Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Indi
I’m holding onto my gelding so tight I can barely breathe. I wish I could close my eyes but they just keep popping open, fixating on the hooves flashing under me.
I guess I fucked with the universe’s plan for me; I should have been home that night Mom was killed. Karma’s decided to right a wrong, and tax me for my stolen days on this earth. I get that. I understand. But it can’t expect me to like it, for fuck’s sake.
Everyone fights in their last moment of clarity. Even those that decide they’ve been dealt a shit hand and fold. Goes to show how much of the animal is still left in us.
Prince Charming’s gait changes. His steps shorten.
Beneath me, the horse’s muscles bunch and it’s like I’m gripping a rock between my thighs.
No more thundering hooves.
No impact.
We’re flying.
If I could breathe, I’d be screaming. But all I can do is stare wide-eyed as the fence flashes beneath us.
The air is knocked from my lungs by the impact of Prince Charming’s landing. He takes a few lunging steps and then slows into a canter, a walk.
My face is wet. My arms and thighs are trembling so much I can’t even think about pushing up into a sit. Prince tosses his mane and snorts as if he’s getting pissed off with my fierce hug. I think I peed myself a little.
“Fuck y-you, Prince. You alm-most killed me,” I say, my trembling jaw chopping up my words.
“I can’t believe you expect me to shoulder the blame for this,” a voice behind me announces.
I glance over my shoulder as Briar jumps down the last foot of the fence and lands with a spring in his step. He swaggers up to me, shaking his head and making tut-tut noises. His helmet is off, his sandy hair utterly mussed.
“You gonna get off him now?” he asks.
“I’m good.”
“You’ll have to get down sometime, Indi.” Briar ducks his head a little, and squeezes my shoulder. “You did good though, kid. Though I think if you held on any tighter, Prince Charming would have choked to death before he took the jump.”
I push the words, “Fuck you,” through my teeth.
Briar’s smile melts away. He trails a knuckle down my cheek. “Hey,” he murmurs, frowning hard. “You’re okay, Indi. You made it.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck ! In the comedown from that massive adrenaline spike, my body’s gone all PMS on me. Tears leak from my eyes unbidden, and my lips start trembling.
No, please. I can’t start sobbing in front of Briar.
“It’s r-relief,” I stutter. “Just relieved I didn’t fucking die.”
He grabs my waist and hoists me up off the saddle as if I was nothing more than a bag of potatoes.
But he sets me down carefully, almost gently, takes off my helmet, and hangs it from Prince Charming’s pommel. When he wipes at my cheek with his fingers, I flinch away, my heart hammering in expectation of some cruel joke.
Instead, Briar’s eyes narrow, and a crease forms between his wild eyebrows. He studies me like he’s never seen me before.
The uncertainty in his eyes holds me captive.
He slides a hand around the back of my neck and draws me closer. I move stiffly, my thighs still aching from their grip on Prince Charming, but he keeps urging me forward until there’s no space left between our bodies.
“Where’d you learn to be so brave?” he murmurs down to me. “Any other girl would be bawling her fucking eyes out.”
“Any other girl wouldn’t have made the jump,” I say, trying desperately to inject my melting brain with a little indifference.
It doesn’t help, because my comment just puts a spark of a smile in Briar’s eyes. He grabs my chin, tilts my head back, and brushes his lips over mine.
That gentle caress sends alarm bells clanging through my body.
No, Indi. No! This is the worst idea you’ve had since you decided to steal your mother’s jewelry and go partying!
But instead of pushing him away, my body sags against his like my spine’s turned into a piece of wet string.
His breath butterflies over my lips, sending a tingle rushing through every inch of me. It converges between my legs and burrows deep.
“I…can’t…” I mumble, but while I’m still leaning into his feathery attempt at a kiss.
“Why do you keep fighting me?”
Fighting him? Him? It’s not him I’m fighting. It’s fucking temptation.
This man is a monster. I can’t allow him to worm his way through my defenses. This is some kind of prank. A trick. And it won’t work on me. I’m not a fucking idiot.
In the distance, the school bell rings.
I summon every ounce of strength I have and shove against Briar’s chest. He steps back, a tiny smile on his mouth as if he’s expecting some more banter to pass between us. But as soon as he sees my determined expression, his face sets like marble.
Swallowing hard, I clear my throat. I have to get out of here, away from his hypnotic eyes, that incredible smell of fresh earth and pine that envelops me whenever he’s close.
In a rush, I hoist myself onto Prince Charming’s saddle. I glance around, my eyes traveling down the never-ending span of fence between me and Lavish Prep.
“How do I—?” I gesture at the fence. “Is there a gate, or?—?”
Briar watches me without expression, but his eyes are as stormy as an approaching hurricane. The side of his mouth quirks up in a most familiar smirk. He takes a few steps back and flourishes an arm. “I dunno, Indigo.” He shrugs theatrically and takes his phone from his pocket. “But you’re gonna be late for next period if you don’t find it soon.”
Icy hatred washes over me, leaving my fingertips tingling and my throat too tight to answer him. I glare at him and nudge Prince Charming into a trot. My eyes are cast ahead, studying the fence for a gate or opening of some kind, but I can see Briar climbing over the fence to get back to his mare.
Briar’s already heading back to the stables, sitting on his horse like his fucking namesake, when I finally spot the fence. I let out a dry laugh. It was so close to where we were standing, Briar must have known it was there all along.
