Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
MAVERICK
W hen I start to move, slipping on the dark sweater over my bare chest, Everly’s shoulders relax a little. She turns around for me and lets me discard my pajama bottoms to slip on the heavy cargo pants next. The clothes are a bit snug but not so much I can’t move around.
“The security guard’s asleep, so stay quiet when we slip out of here.
We have a lot of walking ahead of us so just mentally prepare for that,” she explains when she turns back around to face me.
“If we can pass the fence, we’ll be in the clear.
I didn’t notice security doing a sweep the last time I made it onto the property and didn’t see any this time, but?—”
“Wait,” I pause briefly with one foot already in a boot. I have to tamp down a smirk. Does she really think I’m this gullible? Guess so. Time to play up my role as the idiot. “You were here before?”
“Yeah, just to make sure I could do it,” Everly confirms with a tight nod. “I didn’t want to come here promising you I could break you out only to find out I couldn’t.”
Sure, she’s done this before. Serenity Falls has a cement wall running along the perimeter of the property.
Many have tried to climb it, some have attempted to dig under it, a few even tried going through it, but no one’s been successful at breaching it.
My eyes roll hard, but if Everly sees the response, she says nothing about it.
When I’m done pulling on the new boots, I straighten. She studies me for a minute, frowning.
“I thought I… oh yeah,” she steps forward and before I can stop her, she digs into the front pocket of my pants. Her fingers brush my hard dick as she rummages around like a raccoon in a dumpster. I don’t even think she notices.
I sure as hell do.
“What the fuck?” I slap her hand away, but not before she pulls out a set of dark, thin gloves.
She hands them to me wearing a sheepish smile as she says, “It’s cold out there.”
I take them but don’t slip them on. Everly waits for something, but when the silence stretches between us she sighs, frowns, and then turns toward the door.
“Alright, let’s do this. Keep quiet,” she warns.
She opens my door and peers out first. I shove my hands into my pockets and watch her closely.
Her cautious step out of the room is good.
I can almost believe she really is trying to be careful.
I’m not as worried about making a sound.
There’s probably someone waiting for me out there in the hall ready to yell ‘ah-ha, got you!’ Bracing myself for that exact scenario, I follow her out of my room.
There’s no one in the hallway.
Gritting my teeth, I push the dread down and force myself to feel nothing. Maybe Everly’s playing the long game? As I follow her, I wonder if James came up with this or if this whole escape plan facade was a way to prove to her father she’s capable of immense cruelty in her own unique way.
I’m only a few steps away from my room when the door across the hall from mine opens. My head jerks toward the noise.
Nolan sticks his head out of his room and spots me instantly.
With the emergency lights on, I can see when his eyes land on Everly just ahead of me.
His eyes widen and his mouth pops open in surprise.
Before he can step out of his room, I shake my head.
I know he’s just looking out for me, but this?
I need to do this on my own. No need for Nolan to witness one of James’s cruel games.
Maybe I’ll tell him about it later. Maybe not.
Nolan scowls, confused by my order to stand down. After a second of hesitation, he nods and slips back into his room.
I lengthen my steps to catch up to Everly.
We pass the security guard, Hank, who’s snoring like a freight train at the large circular desk, then take a sharp right toward the short hallway that leads to the glass exit doors. I expect the ‘gotcha’ moment just as we step out into the cold night.
It doesn’t happen.
I do a sweeping glance, ready for the game to be up, but there’s no one out here. A mist is beginning to gather, creeping from the woods like tendrils of ghostly fingers. But other than that and the sound of crickets in the air, everything is still and silent.
“Come on,” Everly whispers, reaching for my wrist.
Not wanting the contact, I yank my arm out of reach.
Everly lets out the softest of sighs before taking off.
My eyes continuously scan the campus as we hurry toward the trees.
There’s no one out. Serenity Falls has a curfew, but it’s loose and lax and not really enforced, so there’s usually someone out here.
Since there isn’t, my suspicions about what’s at play are confirmed.
