Chapter 11 Maddison #2
“Your grades had to be good for you to get in here.”
“My grades were great, but again, I’ve never stood out with anything.”
He smiles musingly. “You know how to hand guys their asses.”
I snicker. “True.”
“You should’ve heard Finn while we were in jail,” he tells me while bouncing his knee up and down. “He was rambling about you like you were some foreign creature.”
“I am a foreign creature,” I agree. “At least, it feels like it. I walk around here, pretending like I belong, but everyone knows I don’t. And I don’t care. Well, not entirely. But it’d be nice to belong for once, you know.”
“I actually do.” He rests his head against the back of the chair and gazes up at the stars.
“I feel like, from the moment it became known that I’d be marrying Isla, I was the betrothed Averson brother.
I mean, arranged marriages happen in this world, but they’re still rare enough that you become kind of like a circus freak.
It didn’t help that my father had a scandalous affair and the entire city wanted to read about it.
” He rolls his eyes. “There’s always a story about my family that’s plastered all over the headlines.
Like when I got released from jail and the paparazzi were waiting.
My father found out, and it was a disaster. ”
“Jesus,” I mutter. “I love my privacy. I have no idea how I’d live like that.”
“It sucks,” he agrees, lifting his head and sitting up straight. “If I ever got out of this arranged marriage, I’d move somewhere where no one knew who I was.”
“See? You do think about your future sometimes.” I devour the rest of my cookie then prop my arms on the armrest between us. “So, what would you do in this alternative life?”
He sucks in a breath through his teeth. “This is a dangerous road you’re making me go down,” he says with a tight smile. “It’ll make me dream of things I can’t have.”
“Dreams can’t come true unless you dream them,” I point out.
“All right, I’ll play.” He considers this. “I think maybe something in sports, like a coach or maybe a physical therapist.”
My lips curve upward. “I could see you as a coach.”
He mirrors my smile. “It helps that you’re a motivated student.”
“I really want to make the team.” I stare out at the track. “I like running. It keeps me centered.”
“Me, too.” A pause, and then he sweeps strands of my hair off my shoulder. “Can you see yourself out there, running in meets?”
Why does he keep touching my hair? Not that I’m complaining. It’s just confusing.
“Absolutely.”
“I think you’ll make the team,” he says with genuine confidence.
“Are you going to come watch me at tryouts and cheer me on?” I’m partly joking.
“Of course,” he replies easily.
My stomach rolls.
He frowns. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing.” I shrug. “I’ve just never had anyone come and cheer me on before.”
His expression softens as he wets his lips with his tongue.
For some dumb reason, my thoughts travel back to that brief kiss we shared in the rain.
The one we haven’t spoken of. I’m about to ask him about it and probably ruin this beautiful friendship that’s developing between us.
Fortunately, I spot something that stops me.
“What the hell is that?” I squint as I lean forward.
River tracks my gaze until he finds what I’m looking at. Confusion floods his expression. Because creeping out of the trees is a group of people.
“What the heck is going on?” I mumble when I note that the entire group is wearing cloaks. Like, straight out of a wizard academy. “River,” I whisper.
“Come on.” He snatches a hold of my hand and hurries toward the stairs, leaving all our food behind.
We both keep our footsteps light to avoid drawing attention. By the time we reach the bottom of the stairs, the group has reached the space of grass that’s in the center of the track. Shouting reverberates through the air, but I can’t make out what they’re saying.
River starts to pull me toward the gate, but getting to it will put us out in the open, so he swings around the end of the stairway and yanks me underneath the bleachers.
“We’re seriously hiding?” I question as we hike further underneath it and into the shadows.
River doesn’t respond, lowering his head to duck under a railing.
“River.” I tug on his hand. “What’s going on?”
He grinds to a halt and spins around to face me. “I think that might be the secret society.”
“Okay, but why are we hiding?” I keep my voice low.
“Because I’m worried if they spot you, they’ll do something to you.” His tone is bursting with anxiety.
“What the hell do you think they’ll do to me?” I loathe the fear slithering up my spine.
River slants to the side to get a good look at my face. The moment he does, his entire expression plummets. “Hey, everything’s going to be okay,” he assures me as he reduces the space between us.
I forcefully smash my lips together, willing myself to chill out. “Sorry, it’s just been a long damn night.”
