33. Fire in the Hole
Fire in the Hole
Harper
The bonfire is a small pep rally, except instead of me sitting as far away from the action as possible, I’m front and center, next to Zach. The guys sit as the other girls on the Homecoming Court do a cheer for the student body.
The principal sits on the other side of the podium. I’m the last one on this side. I keep my hands in the front pocket of the sweatshirt. My fist clenched around the bar waiting there for me.
“How’s your first bonfire going?” Zach asks like we’re friendly.
“I thought there’d be more fire.”
The pile of wood sits there just waiting. Apparently, they do that part after the pep rally. At least that’s what Jack told me when we walked up and there was just a pile of wood.
Jack stands with the other football players to the side of the stage. I’m not sure if that’s where the principal told them to stand or where Jack decided to stand. Either way, I’m grateful because he’s right there, and the guys are on the other side of Zach.
This is the easy part. I’m also hoping it’s the only time I have to be around Zach tonight. After all, once this part is done, we’re no longer obligated to hang out together.
I don’t know what will happen with the Cheermonsters tonight. Sidney has clung to Luke’s arm, while Ashley and Eli, and Caden and Emma look friendlier than normal, but just friends.
Hannah is with them currently, cheering. When their routine ends, the girls cheer and tumble off the area between the bonfire and our stage. The three walk up onto the stage, smiling and waving to the cheering crowd.
How did they ever think that anyone would believe I got nominated fairly?
They’re all in their cute cheerleading uniforms as they sit next to my boyfriends.
“They make cute couples,” Zach leans in to say to me softly, while everyone gets settled for the coach to make a speech. “We could have been a cute couple. I did say I would have taken you out.”
“You mean after I let you rape me?” I cock my head to the side as his grin grows.
“If you’d been a good girl and come out and taken it.” His smile must look flirtatious to everyone else, but to me it’s predatory.
“My boyfriends had already taken what you wanted anyway.” I look out into the crowd, and Kenz gives me a reassuring smile. Brandon is over with the rest of the football players.
Zach’s fingers brush the outside of my knee. I draw my legs away from him and glare. He chuckles.
“You underestimate me, darling.” Zach leans back in his chair and looks me over. “Maybe I just want a taste of what everyone else has.”
“Only my boyfriends.” I shake my head. “And they’re all I want.”
The coach is going on about tomorrow night’s game and firing up the football players, drowning out what Zach is saying to me, for which I’m grateful because I don’t know that the guys would keep their cool if they were to hear it.
“It’s a shame really. Normally they fuck a girl, and then she’s fair game. What makes you so special, Harper Davidson? Virgin? They’ve had virgins before. From what I’ve heard, you’d never even had a boyfriend before. Is that it? Did they get to take all your firsts, darling?”
“Stop calling me darling, and it’s none of your business.”
Everyone claps, and we stand. He holds his arm out for me and gives me a look, daring me to take it. I roll my eyes but slide my hand into the crook of his arm.
One more night to get through with this asshole. One more.
Caden
As soon as we’re down off the stage, I take Emma’s hand off my arm and send her in Eli’s direction. Then I turn on Zach and Harper. He talked to her the whole time, but I couldn’t hear them.
If he’s trying to piss me off, he’s succeeding.
Harper stopped holding his arm as soon as they were offstage. Now she walks to stand next to me. I take her hand in mine and squeeze it. But my eyes never leave Zach’s cold ones.
Zach shakes his head with a smug smile before turning and heading around the stack of wood to where his friends are gathered. They greet him like a returning warrior. I hate that fucker.
I’m ready to end him, but we’re still gathering the evidence we need.
Eli’s off to the side, talking with Ashley and Emma. Sidney watches Luke with a frown on her face as he crosses to us. She walks over to where the other cheerleaders are. Luke arrives at the same time Jack does.
“What did he talk to you about?” Luke tips up Harper’s chin and searches her face like he can read the transcript there.
“Nothing worth repeating. Same shit.” Harper blows out a breath and leans into my arm. Luke lets his hand drop, but he wants more. I don’t think she’s going to give it to him. We’re all fed up with that prick.
“So now do they light the fire?” she asks. Her gaze goes to the pile of wood.
I smirk. Jack chuckles, and even Luke has a hint of a smile on his face. None of us told her because we wanted to see her reaction.
“What?” She tilts her head and looks at each of us.
