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Pushing open the bathroom door, I froze. The music that had been blaring a few minutes ago was absent. Swallowing, I waited a few minutes to see if a new song was going to start. Instead, there was only more silence. Something crashed, and the sound echoed down the short hall. My eyes darted around, looking for another exit. But only the bathrooms were back here. To leave, I’d have to go back into the main part of the bar.
Creeping on my tiptoes, I peeked around the corner. The bar was empty, and the lights were off, making it hard for anyone walking by to see inside. I looked to the right to see West and River on the floor, wrestling for the upper hand. River’s kick connected with West’s ribs as West was trying to wrap his arms around River’s waist. My breath hitched when Eli popped around the corner, inches from my face.
“Hey, Kat,” he murmured, his voice smothered with rage. If anything, he’d gotten angrier in the last few hours. A calm talk wasn’t on the table.
“Eli, wait—”
My words caught in my throat when he snagged my arm and dragged me out of the hallway. He pushed my back against the bar counter. His chest brushed against mine as he grabbed my wrists and pressed them to the counter on either side of me.
“I didn’t do it,” I screamed, feeling his hold tighten. “I fucking swear. It wasn’t me.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Like it wasn’t you who pulled the same thing last year?”
I hesitated. “No. That was me. Okay? But whatever happened today, I had nothing to do with it.”
“You’re lying.”
A grunt of pain had me looking to the side, where West was sliding a gun out from under River’s shirt. River shot off the floor, lunging at West, but went deathly still when West flicked off the safety and aimed the gun at his chest.
“Give me a fucking reason,” West growled, shoving the barrel into River’s collarbone. “I’ll give you the same option you gave me, though. I’ll only shoot your shoulder. But if you try to go for me again, I’ll shoot and then knock you out.”
River’s eyes darted to me, his face a mask of rage and worry. West nudged him with the gun, pushing him back until the back of River’s legs hit a chair. With his free hand, West pushed River down until he was sitting.
“Eyes on me, Kat.” Eli reclaimed my attention as I tilted my face up to meet his glare. “Did you really think we wouldn’t come after you for this just because you announced to the school who you really are?”
My mouth went dry as I tried to find a way to explain that I really hadn’t done it. Nothing I said was going to make him believe me. My chest was heaving against his as he kept me pressed against the bar. Fear was stabbing me with every beat of my heart, and I took a deep breath, trying to think rationally.
“She didn’t do it,” River ground out, still sitting rigidly.
“Another word, and this gun is going to meet your head so you can’t interrupt again,” West threatened, making River’s jaw clench as he glanced up at West.
“It wasn’t me.” I met Eli’s eyes again. “Do you really think I would do that when I have no way of getting away from you? When I’m stuck in this town?”
“You obviously weren’t fucking thinking when you did it,” he snapped.
Although my panic remained, anger began building the longer Eli kept me trapped against the counter. All three of them thought I was weaker than them. I’d learned a lot since leaving Braidwood when I was thirteen. I wasn’t some girl they could torment. I was a Whitman. A founding family just like them. They couldn’t treat me like I was beneath them.
“Do you think that little of me?” I asked, my voice getting stronger. “That I would be stupid enough to do something that big without thinking it through first?”
Eli searched my face, his eyebrow lifting a bit at my sudden change. He kept my wrists in his grip as my lips curled into a cruel grin.
“I made your life miserable for almost two years.” His nostrils flared at my words. “Without me stepping foot in this fucking city. Or getting caught. I played you like chords on a guitar, and you couldn’t do shit about it.”
He lowered his head until his eyes were level with mine. “This isn’t helping your case of innocence.”
I reared my head back and slammed my forehead into his nose. I didn’t hear his bone break, but it was a hard enough hit for him to release me. His hands flew to his face as he yelled out in pain. My head throbbed, but I pushed past it and slammed my knee into his stomach. His hand gripped my hair as I wrapped my arms around him. Pushing him forward, I hooked one of my legs behind his ankle and kicked it toward me.
He tried to stay standing, but with the combination of being on one foot and me shoving him, he lost his balance and went down, and I fell on top of him. He pulled my hair in an attempt to gain control, but I already knew what I was going to do. Reaching into my pocket, I grabbed the pocketknife I had taken from my room.
Flicking it open, I pressed it against his throat as I sat on his chest. He froze, not moving a muscle when he felt the metal on his skin. Blood trickled from his nose while we stared at each other in silence. For the first time since I’d gotten back, he looked at me like I was a threat. There was as much surprise in his gaze as there was anger.
“Let go of my hair,” I ordered. Inside, I was trembling, but my words were clear and cold. Without his eyes leaving mine, his hand moved from my hair.
“Kat, be smart—”
“I am smart,” I cut West off, glancing up to see him staring at me in shock. River looked like he was about to fall over from what was happening, but an amused grin was covering his face. I looked back at Eli. “And I thought the three of you knew that. But if you think I really tried to set Eli up today, then you must not have a high opinion of me.”
“I always knew you were smart, Kit-Kat.” River was back to his jokes now that the tables had turned, even though West still had a gun on him.
