Present
“FUCK!” DAMON GROWLED. “I thought you checked her, man!”
“Just get in the kitchen!” Kai barked. “Goddamn it.”
I stood on the upstairs landing, my arms crossed over my chest and my white mask sitting on the small table next me. I looked out the window over the large lawn, watching the small wooden building buried in the trees.
She was there.
I knew she wouldn’t go far. Rika was a smart girl. She was scared and in survival mode, but she wasn’t stupid.
After she’d fled, we’d grabbed Damon off the floor and sat him on a chair. I’d raised the shutters to let in the moonlight again, and then I’d gone upstairs to watch her run.
She’d scurried and fled, disappearing into the trees, but she didn’t leave. There was nothing but cliffs back there and then a huge drop to a beach on the Atlantic Fucking Ocean. She was barefoot, cold, alone, and without a cell phone.
What was she going to do?
And right about now, she was just realizing that.
“I’m going to go get her.” Kai came up to my side, breathing hard.
But I shook my head. “Just leave her. She has nowhere to go.”
“She’d be crazy to come back here!” he burst out. “After we just terrorized her like that?”
“Calm down,” I bit out. “I know her better than you do.”
I could see him shaking his head out of the corner of my eye.
He lowered his voice, but it was still thick with anger. “Michael, she could make it to a phone,” he pointed out, “She could call a friend and eventually get a hold of your mother or father for all we know. The money isn’t a big enough incentive for her to be pliant. We underestimated her.”
I inhaled an aggravated breath and reached behind my head, pulling off my sweatshirt and T-shirt and dropping them to the floor. A layer of sweat covered my back.
“If she doesn’t come back,” I replied, “then keeping the money will have to be big enough incentive for you and the others to accept that we’ve lost. We agreed that she had to agree to this.”
I stared out the window, my heart creeping into my throat and my body growing hotter.
Don’t come back, Rika. I knew she wouldn’t run far, but I wanted her to. I’d fucked up. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.
We were going to make her ours. That was the plan. We’d make her feel what they felt when she destroyed their lives and tore us all apart. She’d be alone and have no control. We’d make her suffer.
But as soon as Damon jumped on her, I was on his back, prying him off.
I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t let them have her.
And then when she stabbed him and ran, I let her go, even knowing she wouldn’t really have any place to go. I knew she would realize there was no other way out of this and that was simply the end of round one.
But I held out a small hope that she’d evade us. She’d make it off the property or hide or something until I figured shit out. There was no way I was going to be able to go through with this. She was mine.
“She’ll be back,” I told him.
“How can you be so sure?”
I peered over at him. “Because she can’t say no to a challenge.” And I turned back, looking out the window. “Just go see how bad Damon is hurt.”
He hesitated a moment as if weighing his options and then walked off.
“Son of a bitch!” Damon howled from downstairs, and I heard a crash of dishes.
I didn’t bother holding back my small grin. I couldn’t believe she’d hidden a weapon on us. I was glad we’d given her the dagger, after all.
I closed my eyes and ran my hand over the top of my head. What the hell was I going to do?
How was I going to stop them?
Twisting around, I jogged down the stairs, spotting drops of Damon’s blood on the floor as I walked past, heading toward the kitchen.
“Nothing you take from me will come easily!” a high-pitch shout raged through the
house, and I stopped, recognizing Rika’s voice.
It sounded staticky and distant.
“I won’t come all the way out there to get you,” I heard Will growl as I stood just outside the kitchen.
I clenched my fists. The intercom. He’d found her.
Every room in the house, including the garden shed, had an intercom. He must’ve figured out the same as me. She didn’t have anywhere else to run.
“Oh, yes, you will!” she snarled back, challenging him. “You’re the pack’s dog. Come fetch, little dog!”
I couldn’t help the curl of my lips. Good girl.
“You stupid fucking bitch!” Will barked. It was clear he was frustrated. Will never got mean.
Until he did.
But then another voice came in, smooth and threatening. “I’ll come to get you,” Damon chimed in. “And I’ll want my blood back.”
I ground my teeth together.
Stepping into the kitchen, I saw Kai opening and closing cabinets, probably looking for First-Aid supplies, while Damon held a towel to the lower left side of his torso and leaned into the intercom on the wall.
“I will take it out of your ass before we leave that shed, Rika,” he warned. “Don’t run.”
And then he stepped away and threw down the towel as Will began taping a huge patch of gauze over his wound.
It wasn’t vicious—the blood seeping through the gauze was slow—but it was big. She’d slashed him good.
Will’s bloodstained hands worked as Damon winced and picked up a cigarette he’d lit, taking a long drag.
“You’re not going anywhere,” I told him, walking in and diving down into one of the drawers on the island, pulling out the peroxide.
“Fuck you,” Damon threw back.
He shoved Will away and flicked his cigarette in the sink, turning and charging out of the kitchen and into the solarium.
I shot out from behind the counter and caught his arm, slamming him into the wall. He struggled, and I immediately wrapped my hand around his neck, pinning him to the wall. My other hand pressed into the gauze over his fresh wound.