“The bonfire is a tradition.” I lead her over to one of the picnic tables set up on the outer circle. I climb up to sit on the table with my feet on the bench and draw her to sit between my knees. Students walk around talking to each other or heading over to the fair across the parking lot.
She turns and waits for me to finish. Yeah, I’m not telling her.
“They aren’t allowed to have an open fire on school property with students present.” Eli joins us and ruins my fun. “Too much of a hazard.”
I wanted to keep her guessing until the end of the night.
“What do they do with the wood?” She glances at the huge pile.
“Put it back where they got it?” Jack shrugs and sits next to my leg. “You haven’t missed much, sweetheart. Just a pile of logs and a bunch of drunk teenagers.”
Eli sits on my other side. Luke narrows his gaze, realizing he missed out on sitting next to Harper. I give him a shrug. He’s the possessive bastard that always seems to have her in his arms. He can learn to share more.
Harper rests her head against my knee. Luke lets out a gruff noise and sits on the table on the other side of Jack.
“I wish Nico were here.” Her words are soft.
Jack takes her hand. “He probably does too, sweetheart. It’s better for him to rest than to potentially reinjure himself by being here. Who knows what sort of trouble will happen once the adults leave?”
Harper’s eyes widen and Jack chuckles.
This is our last year. Our last Homecoming. It’s Harper’s first everything, and we get to share that with her, but Zach’s threats overshadow that. They loom over us, along with all the other bullshit.
But right here, right now, I want to remember this moment. Sitting beside the unlit bonfire with my girl and my friends, minus Nico. I wish he could be here and experience this with us. But that’s Zach’s fault.
Fuck Zach. I’m going to enjoy this.
For this moment, we can just be teens. People come up and hang with us for a little bit before wandering off. Luke gets us some sodas and Harper some cotton candy. She offers each of us a piece that we eat out of her fingers. Sucking on the sweet sugar and Harper.
The night is winding down. When the adults leave, the party mood shifts from sweet and innocent to a full-blown party. Someone turns on music, playing it on small speakers that fill the space. The lights of the parking lot and carnival are in the distance.
It would be fantastic to have an actual bonfire and let it light up the night.
Harper shivers.
“Cold?” I put my hand on her chilled cheek, and she leans into my touch.
“A little.”
If I didn’t think it would have been more of a hazard than good, I would have let her wear my letterman’s jacket. But it swallowed her whole, and if she needed to get away from someone, it could have been used against her.
“Should we head out?” I look at Eli, Jack, and Luke.
“We do have school in the morning.” Jack picks up Harper’s hand and kisses her knuckles. Yeah, that fucker just wants to get home so she’s safely tucked in his bed. Not that I blame him.
I can’t wait for the weekend when she’s in my bed with all of us. We should have another game to keep our minds off the impending doom. Fuck, tomorrow night or the night of the dance is when Zach will strike.
Ashley walks toward us with Emma and Hannah in tow. They’ve mostly avoided us tonight. She glances over her shoulder at where Zach sits on a picnic table just like me, but with Sidney between his legs.
Sidney smiles up at him, but his attention is on Harper. When he notices me glaring at him. He winks.
“Is something burning?” Harper asks.
The pile of wood bursts into flames.
Some girls scream, and then it’s chaos as people move away from the fire. Ashley turns and directs Hannah and Emma to help those too drunk to move away from the fire. I grab Harper into my arms and slide off the other side of the table.
Unlike the rest of the students, I don’t run.
Now that Harper is safe from the flames, I study the other students to see who’s hanging around. Who isn’t concerned.
“We should go help.” Harper tugs at my sleeve.
“No, little nympho. You stay with me.”
Zach’s table is empty, but he’s standing on the other side like I am. He smirks as my eyes meet his. Did he do this? For what purpose?
The distant sirens of fire trucks roar to life. Adults who were hanging out at the fair hurry our way. Eli helps a girl who fell to get back up. She stumbles a little, and he wraps her arm around his neck to get her to safety.
The ground isn’t prepared for a fire of this magnitude. The wood was stacked on dirt, but it’s been dry and the grass nearby is definitely a fire hazard. One spark could cause an even bigger problem. Jack helps a guy who had a little too much to drink.
Luke’s making sure no one else is caught where the flames might do damage.
Harper trembles against me. The chaos has died down, and the vice principal walks over to where I stand.
“What happened?” she asks. Vice Principal Tanya Adams looks over the remaining scene. The flames reach into the sky and most of the students are in the parking lot, having been shepherded there by Luke, Eli, and Jack or the cheerleaders.
