16. Maddox
MADDOX
The engine was already running when I got in the truck, the low rumble vibrating through the floorboards like it was impatient with me and had been waiting too long.
So was Mason.
I shut the door harder than necessary and stared out at the night stretching beyond the windshield, at the ribbon of road and everything that came with Raven Night. Chaos dressed up in pretty masks and bad decisions, but my mind was elsewhere, stuck on earlier today.
What had I been thinking?
Suddenly, I was standing in the hallway sucking her finger like I was a damn vampire craving her blood.
Oddly enough, the look in her eyes had my dick hard.
Even now, thinking about it, remembering the way she’d gone completely still, the way her breath had caught and held, the way her pupils had blown wide, that part of me strained in my pants.
And God, the taste of her. I hadn’t expected her skin to be so sweet; she was like my personal aphrodisiac.
I needed to get rid of the taste of her. I needed to get drunk. Quickly.
Mason pulled out of the driveway, the tires crunching over gravel. “Are you going to be moody all fucking night?” he asked, shooting me a sideways glance, one hand draped casually over the steering wheel. “You’re starting to act like Kreed.”
“Just drive,” I muttered, rubbing a hand over the tension gathered at the back of my neck. The sooner we got there, the sooner I could get this night over with. The sooner I could lose myself in a bottle of booze and maybe stop thinking about her for five fucking minutes.
When the hell had my thoughts shifted from Kaylor to Hales? It seemed so seamless. I couldn’t pinpoint when the shift started. She was just suddenly inside my head, taking up way too much space.
“I will if you tell me what’s up your butt.” Mason accelerated, the Jeep picking up speed as we hit the main road. “Tonight is our night. It’s always been our night. And you’re sitting there looking like someone cut off your balls.”
I barely heard him. My head was stuck in that hallway, still feeling the softness of the little brat’s finger against my lips, the way her pulse had jumped beneath my thumb. “The fucking rose,” I mumbled, the words coming out rough and disconnected.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Mason’s brow furrowed, confusion bleeding into irritation.
“Someone gave her a rose. A black one. They left it in her locker with another note,” I explained.
“I’m assuming we’re talking about Freckles.” He glanced at me, then back at the road, his expression shifting from confused to amused. “Okay. And that’s bad, why?”
Because it meant someone else was watching her. Someone else was thinking about her, writing to her, leaving her gifts. Someone else was—
“Just forget it,” I grumbled, cutting any further thoughts before they finished forming. “The sooner I get a drink, the sooner I can get her out of my head.”
“I’m still trying to figure out what you’re even mad about. But…I can’t think of a better night than Raven Night to at least test the waters.”
I groaned, letting my head fall back against the seat. “Why don’t you sleep with her since you seem so hung up on this idea?” I regretted the words the second they left my mouth, knowing Mason would see it as a challenge, a game.
He grinned, absolutely fucking delighted. “Maybe I will.”
I had no reason to feel anything. No reason to care or to be jealous.
She was just a girl, and she wasn’t mine.
Not even close. So why did the idea of Mason’s lips on hers light something hot and ugly in my chest?
Why did the image of his hands on her waist, her body pressed against his instead of mine, make my fingers want to curl into fists and hit him?
The road stretched ahead of us, dark and empty, trees pressing in from both sides, leading us straight to a church, and for the first time in a long time, maybe ever, I had an uneasy feeling about tonight.
Maybe it was because this was the first party Kreed wouldn’t be with us. If he knew, he’d be pissed.
The church was already packed when I walked in. Music pulsed through stone walls, shaking the cobwebs and dust clinging to the vaulted rafters above. The place was in desperate need of a deep clean, but it would take more than a hose to scrub the grime from the walls.
Let the Raven Night chaos commence.
I grabbed a bottle of beer from someone I didn’t recognize, their mask covering everything but their mouth.
I avoided the colored Solo cups, not in the mood to play roulette with booze and drugs tonight.
Keeping to the far side of the main room, I leaned against a cracked pillar that had probably held up this building for a hundred years, my eyes scanning the crowd out of habit more than interest.
Then I saw her.
She was at the door with Torin, silhouetted against the entrance where the basket of phones sat on the table beside him, already half full. We were strict about the no-phone rule since sophomore year. Kreed’s order.
“Phone?” Torin said, holding out his hand expectantly, his raven mask gleaming black under the single bulb above the door.
