Chapter 1 #2
“Her dad can’t kill her if she does it first!” Emmett exclaims, ignoring Kalani’s lack of concern. “Can you call Daphne and tell her to yell at Emi to drive more responsibly?”
Kalani sighs, but before she can unlock her phone, Emi swings into a clearing and parks near some other cars. I pull in beside her and shut off the Mercedes, surveying the ten other cars scattered around the makeshift lot. Considering it’s a “secret spot,” there sure are a lot of other people here.
“How did Emi hear about this place again?” I ask as I step out of the car, my stiletto heels unstable on the muddy ground. “And why did she tell me to dress like this?”
In my tight red minidress and strappy stiletto heels, I’m entirely out of place; it looks like we’re about to hike, not attend one of Emi’s dad’s prestigious parties.
I could never outrun a serial killer like this.
I eye Kalani’s looser purple designer dress and sandals, and yeah, out of the two of us, I’d definitely be the chick that dies first.
Holding onto my open car door for support on the uneven ground, I survey the surrounding area.
There’s a warm breeze blowing where we stand surrounded by greenery, making the entire area smell fresh and calming.
There’s a distinct sound of water rushing somewhere in the distance, though I didn’t realize we were near the water.
Kalani and Emmett look around from the other side of the car.
Emi and Daphne still haven’t emerged from the Corvette.
“Hey, Princess!” calls a deep voice from behind me.
When I turn, my breath hitches as I make eye contact with a boy—no, a man.
I don’t know, but he looks to be around my age and, Emmett aside, is the most gorgeous guy I’ve ever seen.
From the way he’s leaning against the side of a gray car, muscled arms crossed against his chest and a smirk on his face, it’s clear he knows that.
He’s shirtless, leaving his broad shoulders, tall, toned body, and smooth brown skin on display—and what a display it is.
“Are you lost?” he continues, his voice laced with amusement rather than concern. He pushes off the car and rakes his eyes down my frame, slowly, leisurely, making me shiver and fold my arms across my chest self-consciously.
“I don’t know. Maybe. Probably,” I confess, glaring at the Corvette, from which Emi has yet to emerge.
He chuckles, and so do the two other guys standing with him, but it sounds mocking. The guy’s eyebrow rises as his gaze jumps from me to my Mercedes and back to me in my skimpy little outfit. He shakes his head as if he’s found me lacking, and my jaw clenches.
“You’re clearly in the wrong place, Princess,” he states with finality, giving me one last once-over before turning with his friends and heading off through the forest.
I scoff at the dismissal in his tone, watching as they disappear through the foliage, and only then do I realize they’re all in swim shorts. His were pink, and he rocked them.
“Yeah, well, you’re in the wrong place!” I call after him, groaning at my stupid comeback.
Kalani snorts. “Smooth.”
“Whatever,” I grumble as Emi finally gets out of her car.
When we met up to drive here, no one got out of their cars, so this is the first time I’m seeing her, and she and Daphne are dressed nothing like the rest of us.
Emi is wearing her leather jacket, like usual, but underneath it is a triangle bikini top and ripped jean shorts.
Daphne is in a flowy white dress with a pink one-piece swimsuit visible underneath.
“What the hell are you guys wearing?” Emi asks us, and we all glare at her.
“You told us to dress like this!” Kalani exclaims. “I asked you if I should wear my purple dress and you said yeah! You should’ve just told us where we were going instead of keeping it a surprise.”
“No,” Emi says, “I swear I told you to wear your purple bikini.”
The tension in the air thickens like it has since the beginning of this year whenever Kalani and Emi are in the same vicinity.
Kalani pulls out her phone. “In the group chat, you said, and I quote, ‘Daphne’s friends invited us to a secret spot where only the hottest, coolest people go. I’m hijacking our Friday night, but it’s a surprise.
’ And when Carina asked you if she should wear her red dress, you said, ‘Yeah, red looks hot on you. Kalani, wear purple.’” Kalani gestures at the two of us. “And here we are.”
“Well, I must’ve misread the text,” Emi says, her shoulders tensing. “Sorry for wanting to keep it a surprise.”
“You’re always so careless,” Kalani starts, and I can tell both girls are gearing up for a fight, so I step between them.
“It’s fine. Really.” I turn to Emi. “It was an innocent mistake, it’s okay. I’m sure we’ll still have fun. Right, Kalani?”
She crosses her arms over her chest and glares at a tree behind me.
