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Whatever they wanted, it couldn’t be good.
“Nate and I were in the same grade,” she said. “We had classes together.” She clutched her arm a little tighter on mine. “He was always a dick. Do you have pepper spray on you?”
“Always,” I said, reaching for the fanny pack strapped around my waist.
Alex and Nate stopped directly in front of us, blocking our path. Determined to keep walking, I tightly clutched Julia’s arm and stepped around them, keeping my eyes straight ahead. But Alex put out his arm, blocking me yet again, and my heart pounded.
“Where are y’all going in such a hurry?” Alex said. Nate had his arms folded, standing there like a human wall in our path.
“None of your business,” I snapped, again trying to sidestep him. I had one hand in a vice grip on Julia’s arm, the other one clutching my pepper spray. Neither of them had seen it as I kept it close to my side.
This time, instead of blocking my path, Alex shoved me back. I stumbled, and Julia prevented me from falling. The moment I was steady on my feet, she lunged at him.
“Fuck off!” she shouted, shoving her hands hard against his chest. It barely moved him. “Get away from us before we call 911.”
We didn’t have cell service out here; she knew it, I knew it. To judge by the nasty smile on Alex’s face, he knew it too.
“Hey, hey, we just want to talk,” Alex said, although his tone was anything but innocent. It wasn’t merely chance that brought them out here; they’d followed us. They’d waited until we were alone, far from anyone who could help us.
“I don’t want to talk to you,” I hissed. I held up the pepper spray, my finger poised on the trigger, and Alex’s face grew darker. “Get the hell away from us.”
Alex bared his teeth, fury finally showing through his faux calm exterior. “You have a lot of nerve, you little bitch. How many damn times did you think your boyfriends could fuck up our shit without any consequences? Bent almost ran Nate off the fucking road.”
“You and Nate came after Lucas first,” I said fiercely. “Have you two lost your minds? You could havekilledus. Just fucking drop this. Leave them alone, leaveusalone!”
Julia was close behind me, and I hadn’t lowered my pepper spray an inch. Nate still hadn’t said a word, his silence eerie. The way he was looking at me was cold, bleaker than the gray sky. Julia made a soft sound — a curse or a breath, I wasn’t sure.
“If they want to break what belongs to me,” Alex said. “Then I get to break something that belongs to them.”
Nate suddenly stepped toward me, and I aimed the pepper spray right at his face, but Alex grabbed me. Squeezing my eyes shut tight, I blasted the spray. One of them yelled furiously, but Alex kept his grip on me, holding on so tight that his fingers dug painfully into my bicep. When he tried to wrap his arm around me to keep me still, I bit down as hard as I could.
My satisfaction at hearing him scream in pain was short-lived. He shoved me to the ground, and the gravel scraped my knees and my arm as I fell. Something twisted sharply in my ankle, pain shooting through me like a spark.
Julia caught my arm, dragging me to my feet. I tried to run with her, but God, that pain in my ankle was so bad, it was like a needle jamming into my joint.
How I made it back to the car, I had no idea. My mind and body felt sedated; my ankle was throbbing, but it felt so distant. Was this shock? Adrenaline? Sheer panic?
“What the fuck just happened?” I gasped, only once we were in Julia’s car with the doors locked. “What the fuck...oh my God...”
“We need to get out of here,” Julia said. Her voice was steady, but she had her arms braced on the wheel, breathing hard. “Oh God, Jess...your ankle.”
I didn’t want to look at it. I’d broken bones before, and this didn’t feel broken, but it hurt badly enough that I was struggling not to cry. Concentrating on taking deep, slow breaths, I said, “I need to go home. Not...not my parents’ house,” I added quickly as she pulled swiftly out of the parking lot. “I need the boys. They’ll know what to do.”
“I think you need a doctor, Jess,” Julia said, shaking her head as she pulled onto the highway. But I knew she’d take me to them.
I wouldn’t feel safe until she did.
