along with this.
He leaned over Reid’s street ride and pushed it off the side of the road.
“No…,” Reid groaned.
“You can figure this one out on your own,” Easton said.
He gave a hard push and Reid’s street ride went over the edge of the ridge.
I heard the crunch of the trees and the slam of the ride as it rolled down… down… down…
Noah, Easton, and Xavier did that because Reid scared me.
And I had no idea what it meant.
As I thought about it, I didn’t realize they were surrounding me.
Easton staring at me.
Noah on my left.
Xavier on my right.
“Are you okay, Winter?” Easton asked.
“I don’t know,” I whispered.
“That’s okay,” Xavier said. “We’ll leave you be.”
Noah touched my wrist.
I looked at him.
His perfect hair and face meant nothing compared to his eyes.
“This is what happens when you fuck around with us,” Noah said.
He lifted my hand and kissed it.
Then Xavier moved in and kissed my right cheek.
And then Easton moved right toward me.
His body inches from mine.
He looked down at me and winked.
They all walked around me and away.
I started to shake and had no idea what I was supposed to do next.
Reid looked up at me from the ground.
“I’m… I’m sorry…”
“Shut the fuck up,” I snapped at Reid.
I turned and hurried back to Tank Two.
When I got behind the wheel, I started to cry.
Chapter 14
midnight whisper
When I saw Gia out on the deck, I couldn’t believe how happy I felt.
I ran across the deck and almost jumped at her.
It was like I hadn’t seen her in a year and she was my best friend.
I contained myself to a normal hug.
Then she smiled. “I brought something for us.”
We went down the steps to the beach and she showed me the bottle of vodka she had brought for us to sip from.
I was more than okay with that.
My mother wasn’t home tonight.
She claimed she was out on a date, but I wouldn’t put it past her if she was with some man twenty years younger than her in a hotel room with her ankles pinned behind her head.
And just the thought of that made me want to drink even more.
I wasted no time in grabbing the bottle from Gia and taking a big gulp.
She grabbed the bottle and pulled it away. “Holy fuck, Winter. Bad day or what?”
I looked at her. “Very weird day, Gia.”
I gave her the rundown of what happened with Noah, Easton, and Xavier.
We took turns sipping the vodka, sitting on the beach, trying to relax, but the more I told the story, the more amped up I got. And her jaw hit the beach by the end of it.
“I don’t think I can ever leave you alone again,” she said.
I laughed. “I don’t know…”
“Seriously. I’m by your side from here on out.”
“Don’t say that,” I said. “They’re dangerous.”
“Of course they are. I told you that. And they have their sights set on you.”
“Why?” I asked.
That’s not a lie either… why…
“I don’t know,” Gia said. “Maybe they’re trying to protect you. That would be crazy to see. Maybe they all secretly want you.” She gasped. “Maybe they always felt that way but after the accident they realized how close you came to dying. Oh, fuck, Winter…”
“Gia, stop it,” I said. “I can’t think about that. No. It’s… no.”
Gia giggled and kicked her feet in the sand. “Sorry. I’m just kidding. They don’t have hearts. They’re not capable of love. Trust me.”
“Did you… I mean…”
I thought about it but couldn’t recall hearing rumors or anything about Gia and anyone else.
Gia looked at me. “Never. Whatever you’re thinking right now, forget about it. Seriously.”
“Okay. Sorry. I’m just confused here. I mean, maybe they were trying to be nice.”
“They don’t do nice. They do calculated. So if they’re being nice to you, it’s because they will get something out of it.”
“Do you think they want to control my memory?” I asked.
Gia’s eyes went wide. “Maybe. Maybe they know something… or, wait… maybe you knew something about them.” She gasped. “That’s it, Winter. You must have known something about them. Or found out a secret. Something like that. Now they want you to think you’re part of their group or whatever. Oh, this is crazy stuff.”
I grabbed the vodka bottle from Gia and took another drink.
This was getting beyond crazy.
I hated repeating the word dangerous, but it was the reality of everything going on.
Gia was also very smart. She was piecing things together faster than I was. She was missing the biggest piece of