by Elle East
Eventually we come to the edge of the trees and stop in the shadows to look out. The school is lit up and looks warm and inviting—opposite to the cold and dark place where I am right now.
“We need to get to the dorms,” Daire whispers and it’s unexpected after so much silence that it makes me jump. “Which one is Huxley?”
“It’s on the opposite side of campus,” I whisper back.
“Will your card open it?”
“Yes, it opens most of the buildings.”
“Lead the way,” he says.
It feels intimidating to lead them, but I step out of the woods and they follow me. I try to stick to the shadows. If anyone saw one of the Vicious Crew, they would know in a heartbeat that these guys don’t belong here. Luckily there’s not a lot of people outside tonight. The weather is cold so everyone is inside studying or hanging out.
We quickly make it to the Huxley dorm. It’s an old building made of gray brick and covered in ivy that’s been meticulously maintained.
“Theo, stand guard out here,” Daire says in a low voice.
Theo nods and moves to stand in the shadow of the building.
I walk out of the dark and into the bright light over the entrance. I take my pass out of my pocket with slightly trembling fingers. The picture on the pass is the old me, smiling. I barely recognize that girl anymore. I pass the card over the electronic sensor and there’s an audible sound of the door unlocking. I breathe out a sigh of relief.
The four of us move quickly inside. I’ve been in Huxley a couple times before, but it wasn’t my dorm. I lived off campus in my parent’s house and every day my driver would take me to school.
When I turned sixteen, my dad bought me a brand new sports car—which wasn’t much use because I still haven’t learned to drive yet. The car was red and flashy and very expensive. I know I shouldn’t be ungrateful for a free car but at the same time it was just another example of how my dad didn’t know me. He bought things for himself and gave them to us.
“Who are we trying to find?” I ask Daire.
“Room 310.”
We head up the stairs to the third floor.
At the top, Daire says, “Guard here.” And Alec falls back to stand at one end of the hall.
Luckily, at this time of the evening the halls are empty so we don’t run into any students. Room 310 is at the other end. When we get there Daire tells me to knock and then he and Brax move to stand against the wall on either side of the door.
“I don’t know who’s in there?” I protest.
Daire rolls his eyes in exasperation like I’m the slowest person that’s ever existed. “He’s not going to open the door for us.”
“You said I wasn’t going to be bait this time!” I hiss.
His mouth presses in to a hard line.
“Just. Knock. On. The. Door.” And, as an afterthought that he really doesn’t want to add, he says between clenched teeth, “Please.”
I don’t have much of a choice, so I knock. There're sounds of rustling so there’s someone inside. In the next moment I hear the person come to the door and pause. Daire was right, the person must be looking out the peephole. There’s no way I’d let two guys who look like Daire and Brax into my apartment in the middle of the night so good call on Daire’s part.
There’s the sound of the security chain being unlocked and suddenly I don’t want the person on the other side of the door to let us in. I don’t know what the Vicious Crew has planned for them. Daire promised me no violence. He said they are only going to steal a cellphone, but how can I trust him? I didn’t trust him at all. Fuck, I shouldn’t have come here.
But it’s too late, the door is already opening.
I see a normal-looking guy about my age. “Hello?” he asks.
Before I can say anything, Daire and Brax spring into action. They grab the guy and Daire puts a large hand on the guy’s mouth before they force him back into the room.
“Get in here and shut the door,” Daire says to me and without thinking I do it.
“Where is it?” Brax barks at the guy who has stopped struggling and now just looks terrified.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” he says after Daire removes his hand from his mouth.
“Like hell,” Daire growls and pulls his arm back to punch the guy, but before he can swing I yell out, “You promised no one would get hurt!”
Daire hesitates. He looks at me then back at the guy, then he groans in exasperation.
“Fine. Brax, tear up the room and find that phone.”
“No!” the guy yells, but Brax doesn’t hesitate and starts rifling through drawers, dumping the contents on the floor, and turning over furniture.
“It’s not here!” the guy says when he can’t stand watching his stuff get destroyed any longer.
“Where is it?” Daire asks in a deadly voice. I know from experience what it’s like to be on the other side when he uses that tone, and I wouldn’t want to be that guy right now.
“It’s…” The guy hesitates.
Brax picks up a laptop from the desk next to him. He holds it up high with just two fingers, letting it dangle precariously in a clear threat.
“I don’t know,” he finishes and Brax drops the laptop to the hardwood floor. He delivers one solid stomp with his boot and the laptop cracks.
“No!” the guy screeches.
“Shut the fuck up,” Daire whispers sternly and shakes him.
“I’ll give you whatever you want,” the guy pleads.
“We just want the phone. Where is it?” Daire says and emphasizes each word by shaking the guy.
Brax raises his foot to stomp on the laptop again—
“Fine! It’s in Mr. Stevens’ office! Don’t destroy that. I need it. All my stuff is saved on there.”
Brax makes like he’s going to stomp it anyway and the guy screeches. Daire puts his palm over the guy’s mouth roughly before turning to me.
