EIGHT
DANTE
After she stormed out, I sat there in stunned silence. I couldn’t believe what I’d let slip—what I fucking admitted to her.
No one knows about my grandmother’s inhumane ultimatums and her tight leash, not even Phoenix after my failed attempt to tell him—though, I think he might suspect. His dad is a therapist. If he found out, he’d have CPS all over Grandma’s ass, but she’s still the one in control of the money. I don’t want anyone to know how messed up my life has become.
This whole weekend is going to shit.
When I blinked out of my stupor, Willow was long gone. I needed to get back, or I was in danger of wrecking the cabin to take out the frustration simmering beneath my skin. I got myself together and headed out.
At the last second, I grabbed the note she left behind.
Every trudging step I took back to the party made my teeth grind. I’m pissed off and questioning everything that just went down.
Now I’m standing three people down in front of the bonfire, roasting fucking marshmallows. All I want to do is go over to her and pull her back into the shadows with me. The note sits in my coat pocket, crinkling every time I move to remind me it’s there.
The rush of protectiveness I felt for her when I read the message has me off-kilter. I can’t get it out of my head. I don’t like what it said, or the feeling it gives me like I need to find out who the hell sent it and make them pay.
I didn’t leave Willow that stalker note, or any others. She believes I’m behind them. I get her reasoning—we’re constantly at odds with each other and messing with her is what I do best. But these aren’t from me.
So who?
My suspicious gaze moves around the party. If she gets them at school, it could be anyone here this weekend. Her creeper could be among us right now, watching her without her knowing where they’re lurking. I dismiss half of the potential suspects right away, including Phoenix and Luna.
I look at Lowell. He’s one of my best friends and I know he was annoyed with Willow for getting us suspended. Easton and Ryder talk shit about her, too. My head tilts, attention darting between them and the direction of their gazes. Eliana. They’re too absorbed in their beef with her to bother with Willow.
Lips sliding together in uncertainty, I come to a dead end on ideas of who could be behind it.
Like a magnet, my eyes are drawn to her. Her hair hides most of the evidence of what went down between us, but in the firelight I can make out the hint of the hickeys I left on her throat. The scratches she left on my body tingle. Her tentative smile falls as soon as our gazes collide.
Whatever. Let her deal with her own shit. I need to forget about her.
Even if the sounds she makes when she comes and the feel of her body against mine are now seared into my mind forever.
The fleeting thought that we could have what we did in the cabin was just me thinking with my dick. It could never really work.
I grit my teeth and glare into the flames.
My grandmother is right about me. I’m a worthless fuck up.
A hand slams down on my shoulder and squeezes, jolting me out of my dark thoughts. “Man, you need a drink. You’re bringing down the mood. It’s Halloween. Have some fucking fun.”
Lowell smirks at me and offers the bottle of whiskey we shared earlier. It’s nearly empty. I swipe it and tip my head back with a deep pull from the bottle that finishes off the remaining alcohol. Phoenix and Easton chuckle from their spots on a bench made of hay bales behind us. Ryder hollers like the heathen he is.
“That’s what I’m talking about,”
he cheers.
I ignore the smooth burn and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, then chuck the bottle into the fire. It makes a satisfying sound when it breaks.
“Where’d you go, Dante?”
Eliana asks.
Lowell and Ryder both stiffen beside me at her sultry tone. She shoots them a glance and steps into me, putting a manicured hand on my chest beneath my coat.
“I was in the woods.”
She pouts. It accentuates her plush lips and the fake blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. “You missed my big win. I got voted best costume.”
“People just like looking at your legs in your cheer uniform,”
Lowell says. “Undead vampy cheerleader isn’t the best costume here tonight.”
Eliana glares at him. A beat later, her features relax into a smug, bitchy expression.
“Look all you want.”
She holds his gaze, then flicks her attention to include Ryder and Easton. It’s not clear whether she’s talking to one of them or all three of them. “You’ll never know what they feel like wrapped around your waist.”
A muscle jumps in Lowell’s jaw when he clenches it and balls his fists.
I take her in with a sweeping look. All she did was powder her face and use makeup to pull off the vampire cheerleader look. It’s not original. Willow’s sexy velvet bodice beats this out hands down, even if her outfit is shredded from chasing her through the woods.