“Fuck!” he shouted, knocking my hands away, but I just came back in again. “Get off me!”
“We agreed.”
“You agreed!” he argued. “I’m going to rip her in two!”
I twisted up my lips, having had enough. No one would touch her unless she agreed to our terms. That was the deal we’d made, but now the deal was off. I wasn’t on board with this anymore.
“I don’t even know why you’re here,” he sneered, knocking my hand off his wound but making no move to get away. He turned his head, speaking to the other guys. “He got off scot-free—didn’t serve a day—so why are we even involving him?”
I narrowed my eyes on him. “You think the past three years have been easy?” I charged. “I was the one to piss her off. She was mad at me that night, and you all paid the price. I had to look at her day after day…that lying, manipulative, vindictive bitch sitting two feet across the dinner table, and knowing it was all my fault.” I turned my head, looking between Kai, Will, and then back at Damon. “You’re my brothers, more than family. You guys served the time, and I have the guilt for it. We all paid.”
I let him go and backed away, watching him scowl at the air between us.
I’d felt like I’d owed them. I’d hurt her that night, pushing her away and being cruel, and it was my fault she lashed out. She had the phone. She posted the videos.
“Will, go get her,” I ordered.
There was no way I’d trust Damon to be alone with her in that shed.
Will walked around me and stepped up to the solarium door, but then he stopped, looking out the glass.
“She’s already coming,” he said, sounding a little surprised.
What? I stepped to the side, following his gaze out the door.
Fuck.
Her lone figure treaded slowly through the grass, her chin up and her shoulders squared.
“You were right,” Kai said next to me, pleased.
I turned away, heading back into the kitchen while the three of them kept their eyes on her.
Gripping the edge of the counter, I heard the door open, and I watched them stay rooted in their spots as she calmly stepped inside, walking past them. She veered right, stopping at the entrance to the kitchen, and stared at me, her hard eyes doing a good job of masking the hint of hurt I noticed.
Her clothes were damp, and I could make out her white bra beneath her tank top.
“Where is my mother?” she asked.
Damon, Will, and Kai walked in around her, spreading out around the kitchen, and turning to face her.
“Is she why you came back?” I asked.
Of course, she would brave us for her mother. We’d counted on that.
“I’m not scared of you,” she stated.
I nodded, crossing my arms over my chest. “I think you believe that.”
Looking at her now, her hair dotted with crystals of water, Damon’s blood on her hands and the bottom of her tank top, and the resolute look in her eyes, I’d never been surer of anything.
No, she wasn’t scared. She’d given into it. She was owning it.
Run or play. Fuck it.
“Where is she?” she pressed again.
“You get answers when you confess.”
“And submit,” Will added.
“To what?” she gritted out, turning her fierce eyes on him.
“To us.” He came around her, looking her in the eye. “All of us.”
“Your tantrum cost us three years, Rika,” Kai charged, baring his teeth. “And it wasn’t easy time. We were hungry and threatened and miserable.”
“And now you’re going to know what that feels like,” Damon added, leaning on the wall and holding his stomach as he glared at her.
Kai hovered down over her. “You’re going to learn how to shut up and look down when I enter a room.”
“And you’re going to learn how to fight and resist, because that’s what I like,” Damon countered.
“But with me,” Will came in close, making her jerk, “you’ll want it.”
She shook her head. “Tantrum? What tantrum? I don’t know what you’re talking about?”
“You come when we say.” Damon leaned on a hand on the island, tensing in pain. “You leave when we say. And as long as you do as you’re told, your debt to us will be paid. Your mother will be safe, and you’ll have money to live. You got that?”
“You’re ours,” Kai told her. “You owe us, and this has been a long time coming.”
“Owe you for what?” she shouted.
“We took you with us that night,” Will charged. “We trusted you!”
“Never trust a fucking women,” Damon grumbled, reciting his father’s words no doubt.
“And I was supposed to trust you, too!” she shot back. “And what did you guys do to me?”
She glared between Damon, Will, and Kai, and I stilled, wondering what the hell was going on.
“What is she talking about?” I demanded.
But Rika ignored me, pushing forward.
“You served three years? Well, I’m not sorry for you,” she growled. “You guys screwed up, but surprise, surprise, you actually had to pay a consequence for once. You’ve never had to own up to anything. There’s no one to blame but yourselves.”
“You don’t know anything!” Kai bellowed, shouting in her face.
She shook her head, a spiteful smile in her eyes. “Really?” And then she shot her glare to Damon. “You were sent to jail for raping an underage girl. Winter Ashby, the mayor’s daughter. The video was proof. What’s there to explain?”
I blinked long and hard, the morning that the videos surfaced flooding back.
I’d woken up on Halloween, the day after Devil’s Night, and discovered that some of our videos had been posted online for the whole fucking world to see.
Which, quite simply, led to my friends’ arrest.
It had been stupid to record the videos in the first place, but we were always careful with it. We kept one phone especially for those nights when we wreaked havoc and wanted to keep a little souvenir. And back then, we thought we were untouchable.