“Do you know where Mr. Stevens’ office is?”
I nod. Brax bends down and picks up the cracked laptop.
Daire says, “We are keeping that as collateral. If you’re telling the truth about the phone, then we’ll send the computer back to you in one week—but first we are going to make a copy, and if you tell anyone about us being here tonight, then we’ll send all your documents to the police, the media, and all the other gangs in town. Understand?”
The guy nods in defeat. I can tell he’s on the brink of tears. Daire finally lets the guy go and he practically collapses.
“We were never here,” Daire says, and with that, the three of us funnel out of the room, leaving the guy to pick up all his broken stuff.
13
We quickly retrace our steps out of the building, picking up Alec and Theo on the way out.
I’m shocked by how little that whole thing bothered me. The guy whose room we just destroyed is clearly mixed up in some dark stuff so I don’t feel too badly about what the Vicious Crew did to him. He wasn’t physically hurt at all, so I think he got off easy.
What shocked me the most about the whole thing was that Daire actually listened to me. He kept his promise that he wouldn’t hurt anyone and he stopped when I told him to. That’s truly the most insane thing that has happened so far tonight.
I lead them to the building where the teachers have their offices. I knew Mr. Stevens because I had a course with him last year. I never really liked the guy because I always found him arrogant and a bit slimy, and now I feel justified in my opinion. Even though I didn’t like him, I’m still surprised he’s wrapped up in something criminal. It’s the type of people at Marter High who you expect to be criminals, not private school students and teachers. I’m learning that maybe I need to stop judging books by their covers.
We get there without running into anyone and I’m starting to think this is too easy. The building isn’t as large as the Huxley dorm but it has the same gray bricks and ivy.
“My card won’t work her
e. They don’t give the students access,” I whisper.
Daire considers this for a second. He then leads us around the side of the building where we spot an open window on the second floor in the back. Theo and Alec wordlessly move forward.
Theo bends down and interlaces his hands together. Alec steps into Theo’s hands and then jumps. Theo pushes at the same time and helps boost Alec up to the window. With impressive skill, Alec effortlessly slides inside the dark building. I can’t believe how easy this all is for them.
Alec is tall and muscular but he’s the leanest of the Vicious Crew so it makes sense he’d be the one to go in. I’m just happy they didn’t try to make me do it.
We walk around to the front to wait silently. After about ten minutes, the front door opens and we jog over and slip inside. Theo stands guard outside again.
“It was a bitch getting out of that office,” Alec mumbles. “The doors lock from the outside, damn old buildings.”
“Do you know where Mr. Stevens’ office is?” Daire asks me.
I had to go to his office once to turn in an assignment late, but that was a while ago.
“I think it’s on the second floor, but I’m not sure where.”
The four of us head upstairs.
“Wait here,” Daire says to me and Brax.
He and Alec start methodically looking at the nameplates on the doors, he at one end and Alec at the other.
“Do you miss it?” Brax’s voice rumbles in my ear and I jump.
“What?”
“Your old school. Your old life. This place is a hell of a lot different from Marter High—hell of a lot nicer,” he says in a low voice.
I shrug and answer honestly. “I miss some things about it. I miss having options and a future, but I don’t really miss the people. When I left I found out most of them aren’t who I thought they were.”
“You don’t miss the fancy meals, the traveling, the big homes?” he asks skeptically.
“I miss not being hungry or having to worry about money, yeah, but that other stuff was never really me.”
Brax looks surprised.
“I do miss being able to buy camera filters though. Do you know how expensive those are?” I add and Brax laughs quietly.
“Two thousand five hundred dollars should help,” he says.
“Hm? You mean five thousand?”
He looks confused. “We aren’t getting more than you or anything—we always split the haul equally. Daire got us a little over twelve from his dad, so we’d get two and a half each.”
It’s my turn to be confused. “He told me I’d get five…”
Realization dawns on Brax and I see a small grimace on his face. “I guess he’s giving you his share.”
“Why would he do that?”
Brax shrugs, but I can tell there’s more that he’s not saying.
“Out of all of us, Daire needs the money the least. His dad makes the family live modestly to avoid suspicion, but he runs a powerful branch of the mafia so it’s not like they are hurting for money or anything. He used to go to this school, actually.”
My mouth drops open in shock. "What?!” I hiss.
“Yeah,” Brax continues. “Alec too—but their dads took them out after a couple of months. Said if they kept going here they’d get soft so they sent them to Marter instead.”
I’m beyond shocked. As I look at Alec and Daire stalking the hallways, as silent as cats, clearly accomplished criminals, they are the last people I could imagine attending this school—well, besides Theo and Brax.
“We would have been here at the same time, but I don’t remember them at all,” I say.
“My guess is that you were too busy living in your own little extravagant world to notice the two punks in the corner, Highness.” The way he says my nickname makes me wince. “Their dads might be assholes, but that was one thing they were right about. Daire and Alec don’t fit in to this world. They were born on the wrong side of the tracks and that’s where they belong.”
