With Cadence, Sol and Serena shadowing my every move, I change my mind about heading to the basement after school.
My plan is to come back later tonight when everyone is gone. I want to comb over the boxes I previously searched with ‘The Grateful Project’ in mind. Now that I have a direction, I can parse through old information with a new perspective.
But the plan goes to crap when I walk outside.
The Kings are parked directly in front of Redwood.
Dutch is sitting on the edge of the hood, blond hair blowing in the breeze like a silent Viking. Finn is planted sideways in the passenger seat, his super-long legs sprawled out and a book perched between his hands.
Zane is the only one who isn’t lounging. He’s standing up and his stormy blue eyes slice through the crowd like a hawk. When his gaze rams into mine, he smirks like he just found his prey.
A shiver runs down my spine.
“You want to ride with us or with Zane, Miss J?” Cadence asks.
I blink distractedly. “What?”
Serena checks her phone. “Actually, Cadence, could you drop me off at the hospital? It’ll take too long by bus.”
“Of course.” Cadence smiles. “Guess you’re riding with Zane. See you there.”
“There? Where is…” Before I can get the rest of the words out, Zane approaches me.
“What are you doing here? Aren’t you suspended?”
“Semantics.”
“You’re not supposed to be on Redwood Prep property. Do you want to get expelled?”
“I’m here to pick you up.”
My lips form a scowl.
“Get in the car, Grey.”
I glance around instead. Students are spilling out of Redwood and they all freeze, staring at us like we’re re-enacting the most dramatic scene in Othello.
Zane walks right up to me. “Should I carry you there?” He taps his shoulder. “For the hell of it?”
“Don’t you dare,” I snarl.
“They’re going to talk either way. So why don’t you give them something to talk about?”
I gasp when his fingers brush my wrist and he tugs me to the car.
Sol gets in the backseat.
Zane slams the door behind me.
A moment later, we’re off.
I twist my neck to stare out the window.
Everyone is watching us.
Everyone saw.
“Do you know what you’ve done?” I whirl on Zane, my eyes darkening. “I’m trying to keep a low profile, and this stunt just ruined everything. ”
“A low profile. Is that why you’re dressed in that oversized curtain today?”
I glance down at my baggy shirt and the shimmery gold skirt that goes down to my ankles. “This is not a curtain.”
“Sorry to break it to you, sweetheart, but you’re wearing my grandmother’s drapes. Problem is… you could be wearing a garbage bag and half the guys at Redwood would screw you.” He shakes his head with an aggravated twist of his lips. “You’re hot as hell either way, so just wear what you want.”
The fact that he called me ‘hot as hell’ doesn’t even register in my brain.
I scoff at him. “I wore this because my reputation is totally trashed, and it’s the only way to get people to respect me again—”
“You think they respected you before this? You think they cared?” His smirk is all kinds of cold hell. “Take it from me, tiger. They were chomping at the bit to turn on you. And from the way you’re caving to them, they’re winning.”
“I’m not caving. I’m being a responsible adult.”
“And that’s your problem.”
I let out a bitter laugh.
“You can’t let public opinion control you. Especially at Redwood. They’ll praise you one day, and kill you the next. So why give them that kind of control?”
“You don’t understand because the world revolves around you. You decide. You control. You play with people like toys. The rest of us can’t afford to make really stupid decisions and get patted on the back for it. Life isn’t a game unless your last name is Cross. Now, where the hell are you taking me?”
Zane suddenly slams on the brakes. His arm shoots out, banding over my stomach and absorbing my forward thrust. I’d have cracked my head on the headboard if not for his fast reflexes.
The car stops completely.
I glare at him. “Are you trying to kill me?”
He undoes his seatbelt and leans over my seat. The heat of my breath and the tension crackling between us gets hotter as his fingers brush my arm.
“You were so busy arguing you never put on your seatbelt.”
Our eyes lock, my brown ones on his darkening stormy sea blue.
“Safety first, tiger,” he growls, his voice reminding me of the very animal he keeps referring to.
Except this tiger isn’t docile.
It’s vicious, sly, and on the hunt.
I shiver, even though the air conditioner isn’t that cold and the sun is baking the windshield. The click of the belt locking in place snaps through the thick, hot silence.
“Now you can go back to yelling at me,” Zane says.
“Uh… did you guys forget I’m in the backseat?” Sol grumbles.
I crane my neck to look in the back of the car.
Sol is glaring at us. “Next time, I’m taking the bus.” He hunkers down. “You and Dutch are both so freaking obnoxious.”
Zane smirks at the rearview mirror.
I notice we’re heading outside of city limits. “Seriously, where are you taking me?”
“Somewhere we can have a private conversation.”
That’s all the information I get out of Zane.
Rather than continue to argue, I buckle in for the ride. Since Sol is in the backseat, this surprise trip probably won’t end up with me naked and on my back. Not that I have any intentions of sleeping with Zane again. Not that I’ve been thinking about it…
The point is Sol is here and Cadence said she would ‘see me later’.
Whatever’s going on, it involves the entire crew.
I wonder what they want to tell me?
