Page 113 of Anarchy at Prescott High (The Havoc Boys 4)
“That’ll be all,” Oscar snaps, his hand tightening on the edge of his iPad in just such a way that I’m worried he won’t be able to control his temper. “Leave. Now.”
Stacey nods, her eyes passing over Hael before turning back to me.
“Be careful out there, okay? Sometimes we have to learn the hard way that we’re not as invincible as we think we are.” She takes off in the direction of the exit, and her girls rise from their table like a flock of birds, trailing after her and leaving the boy with the grabby hands behind.
“Fuck,” Oscar says and Hael snorts, lifting up an unlit cigarette in agreement.
“Really, truly. This is the fucking pits. What do you want to do about it?” he asks, but Vic’s already a hundred miles away.
“Don’t go to Tom’s property again,” he says absently, and he must notice the look on my face because he adds, “even the VGTF doesn’t have the resources to search it properly, so let’s not give them an idea of where to look.”
“That’s all you have to say about that?” I ask incredulously, looking over at the empty table where the Charter Crew used to sit. There’s nobody there now, just a fucking ghost town. If I squint, I swear I can see Kali and Mitch, Ivy and Danny, Logan and Kyler and Timmy.
Billie sits by herself in the far corner of the room, her eyes red-rimmed and constantly straying over to where we sit. She meets my gaze and then turns away sharply, put in her fucking place the way Kali wouldn’t allow me to do.
Instead, she took her obstinance and her bullshit to the grave.
“This is bad, Victor,” Aaron says softly, but our fearless leader just shakes his head.
“I know it’s bad,” he replies, exhaling. “But we’re already at war with the GMP anyway. We’ll take extra precautions, hide some weapons around the perimeter of the school. Whatever Ophelia is up to, the GMP is part of it. I’m hoping they won’t move on us if we go forward with the annulment.” The look he gives me is one of a thousand apologies, a million pleas. I turn away and Callum rests a comforting hand on my shoulder.
“I’m going to have to tell Sara something,” I say, feeling my chest get tight. Everyone in this room is watching us. Maybe not directly, but they’re waiting, wondering what we’re going to do next. If I snitch to that cop, everyone here will know. But I have to steer her ship or she’s going to end up in murky waters.
“Don’t worry about Sara Young,” Vic says, gesturing at me with his finger, and then smiling in that way of his, the one that makes me so furious I could spit. “Just focus on getting through these next few weeks, okay?”
“Go fuck yourself,” I tell my husband as he smiles, steps forward, and then kisses me on the cheek. Just like I did to him that day at the garage. And just like that day, I feel dumbstruck the way he did. “Have fun on your date with Trinity.”
“Oh, I’m sure I will,” Vic says, still smiling. On top of everything else, he’s going to dinner at some fancy restaurant in Oak Park tonight with Trinity to discuss the details of our arrangement.
I ignore him as he leaves the room just before the bell rings.
“Stop punishing yourself and say something to him,” Aaron tells me as he stands up, looking down at me with an expression crafted of equal parts tenderness and violence. Only half of that look is intended for me. “Before I fucking kill him.”
“I don’t know what you want me to say,” I quip, feeling my skin get tight and hot. A girl walks by, looking me up and down as she passes. She’s picked a terrible day to try her hand at climbing the Prescott High social ladder.
“Whore,” she whispers, and a few of her friends snicker. I let her go as I stand up and storm into the hall. But I’m in a terrible fucking mood.
And I need somebody to take it out on.After school, I wait down the street and around the corner with Cal. When the mouthy bitch passes by, I step out from behind the hedge and hit her in the back of her knee with the patent leather heels on my feet. She crumples forward and crashes into the cement, skinning her hands and knees.
“What the fuck?” one of her friends chokes out before she sees me and Cal. That’s when the blood drains from her face and our eyes meet.
“That fucking hurt!” the girl on the ground wails, just before I nail her in the spine with my heel and push her into the sidewalk as she grunts and chokes in pain.