Everly and James must’ve set it up this way.
Tension gathers in my gut. I hate this waiting.
At any moment I know this whole thing is going to fall apart.
Someone will jump out and drag me back, hoping to squash any hope inspired by this ‘rescue mission’.
Unfortunately for her, and anyone else playing this game, I know my fate, and it doesn’t involve slipping out of Serenity Falls under the cover of night.
There’s no hope to be dashed. It’s not spurred on as we dive into the woods or when our pace picks up as we hurry to the back of the property.
The anxiety of waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under me, mixed with the dreadfully bitter taste of betrayal filling my mouth, causes me to slow my pace after a short distance.
Everly Woodrow used to be the girl who went out of her way to be kind to others.
She was an unexpected ray of sunshine I looked forward to basking in whenever I went over to their house.
Her heart, so large and sweet, tender and fragile, was something I coveted from the moment I realized mine belonged to her.
Now here she is, all these years later, ready to screw me over just like James and Peter.
It’s hard to meld the memories of Little Evie with the woman before me.
The two are night and day. One’s a soft-spoken child with hesitant smiles.
The other is, well, a stunning vixen with a cruel, cunning streak.
She might not have proven her crooked ways yet, but they’re there. She is, after all, a Woodrow.
No. I won’t let this happen. If she’s trying to prove something to her father, she’s not using me for it.
It's that thought that brings me to a slow stop. Everly notices almost at once. She turns and hurries back to me, her eyes wide as they dart around the darkness.
“What are you doing? We have to get out of here!” She reaches for my arm, and this time I let her grab me, if only to ground me in the moment.
I put my trust in the Woodrows before, and look where that got me. The person I trusted the most, my best friend, allowed me to suffer in hell. Why wouldn’t his little sister try something to prove her allegiance to her father as well, just as Peter had?
“I can’t leave. Not just yet,” I tell her, an idea forming as I stare down into her worry-filled eyes.
They look dark now in the shadows of the trees.
I’m sure, if I stare long and hard enough, I’ll see the wicked glint of malice that was passed down from father to daughter.
I’d missed it with Peter. Then again, I didn’t think to search for it then. “We have to stop somewhere first.”
Everly shakes her head vehemently.
“We don’t have time, Mavie,” she whispers anxiously. “Whatever it is we can?—”
“ Trust me , Everly.” I use the words she’s flung at me, choking down the urge to say them mockingly.
She looks from me to the darkness around us. Her free hand flexes then curls over and over, like it’s a nervous tick or something. With a deep breath, she looks back up before giving me a shallow nod.
“Alright.”
Redirecting us, I head to a new destination. In my head, a plan is forming. The tension in me eases. Once James finds out what I’m about to do, I’m sure I’ll never see daylight again. It might be worth it just to best him in something after all these years.
When we re-emerge from the trees, the White Stag Chapel is the first thing we see.
It’s a small, white stone building. The three long, thin, red stained-glass windows glow in the night thanks to whatever light is on inside.
With three steeples, the tallest in the middle, a steeply pitched roof, and a simple facade, the building looks… eerie.
I head toward the doors, fighting a smile with each step I take.
“Maverick, why are we?—”
“Shush,” I warn without looking back at her. “I need to get something in here before we leave.”
Everly doesn’t speak again. Not when I open the doors nor when I have her follow me down the middle aisle that splits the rows of pews in half.
She sticks close as we approach the stage and podium at the front.
Overhead is an old, circular, iron chandelier with fake candles lit and dimly glowing.
It’s the only light in the chapel. Shadows stretch along the walls, like long menacing fingers.
They remind me of James’s hold on me. There, but invisible.
As part of the backdrop on the stage, the wall facing the audience houses hundreds of candle holders of various heights.
They start out shortest in the middle but get higher as they spread out along the wall.
The holders are eventually attached to the wall so the candles climb higher.
From the back, the holders and candles make the silhouette of antlers.
Whoever the interior designer was must’ve thought they were pretty clever.
They weren’t. It’s a stupid design.