For the first time since I’d moved back home, Mom didn’t give me a hard time about spending the weekend away. She barely acknowledged that I’d been gone. There was no drug test waiting for me, no surprise date arrangement, and best of all, no arguments. No shouting.
Overall, the house was more peaceful than it had been in weeks.
Work was already loading more tasks onto my plate. But since I was moving to full-time, I had additional training I needed to complete on top of my usual duties. I wouldn’t be merely answering emails and handling spreadsheets in a few months, and I almost cheered when my boss told me that the person who would take over my part-time position had been hired. The prospect of finally putting my degree to good use had me dancing around the house, humming little tunes as I went about my chores.
It was easy to forget the issues that still lingered. Reagan, Alex, Nate — I was so focused on the future I put them out of my mind. I was too busy daydreaming about apartments, about all the mischief the boys and I could get up to in the city. It would be a fresh start for all of us, the beginning of something so much bigger than I’d ever expected.
Julia invited me to go for a hike midway through the week, and I jumped at the chance to get out of the house after work. The weather was pleasantly cool as we set out, a mass of pale gray clouds blotting out the sun. Only a few minutes after getting on the trail, Julia slowed her pace and kept lingering a few steps behind me.
“Am I walking too fast?” I said, turning to walk backward as I looked at her.
She grinned and said, “Nah, I’m just trying to get a look at your ass in those leggings. Damn girl, that cake.”
Looping my arm through hers, I dragged her along to walk beside me. “God, you’re as bad as the boys.”
“I’m worse,” she said, and we both laughed.
She was thrilled about my promotion, although after a few minutes of excitement, her mood suddenly sobered.
“This means you’re leaving,” she said. “I mean, I knew it was coming, but damn. We only just started hanging out.”
“New York isn’t too far away,” I said, although the words weren’t very comforting. It would be a relief to leave Wickeston, but I did regret the distance it would put between Julia and I. She was a good friend, despite only knowing me for a couple months, and that was hard to come by. “I’ll be coming to visit as often as I can. And you can come visit me too!”
That got her to smile again. “I am so down for a sleepover. Have you found a place yet?”
“Not yet,” I said. “The boss gave me three months to get everything settled, which is probably going to go by way faster than I think it is. I’ve been browsing apartments in the city online. Rent prices are killer though. I may have to choose something a little more rural and commute.”
“Girl, yes, go for someplace bigger and cheaper!” she said. “Besides, you want to have a little extra room for the boys, right? What’s their plan anyway? How did they take the news?”
It was difficult to talk about without getting emotional, and I refused to cry in the middle of a hike. I’d never been the type to cry over a man, but these men got to me in a way no one else could.
“They’re moving too,” I said. “To New York.”
Her shriek of excitement startled nearby birds out of their roost. “Oh my God, yes! Finally! I’m so happy for all of you!” She grinned proudly, a little strut coming into her step. “I knew you’d all fall for each other, I just knew it.”
The trail curved, looping back toward the trailhead and the parking lot. We’d been walking for a while, although it felt like only minutes. Two people were hiking up the trail toward us, but I paid little attention to them at first. It was only as they got closer, and their faces became clearer, that I realized who they were.
“Oh no,” I said softly, and Julia was immediately on alert, narrowing her eyes at the men approaching us.
“Is that Nate Calkin?” she said, her steps slowing.
“And Alex McAllister,” I said. “Do you know them?”
Their path wasn’t aimed to walk past us; they were walking at us. Although we slowed down, the gap between us was swiftly closing. Alarm bells were clanging in my head, tension making my palms sweat.
Whatever they wanted, it couldn’t be good.
“Nate and I were in the same grade,” she said. “We had classes together.” She clutched her arm a little tighter on mine. “He was always a dick. Do you have pepper spray on you?”
“Always,” I said, reaching for the fanny pack strapped around my waist.
Alex and Nate stopped directly in front of us, blocking our path. Determined to keep walking, I tightly clutched Julia’s arm and stepped around them, keeping my eyes straight ahead. But Alex put out his arm, blocking me yet again, and my heart pounded.
“Where are y’all going in such a hurry?” Alex said. Nate had his arms folded, standing there like a human wall in our path.
“None of your business,” I snapped, again trying to sidestep him. I had one hand in a vice grip on Julia’s arm, the other one clutching my pepper spray. Neither of them had seen it as I kept it close to my side.
This time, instead of blocking my path, Alex shoved me back. I stumbled, and Julia prevented me from falling. The moment I was steady on my feet, she lunged at him.
“Fuck off!” she shouted, shoving her hands hard against his chest. It barely moved him. “Get away from us before we call 911.”
We didn’t have cell service out here; she knew it, I knew it. To judge by the nasty smile on Alex’s face, he knew it too.
“Hey, hey, we just want to talk,” Alex said, although his tone was anything but innocent. It wasn’t merely chance that brought them out here; they’d followed us. They’d waited until we were alone, far from anyone who could help us.
“I don’t want to talk to you,” I hissed. I held up the pepper spray, my finger poised on the trigger, and Alex’s face grew darker. “Get the hell away from us.”
Alex bared his teeth, fury finally showing through his faux calm exterior. “You have a lot of nerve, you little bitch. How many damn times did you think your boyfriends could fuck up our shit without any consequences? Bent almost ran Nate off the fucking road.”
“You and Nate came after Lucas first,” I said fiercely. “Have you two lost your minds? You could have killed us. Just fucking drop this. Leave them alone, leave us alone!”
Julia was close behind me, and I hadn’t lowered my pepper spray an inch. Nate still hadn’t said a word, his silence eerie. The way he was looking at me was cold, bleaker than the gray sky. Julia made a soft sound — a curse or a breath, I wasn’t sure.
“If they want to break what belongs to me,” Alex said. “Then I get to break something that belongs to them.”
Nate suddenly stepped toward me, and I aimed the pepper spray right at his face, but Alex grabbed me. Squeezing my eyes shut tight, I blasted the spray. One of them yelled furiously, but Alex kept his grip on me, holding on so tight that his fingers dug painfully into my bicep. When he tried to wrap his arm around me to keep me still, I bit down as hard as I could.
My satisfaction at hearing him scream in pain was short-lived. He shoved me to the ground, and the gravel scraped my knees and my arm as I fell. Something twisted sharply in my ankle, pain shooting through me like a spark.
Julia caught my arm, dragging me to my feet. I tried to run with her, but God, that pain in my ankle was so bad, it was like a needle jamming into my joint.
How I made it back to the car, I had no idea. My mind and body felt sedated; my ankle was throbbing, but it felt so distant. Was this shock? Adrenaline? Sheer panic?
“What the fuck just happened?” I gasped, only once we were in Julia’s car with the doors locked. “What the fuck…oh my God…”
“We need to get out of here,” Julia said. Her voice was steady, but she had her arms braced on the wheel, breathing hard. “Oh God, Jess…your ankle.”
I didn’t want to look at it. I’d broken bones before, and this didn’t feel broken, but it hurt badly enough that I was struggling not to cry. Concentrating on taking deep, slow breaths, I said, “I need to go home. Not…not my parents’ house,” I added quickly as she pulled swiftly out of the parking lot. “I need the boys. They’ll know what to do.”
“I think you need a doctor, Jess,” Julia said, shaking her head as she pulled onto the highway. But I knew she’d take me to them.
I wouldn’t feel safe until she did.