Hesitantly, he reaches toward me and cups my face between his hands. “That’s understandable. And I shouldn’t have piled everything on you in one night.”
I shake my head, my heart thundering in my chest at the feel of his hands on my cheeks. “I’m glad you told me everything. I hate secrets.”
He gives a distracted nod, his thumb skimming along my cheekbone. “All right, I always tell you the truth.”
I nod unsteadily, my brain a bit foggy by the way he keeps glancing at my mouth.
I think he might kiss.
I think I might let him.
He leans in.
I start to shut my eyes.
“Let the games begin!” a male voice cuts through the darkness like glass across flesh.
River’s fingers on my cheeks stiffen, his gaze darting to bleachers. There’s a crack between the floors and the benches, and he lets go of me so he can inch closer and peek out at the field. I follow and look, too. And what I see is straight out of a nightmare.
The cloaked people are standing in a circle, holding torches, with one person in the center of them. When I look closer, I can tell it’s a guy wearing only his underwear, and he’s kneeling down with his hands tied behind his back.
“Pledge three, do you accept the fate of your future, as it be our choosing?” one of the cloaked guys circles the guy in the middle—pledge three, I guess.
“Y-yes,” the guy stammers.
The person circling him comes to a stop, sticks his hand into the pocket of his cloak, and then pulls out a knife.
I gasp but quickly slap my hand over my mouth as River tosses me a warning.
Then he fumbles to get his phone out of his pocket, I think to call the police.
But it’s too late. The guy raises the knife and brings it down on the guy.
My heart stops but quickly recovers when I realize he’s merely cut the rope binding his wrists.
The guy stumbles forward and scampers away, the group parting to let him through.
“Pledge three has completed his first task!” the guy shouts as the pledge runs across the grass in our direction, tripping the entire way.
River is holding his phone but hasn’t called anyone as he watched the pledge run. We both track him, rotating as he sprints past the bleachers and out of the gate. He keeps running until he disappears out of sight.
River and I both say nothing, but we do trade a look. Then River shoves his phone into his pocket, threads his fingers through mine, and pulls me closer to him.
“Now that that’s settled, it’s now time for the next sacrifice!” the same guy that cut the ropes declares. “Maddison Averly, we’re coming for you.”
At first, I am horrified that maybe they’re speaking directly to me, but then they gather together in a cluster and march back into the trees, taking their madness with them.
I exhale a deafening breath. “Oh my God, what the hell is going on? What’re they going to do to me?” My mind is moving a million miles a minute, to the point where I’m worried I might pass out.
“I don’t know.” River’s words rush out of his lips as he tugs me closer to him. “Maddy, look at me.”
It takes a lot, but I manage to focus on him.
He carries my gaze, his hands finding my cheeks again. “Nothing will happen to you. Finn is part of it, so I’ll get some answers from him.”
I suck in a deep breath then release it. “I can’t believe Finn is a part of that.” Finn, the guy who’s been nothing but nice to me.
“My father pressured him into doing it. Please don’t judge him, Maddy.” His eyes plead with me to understand.
“I get it—my father’s fucked me up, too.” The wind picks up, kicking leaves up and away and whisking the dirt around.
“We should get out of here,” River mumbles, frenetically energy practically humming off of him.
I nod, but part of me doesn’t want to leave the shelter of the bleachers.
River must be on the same page, because when we reach the edge, where we have to step out into the open, he hesitates.
Then he sticks his head out and peers left and right before snatching my hand and leading me out of our safety net.
The air is silent and offers a drop of comfort as we pad back to collect our stuff. Then we silently make our way back into the academy building. We’re quiet not because of awkwardness but mostly out of fear that we’ll be heard by those lunatics running around with a knives.
After what feels like an eternity, we finally make it to the security of the hallway that leads down to my dorm room.
The corridor is empty except for the occasional wanderer, and one really drunk guy who’s skipping and singing in a pitch that resembles the noise the malfunctioning security alarm was making earlier today.
“Do you think they’ll come for me tonight?” I finally sputter the words plaguing me like the impending flu.
River stiffens but shakes his head. “I don’t think so.” But then he hesitates. “Maybe, and please don’t get the wrong idea about this”—he looks me straight in my eyes as we continue to slowly make our way to my room—“but maybe you should stay at my place tonight.”