“I should’ve just told you guys what we were doing, but Emi was so excited and wanted it to be a surprise,” Daphne says in her soft voice.
Daphne is almost completely the opposite of Emi, looks-wise and even personality-wise.
Daphne’s super pale and embraces her freckles and her red hair, preferring to let it fall to her waist in its natural waves.
She’s sweet and innocent, whereas Emi rocks the punk vibe with her leather jacket and nose ring.
Emi wears her dark hair shaved close to her head except on the top, where she’s left it longer to flip over to the side; she dyes it a different color every couple months.
This month’s color is purple, and it suits her perfectly.
“It’s all right, Daphne,” Emmett says, his eyes kind as he smiles at her. “Why don’t we go see what we’re doing?”
Grabbing a jacket for when the sun goes down, I close my car door and walk a few steps toward Emi, but my useless stilettos make my legs buckle like a baby deer trying to take its first steps.
Kalani laughs, and I don’t even bother to shoot her a glare.
With a huff, I hastily undo the straps of my shoes, take them off, and chuck them into the trunk of my car.
Better to walk barefoot than twist my ankle.
Emi slips her arm through mine and starts leading us deeper into the trees, following the same path the snooty guys took. Daphne’s on her other side, and Emmett and Kalani follow us.
“That guy was totally eye-fucking you,” Emi states, leaning in conspiratorially.
For a split second, I think she’s talking about Emmett, and then I realize she meant the arrogant hot guy. I shove her with our linked arms, surprised she noticed him at all since she took her sweet time getting out of the car. “Pink swim shorts? He was not.”
“He totally was.” She waggles her eyebrows. “You should ask him to come to couples’ night at Murphey’s tomorrow. Kalani sent their Instagram ad in the group chat a few minutes ago.”
A shiver runs down my spine as that guy’s face pops up in my mind. He was hot, hotter than hot in that bad boy way, but a complete asshole. I don’t even know him, but from that very brief interaction I know that I can’t stand him, and asking him on a date is the absolute last thing I want to do.
“That guy was a jerk,” I say. “And the way he called me ‘Princess’ all condescendingly? Rude.”
Emi laughs. “Don’t be so dramatic. That’s my thing.”
“I’m not being dramatic! He obviously didn’t want us here.”
“You know what your problem is, Carina?” Kalani says from behind us.
“You never put yourself out there. I say give the guy a chance. We’re gonna see him again in like two minutes or whenever this trail ends.
From the way he was looking at you, it’s clear he totally liked what he saw.
He was undressing you with his eyes. Right, Emmett? ”
Emmett nods along encouragingly, which only makes me more defensive.
“You guys are delusional. He was looking at me with hate, not lust or interest or whatever you guys think it was. Plus, why are we talking about it like it’s a thing? If we see him again, I’m ignoring him.” Even if he is annoyingly handsome and tall and has abs. That’s beside the point.
“There’s a fine line between hate and love,” Emi singsongs, pushing a tree branch out of Daphne’s way, and the view makes me forget to reply. Because we’re standing on a cliff.
“Whoa,” Emmett says as we reach the end of the path.
Whoa is right. I was so busy talking that I didn’t realize we were walking slightly uphill, although we must’ve driven up most of the incline.
The line of trees stops where we emerge, and the rest is open ground until it suddenly ends.
I’m standing too far from the edge to get an accurate view of how far up we are, but the blue water that I can see from here looks calm.
It’s not an ocean—we don’t have one of those in Ontario—but rather a decent-sized swimming hole surrounded by tall cliffs.
On the opposite side of the pool from where we are, there’s a small waterfall that even I must admit is pretty.
The breeze is colder here, even if it is an incredibly warm May evening, but it still brings a fresh, calming scent.
The guy from earlier is here with his friends, as well as a bunch of other people, all in swim gear, which is odd because we’re nowhere near the water. People send Kalani, Emmett, and me weird looks, but no one says anything like Pink Shorts did.
“Hey, Ralph!” Emi unlinks her arm from mine and leads us toward a tall White guy wearing an ugly unbuttoned shirt decorated with random shapes and patterns that desecrate everything I understand about color theory and harmony.
“Hey, Emi! Daphne!” he greets with a bright smile. “Glad you made it!” His eyes rake over me, Emmett, and Kalani before resting on me. There’s a gleam in his eye, and his voice seems to deepen. “Hi there. That’s a bold outfit choice for cliff jumping.”
“Cliff jumping?!” Kalani and I exclaim at the same time.