13. Thirteen #3
His eyes flared, then his instincts must have kicked in.
Mitchell might not be Cole’s size, but he was still a varsity athlete and a hockey bruiser, so it was all I could do to plant my feet and stay standing when he body-checked me out of his way, running full-tilt into the woods.
I recovered as quickly as I could and took off after him.
I ran mindlessly. My only goal: get that shithead’s phone and smash it to pieces.
Trees and branches whipped past me, scratching and cutting at my bare arms and chest. If our roles had been reversed, I’d have got to nut, and Xavi would have been the one chasing Mitchell.
And he would have caught him, easily. But my lack of athleticism and too much weed left me out of breath after only a few minutes.
Add in my bare feet, now torn to shreds from the rocks and pine needles that layered the forest floor, and of course I failed.
I stopped to catch my breath, chest heaving and doubled over, searching for any signs of Mitchell.
Only, there was nothing but a black wall of trees surrounding me.
I couldn’t even hear Xav or Birdie anymore.
As I fought for breath, I hoped they hadn’t seen me. I also hoped that, somewhere in the dark woods, Mitchell Greer tripped and broke both his nose and his phone in one go.
It took a few minutes to get my bearings–and okay, possibly, also for me to breathe normally.
That meant stumbling around in the dark while semi-hyperventilating until I nearly walked face-first into the back wall of the library.
From there, it was easy to orient myself and get back to one of the main paths.
My bed should have been calling. It was nearly sunrise, but my mind was racing again, trying to piece Mitchell into the bizarre puzzle of the last week.
He’d always been a gold-star creep, but I’d never known him to do something unless it benefitted him or made for good gossip.
Aside from helping him get his rocks off, I couldn’t see how tonight’s events did either.
I was tired and my mind was struggling to see beyond the individual players, Mitchell, Xavier, and Birdie.
I needed to bounce ideas off someone, preferably someone who wasn’t completely exhausted.
It was what I did with other coders during more complicated hacks.
Two heads were better than one. Which was how I ended up on Cole’s doorstep.
The small cabin was in total darkness. There were no lights or sounds except the irregular chirping of a forest at night as I sat down to collect my thoughts.
I needed to get the words straight in my own head before waking Cole up with what I was sure would sound like yet another crazy ramble from me.
Ass-down on Cole’s little porch, I propped my elbows on my knees, rested my forehead against my palms, and shut my eyes so I could focus.
The next thing I knew, there was a dull tap against my stomach. Then another, a little harder than the first. Then there were hands on my shoulders jostling me and a deep voice grumbling, “Wake up, you dickhead. Wake. Up.”
For a second I wondered what the fuck Cole was doing in my cabin.
Except, shitty as the camp-provided mattresses were, none of them were as hard as whatever I was lying on.
Slowly, I blinked my eyes open, and recollections of the night before came flooding back, reminding me exactly what led me to falling asleep at Cole Michaels’ door and waking him up with him standing over me.
“What are you doing here?” He asked.
I tried, unsuccessfully, to lick the sleep from my teeth. I felt halfway between hungover and strung out. No wonder my father’s music had turned to shit if this was how he felt all the time.
“I came to suck your dick, obviously,” I joked, tossing my arms out haphazardly in his direction. Watching him blanch was worth the extra kick in the ribs it earned me.
“Seriously, Grace…” he paused to look me up and down, in my now dry and day-old boxers and not much else, “You look like hell. What’s going on?”
I hated the way his forehead scrunched as he surveyed me, but it wasn’t like anyone else would be interested in what I had to say, so I dusted myself off, sat upright, and patted the little stoop beside me.
“Grab a seat, Cole. I think you’re going to need it.”
I explained everything. About seeing Toni and Xav together like that.
It made Cole’s shoulders bunch. Then, about Mitchell, and about chasing him through the woods, only to end up alone and completely confused.
When I was done, we sat side by side in a strange silence.
Cole’s face looked mutinous, and his fingers were curled into his palms, fists ready to fly at the slightest provocation, so I kept quiet.
I’d already been punched in the face by Cole Michaels enough times in my life to forego the experience this time around.
After a minute or two, he stood up and dusted himself off.
“Let me deal with Mitchell.”
“And me?”
“Xavi,” he answered, ready to head down the narrow path towards the camp road.
“Reluctant allies?” I asked before he got more than a step, extending a closed fist towards him. The old familiar movement was like a default setting I’d never managed to update.
Cole sighed, “Something like that…” and knocked his knuckles on mine.