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“What?” Shiloh snapped at Blaire. “Are you serious?”
Blaire grabbed her shirt from the bottom and pulled it over her head. “I’m sure.” She tossed it onto the ground before unbuckling her jeans. “We know these waters inside and out. I’m sure finding the anchors won’t be hard.”
“Err…” Shiloh cleared her throat. “Hate to be that person, B, but these waters aren’t welcoming at midnight. There’s no visibility down there.”
Ruin dropped a sack in between us, and Shiloh’s gaze dipped down to the ground. “Scuba gear.”
I’d known Shiloh all her damn life. She was stubborn more than anything. She’d never do anything she didn’t want to do. It’s what separated her and Blaire. Blaire had a reputation to uphold at Hades Hollow High School. She couldn’t be seen as weak. Shiloh didn’t care. It made her that much hotter.
“And are you planning on teaching these three how to use it?” Shiloh lifted a brow sassily, and my finger twitched against my phone.
Maybe I would fuck her tonight. Again.
“Because I’m pretty sure Blaire and I are the only ones here who know how to scuba. This is a fucking death wish. You’re all idiots.” She bent down to pick up Blaire’s discarded clothes, shoving them into her chest. “We’re going. Like right now.” She turned to face the others. “And that’s all of us.”
The other three people, two boys and one girl, stared back at Shiloh, blinking.
The second one turned to look at me. “What if we find them?”
I was pretty sure her name was Jenny Bengal, and her family was the least wealthy lineage in Hades Hollow. I knew what I needed to say to have her agree.
I reached into my back pocket and pulled out a wad of cash, fanning it out at the side of my face. “How does ten stacks sound? Hmm?”
I was the next in line to her family. But I just signed a record deal, so I knew struggling for cash was now a thing of the past.
She shuffled on her feet, looking between the other guys and me nervously. “Done. I’ll do it.”
Shiloh pushed her tiny body between Jenny and me. Her back turned to me. “You don’t have to do this, Jenny. You should not do this. It’s dangerous. Those waters are bad enough during the day and temperamental at the best of times, let alone in the middle of the night. Jenny!” Shiloh snapped her fingers in front of Jenny’s face.
She shoved her glasses up the rim of her nose. “I’m sorry, Shi. You don’t understand the struggles we go through.”
Shiloh sighed, spinning around and pinning me with a glare. I knew in that exact moment that she was pissed. More than pissed. Her lilac eyes burned like a flame, and she shoved her finger into my chest.
“I swear to God, Dion. I will kick your ass if this goes bad.”
I flashed a smirk. “You’d have to survive it first.” I knew without a shadow of a doubt that if anyone was coming out of those waters alive, it would be Shiloh and—maybe—Blaire. Blaire because Shiloh had dragged her into her lifestyle all their lives.
Sparrow hit pause on the video. “Where the fuck is this going?”
I tap my thumb against my thigh, leaning my head against the wall. I know that once I say the words out loud, it will solidify the memories I’ve spent years squashing.
“The girl, Jenny, she died that night. You don’t need to keep watching the rest of it, but you wanted to know why Shiloh hated me. Probably still does.”
“—because you…killed someone?” Malyk asks, blinking. “Damn. She’s really gonna have a field day with me then.”
“No, well, yes and no. Actually, yeah, keep watching.”
The boat pulled into the old jetty that was built out from the sandy outline of the forest. I watched as Shiloh took Jenny’s hand, pulling her toward the water with Blaire beside her. The other two left—no surprise, and the rest of the boys bounced except for Ruin. The party was in full swing in the forest, so when it came to fucking girls and getting drunk or watching a couple of them fight for their lives, most of them were going to choose the prior. I knew that the second I decided I was bored enough to play this game. Play a game that I knew I shouldn’t be playing because the fact of the matter was—this was a shortcut.
Sparrow hits pause again, placing the phone onto the desk. “What the fuck did you do? Dion, tell me you didn’t go through with this.”
I breathe out a sigh and reach into my pocket for my pack of cigarettes. I play with the end and flick the Zippo between my fingers. “I was young. I had just gone through the initiation ritual. I wasn’t on my feet. Actually”—I bring my eyes to his—“I was pretty fucking pissed, and I think we all know that.”
Malyk moves across the room, taking the chair behind the desk. “We all were. Some of us just didn’t change our coping mechanisms.”
“Some need to—” Sparrow snaps at Malyk, but I know his anger is on me. “Do I want to keep watching this, or is it going to piss me off even more? You do realize you risked exposure?”
“Of what?” I throw my hands up.
