by Mae Doyle
“We have practice tonight.” I was arguing, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t about to let Amelia take this from me.
“We do. You do not. Amelia will sing your part tonight. She’s your backup for the competition, anyway, so it’ll be good to have her run through it a few times. Don’t you worry about us, Rose, you just get out of here and get your head on straight.” She crossed her arms and tapped her foot while she waited for me to leave.
I grabbed my backpack and swung it up over my shoulder. “She’s not so innocent, you know.” It was a cheap shot, and one that wasn’t going to help me, but I was tired of taking it from the harpies without fighting back.
I had more to say, but the look on Mrs. McKearin’s face shut me up. Biting my lower lip, I tried to keep the tears from dripping from my eyes, and I turn and practically ran from the voice room. My backpack slapped against my back as I went, blinding navigating the halls before bursting outside.
The air was cooler than I had expected for the day, and I shivered, drawing my jacket tighter around me. Everyone else was still in class for a while, and I had time before my forced study session with Kaleb in the library. Even though I knew that I should go to my room and calm down, I didn’t want to be locked up inside. Instead of walking towards the dorms, I cut around the back of the building.
Harper had hold me one time that there was a creek down here, and I wanted to see if I could find it. I was deep in the woods and far away from the school when I heard a twig snap behind me. Instantly, I stood still, the hair on the back of my neck standing straight up. I hadn’t seen anyone on my way out there, but that obviously didn’t mean that I was alone.
Standing still, I took a deep breath, trying to clear my head. I was suddenly overcome with a desire to turn around and see who was behind me, but I was too afraid to move.
I also didn’t know if I really wanted to see who was back there.
After a moment, when I didn’t hear anything, I took another step, then another, quickening my pace. The snapping didn’t happen again, but then I heard someone chuckle. I recognized the voice, but that didn’t give me any peace of mind.
“Now tell me, Rosa, what in the world are you doing out here on your own?” Brett’s voice cut through the silence of the woods, wrapping itself around me. I closed my eyes, feeling my heart start to race as I breathed faster. He was close behind me. Closer than he should be.
I turned around slowly, not wanting him to think that I was going to do something like make a run for it. Locking eyes with him, I forced a smile on my face. “I got kicked out of voice, so I decided to go for a little walk before my tutoring session.”
“Yeah, Kaleb told me that you’re going to need his help to pass your math class, Rose.” He closed the gap between us silently, and I realized that he probably stepped on the twig to make me hear him. Brett was able to move so quietly in the woods that it was almost like he was walking on air. Leaves on the trees didn’t rustle as he brushed past them and he didn’t kick any rocks or roots on his way to me.
It was a little unnerving, and I shivered.
“What are you doing out here?” It suddenly hit me that he should also be in class, but he just smiled and waved away my question.
“I saw you walk by the classroom and told the teacher that I had somewhere to be.” He shrugged, like it was no big deal.
“And they just let you leave class?” I knew that the rogues had a lot of pull at Taylor Prep, but this felt a little ridiculous.
He nodded. “Of course. Everyone saw you walk by, and the teachers all know that we have unfinished business.”
“Unfinished business?” I knew that I sounded like a parrot, but I was having trouble thinking straight. Brett and I hadn’t been alone like this since…well, since we were younger. I’d seen the way he looked at me at the dance this past weekend, and how he stared at me in the hallway, but now that it was just the two of us, I was nervous. My palms felt sweaty and I wiped them on my pants, still keeping my eyes on him.
“Come on, Rose. You know that you and I have some things to hash out, so let’s get to hashing.” His dark eyes locked on mine. This close to him, I could see that he had a faint sheen of sweat on his skin, even though it wasn’t warm out.
He was worried. That was something that I’d never seen before, and it made me even more nervous. If Brett was concerned about something then there was a very good chance that I should be, too.
Chapter 20
The silence stretched out too long between us. “Do you want to sit?” Brett gestured at a fallen log halfway between the two of us, but I just frowned at him.
“Are you kidding me?” Not only did I not want to sit on the damp, half-rotten log, but I really wasn’t in the mood to sit down next to a guy who loved to torment me. To say that we had a lot of history between us was an understatement.
He just shrugged. “Suit yourself.” Leaning against a tree, he crossed his arms and looked at me. I noticed how his eyes raked slowly down my body, pausing on my hips and tits. The way he looked at me made me shiver, but I didn’t even try to move.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure that I trusted myself or my body right then. There was something about the way he was looking at me, the memories we had, and even the setting of the woods that made me feel drawn to him. I’d always thought that he was attractive growing up, but him being attractive didn’t explain the throbbing between my legs.
I should not have been wanting Brett Cox right then, but I couldn’t help myself.
“What did you want to talk about?” Crossing my arms over my chest, I tried to look confident, but I felt like I end up looking like a petulant kid instead. I instantly feel nervous and drop my arms to my sides.
“Why you need to go. This isn’t ever going to stop, you know that, right? Nobody here will stop until you finally just leave, Rose, so it really would be best for you to just go now, before you get hurt.”