Zane winds the car through a forest. The trees all look the same and there are no markers, but he doesn’t slow down or check for directions. Finally, he stops in front of a giant treehouse and we climb out.
My jaw drops when I stare at the magnificent piece of architecture balanced on thick and sturdy branches.
“What is this place?”
“Dutch bought it for Cadence as a wedding gift,” Zane says.
A frown flits over Sol’s face. He stomps past us and scales the ladder leading up to the treehouse.
I move forward hesitantly.
“Careful,” Zane says, setting a hand on me as I hoist myself up.
I swat at him but releasing my grip on the slats almost sends me flying to the ground. This time, when Zane supports me, I’m grateful for it.
“You okay?” He calls from below. He’s so tall that his head is still level with my chest.
I don’t respond and climb the rest of the way.
Zane is right behind me.
The view on the deck takes my breath away. I can’t stop gawking. The evening sun splays over the tops of thick trees. Birds caw to each other from green foliage.
Inside is even more mind-blowing. I’ve never seen anything like this.
“Want a beer?” Zane asks.
“Beer tastes like dirt to me. I prefer wine,” I answer automatically and then I narrow my eyes at him. “You shouldn’t be drinking.”
“I shouldn’t be doing a lot of things,” he says as he walks over to a wine cooler. He pours me a glass.
I hesitate before accepting it.
Drinking with a student. It’s not the worst thing on my list of infractions, but it adds to it. I’m pretty sure, at this point, I qualify to have my teacher’s license revoked.
My fingers close around my glass and, to my surprise, I notice Zane throwing his beer away and reaching for the scotch.
“You’ve seen the light?”
He laughs loudly. “No.” He pours it into a glass. “I just don’t want you complaining about the taste when I kiss you later.”
On the outside, my expression remains stern.
Inside, anticipation makes my body throb.
“We are not kissing later,” I say firmly.
He just smirks at me and downs his scotch.
Sol walks into the room. “When are Dutch and Finn getting here?”
“Should be any minute now.” Zane checks his phone.
I hear car doors slamming.
A moment later, Dutch, Finn and Cadence walk into the treehouse. The seniors grab beer from the fridge and sit in a pile on the ground.
Cadence motions to me. “Sit here, Miss Jamieson.”
I want to tell her she can call me Grey, but I think I need the reminder that I’m the teacher and these are still my students. Honestly, it doesn’t feel that way. Outside of Redwood and in their regular street clothes, these boys feel like a dangerous gang that I would cross the street to avoid.
“Why exactly did you bring me here?” I ask, my eyes jumping from one Cross brother to the next.
“We’re here to make a deal,” Zane says, looking at me with those startlingly blue eyes of his. They look more green than blue here in the treehouse, full of threats and dark intentions.
Dutch stares me down, watching every flicker of emotions on my face.
I give nothing away. “What kind of deal?”
“We know why you’re at Redwood,” Finn says.
“We know about Sloane,” Sol adds.
I stiffen.
“Don’t worry. We’re not going to tell.” Zane flashes a smirk at me that feels more dangerous than comforting. “If you help us with one thing.”
“What?”
“Get your mom to divorce our dad.”
I laugh.
No one joins me.
Zane leans forward on his bean bag as if it’s a throne made of gold. “We’ve got a time limit. Two weeks.”
My mind churns through this new information. The Cross brothers have wealth, connections, and fame. They own everything, even Redwood—why do they want my mom to leave?
I lift my chin. “Even if you threaten to kill me, I won’t do anything that hurts my mother.”
“Who said we wanted to hurt your mother?” Zane asks.
Finn frowns as if he’s offended I would even say that.
Dutch adds, “Trust me. It’s better for her if she’s far, far away from him.”
“Jarod Cross is a very dangerous man.” Cadence touches my arm. “We think he had something to do with my mom’s death.”
Panic strikes a chord in my heart. “W-why would he do that?”
“Because dad is a sick, twisted psychopath,” Zane says bitterly.
“Jarod Cross started teaching at Redwood, married your mother and threw Dutch in jail, all to get his hands on the boys’ inheritance. That’s the kind of person we’re dealing with,” Cadence says.
I don’t know how to respond to that.
“Like we said, you wouldn’t be helping us for free. We’ll make sure you get your answers. And your revenge.” Zane looks at me again and I can feel the dark thread that binds us, that’s been drawing us together since that first night, getting a little tighter. It’s a hot, sticky sensation. The kind that gets on your fingers and refuses to be washed away.
“Revenge?” I choke.
“We’ll make it as dark and as painful as you want,” Zane promises.
Dutch nods.
The thirst for justice comes roaring back, eclipsing all the reasons why getting into bed with this crew could destroy me.
I take a moment to weigh the pros and cons.
It all equals out.
Trust them. Don’t trust them.
It’s really a leap of faith.
I glance at Zane whose stare is level on me. Just like that night when I looked into his gold-flecked blue eyes for the first time, I feel this surge of courage. Of urgency. Like this isn’t an opportunity I want to throw to the wind.
Glancing at the other dangerous, brutal, domineering Cross brothers, I realize there’s only one answer.
For Sloane’s sake.
For my sake.
For revenge.
“Yes.”
