we’d go pay Addison a visit. Make sure she’s all right,” Briar says.
Puffs of smoke escape my mouth as I splutter out, “What?”
Briar gives me a strange smile. “You don’t want to check on your friend?”
“Of course. I mean, yeah. Obviously.” I nod a few times, and then wonder if I should get more stoned. Before I can come to a decision, Briar turns down another road and starts slowing. Ahead, a golf estate’s boom bars our way.
Oh, thank God. No way Addy would let us—
Briar leans across the car. I cringe away, thinking he’s gonna grab my leg, but instead he just pops open the glove compartment. He rummages around inside and comes out with a remote control. When he presses it, the boom lifts.
Fuck.
“That’s…convenient,” I say quietly, repositioning myself on the seat so I don’t look like I was trying to climb out the window.
“Dylan stays here.”
Course he does, whoever the fuck he is.
Briar drives to one of the units and parks outside. There are no cars in the drive, not even Addy’s little sports car.
“Guess she’s not home,” I quip, before stabbing a thumb over my shoulder. “At least we checked. Should probably get out of here before—”
Briar’s hand closes over my thigh. My skirt’s up to mid-thigh, and his hand easily fills the space between my knee and the hem of my skirt.
It’s warm, firm, so fucking big. When he speaks, I realize I was staring at his long fingers. “We should at least knock, right?”
I don’t turn to look at him, because I can see enough from the corner of my eyes. Plus, he’s so close, if I did turn, he could kiss me.
And my stupid brain keeps telling me that’s somehow a good fucking thing.
“Of course,” I manage, fumbling for the door handle.
“Cool.” His voice is so smooth, so calm and collected, I know he’s up to something. But I don’t know him well enough to even try and guess what the fuck his plan is here.
I follow him, glancing around to check if there’s anyone in sight as he leads me to the front door. How does he know where Addy stays? Then again, he did date her best friend. He probably picked her up from Addy’s house a few times.
The house is a modern, sprawling split level. Briar walks straight up to the front door and knocks, ignoring the buzzer beside the intricately carved paneling.
We wait for long moments, and I’m feeling more stoned by the second.
Addy never comes to answer the door.
“Maybe she had errands to run or something,” I say, taking a step back and hoping he will take it as our cue to leave.
“Yeah,” Briar murmurs, glancing around. “Maybe.”
When he turns, the morning sun catches on his hair, turning his sandy strands into sullen gold. He squints at me as he passes, and extends an arm.
I don’t move, not sure what he wants, and he ends up draping his arm over my shoulders. “Where’s that joint, Angel?”
That pet name sends an illicit tingle through me that I do my best to ignore. “Here?” I whisper back, glancing around. There’s an old lady watering her garden a few houses away.
“You paranoid? Fine, we’ll go check the back. Maybe they left the door open.”
I almost stop walking, but manage to catch myself in time. Briar takes the joint from me, lights it, and hits it hard as he maneuvers me down a side path of cobblestones heading to the back of Addy’s house.
“This shit’s good,” Briar says around the filter, looking down at me as he strokes his thumb down the side of my neck.
Unnecessary goosebumps break out all over my skin.
“It’s from Addy’s guy,” I say, desperate to do anything but blush.
It doesn’t work — my cheeks heat up anyway.
Why in the fuck did I think for even a moment that I would be in control in this situation? How? You’d swear I’d started smoking before I thought up this cockamamie plan.
Oh, right. I pictured this happening at school, not in Addy’s backyard.
Which, by the way, is fucking gorgeous. The area’s completely enclosed — Briar opens an ornate metal gate to let me in — and the walls seem to consist entirely of trailing ivy.
There’s an intimate swimming pool, a hot tub, and a closed-off porch. It looks like something out of a home design magazine.
Briar heads straight for the glass sliding doors and tries the handle.
He turns to me and shrugs. “Locked.”
“Darn,” I say, snapping my fingers and then instantly wishing I hadn’t. Note to self — don’t ever quit your future day job to take up acting. You suck at it. “Well, best we get back to school. Don’t wanna rack up more detention time, do we?”
“Relax,” Briar says, hitting the joint as he walks back to me.
God, it should be illegal to look as hot as he does. With his swagger, and the way he’s holding that joint, he looks like a young heartthrob actor taking a break between scenes of some gritty romance movie.
Focus, Indi. Or have you forgotten what the whole point of this excursion was?
I straighten, clear my throat, and make grabby hands for the joint. Briar cocks his head, a smirk playing on his mouth as he swaggers closer.
Good God, I think I’m going to combust if he keeps looking at me like that.
I squeeze my thighs together as he walks near and try to snatch the joint as soon as he’s close enough. But he lifts his arm, putting it ridiculously out of reach. And then he just keeps walking until he’s righ
t up against me. Until I’m forced to take a step back.
Then another.
Another.
“Briar…”
He hits the joint, dips his head.
Before I can manage another protest, his mouth is against mine. His tongue teases my lips apart. Hot, dank smoke pours into me.
I inhale greedily, my hands sliding around the back of his head so I can kiss him back and create a seal around our mouths. For the weed smoke, of course. Not because I could devour this man alive right now.
“Mmm,” he murmurs. That vibration flows through my entire fucking body. “Greedy little virgin, aren’t you.”
“So I like getting high,” I say, my lips slipping over his with each word. “Sue me.”
“I’d rather fuck you.”
Air leaves me in a throaty groan at his words. There’s a hand at the small of my back, another on my neck. He’s pressing me tight against him, but still walking me backward.
I try to stiffen my legs, but then he kisses me for real, and my world explodes into pure bliss. I lose all motor function, relying on his strong arms to keep me upright as the pressure of his body against mine moves me like a piece in a chess game.
The back of my legs hit something soft but firm. I go, “uh,” into his mouth in surprise, and for some reason that makes him growl.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” he grumbles, tearing his lips away from mine and instead moving them to my ear. “How the fuck can you make me so horny with one little sound?”
I don’t have time to reply — Briar scoops me up and plops me down.
I expect to hit the ground — bricks around here, if I’m not mistaken — but instead I land on something soft.
My eyes flutter open just long enough to take in my surroundings.
He has me on a day bed, the covers drawn back, the beige cushions supporting me.
Fuck.
It’s happening.
But I can’t let it.
This wasn’t the plan, Indi!
I mean…this was part of the plan, but the timeline’s accelerating waaaay too fast.
Get up.
Shove him away.