I fume all the way back up the hill and into the stables. Briar’s not there, but one of the stable hands is giving Princess Snow a cool down, a damp towel draped over her back as she walks in a nearby paddock.
I don’t see another person until I slip into the main hallway where my locker is. It’s the period before lunch, so almost everyone’s in the hallway by their lockers or heading for the restrooms.
Addison’s on the far side of the hall, and I wave to her. She spots me and waves back, smiling as she hurries over to meet up with me.
I head for my locker, but a hand catches hold of my arm and spins me around.
Briar.
His blue eyes could have been chips of ice, his face carved from stone. His grip is so tight, I’m certain I couldn’t pull loose even if I wanted to.
I swallow down a cry of surprise, but I shouldn’t have bothered. A second later, he plants his lips on mine and kisses me with such fierce determination that my knees buckle. He slaps a hand on my back, keeping me up, and then breaks our kiss with an animalistic growl.
Sliding a hand over his mouth, he shoves me out of the way and strides down the hallway, stopping beside his locker like nothing’s happened.
The entire hallway comes to a stop. Everyone’s either staring at me or at Briar. I hear footsteps and whirl around, expecting a teacher, but instead one of Briar’s lackeys—the guy who always wears a white cap—is standing in front of me.
“Don’t mind if I do,” he says, grinning.
“What?” I manage, but in a voice that barely resembles my own.
The guy slides a hand around my waist and tugs me closer. I’m so shocked, I don’t even struggle when he ducks his head and kisses me.
What. The. Fuck?
“Indi!” Addison yells from the other side of the hall.
Yeah, fuck, Addy, no time to chat, girl. Apparently I’m a little fucking busy.
I shove against the guy’s chest, and he falls back with a laugh.
My heart’s in my throat. My legs are still shaky from the intense horse ride, and they threaten to deposit me on the floor any minute. All around me, the hall erupts into laughter.
What the fuck is happening?
“Yeah, me too!”
I turn to the sound of a voice, and a girl who’d been standing nearby grabs my face and kisses me. I shove her away, but a second later someone else grabs me and plants a kiss on my mouth. I’ve barely shoved the stranger away before a hand slides around my throat and I’m drawn back against a warm, hard body.
I catch sight of Briar. He’s standing by his locker, a few inches taller than most of the kids around him.
He looks like he’s about to commit murder. Shoving a kid aside, he surges through the crowd toward me.
But that’s all I see before the guy holding me spins me around, grabs my hair in a fist, and crushes his mouth against mine.
Another one of Briar’s friends, his BFF. But just as he forces his tongue in my mouth and I’m about to knee him in the groin, we’re torn apart.
Briar has his friend’s blazer in a fist, and from the snarl on his face, looks about to punch him in the face.
Addison is at my side the next second. She reaches behind me and I hear something tear free from my clothing. She holds up a note.
Kiss Me.
“I’m telling the principal,” she says, turning on Briar with such a look of fury, I wouldn’t be surprised if she punched him.
Briar shoves his friend away and steps up to Addy, his lip lifting into a sneer.
“Go ahead, Addison,” he rumbles. “Go tell the principal what I did.”
Addison goes as white as her school shirt, and makes a soft sound in the back of her throat. I step in front of her, my entire body stiff with anger.
How fucking dare he threaten my friend?
“Back off, loser,” I say through my teeth.
He glances down, dismisses me, and looks back at Addy.
Bad move, Briar. You should know better than to dismiss me, you smug prick.
But when I throw a punch, he catches it almost absently, without taking his eyes off Addison.
“You know what happens to snitches around here, Addy,” Briar says.
I look up at him, and my body goes ice-cold; all that hatred consumed by fear in an instant.
“We all know what you did, Briar,” Addy whispers. “We all know you?—”
“Then fucking prove it,” he growls, stepping closer to her. I’m sandwiched between them, and it’s only then that Briar seems to remember about me. He glances down at me and then does a double take. A slow, serpentine smile spreads over his lips. “But until you can, you keep your fucking mouths shut.”
“Or what?” I say, pushing back my shoulders.
Briar inches closer, but I put my hand on his chest and move Addy and myself back. My hand stays, and for some reason I can’t make myself take it off him. If Briar notices, he doesn’t seem to care. Instead, those blue eyes spear through me, eating into my soul.
“Or you might become Lavish’s next fallen angel,” he murmurs. A dark light fills his eyes as he reaches up and grabs my wrist, pulling my hand away from his chest.
The bell rings, signaling the start of the next period. But nobody moves.
Fallen angel?
No…Angel Falls .
Behind me, Addison chokes. Her warmth disappears as she steps away. My mind scrambles. I thought Addison was accusing Briar of rape or something but now…? Could she honestly believe he had a hand in Jessica’s death? Why? Because she’d rat him out? He’d probably be sentenced to a year or two in juvie, if anything, and that’s if his parents didn’t throw enough money on the situation to make it disappear.
But what if he didn’t realize that at the time? Briar hasn’t exactly proven himself to be a calm, rational human being. He’s aggressive, impulsive, passionate.
What if…?
“You did it,” I whisper, disbelief dripping from each word. “You killed her.”
Briar’s smile drops away. “If you’re so convinced, then it’s best you stop tangling with me.”
He steps back, glaring at me as if to impress that last threat on my mind, and then heads for his locker.
Around me, students start moving again. A quiet hush fills the air as I make my way to my locker, by hand throbbing like I had it under too-hot water.
Briar might think he’s invincible, but I felt his heart under my palm.
It was racing.
Not with anger…but with fear.