Annoyance surges through me. I need to stop thinking about my goth girl.
“It’s classic,”
I lie, almost believing that I care.
“See. Thank you.”
Eliana fluffs her hair.
“He doesn’t want you, El. None of us do. Stop being so fucking desperate all the time. You keep throwing yourself at us, but we’re not biting.”
Her eyes shine at Lowell’s caustic tone. His scowl remains locked on her, but he addresses me. “How was the freak show?”
My shoulders tense at the nickname I started. A pit burns in my stomach. It takes effort to keep my feet planted on the ground.
They know about the prank I set up, but they don’t know how far I deviated from the plan.
“A real scream queen,”
I mutter. “When the roaches scattered from the box, it scared her real good. Her shrieks echoed off the treetops. Hitchcock would be proud.”
Lowell chuckles, keeping his unwavering attention on Eliana for her reaction. “No, I mean when you fucked her.”
The chatter of the party dies around us. The stares of everyone are heavy.
“We walked by the cabin you were in earlier and heard her.”
Lowell gives Eliana a savage grin. “I like a screamer, maybe I’ll fuck her next.”
She flashes him a hurt look.
I move before I’m aware of what I’m doing. With a growl, my fist smashes into Lowell’s face. All the pent up frustration pours out of me as I deck him again.
Shouts and tugs on my shoulders barely register.
“Jesus! Enough!”
Phoenix catches my arm before I throw another punch and locks it behind me. “You good?”
Panting, I swing a glare around. Ryder stands between us with a complicated expression. Eliana and Easton are on either side of Lowell, holding him back. For all she was bitching at him before, she cups his face, touching the split lip I gave him. He jerks his head to get her off and grumbles something to her that makes her hunch in on herself and stride away.
Gritting my teeth, I nod. “I’m good.”
“What is up with you lately?”
Phoenix asks.
“Nothing.”
The red haze fades away when he lets me go. I scrub my face, my knuckles stinging. I examine them with a grimace. The skin isn’t cracked, but they’re red. Probably will be bruised by morning. Great.
Lifting my head, I find Willow watching, her brows pinched. A squirming feeling moves through my chest, and my heart gives a faint tug when she follows Luna to the other side of the bonfire.
“Here.”
Phoenix hands me another skewer with a fresh jumbo marshmallow. After a few minutes of me brooding, he sighs. “All that talk about making this the most epic weekend ever, and you’re sulking? Come on, man, you’ve been looking forward to this party for months. You know what my dad would say.”
I hold up a hand. “Don’t, dude. Don’t psychoanalyze me by proxy. I tried therapy. Didn’t help.”
I tap my temple with sharp jabs. “Couldn’t unscramble this mess.”
“That’s because you have to actually find one you’re comfortable talking to. They can’t do shit for you if you just sit there glaring for an hour every time.”
It would take way more than a professional to unload the shit weighing on me.
“Thanks, Dr. Phil.”
He lifts his palms in surrender. “Just what my dad says.”
“What does he say about your repressed love for your best friend?”
Phoenix gapes at me like he doesn’t have a goddamn clue what I’m talking about. Damn, my brother is a hopeless case.
“Twenty bucks says he doesn’t figure it out for another six months,”
I say to the people hanging around us.
He casts a confused glance around until it lands on Luna and the guy she’s spending her night with.
I laugh and one of our other friends elbows me. I feel lighter until my gaze shifts to Willow. The amusement dies off. Everything comes rushing back.
Phoenix and Luna will get the happy ending eventually, but not me.
“Screw this.”
I toss the new marshmallow in the fire and watch it burn. “I need to go smoke a joint. I have it in my cabin. P, you coming?”
Phoenix tears his mercurial gaze from Luna standing at the other end of the bonfire. She’s roasting another marshmallow and laughing with that meathead, Chad.
He takes a reluctant step away from the fire to follow me, but he goes rigid when he looks back at Luna. The guy grabs her ass and she’s laughing with her hands nudging at his chest.
“Not coming,”
he mutters before changing directions.
Jealousy ignites inside me. My friend gets to be a white knight, but not me. I’m the opposite, the asshole who is only good for tearing a girl like Willow down. No matter how perfect we could’ve been together.
Working my jaw, I stalk into the darkness by myself.