Kings of Quarantine (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #1) - Caroline Peckham ,Susanne Valenti Page 0,30

do not break girl code ever.”

I laughed as I snagged my leather jacket from the back of the door, slipping it on before exiting the room. I made my way downstairs and out into the woods, eyeing a group of girls up ahead of me in cute outfits, all of their arms linked as they walked along the path. They must have been heading to the party so I just fell into step behind them, trying to ignore the thrashing of my heart at going it alone.

This making an effort bullshit wouldn’t have been so bad if I hadn’t known I was going to be put through some test tonight. The Night Keepers didn’t seem like the type of boys who would teach me a secret handshake and be done with it. Whatever their initiation was, it wasn’t going to be pretty. But I was going to face it without blinking. Because that was the only way I was gonna get their attention off of me. I’d soon stop being the new girl. I just had to ride out the storm until that happened.

Once tonight was done, I was gonna do as Mila said and stay off of their radar. Which was all well and good apart from the fact that I’d spent my shower thinking about the way Blake’s hands had brushed over me in P.E., how Saint’s eyes had scored lines across my flesh like he’d rather be using his tongue, and how Kyan had surveyed me with an animal kind of hunger that had almost made me fear for my life. They were just…gah. Addictive was the only word for it. And I’d had the smallest of tastes. I had to be strong enough not to take a little more. And a little more after that…

I could see why they were practically royalty around here. But with girls no doubt regularly dropping to their knees and opening their mouths for them, they didn’t need a girl like me. I was too much effort for rich boys who had everything. They were used to girls begging for it. Ones they could offer out breadcrumbs to as little or as often as they liked. And when they realised I was of a different variety, they’d race away faster than Road Runner in roller skates. The problem was, inside me was a reckless girl who was just as horny as all of those other girls, hornier probably. So I was gonna have to fight to keep her on a short leash.

I rounded the lake, slowing my pace as the group of girls pulled ahead of me. The sky was a deep purple as the last of the light trickled from the world and the sound of roosting birds sang in the dusk. The air was cold enough to send a shiver through me, but it made me feel entirely awake too. This place was a dream world, its beauty almost haunting. The trees reached up far above me as the path curved into the woodland, following the line of the lakeshore. Every hundred meters or so was a lantern hanging from a tall wooden post. Moths and fireflies gathered around them, throwing themselves against their blinding heat.

The path twisted off into the trees ahead of me so I lost sight of the girls, but it was pretty simple to find your way around this place when everything was centred around the lake. Through the trees, Tahoma Mountain was looming, its peak draped in the final glimmer of sunlight before the world tumbled into darkness.

My heart skipped and bounced as I found myself alone in the forest. A prickle of energy ran along my limbs and made my breathing quicken. I liked the taste of danger in the air. The sense that a wolf could be watching from the trees. I’d always been drawn to the darkness. Even as a little girl, Dad said I’d never needed a night light or the door cracked open. The natural fear of it lived in me, but there was a thrill in it too that I craved.

A light to my right caught my attention and I paused, my eyes following the line of a path that led out to the incredible old church I’d seen from the far side of the lake. The entrance was dark, but the arching stained glass window to the left of it cast a hazy red and amber pattern on the ground in the shape of a crucifix. I