“Her brothers, though?” Colt says. “Straight psychos, all three of them. After what they did to my sister… She’ll never be the same. None of us will.”
I want to ask what they did, but it’s clear he’s done with this conversation. “Thanks for the warning,” I say instead.
“Just giving you the info you asked for,” he says, as if remembering he doesn’t know me or owe me shit. “Do what you want with it. Just know that whatever you can imagine in your worst nightmare, it wouldn’t even phase them. They’ve seen it and done it—and laughed while they did.”
*
What They Say
Did you hear about the fire?
The one that burned the man?
No, the one that burned the girl.
Did you hear about the girl?
The one they drove out of her mind/off the bridge/out of town?
No, the one that disappeared.
Did you hear about the disappearance?
The one that took the car and the couple?
No, the one that took the boy.
Did you hear about the boy?
There never was a boy, Helen.
You must mean the monster.
fourteen
Harper Apple
“What do you think you’re doing?”
I pause, momentarily caught off guard by the ice cold tone of Royal’s voice. I work up my courage and remind myself I belong here just as much as they do. There are no assigned seats. I have as much right to sit here as anyone else in the school. I have no real plan. I’m just jumping in with both feet. Whatever they throw at me, I can take it.
“I’m eating lunch,” I say, giving them my sweetest smile. I set my plate down and take a seat across the round table from Royal. He stares at me with such incredulousness that I want to laugh out loud. His brothers flank him on either side, two buddies off to their sides, and the Dolce girls filling the remaining seats. All but one.
“You can’t sit here,” Royal grits out between clenched teeth.
Baron holds up a finger, as if telling him to hold that thought. And though I’m sure Royal is the leader of their little posse, he obeys. He crosses his arms, which makes his muscles bulge in all the right ways, and stares down at me with hooded eyes.
I try not to let that asshole pose make me hot, but god, he’s fucking sexy when he’s trying to intimidate me. I’m not sure if I should be scared or aroused, but I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t be both at the same time.
Baron takes a sucker out of his pocket and unwraps it slowly. The crinkling of the plastic is the only sound in the room. My heart hammers against my ribs, but I force myself not to move. When Baron finally speaks, I swear everyone in the café leans forward to hear him.
“What do you want?” he asks.
“Oh, are we negotiating already?” I ask. “That was easier than I thought.”
“We don’t negotiate with trailer trash,” Royal growls.
“Why are you here?” Baron clarifies, tucking the sucker into his cheek and nodding at my plate.