The Perfect Escape (The Perfect Escape #1) - Suzanne Park Page 0,66

“You’re an econ whiz, right, Natey? It’s simple, really. You have something I want, and I’m willing to pay top dollar for it. I still am because I’m a charitable guy. It’s not personal, skid. No hard feelings.” His cold eyes searched my face for a reaction.

I winced. “But how’d you know…I’d be here? How’d you get in?”

Annie’s face went pale, revealing so much.

She’d video chatted with me.

She knew I’d be at this competition instead of the track meet.

Damn it.

Pete snorted like an angry bull. “My dad’s a big deal, you idiot. He knows everyone on the board at Zeneration. He pulled a few strings. Now, hand over your stupid fucking wristband. Let’s not let this get ugly.” His green laser dot traveled down to my crotch.

Sadistic son of a bitch.

I had nothing on me to protect myself. My bo staff was by my backpack, near where I’d taken a leak. Good job, Nate. Bringing bare hands to a Taser fight. Pete had a good two inches and twenty pounds on me, and he was quick as fuck in every school sport. I didn’t see a way out of this.

“C’mon, Bruce Lee. Show me some karate moves first, though. How do you say skid in Korean? Or does that not translate?”

Something inside me snapped.

Fuck you, Pete.

You.

Fucking.

Asshole!

The voice inside my head cheered, Beat the living shit out of that privileged, racist, silver-spoon-fed mufuckaaaaaaa!

Adrenaline-fueled, I lunged straight into him, in brute-force tackle mode.

“Oooof!” Pete coughed as I rammed his upper body, smacking the Taser out of his hand, and knocking the wind out of both of us as we crashed to the ground.

I wheezed and stumbled onto my feet. Pete played football and was used to tackles worse than this. Child’s play. He cracked a smile before he rushed me.

I fell back into piles of rocks, landing backward on big, jagged, skin-puncturing, skin-scraping limestone. A lot of it.

Shit, I think I burst my own appendix.

There was minor blood spill on the limestone, presumably mine.

“Just give me the wristband, Nate,” Pete said, wiping his bleeding lip with his left hand as he picked up the Taser on the ground with his right one. I wished he looked as battered as I did, but no, he looked great. Fantastic, in fact. I’d tousled his hair and made his shirt a little askew, and that was it. He looked manly with that cut lip. Somehow, I’d made Pete look hotter.

Fucking asshole.

I scrambled to my feet again.

He charged, and I reacted faster this time. I grabbed his arm, twisted it, and struck him hard in the side of the face with a headbutt. A basic Krav Maga move, one I’d never imagined using. I’d added the headbutt at the end, just because he pissed me off.

He collided into Kate, who appeared right in time to zap him in the ass with her stun gun. As he crumpled and fell, she blew the top of the stun gun and put it in her holster. “I was aiming for his lower back, I promise.” She shrugged at me.

I burst out laughing, then replied with a pun, because I couldn’t stop myself. “What a total pain in the ass.”

She smiled in return.

I loved this.

Kate took away his Taser. “I’ll admit, I eavesdropped on that whole exchange between you two. Your bathroom break was way longer than it should have been, so I had to come back to investigate.” She moved in closer. “What you did, turning down his money? When he almost Tasered your nuts? That was pretty brave.”

Our eyes locked again. Nate. Don’t be a moron. And don’t you dare say what you’re thinking: not all heroes wear capes.

Annie interjected, exploding our bubble of happiness. “Nate, I hope we can still be friends. I’m so sorry about all of this.” With a five-digit code, she disabled her wristband, and Pete’s, and put them both on the ground. Pete was still in fetal