“Not sure. It wasn’t us.” I draw Harper closer and turn to meet Ms. Adams’ gaze.
If we’d done it, we wouldn’t admit to it, but we also wouldn’t completely deny responsibility.
I can smell the fumes of an accelerant coming off the blaze.
“We do a lot of things, but we don’t do shit that would hurt people. ”
She nods thoughtfully. Her gaze goes across the fire. Of all the adults at the school, she seems the most in tune with the student body.
“You have issues with Gray?”
I haven’t taken my gaze off Zach. He’s still smirking with his arms crossed, enjoying the fire.
“He’s made some threats.” I shrug. “Nothing major.”
What I don’t need is an overzealous administrator to take him out of the game before he makes his move. He does seem really smug. What’s that about?
“Did you see anything?” she asks, because she has to. We won’t tell her anything, but it’s part of her job to ask.
“No, ma’am.”
She sighs. “I’m going to see if anyone else did.”
She glances at the crowd in the parking lot. “Thank your friends for their quick thinking.”
I nod and she walks over to where Zach stands. His mask falls into place as he talks to her. No one would suspect he did a thing.
“Do you think this was a trap to see what would happen if something went wrong?” Harper’s voice is thoughtful.
“Maybe.” I glance over at the guys. Normally, I’d be with them, securing everyone else’s safety, but my hands were on Harper. She was my only responsibility. Is that what Zach wanted to find out?
Sidney comes to stand next to me. “Careful, Caden. Someone might think you have a thing for my boyfriend.”
I turn to her. “Do you have a thing for your boyfriend?”
She huffs out a laugh and then wanders over to the other cheerleaders. It looks like she’s making sure she has everyone there. But her gaze flicks over to where Luke stands.
She has to know that’s never going to happen by now. I heard the recording. He made it clear. It’s on her if she keeps pursuing him.
I keep Harper with me as we move to where the guys stand a little distance away from the other students. Kenz is on the side closest to us, and Brandon has his arms wrapped around her.
They aren’t close enough to hear us, but Kenz smiles and waves at Harper. Harper returns her wave.
“What the fuck was the point of that?” Jack shakes his head. “Someone could have been hurt.”
“Harper has a theory that they wanted to watch what we did.”
Eli nods. “Not a bad thought. Testing to see if we’ll leave her or have her help in a crisis? Leaving her exposed.”
Luke exhales. “Fuck.”
“This is good though.” I run my hands down Harper’s arms. “If this is what they expect, we can change our game.”
“If people might get hurt...” Jack looks at the crowd of students.
“We make sure we have other people to help.” Luke steps forward. “The people we’ve always asked before. They’re waiting for new orders, so let’s give them some.”
“If it’s during the game?” Eli looks at Jack.
“I can make sure Coach Turner keeps an eye out for Harper, but there are no guarantees.” Jack takes Harper’s hand.
“We can ask Ashley.” Eli runs his hand through his hair.
“Is that smart?” Harper asks. “What is she going to want in return?”
Eli gives her a smile. “Now you’re thinking like a horseman, kitten.”
She arches an eyebrow, still waiting for him to give her an answer.
“If what I set up works out for her, she’ll need more eventually.” Eli shrugs. “Jack, can you give me all your info on Wilder? Right now, he’s doing it for whatever reason he has, but if I need to force his hand, I need some ammunition.”
“I’ll see what I have in his file.” Jack makes a note on his phone.
“Send me Ashley’s file too.” Eli sighs. “Better to know in case something bounces back at us.”
The fire truck pulls into the lot, and they’re quick to get the hose attached and begin to put out the fire. Another thought of what they might be testing runs through my mind.
“What if they’re checking timing?” I glance at Luke, who has his eyes on the firetruck. “It took them a while to get here. They weren’t on site because there wasn’t supposed to be an actual fire.”
Harper shivers again in my arms, but I don’t think it’s the cold. We need more information about whatever Zach is planning. It’s time to escalate our war with the queen bee and see if she spills his secrets.
Though, if he’s smart, he won’t have told her anything.
Luke steps in front of us and cups Harper’s jaw. “We’ll do what it takes to keep you safe, princess.”
A determined look lights up her dark eyes. The light of the bonfire is slowly dying as the firefighters put it out. She’s our first priority. We can’t let Zach lay a finger on her.