Winter Ashby had been one of Damon’s conquests. She’d willingly taken him to bed the night before, but she’d been underage, and her father was just as powerful as ours.
And he hated Damon’s family.
Which was probably why Damon preyed on her to begin with.
There was no way her father would drop the charges. He saw an opportunity to take down a Torrance, and he did it.
I looked over at Damon, seeing his flat expression as he stared at her.
“There’s nothing to explain,” he replied calmly. “You have me figured out. I preyed on a young girl, and I don’t even remember her face.”
Rika thinned her eyes on him, probably expecting more of an argument, but that wasn’t Damon’s style. He didn’t talk. He acted.
She then turned to Will and Kai, carrying on, “And you guys beat up a cop. Nearly to death. They found him on the side of the road.”
Another video that had surfaced.
“That cop,” Will shot out, moving into her space, “is Emery Scott’s brother. Her abusive…older…brother, and you’re damn right I beat the shit out of him!”
She pinched her eyebrows together. “Emery Scott?”
“Yeah,” Kai joined in. “We caught wind of it earlier that summer, so we jumped him, and I don’t care what you think. We’d do it again.”
Rika knew Emery Scott—went to school with her—and she must’ve remembered Will burning down her gazebo on Devil’s Night. He’d wanted her for a long time, so he fucked with her to get her attention, but when he’d found out she was being abused by her brother, Will, Damon, and Kai beat the crap out of him.
And Damon had recorded it on the phone.
Unfortunately, there were pieces where Will and Kai had flashed their faces to the camera. I hadn’t been there, because I’d been at a basketball camp for most of the summer.
The morning after Devil’s Night, I woke up to a nightmare. My social media was flooded with messages, posts, and even a few news articles that had already been uploaded. Somehow, the videos from our phone had wound up online overnight, and everyone within a thousand mile radius knew about us. Or my friends, anyway.
It wasn’t long before the police were at their houses, putting them in handcuffs, and while we could get out of a lot of things, the realization soon set in that they weren’t coming back. Damon had fucked with a connected girl, and Kai and Will were screwed, as well. You don’t hurt cops, no matter what.
Damon was sentenced to thirty-three months for statutory rape, and Will and Kai pleaded down to twenty-eight months for assault.
And then…after all that…after everything I’d been a part of as well, I’d escaped without a scratch.
No videos with me were posted, and even if they had been, my face wouldn’t have been visible in any of them. I’d always kept my mask on.
It didn’t take us long to figure out who’d uploaded the videos.
“You threw us under the bus, because Michael had hurt you that night,” Kai accused, “but did you really think we weren’t going to come after you?”
Her eyebrows pinched together, looking confused.
“Being a rat is one thing,” Will interjected, “but betraying people who trusted you is unforgiveable.”
“Betraying?” she breathed out, and then looked to me, a question in her eyes. “What…?”
But Will just kept going. “You’re going to make amends,” he commanded. “And if you don’t, then maybe we’ll go dig your mother out of whatever hole we stuck her in to take your place. I’m sure she’s a good fuck. She landed your dad, after all.”
Rika’s eyes flared, and she lost it.
Letting out a growl, she drove forward, launching her body into Will’s and shoving him backward, her hands pushing against his chest, the power of her whole body sending him stumbling back onto his ass.
Shit.
He landed, and I dived around the island, seeing her immediately jump on him and straddle him, her fists flying down on his face as he shot out his hands, trying to shield her.
“Fuck!” he yelled, swinging his arm and knocking her to the floor.
Before either of them had a chance to launch into another attack, I came in front of her, blocking both of them and pulling her off the ground.
She bared her teeth, seething, and tried to dart around me, but I cut her off, shaking my head.
I stared into her eyes, noticing the way she took a step backward, away from me.
Dropping my eyes, I curled my fists. I can’t hurt her. I couldn’t do this.
I no longer cared what she did to us all those years ago or why she did it. I didn’t trust her, but I…
I couldn’t hurt her.
I turned and faced my friends, keeping her behind me.
“Goddammit!” Will barked as Kai gave him a hand, pulling him off the ground.
He wiped his finger under his nose, pulling it away and going back in a couple more times, looking at his fingers.
He was bleeding, and his eyes were watering.
Damon still stood over by the island, pinching a lit cigarette between his fingers and blowing out a cloud of smoke.
Will sniffled, a bit of blood smeared under his nose as he approached me. “Move.”
But I just kept my shoulders squared and held his eyes, staying put.
He watched me, shaking his head in warning. “Michael, don’t do this.”
When I didn’t move, he reached around me, trying to get at her, but I shoved my hands into his chest, pushing him back.
They might try to kill me, but they wouldn’t get to her otherwise.
“You’re choosing her?” Kai charged. “After everything? She’ll screw you over just like us. We trusted her, too.”
“You trusted me?” she burst out, coming around and holding their eyes. “I was your friend? Do you normally kidnap your friends against their will and drive them out into the middle of a nowhere for a little fun?”
I narrowed my eyes, my heart picking up speed.
And then I turned to look at my friends. “What the fuck is she talking about?”
