Prologue
at least i’m dressed
The way everyone is staring at me, I casually look down to make sure I remembered to put clothes on. Everyone stands perfectly against their lockers. Their eyes moving with each step I take down the hallway. At the end of the hallway there’s a large set of doors. It’s not the same doors I’m used to seeing, but at this point, it’s a set of doors.
It’s an escape.
I get to leave.
I’m able to get into Tank Two and drive away.
Drive home.
Well, not home. I don’t exactly really have much of a home.
It’s more like a place of comfort.
I tell myself that’s exactly what a home is, but I fear if I admit that it’s actually home, then I’m admitting that my relationship with my mother might actually work out.
My feet shuffle down the hallway.
Not a person speaks.
They just keep staring.
I see Gia between two girls.
She stares like the others do.
“Gia,” I whisper. “Come with me. Right now. Please. Come with me.”
Gia doesn’t move.
She doesn’t respond.
I guess she and I are in some kind of fight now.
Great.
Just what I need on top of everything else that’s going on.
I want to stop and talk to Gia but my feet keep moving.
I have no idea what’s happening.
But why not, right?
I’ve only been almost killed in an accident. I lost my memory. Got it back. Now I’m pretending I still don’t have my memory so I can get some revenge on the guys who did it.
This is perfect.
Just freaking per…
I’m not sure how it happens, but a figure appears at the end of the hallway.
It’s Easton.
Smoking a cigarette.
Staring right at me.
I quickly turn my head, my mind already wanting to go back.
But I can’t.
That’s where Noah is standing.
In his nice clothes, but there’s nothing nice about him.
I take a deep breath.
I slowly look to my right.
Yup.
There’s Xavier.
He’s the closest of the three.
I suddenly realize I’m wearing his hoodie.
The one he let me borrow the night he showed up at my mother’s beach house.
“I want my hoodie back,” he says. “And more.”
Xavier takes one step and I start to run to my left.
I find another hallway to run down.
I keep going.
There’s no stopping me.
I hear the sound of their footsteps behind me.
They aren’t running but they’re able to stay with me.
When I finally push open a door and feel the sunlight hit me, it’s freedom.
I run toward the parking lot, plotting my escape from it all for good.
My feet move faster.
Faster and faster…
I see Tank Two.
And I see Noah.
I have no idea how he got there so fast…
I plant my feet and stop running.
“Where are you running to?” Xavier asks from behind me.
Xavier touches my right arm.
Easton touches my left arm.
Noah walks toward me.
“I just want to leave,” I say. “I want to go home. I want to forget everything.”
Noah points at me. “That’s the problem, isn’t it?”
“What?” I ask.
“You remember everything, Winter,” Noah says.
“Nice try,” Easton says.
“Now it’s time to face the truth,” Xavier says.
They all start to laugh.
Tears fill my eyes.
Chapter 1
time of the month
I sat up in my bed and didn’t need to look around or take a deep breath. I wasn’t broken out in sweat or clutching the sheets either.
Sadly, that dream was now just part of my normal nightly routine.
There was nothing that could chase it away either.
I had tried a drink before bed.
I had tried not to drink before bed.
There was some chamomile tea that I drank… that did nothing for me.
No matter what, as soon as I caught myself in a nice, deep sleep, the dream would pop up. Tiny pieces of the dream would change here and there, but it was always the same cast of characters.
And why not?
I was walking a very thin edge worse than ever, thanks to Gia’s confession.
Winter… Xavier is my brother…
The words hit me over and over again.
I had gotten so close to Gia. I considered her my best friend, but it was obvious I didn’t know much about her. My entire plan to get revenge on Noah, Easton, and Xavier always seemed to be ready to blow up at any minute, but this one was really tough.
After the confession, I told Gia I had to go home.
That feeling in my body and head started to kick up again and I took off before I could ask her any of the questions that raced through my mind.
I should have stayed with her on the beach that night.
I should have asked those questions.
Instead, I ran and hid.
I decided to hole up in my room and fake sick.
Not that I needed to fake much of anything… everyone already thought I had no memory because of the accident Noah, Easton, and Xavier caused. The easy grab, it was my time of the month.
So I just stayed home.
Hid in my room.
Slept when I could.
Wake up from that dream and fight to fall back asleep.
At night I would go outside and get some air and watch the waves.
I acted as though I had been hiding for months.
It had been all of two days.
But it sure felt like two months.
I needed to figure out a plan.
I needed to talk to Talon.
That worried me.
If I told him about Gia, then what? Would he do something crazy? Or maybe it didn’t matter to him. Why would it? I was the one out for revenge. I was the one up against some very powerful guys and their families…
All the while Dad was still away and my mother was going out like she was my age.
Everything was backward.
I groaned and fell back down to my pillow. I pulled the blankets up over my head and shut my eyes.
I just wanted sleep.
Good sleep.
The kind where I would wake up and it would be, I don’t know, days later. I’d wake up, feel great, and everything that had happened was just a dream.
Tank would be fine. I’d be back in the castle, in my gigantic room.
But that would mean being friends with Evie and Darcy.
And ignoring Gia.
I had lived such a different life before the accident.
It was like being two people at once, torn in half, and just thrown on the floor.
Worse than that, I was dancing the line between Trocs and Bumps, which was kind of unheard of.
I had no business being near Talon. Trocs were bad news.
I was in too deep with Talon.
I was in too deep with everything.
My heart started to race.
My toes curled and I kicked at the sheets.
“No,” I said.
I’m not doing this tonight…
I threw the covers off my body and got out of bed.
I looked around the room and saw Xavier’s hoodie balled up on my dresser.