Alec finds Mr. Stevens’ door at last and waves Daire over. Alec crouches down, takes something out of his pocket and then starts picking the lock. Brax and I watch in silence. I think about what he just told me and let it sink in.
Alec is clearly a skilled lock pick and in no time they are inside the office.
“What’s on the phone?” I ask.
“A video of the mayor doing drugs and cheating on his wife.”
“Huh.”
A minute later the guys come out holding the phone which Daire puts in his pocket. All of us leave the building and Theo joins us as we walk quickly back to the forest.
We are about halfway there when I hear, “—Addison?”
I recognize that voice and my blood runs cold. I curse under my breath, put on a fake smile and turn around to face my ex-boyfriend.
“Hey, Warren!”
He’s looking at me like he’s seeing a ghost.
“What are you doing here? I thought you got kicked out?”
“I didn’t get kicked out,” I say indignantly. “I transferred schools.”
“Yeah right, you voluntarily went to Marter High?” he scoffs.
He looks at the four guys warily—and with good reason; they are intimidating as hell. He’d be dumb not to be at least a little scared. They start to move in closer to me, clearly sending a signal to Warren that they are here to back me up. I can’t deny that deep down it feels kind of good.
“Well, if you don’t go here anymore, what are you doing here?” he asks.
“I came to pick up the rest of my stuff,” I lie effortlessly.
He looks down at my arms and frowns.
“Where is it then?”
“I arranged a delivery service to send it to my new place—I’m not taking it myself. Also, I had to drop off a couple of things so I thought I might as well do it at the same time.”
“Who are these guys?”
Despite how bad it is that he’s seen us, I can’t help but relish him seeing me with four guys that are ten times hotter than he’ll ever be. I know it’s petty, but so what? I need to find something positive in all the negative.
“My… friends. They just wanted to help make sure I got everything settled. Anyway, it was so great seeing you.”
I turn before he can answer and start walking. The guys hesitate for a second then follow me and we walk quickly away from Warren who’s left standing there dumbfounded. We reach the woods and plunge in.
“Who was that?” Brax asks.
“My douchebag ex.”
“Want us to kick his ass?”
“No!” I whisper.
Warren may have screwed me over, but I didn’t want him to get hurt—well ok, maybe I wanted him to get a little hurt, but there was no way I would unleash the Vicious Crew on him. Few people in the world deserve that kind of punishment.
Soon we are all sitting in the car again and we drive away like nothing happened.
14
Daire barges into my room again the next evening and this time I actually am changing.
“Hey!” I screech and quickly cover myself with a robe. “What did I say about knocking??”
He shrugs but I see the slight smirk on his face he’s trying not to show—and it’s infuriating. He runs his fingers through his thick hair that’s styled upwards and I’m surprised because I thought since it’s jelled it’d be like a rock. I idly wonder how soft it would be if I were to run my fingers through it—WHOA, where the HELL did that thought come from?
I tie my robe angrily and cross my arms. He tosses a wad of cash on the bed.
“Your cut,” he says bluntly.
I look over at the stack. “How much is that?”
“Five thousand.”
“I thought each of our cuts were two thousand five hundred?”
He looks at me sharply. “I said five thousand yesterday.”
“Yeah, but Brax let it slip that everyone else was getting two and a half.”
He
looks caught for a second, before muttering, “Fucking Brax.”
“Is this your cut too?” I ask, pointing to the money on the bed.
We stare at each other, neither of us backing down. The room seems to fade and there’s lightening flashing between us. I know he hates me, and I hate him too.
In the next moment he turns on his heel and walks out the door.
“No, it’s yours,” he calls as he shuts the door too hard, shaking the room. The hairbrush on my nightstand clatters to the floor.
A couple days later I’m walking down to the basement for lunch. I’m excited because for the first time the convenience store had a couple of apples when I went this morning. It’s going to be so nice to taste fresh produce again—I think I’m getting scurvy.
At the bottom of the stairs is Brax and I stop short.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, but I’m scared to know. Maybe they want me to do another job with them? Or they are cashing in their second “favor”. I just know that whatever it’s going to be it’s not going to be good.
He smiles at me in a mischievous way, and that’s when I realize how sexy his smile is.
“Come on,” he says cheerfully and then starts walking away down the hall.
I hurry down the stairs to watch him go.
“Go where?”
He doesn’t turn around but just keeps walking. “Come on, Highness. This’ll be a good surprise, I promise. Nothing illegal. We’re going to do every girl’s favorite activity.”
My brow furrows in confusion. What’s every girl’s favorite activity? Sleeping? Eating? Hanging out with friends? Watching TV?
“What’s that?” I ask.
“You’ll just have to follow me to find out.”
Damn him. I’m such a curious person that I’m now dying to know what the surprise is, and it’s going to drive me absolutely crazy. He’s pure evil.
“I’m not coming,” I say resolutely. I may have done some dumb things recently, but I’m not that dumb. I still have some self-preservation instincts left, not many, but some.
