“I should keep it,” I replied, ignoring the disappointment that spilled through me. “I’ll give it to you when you come to see me tomorrow otherwise Saint will realise I was lying to cover for you.”
“Tomorrow…right.” She hesitated for another moment and I waited to hear what she was going to say. “Thank you, for listening and giving a shit. It’s nice to know not everyone in this place is a complete asshole.”
I snorted a laugh. I was most certainly a complete asshole, but maybe I was having a day off for once.
“There’s a window in the back corner of the dance studio,” I said before she could make a move towards the main exit. “It will put you in the trees just off of the path that leads back to Aspen Halls. Just in case they’re still out front.”
A sad smile touched her lips and I felt like an asshole for not offering to do more to help her right now.
“Thanks,” she said and with that she was gone.
I closed the door and headed back to my desk with a frown in place. I wasn’t sure if she’d take me up on my offer come tomorrow or not, but I planned on making sure she did sooner or later. This was the opportunity I’d been waiting for. The thing I needed to set my plans against Saint Memphis and his family into full swing.
I was going to bring them all to their knees. And I’d do it with Tatum Rivers beside me. Because despite what she had to say about accepting my help for now, she was going to get it whether she wanted it or not.
The look she’d given me as she admitted what they were doing to her had cut right into my soul. I’d seen that look in the mirror a few too many times. So Tatum Rivers had just earned herself a knight in shining armour. Though I had to admit that my armour was more than a little scuffed in places and my reputation tarnished by more than just blood. But that only meant I fought all the harder for everything I had and everything I laid claim to. And as of now, that included her.
I ran through the trees, taking the path Monroe had gifted me. He’d saved my ass. More than he could ever know.
If the Night Keepers were out looking for me, I was gonna have to lay low until it was time to meet the others beside Aspen Hall. Thank fuck I planned that before I had to abandon my phone.
My heart tugged knowing I was going to be cut off from contact with Mila, but I had her full name, and when this shit blew over, I’d be able to track her down online.
Male laughter carried from out by the lake and I stilled on the woodland path as I listened. A couple of jocks started talking about girls and my shoulders relaxed. It wasn’t them. They weren’t here. They weren’t on my scent.
I didn’t have a watch to check the time, but it had been nearly half eight by the time I’d left Monroe’s office. That meant I had thirty minutes to get back to Beech House, dig up the firecrackers, get my bag and head to the gate.
Easy.
My breathing grew heavier as I jogged on. The path through this part of the woods was narrow and wasn’t lit at all but that was only doing me a favour, keeping me hidden in the shadows.
The air was getting cold and a chill swept along my bare legs, making my cuts sting. Those bastards were done hurting me. I just had to pull this off and they’d never touch me again. And the idea of that brought a smile to my lips.
I can do this.
The track soon curved back towards the main path by the lake, but I couldn’t risk going that way so I headed straight on into the trees instead. My white canvas shoes were soiled by the mud, but at least they wouldn’t draw any attention if anyone was looking for me.
A prickle ran up my spine and sweat collected on my brow. The darkness thickened between the trees, the moonlight barely able to penetrate the thick canopy above.
Come on Tatum, keep going. Eyes on the prize.
I ran on with determination driving every muscle in my body.
The sound of girls chatting reached me up ahead and I slowed my pace, picking my way across the ground, careful not to make any noise. Dad had taught me how to move like this on our woodland cabin trips. I could move like an animal slipping through the undergrowth, never making enough sound to draw attention.
I reached the edge of the trees and dropped down to crouch beside a pine, gazing through a holly bush to the front of Beech House. The glow of the porchlight illuminated five figures beneath it. The Night Keepers were standing outside the door like sentinels and the two girls in front of them were twirling their hair and flirting their little hearts out. Part of me wished the guys would accept whatever sexual favours those girls were no doubt offering, because that would buy me the time I needed to run.
Blake was pretty much the only one responding to whatever they were saying, while Saint stood like an angel of hell, gazing straight down the path, waiting for me to appear. Kyan was leaning against the wall, playing with something in his hand, looking bored out of his mind.
I wet my lips then withdrew into the trees, turning back to make a large circle around the building. I finally reached the back of it and wished I knew the time, because I was sure I was cutting it close.
I located the tree with my pack, reaching up and hooking it out of the branches before shrugging it onto my shoulders. Without the light of my phone to hunt for the stick I’d left in the ground, it was impossible to see it in the dark.
I dropped down to my knees, cursing as I brushed my hands across the ground in my hunt for it. I bit into my lip so hard I was sure I was gonna draw blood.
Come on, where are you you piece of shit twig? I am not gonna fail my mission because of some dead piece of foliage!
My hand brushed it and I mentally apologised for insulting the twig, praising its damn existence instead as I snatched it out of the ground and started digging with my fingers.
I pulled the firecrackers from the soil, stilling as Blake’s laughter reached me. It was freaky how he could flip his charm on and off like that, switching between the laughing golden boy to a psycho asshole in the blink of an eye.
They were so close. So freaking close. I couldn’t breathe for a long moment, suddenly trapped in a vision of what they’d do to me if they found me.
Fear slid along my spine and brought on a tremor in my body. I was so fucked if they caught me. It didn’t even bear thinking about.
Move, Tatum.
I got to my feet, heading back into the trees and having to cut a wide arc past the boys’ dorms in the direction of Aspen Halls. I was no longer cold, my body burning from the running and the adrenaline flooding my veins.
Water was seeping into my shoes and I was starting to regret my choice of footwear as I nearly slid down a hill from the lack of grip on them. My heart free fell in my chest and I dragged in a lungful of air, reminding myself they weren’t on my tail. They were waiting back at the dorms and they had no reason to come hunting the woods for me.
I took another steadying breath and carried on, heading down another steep bank and spotting the glimmer of lights up ahead beyond Aspen Halls.
Sneak was standing by the gates with her suitcase and I cursed as I realised I must have been really close to being late. Lanterns lit the driveway, but the lawn flanking it was dark and that was what I’d have to use to get close to the gates.
I reached the edge of the trees and hurried across the path into the shadow of Aspen Halls. A psst caught my ear and Bait stepped out from behind a stone water fountain in the courtyard.