“You told Amelia that you guys can’t hurt me.” The words from the incident in the cafeteria were firmly seared into my mind and I didn’t think that I’d ever forget them. “So I have no reason to go. You guys can’t hurt me, you won’t hurt me, and I don’t want to leave.”
I even sounded like a petulant child. In response, Brett sighed and ran a hand through his hair, making my stomach muscles clench. There was just something about the way he moved and the way he looked at me that made it almost impossible for me to concentrate. I knew that I should move away from him. I knew that I shouldn’t be in the woods with him, but this seemed like the best chance for me to get to the bottom of all of this.
“You have to leave, Rose. Nobody is going to stop trying to force you out.” He took a step towards me, closing the gap even more, and I instinctively stepped back. For the first time since I was kicked out of voice, I was starting to think that maybe I shouldn’t have come into the woods by myself. Not when most of the class wanted to run me out of the school.
“I don’t have to do anything.” Even as the words leave my mouth, I keep walking backwards. I know that I’m getting farther away from the school, but I don’t care. It’s that or stay close to Brett, and I don’t think that’s a good idea at all.
“Rose, it’s not that you did anything. It’s that you saw – ” he said, his voice a warning, but before he could continue we heard a shout come from the school campus. His head whipped around towards the sound, and I stood still for a moment, trying to decide if I should run for it or not.
Too late. I stood, my feet feeling stuck to the ground, for too long. I didn’t know who was coming or what they would want, but I had the very distinct feeling that I didn’t want to stick around, and it was obvious that I should have made a run for it while I could.
Brett stared at me, his face a confusion of emotions. I couldn’t tell if he was unhappy with me or if he simply didn’t want to be the one to be caught here with me, but whatever it was, it wasn’t pretty. His normally gorgeous features were twisted while he stared at me.
&nb
sp; “What do I do?” even as I asked the question, I knew the answer. There was only one thing left for me to do right now, but even if I hurried, I wasn’t sure that I was going to be fast enough to get away. The noise from the school was louder now and I was beginning to be able to make out some of the words.
Snatches of a chant floated towards us. “Rose blows” caught my attention, as did “ditch the bitch”. They weren’t terribly innovative with their chants, but it still made it hard for me to look away from Brett. Was it possible that he knew what was coming for me? Had he really only followed me here to make sure that I couldn’t get away when the rest of the students came for me?
“Brett?” His name was a whisper on my lips, but his eyes darkened as soon as he heard me. In two large steps he crossed towards me, his body pressed up against mine before I had the opportunity to step back.
“Go.” One single word fell from his mouth. His lips were so close to my ear that I felt his breath and I shivered when it touched my skin. “Rose, run.”
He shouldn’t be warning me. Even as I looked at him and pulled back to prepare to run, I knew that. The two of us still hadn’t had our opportunity to hash out our past, but that would have to wait. By now I could finally hear people starting to crash through the bushes. There must have been so many of them that they didn’t even try to stay on the path. They were jumping over downed logs, breaking through brambles, and tearing towards me without any sign of slowing.
I paled, ready to run, but unsure of where to go. Brett must have seen the look in my eyes. He groaned and took my hand, interlacing his fingers with mine. As soon as our fingers touched, I felt a surge of energy. There was something between us, something I couldn’t deny, something I was afraid of.
“Quickly. Now.” He tugged me and I went with him, not towards the crowd, which I had feared, but away, in the direction I had been originally going to find the creek. I wasn’t sure what we would find down here or what he would do to me once we were alone, but in that moment, I realized that it didn’t matter. If I were going to avoid running into the crowd from school, then I had to move. Quickly.
He yanked me off of the path, turning at a sharp angle so that we ran along the creek. It babbled and bubbled, helping to cut off some of the sound from the approaching group, but I still knew that they were back there. I couldn’t help but wonder who was leading the pack – if it were the other rogues or the harpies. Or both.
Brett ran at a crouch to keep from being hit with branches, and I followed him, ducking where he ducked, jumping when he told me to clear a skinny area of the creek. My feet slipped in the mud but he caught me, his strong arms wrapping around my waist to support me as he pulled me from the creek.
“Thanks.” The word left my mouth before I could stop it, and he just glanced at me, like he was amused that I would thank him. For all I knew, he could have been the one who told everyone to come down here after me, but the look on his face made me think that there may be something more to him helping me.
“Just hurry up.” My waist instantly felt cold when he let me go. The thick mud on my shoes weighed me down and slowed me up until I took a moment to knock it all off. Once I’d done that, I scurried faster up the bank, trying to catch up with Brett. He stood on the top of the bank, waiting on me, bending down with his hand outstretched.
I didn’t even hesitate when I saw him reaching for me, although a flash of rage pulsed through me when I saw the leather bracelet casually wrapped around his wrist. Lunging, I grabbed his hand and he pulled me up, my feet kicking loose rocks and dirt back down towards the creek. “We’ve got to be almost to the edge of the property, right?” I remembered that there was a huge fence that ran all of the way around the property of Taylor Prep. We wouldn’t be able to go much farther without running into it, and then there wouldn’t be any way for us to hide from the students coming after us.
