you only imagine? Bet when you agreed to be our girl, you didn’t think you’d have to—”
I put my fingers in my ears to drown him out as I start walking out of the garage.
“Can’t hear you!” I call, until he’s suddenly right there and scooping me into his arms. Hael Harbin carries me over to the blacked-out Escalade as I scream, and then tosses me inside like I weigh nothing at all.
That’s not the first or only scream we hear that night.
But it’s certainly the least violent.
“What’s the plan?” I ask as Callum hands me a brand-new skeleton mask and a pair of black latex gloves. The mask is much nicer than the one I wore when I stood over Neil’s open grave. It’s made of wood, and very pretty. It reminds me of the face paint the boys wore on Halloween.
Cal holds his over his face, blue eyes watching me from the eyeholes. I shiver and he drops it back to his lap with a laugh.
“Time to find out if Mitch is serious about all this,” Vic murmurs from the front seat, rubbing his chin the way he always does when he’s thinking.
“As if killing one of our crew isn’t serious?” I ask, and Victor looks back over his shoulder at me. He gives one of his signature anti-smiles.
“Mm. Quid pro quo, I guess. We killed Danny, so they killed one of our boys. That makes us even, and I won’t play at that game. A bunch of fucking copycats aren’t going to roll into my turf and disrespect me.”
“What about Ivy Hightower?” Aaron asks from the driver’s seat, and it’s Oscar who replies from behind me.
“Hard to say. I don’t think the Charter Crew would kill Danny’s girlfriend, and someone who was a loyal gossip for them. Likely, Bernadette is right about her stepfather being the killer. The part I’m having trouble figuring out is why Ivy’s death happened the same night our boys went missing. We now know for a fact that it was the Charter Crew who took them. We also know that Kali was fucking Neil. I just need more time to figure out how and why they’re connected.”
“If we factor in my ideas about Kali and David, then I think we’re really getting somewhere,” I add. I don’t even bother to turn around to see Oscar’s reaction. I can feel it. “Because if Kali was willing to seek out a guy I hooked up with at a party, then why not see what’s up with my stepdad, too?”
Oscar makes a sound of annoyance as Callum grins at me.
“Far-reaching, Bernadette. You like to make jumps of logic; I prefer facts.” Oscar’s voice is ice-cold, but I ignore him. He, on the other hand, is very likely staring at the back of my neck; I can feel his gaze like a blast of freezing wind against my nape.
“Alright, kids,” Hael says on the tail-end of a yawn. “Calm your tits. One problem at a time, okay?” He stretches his arms above his head and his hoodie rides up a bit in the front, showing off that flat belly of his. I wet my lips. I’m a little nervous for our excursion, but on the inside, I’m freaking out like a little girl.
I’ve been fantasizing about the Havoc Boys for years. And now, I get to explore every nook and cranny, every dark crevice of their souls. Well, that is, for the boys who actually have souls. I’m not entirely certain that Oscar does.
“Hey Bernie,” Aaron says after a moment of silence. Music trickles softly from the speakers, but nobody’s paying any attention to it. “Do you want to go to the winter formal with me?”
The question comes out of left field, and my head snaps up, lips parting in surprise.
“The winter formal?” I ask, because in all the excitement of joining Havoc I’d totally forgotten that we were all seniors in high school. Jesus. “You want to go to that?”
“We can’t skip Snow Day,” Hael says with a bemused chuckle. “It’s iconic, and this is our last year. Besides, this is a beautiful opportunity to remind every idiot in that fucking school that those hallways belong to us.”
“These fucking streets belong to us,” Victor snorts, pulling on his mask. He looks back at us, and I shiver at the sight of his beautiful face behind the monstrous beauty of the skeleton visage. “But you’re right: it never hurts to remind the populace.”