She blinked, and those eyes, even from across the room, I saw them contemplating, flicking to the basket and back up to him. A frown pulled at her mouth, confusion and suspicion warring across her expression. “You want my phone?”
I didn’t need to see under the mask to know who she was.
Torin smirked, tilting his head as his gaze roamed over Hales’s body. “Those are the rules. If you want in, sweet cheeks, you leave all devices at the door.”
I stood a bit straighter against the pillar. If his eyes didn’t move back to her face, I might very well blacken them before I even finished my first drink.
“Seems a bit extreme.” Her fingers curled around her phone.
“So is this party. The whole point of this night is to protect our privacy.” He tapped the side of his mask with one finger. “No evidence. No witnesses. No consequences. You in or out?”
She turned her phone over in her hand, hesitating. The screen caught the light for a second, illuminating her face from below before she dropped it into the basket with the others, the curve of her downturned lips magnifying.
The intricate black lace mask framed her eyes perfectly, tied with a silk ribbon behind waves of dark hair cascading down her back.
Her plump lips pressed together as she stepped inside and glanced around the room.
Her eyes grew wide and curious…untouched by what this place could do to someone.
This wouldn’t be the first party I’d want my daughter to attend, and everything about Mallory Hales oozed innocence, making her not just rare and desired but easy prey.
I stayed where I was, half-hidden behind the pillar, watching as I pressed the bottle to my lips, taking a long drink.
She moved through the crowd like she wasn’t sure where she was supposed to stand, her fingers fidgeting at her sides before she crossed her arms, then uncrossed them.
Heat coiled hot and uncomfortable beneath my ribs.
I told myself it was irritation.
It wasn’t.
“Fuck,” I mumbled under my breath. When the hell did I grow a conscience?
It wasn’t like me to give two shits about some girl I hardly knew.
If anything, I should be contemplating ways to torment her instead of protecting her.
What I wanted to do was toss her ass in the little black dress over my shoulder and haul her straight back out the front door before Mason spotted her.
Hell, before any of the guys noticed her standing there looking so lost and out of place.
I wasn’t even aware my feet were moving, carrying me across the room until I came up behind her and got a whiff of her shampoo through the smoke and sweat. “You want a drink?”
She spun fast, startled at my voice, one hand coming up instinctively before recognition dawned across her features despite my mask. “I’m not much of a drinker.”
“Then why are you here?” I’d told myself I’d keep my distance tonight. That I wouldn’t babysit and would let her figure this out on her own, sink or swim, her choice and her consequences, but standing here and seeing her completely out of her depth—
I didn’t trust this place with her.
Everything about this night was discord and bad decisions waiting to happen. Wrong choices wrapped in pretty masks.
When did I become so soft?
I blamed Kaylor. She changed me, and I wasn’t sure I liked this new version of myself.
“Maybe I wanted to see you,” she said, meeting my gaze without flinching.
Bold. And stupid. “That’s your third mistake.”
“Third?” she asked, her head tilting slightly, curiosity sparking in her eyes. “What were the first two?”
“Being my lab partner. And showing up tonight.”
“Is scaring girls something you enjoy in your free time?” A small smile played at the corner of her mouth.
“Among other things.” I took a sip of my drink, busying myself so I didn’t reach for her.
Hales fingers brushed the edge of her mask, adjusting it slightly where it pressed against her temple. “Are these really necessary?”
“It’s Raven Night.”
“Is that supposed to mean something?” She looked around the room again.
“Yeah,” I said, following her gaze. “Trouble. You should go home while you still can. Call Paisley. Get out.”
“Am I in trouble?” She glanced back at me, wisps of dark lashes fanning as she blinked.
“Not yet.” But you will be if you stay.
She studied me for a long second, and I felt exposed despite the mask covering half my face. “I trust you.”
“You shouldn’t,” I replied, holding her gaze. “I’m serious. I’m not a nice guy. Not here. Not tonight.”
“Good thing I’m not looking for a nice guy.” Her chin lifted defiantly.
“You don’t know what you want.”
“I know you won’t let anything happen to me.” She said it with such certainty, grabbing the beer dangling between my fingers and taking a sip.
Her action wasn’t lost on me. She had deliberately drunk from my bottle to demonstrate her trust. Foolish. “And why would you think that?”