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I storm off, chucking my cigarette aside. No fucking time to waste.
“You can’t be fucking serious, Felix,” Alistair says as he follows in my footsteps. “You’re gonna work for Dylan’s dad?”
“I don’t fucking care about him,” Felix says. “She burned down the fucking school.”
“So what?” Dylan scoffs, catching up with us. “We’ve burned down plenty of shit. It’s just a fucking building. It’ll get repaired or rebuilt.”
I stop in my tracks and point my finger at him. “This isn’t just about some fucking building. This is about her betrayal.”
He swallows and stares me dead in the eyes. “You trust my father?”
My jaw tightens. “No. But I know where my loyalty lies.”
“The board,” Dylan says through gritted teeth.
“Family above all,” Alistair says, rolling his eyes.
“Wait, you can’t be … no,” Dylan says. “You can’t turn this into a family feud. It’ll be a fucking war.”
I lean in closer. “I didn’t do shit. She did.”
“No. Fuck this. Fuck family,” Dylan growls, grabbing my finger. “My father isn’t telling the entire story. I just know he’s hiding something.”
“Yeah, well, so is she.” I turn around again. “And I’m gonna find out why the fuck she’d do this.”
“You don’t even know if she did it,” Alistair says as I march off. “It could’ve been anyone.”
“Doubt it,” I reply, headed straight for the frat house. “Only one soul alive with that much of a grudge against this school.” I grab my motorcycle, which I only just got some new tires from my garage, and put on my helmet. “It’s her, all right. And I’m gonna fucking find her and punish her for what she did.” I kick-start the engine. “With or without you.”
I race off before they try to change my mind again.
I know what I need to do.
She wants a fucking war? I’ll bring it to her fucking feet.
At the gates, I come across Crystal, one of Penelope’s friends, and I immediately come to a screeching halt. “Did you see her?”
She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “Who?”
“Penelope,” I grit.
“Yeah, she just ran off down that road,” she mutters, shivering in the cold of the night. “Sorry, I should’ve stopped her.”
I quickly blast off, leaving a very frazzled Crystal clutching her nightgown in my wake.
The wind blows in my face as I drive off the school grounds while more vehicles from the fire department race to the scene. But I pay no attention to the blazing fire behind me. There’s no time to lose. It’s been more than just minutes since that fire started. She could be anywhere by now.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!
“FUCK!” I scream against my helmet.
I race down the long road leading down the mountain, checking behind every rock, every tree, every fucking twig to see if she’s hiding there.
“Penelope!” I roar out loud, hoping she can hear me. “When I get my hands on you, I’m going to make you wish you’d never come to Spine Ridge!”
I zigzag down the road, narrowly avoiding a rock that’s sprung loose from the mountain. Sweat rolls down my back as I try to focus with barely any light. In the middle of the night, the only guidance I have is the moonlight scattering across the road.
In the distance, I see something running through the grass, headed for the forest far beyond the road. The reflection of metallic-colored shoes flickers in the light of my motorcycle.
Penelope.
I hit the gas and go even faster, hoping to catch her before she disappears between the trees.
Behind me, fresh, barely used car tires skid across the road, and I can hear from the noise the engine makes that it’s Alistair and Dylan.
But I don’t have time to wait for them.
I stray from the road and drive across the grass, leaving a cleanly cut path in my wake. Right before she runs into the forest, I drive up to her, slide my bike sideways, and block her path.
“Oh no, you fucking don’t.”
I jump off as my bike begins to fall, and I throw myself on top of her. Together, we tumble a few feet down the slope of the mountainous area until we come to a stop in the middle of the grass with only the light of my motorcycle to illuminate the darkness on her face.
She struggles against me, fighting me off. And she loses both her shoes in the process. “Get away from me!”
We wrestle on the ground, rolling through the mud until I finally gain the upper hand and sit down on top of her.
I pin her wrists to the ground and yell, “You thought you could fucking run after what you just did?”
Teardrops stain her cheeks.
I tear off my helmet and throw it to the side, then pounce down on her again. “You burned the fucking school down!”
Her lips barely part. “Prove. It.”
My nostrils flare, and I lean in. Grabbing a few strands of her hair near her neck, I take a deep whiff. “Your hair smells like gasoline. Burned.” I lean back to stare into her eyes. “Just like your fucking heart.”