“We’re close, but there’s somewhere I can put you. Hurry up.” He pulled me hard enough that I tripped and he had to catch me. My breath caught in my throat as his arms wrapped around me and he pulled me back to a stand. “Your ribs and legs okay to keep running?”
There was a fire in my chest from sucking in air and I wasn’t sure that I was going to be able to keep up with him for much longer, but I nodded. “I’m fine. Let’s go.” Risking a glance behind me, I couldn’t see anyone from class, but it was obvious that they were getting closer. Their shouts were louder and more insistent, and I turned away, wanting to put them behind me.
“Good.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the ridge. Stumbling, I ran after him, trying to keep from falling. Even though I’d been religious about my physical therapy all semester it was still hard for me to run as fast as he needed me to.
Briars ripped at my skirt and jacket and a few times I was smacked in the face with a low-hanging branch, but I ran on with Brett. My hand was searing with his touch but it didn’t seem to bother him, so I tried to ignore it, even though my entire core felt like it was on fire.
“Here.” He skidded to a stop and I looked around. There wasn’t anything here but a few trees, and none of them looked like I’d be able to easily climb them. If he thought that I was going to be able to hide here without my classmates finding me then he was crazy.
“Where?” I spun in a circle, desperation making my throat tight. There wasn’t anywhere to hide. My classmates were probably at the creek now and coming across it, about to top out on the crest. Panic rose in my chest, but before I could spiral and come completely undone, Brett grabbed my wrists, pulling me to him.
I slammed into his body. He was so much stronger than me than he didn’t step back or make a sound. Instead, he pulled me to him, wrapping his arms around me.
“Why are you helping me?” I was terrified of the answer. In fact, I was terrified that there was no real answer, that he was simply holding me here while we waited for the other students. It would make perfect sense, but there was something different about this embrace.
It didn’t really feel like a Judas kiss.
His heart was pounding through his shirt, and in response, he dropped a kiss on the top of my head. At first, I thought that I didn’t feel something correctly. There was no reason for Brett Cox to be kissing me, but I felt the fluttering touch of his lips.
“Because they want to destroy you.” His answer was simple, and some people may have accepted it, but there was more to it than just that. I pulled back and looked up at him, trying to read in his eyes the truth. He sighed. “Because that would be too simple.”
Too simple? My mind raced but before I could say anything he let go of me and turned, kicking away leaves on the ground. A hatch in the ground appeared and he bent, searching for the handle and then grunting as he pulled up on it. My mouth fell open as he pulled open the door, a loud squeak rending the air.
“What in the world is that?”
He grinned at me. “That is your hidey-hole. Get in.”
A blast of cool air from inside the ground hit me and I took a step back, shaking my head. “Not a chance. No way. I have no idea what’s down there.”
He signed and closed his eyes. I could see his lips moving as he counted to ten and tried to think this through. If he thought that I was climbing down into a hole, then he was crazy. He’d lost his mind. I knew that everyone here – including him – was out to get me, and locking myself in a hole was a stupid idea.
“You come with me.” His eyes popped open and he looked at me as if considering what I said.
“Can’t. Someone has to cover it back up with leaves.” He gestured towards the hole. I could see the top rung of a ladder, but beyond that, it was black. “Go, now. You can have my flashlight.”
“And I just have to believe that you’re going to cover up the door and not tell anyone that I’m there?” Goosebumps popped out on my arms even though I had on a jacket. I was cold, but more than that, I was terrified.
He nodded. “Now, Rose, or you’re stuck out here with them.�
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As if by clockwork, I heard yelling that was closer than ever. My classmates must have made it over the creek. Taking a deep breath I stepped forward, yanking the flashlight from his hand and clicking it on. His face was impassive as I turned and stepped down the first rungs of the ladder.
The rungs were cold metal and surprisingly dry, but I could hear something dripping down below me. I took a deep breath and descended a few rungs, but before I even made it to the bottom, Brett closed the hatch, sealing me off.
Chapter 21
It was very quiet except for my breathing and the dripping. Slowly I turned around, shining the flashlight behind and below me. I’d dropped pretty quickly through a smaller tube that connected the hole in the ground to an underground room. What I’d thought was just an underground stream dripping turned out to be a faucet and there was water dripping in the sink.
“What in the world?” Turning, I shone my light away from the sink through the room. Not only was the space a complete room, with walls and a floor, but there was some furniture. It was like an underground bunker, but it didn’t make any sense why it would be out here in the middle of the woods.
I quickly descended the rest of the ladder and stood at the bottom, my heart pounding, as I looked around. If there was running water in here then it would make sense that there would be electricity, and after a moment of looking, I found what I was looking for.
Feeling more confident now, I crossed the room to the switch and flicked it on. The room was immediately bathed in a soft light and I turned off the flashlight, setting it on a small table. Glancing up nervously at the hatch, I sighed in relief when I saw that it was still closed.
At first, I didn’t want to touch anything, but then curiosity got the better of me, and I started to poke around. In addition to a table there was also a loveseat and a chair. Next to the loveseat were stacks of books on the floor, and scattered on the table there were some electronics pieces.
