serious claims against you. I want you to know that Saint Clary’s doesn’t allow bullying of any kind.” Dean Smith opens his hands. “I’m not going to pretend that I don’t know your situation, Dakota. Everyone who lives in Clary knows what happened to your dad, and I’m sure you’re struggling because of it, but bullying behavior is unacceptable.” He leans forward, hands on his knees. “Now, Mr. Jacobs says he’s been made aware of an incident that doesn’t hold you in the best light. He wasn’t specific but let me lend you some advice. If I were you, I’d make things right with him and his son. You’ve seen what it’s like to live your whole life in this town, and you have far greater potential than that, and not just because your last name is Wilder. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
I blink. My mind shorted out when he said Mr. Jacobs is aware of an incident that doesn’t put me in the best light. “Did he say what the incident was?”
Dean Smith rubs his forehead. “He didn’t come right out and say it, but he hinted that it had to do with your stepbrother, Stone.” Dean Smith straightens, giving me a small smile. “Mr. Jacobs is a generous, well-esteemed man. I am sure you can rectify this so no action will have to be taken.”
Well, this is just rich. Lance and Stone have everyone fooled, and this is all about money. Dean Smith doesn’t care that no evidence of this “incident” even exists, yet he warns me anyway. Just the thought that Jacobs might pull his funding from Saint Clary’s is enough for the dean to lecture me.
Honestly, I shouldn’t be surprised. This is just another power play. Another push to get me to see that siding with them is ultimately the best choice. I stand abruptly, and Dean Smith reels back, blinking. I hold out my hand. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention,” I say, a lump forming in my throat. “I’ll make sure to deal with it.”
After we shake hands, I start for the door, but Dean Smith’s voice pulls me up short. “And Dakota, I hope whatever incident Mr. Jacobs is referring to doesn’t get out. We know about the gossip that goes around Clary, don’t we? I think the Wilders have had their fair share. You don’t need another reason to have the town talking.”
I don’t even dignify his statement with an answer. Because, of course, why not send me off with one more warning?
Lance Jacobs must be a great businessman because he sure as hell knows how to play the blackmail game.
9
It isn’t until I get home from school that I remember where Stone told me to meet them. The Devil’s Hole. The place isn’t unknown to me even though I’ve never been there to party. It’s the typical high school hangout where all the cool kids get drunk and whatever else it is that they do at these things. Apparently, that’s moved to college now, too.
The good thing about telling them I’ll meet them later is that I get the rest of the day to myself. They act like I’m invisible. Wyatt doesn’t follow me in his truck at school’s end. They even leave with Meghan and a couple of other girls while I take to the sidewalk to walk the couple of blocks back to the dorms.
When I get there, my door is unlocked. That’ll be the first thing I fix as soon as I get money. I continue to rack my brain, trying to think of any way I can make a decent amount of cash without accepting Lance’s offer, but I know if I don’t, I’m fucked anyway. My reputation, what good of it there is, will be gone. College—everything—it’ll all be over.
I lie to myself about what I’m going to do when I get to Devil’s Hole tonight, but I already know. What a fitting place to surrender my pride. Devil’s Hole is rooted in Apache legend. They say the very hole to hell is there. It may seem inconspicuous. A slight depression of the earth surrounded by a circle of rocks, but it’s known in the area as a place to avoid. Through the years, stories emerged about terrible things that happened there, only strengthening the validity of the legend. The occurrences sound paranormal—like the majority of the tales that come out of the Superstitions—but mostly it’s just dumb teenagers getting drunk and doing