“I like you, Kota, I do,” he tells me, and my heart contracts strangely. It’s a physical reaction that I can’t control, even as I find myself disgusted by it. “But if I find out that you and Parrish are up to something, I won’t forgive either of you.”
“Up to something?” I repeat, feeling a bit of that disgust morph into anger. “You think I’m doing this on purpose?”
“You know something, but you won’t tell me what that something is. Surely you and Parrish knew that you could never actually have a relationship. Tess isn’t the sort of parent who’d allow her stepson to date her daughter; it would never happen.”
“You’re insinuating that we’d put Parrish’s entire family through something like this over a love affair?” I’m tempted to slap Maxx, but I squeeze my hands into fists instead. “You don’t know me and clearly, you don’t know Parrish very well either. He always puts people he cares about above himself. How insulting.”
Rather than back away, Maxx leans even closer into me, like he thinks by pressuring me like this, he can get me to talk. Our faces are disturbingly close at this point. If someone were to walk in on us, they might get the wrong idea.
And oh, how wrong they’d be.
I’m much closer to punching Maxx Wright than kissing him.
“If you don’t tell me, I’ll keep digging until I find out. I’ll watch your every step, Dakota.”
“You do that,” I snap back at him, turning my face so that our noses touch. That gives him pause and he seems to realize what he’s doing, pulling back slightly but keeping his palm pressed to the wall by my head. “Make me out to be the enemy. I’m used to it by now.”
I go to move past him, and he grabs my arm, his fingers burning where they touch my skin. Our eyes meet. It’s impossible to deny that we have a natural chemistry. There’s just something about him that calls to me and vice versa, but if this is his true personality coming out, then honestly, I’d rather Maxine broke up with him.
“I’m sorry, Dakota, I really am. But if I think it’ll help Parrish, I’ll do whatever it takes—even if it means hurting you.” He turns away from me and heads down the hall, leaving me to stare at his back, at those perfectly inked angel wings.
A lot of care went into that design. I know Parrish and Maxx are close, but I can’t let Maxx’s zeal interfere with what I have to do.
And I’ll do anything to save Parrish.
There is no bridge that I won’t cross, mark my words. Mark my fucking words.
“Maxx is such a dick,” Chasm mutters on Monday, watching me gather my things for class. I haven’t seen him since Thursday, but we’ve been able to text on and off. Needless to say, we haven’t made much headway in locating Parrish. How are we supposed to do that with such little information?
What was it that Justin said? Find the right clues. Follow the right trail. But what clues? What fucking trail?
“Yeah, well,” I start, thinking about Maxx. Holy shit, I have to say, when that boy gets it in his mind to make someone else’s life hell, he’s damn good at it. I believe what Parrish said, about Maxx causing a guy to drop out of school when he attended Whitehall. Maxx warned me about the other students, but he’s just as bad as they are. For the last four days, he’s been watching me, as promised. Whispering reminders that he knows I know something, insinuating that he might tell Tess. It’s driving me nuts. “He’s worried about his friend, and he knows I’m hiding something. I can’t entirely blame him.”
I hook my book bag on my shoulder, checking my phone for the billionth time. Justin hasn’t messaged me since Thursday either, but he did say we’d ‘start fresh’ on Monday. So where is he? Where’s my text, my video call? I’m desperate to know how Parrish is doing.
Meanwhile, I have to head to Whitehall. I have to see the ruins of the prop room. I have to comfort Danyella when I’m the source of her pain. How messed up is that?
“He was out of line regardless,” Chasm growls, gritting his teeth in frustration. “I should rightfully kick his ass.”
“But you won’t, because you know he’s got a point. He suspects us for a reason.” I head into the hallway with Chasm following, already dreading the day before it even gets started. I can’t imagine things are going to improve from here on out. I’m averaging maybe three hours of sleep a day if I’m lucky. Last night, I couldn’t bear to close my eyes. All I could think about was Parrish and that knife pressed to his chest. He’ll have seven marks by now. Seven. I can’t even imagine what he’s going through.
We head downstairs to where Maxx is waiting, leaning against the wall near the garage with his arms crossed over his shirt. It’s black and green, another Wright Family Racing tee. His stare is so intense that I can’t help but fidget underneath it.
“Dude, really? Why don’t you find something better to do?” Chasm gets up close and personal with his friend, but I grab him by the blazer sleeve and force him back a step. I’m not about to see two childhood friends get into a brawl because one of them rightfully suspects the other of lying. It’s not Chasm’s fault that he can’t tell the truth, but it also isn’t wrong of Maxx to be angry with us.
“Oh, believe me. Once I get even a hint of the bullshit you two are up to, I’ll have a lot of better things to do. I might tell Tess. I might tell the cops. Who knows? Depends on the situation.”
Chasm goes to lunge forward, but I throw my arms around his waist, squeezing him tight. The move seems to stun him. It also serves to confuse Tess as she comes out of the kitchen area to see me hugging her son’s best friend like we’re an item or something.
“Dakota,” she warns, but at least she gets my name right. I release Chas as quickly as I grabbed onto him, my face flushing as I stumble back and turn to face her. Tess looks like a different person right now, like all the silly, quirky parts of her—the parts that mumble plot points in the kitchen or choose typewriters over laptops—have been squashed. She’s all cold, frigid multimillionaire today. “Make sure you come home early; I’ve already called the school to let them know you’ll be leaving after lunch.”
She turns and walks away, but she doesn’t tell me why, exactly, she wants me home.
“The entire family is going on the news to plead for information on Parrish; Tess is even offering a million-dollar reward for information leading to his safe return.” Maxx stands up straight and sighs, giving Chas and me a once-over. “You will be here for that, right?”
“Go fuck yourself,” Chasm spits, shoving past him as Kimber comes down the stairs to join us. She gives us all a weird look, but her spirit is as diminished as everyone else’s. Parrish is to Kimber as Maxine is to me. She loves him, even if they don’t always get along.
I use her as a shield to escape Maxx. I’m not sure I can handle another confrontation like the one we had on Thursday. But as I’m trying to slip out, he grabs me by the arm and Kimber slips past me.
Shit.
“I think I can get you out of the house tomorrow if you pretend to join the search party; Maxine really wants to see you.” I nod, but he doesn’t release me, wetting his lips like there’s something else he wants to say. Instead, he lets go of me and we exchange a long, studying sort of look. “I’ve decided that if you’re not talking, you must be in danger.”