“Causing all ladies’ underthings within a mile radius to simultaneously combust.” Gabriel breaks my gaze to flash his smile at two junior girls who are staring at him from across the hall. They break into giggles, because Gabriel Fallen has that effect on people. “I’m taking time off from the band to finish senior year.”
“What happened to ‘diplomas are for wankers who don’t have groupies’?” I quote Gabriel’s final words when he left at the beginning of summer for his European tour. My mockery of his British accent gets the hint of a smile from Noah.
“Please. I don’t sound as posh as all that. All your lectures on ‘rock music won’t provide for your future’ rubbed off on me, Hart.” Gabriel shrugs, and there’s a whole world inside that shrug. I know what happened. He might not have answered my texts, but he knows I know what happened. Everyone at Stonehurst has followed the headlines – DRUMMER OF OCTAVIA’S RUIN OVERDOSES IN HOTEL BATHROOM. As much as he’s trying to pretend he’s fine, the very fact Gabriel’s back at Stonehurst and not holed up in a studio in Switzerland recording a chart-topping album of grief music suggests otherwise.
Yet another problem that will fall on my shoulders this year. I almost have it in me to smooth over Noah’s intensity, but add in Gabe’s unpredictability, and I will not get a moment of peace. But still… senior year would not have been the same without Gabriel. I wrap my arms around him, patting his back, relieved that he’s here and at least… somewhat sober.
“Oof, since when did you become the Incredible Hulk?” In true British tradition, Gabriel finds physical expressions of joy disconcerting. He gazes around the corridor as if looking for a line to join to restore his equilibrium, then grabs my books from my hands. He frowns at the cover of my AP Calculus textbook. “Just reading these titles gives me a splitting headache.”
I grab my books from Gabe’s hands. “You’d better be back here to focus on schoolwork, not party and drink yourself into a stupor like last year, because Noah and I refuse to tutor you.”
That evil grin again. “I passed my SATs, didn’t I?”
“You passed because you slept with the test assessor.”
“I can’t help it if my natural wit and charm had the poor woman so overcome that she—” Gabriel cut off, his eyes focusing on something behind me.
No, not something.
Someone.
The only thing that can cause Gabriel to lose focus like that is a chick. One with legs up to her eyeballs and, in his words, a shaggable arse.
If I’m honest, I could do with a shaggable arse in my own life. I wish I could be like Noah and Gabriel, who’ve both fucked their way through the student body at Stonehurst twice over. Nothing serious. Nothing complicated.
I’m not that guy, but sometimes I like to pretend I could be.
I turn around in time to see a blonde bombshell stride with purpose from the school office. Students leap out of the way as she stomps toward us in a pair of black spike-heeled non-regulation boots. Her lips are a bow of crimson. Her face stirs something inside me – a memory. A familiar sense of longing, of loss. What draws me to her is the complete ‘fuck-off’ look in her eyes, like she’s above everyone and everything.
I always fall hard for the impossible girls.
But maybe this can be different. She’s new, which means she hasn’t had a chance to fall head-over-heels for Gabriel’s broken prince charm or Noah’s bad boy intensity. But I’d have to work fast now Gabriel has his radar up.
“Do you know who she is?” I ask Gabriel. Even though he’s been away from the city, he always knows the gossip.
“Mate, you been living under a rock? That’s Mackenzie Malloy.” Gabe licks his lips. “Crazy looks good on her.”
My chemistry textbook clatters to the ground.
“Say that name again,” I whisper. Behind me, Noah’s breath comes out in ragged gasps.
“Mackenzie Malloy. You know, billionaire heiress to the Malloy nutritional supplement fortune, disappeared along with her parents four years ago, leaving that creepy house abandoned up on Harrington Hills. She’s out of hiding and walking the hallowed halls of Stonehurst. Aren’t we blessed?”
Mackenzie.
I didn’t need Gabriel to tell me what happened. I know her story. I read the news articles and police reports a hundred times, trying to find some clue of where she went, of how we could be planning to escape to college together one minute and the next she’s vanished. I can’t count the number of nights I’ve watched her house, hoping to see a glimpse of her ghost.
And now here she is, strutting down the hall like she owns this school.
Mackenzie Malloy, flesh and blood.
Alive.
No wonder she seems so familiar.
It all comes rushing at me at once as I recognize her features – memories of the games we played with each other in stolen moments all those years ago. Both of us living our true childhoods in secret. I squat to pick up my book. I need a moment to collect myself.
A spike-heel slams into the cover, denting the pages.
I look up, and up, and up. A lump forms in my throat.
“You’re standing in front of my locker.” From atop legs as long and graceful as an ostrich, Mackenzie fixes me with this demolishing glare – like I’m a bug not even worthy of being stepped on.
I search those impossible ice eyes for some sign that she recognizes me, but she doesn’t waver. Maybe she doesn’t recognize me. The last time we saw each other was when we were thirteen years old. I’ve changed since then. And Mackenzie… phew. She was always pretty, but now with those legs and curves and that haughty twist of her lip – now she’s devastating.
“Greetings, m’lady.” Gabriel – who has no clue of the history he’s stomping on – rests his palm on the locker behind Mackenzie and cocks his hand on his hip. He loves to play up his ‘I’m a posh British rockstar, ask me about my friend Prince Harry’ act. “Elias here is merely showing the proper deference to one such as yourself. If he continues to inconvenience you, just stand on him. He likes that.”
Shut the fuck up, Gabriel.
Mackenzie brushes past Gabriel like he’s nothing, which is so unheard of that Gabriel’s mouth falls open. He could catch flies with that thing. As I clamber to my feet, I bite my lip to keep from bursting out laughing. Noah isn’t as polite. He chortles – but it’s a sound like a strangled cat. He has his own reasons for being unnerved by Mackenzie Malloy’s sudden reappearance. I look over at him to see if I need to do damage control, but he’s holding it together… so far.
I scramble out of Mackenzie’s way just as she slams her locker door open, the sound ricocheting down the hall like a gunshot. The eyes of other students slide toward us – a sensation I’m used to. But this time, they’re not staring with envy or longing. There’s the scent of blood in the air.
“Mackenzie?” I try again. Her name sounds foreign on my lips. Out of place. A name from a fantasy novel – some dark fae queen too perfect and too dangerous to exist in the real world.
She buries her face in her locker, doesn’t even look up.
“It’s me.” I lower my voice. “Elias Hart.”