AllFreeNovel
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“—most importantly, we can do whatever the fuck we want.” The sweet smoke of zaza fills the air as Stella hands it to Evie. “You know they think we’re all virgins.”
My teeth catch my lip to stop my smile. “Only because we allow them to.”
I guide us through the forested landscape of Vitiosis Drive. Riverside may have over thirteen thousand residents, but everyone, including people who don't live here, know who we are.
Us girls came up with a loophole when we were young to keep the boys from finding out about anything we do. We would drive into the city and hit parties there. It was a four-hour drive there and four-hour drive home, but we usually left on a Friday and came home on a Saturday.
Playing with lies was easy, since we were all in it for each other. Deep down, I knew none of us wanted to be caught, yet it granted us freedom. Freedom to be around people that didn’t know us, our parents, or our families. At least not personally, and if they did figure us out, it was easy to say that rumors were just that—rumors.
Of course, we don’t kill people.
No, my pop wasn’t the president of the United States of America for two whole terms while also helping run a secret order.
No, we don’t gather and drink each other’s blood during a ritual to take over when it’s our time.
The Elite Kings were notoriously known amongst circles that we wanted to stayawayfrom. We wanted normalcy. To snort coke off each other’s tits and make out with random guys. That would never happen in Riverside, or anywhere north toward New York. So, we went in the opposite direction, hovering around smaller city folks who are too busy and uptight that they don’t care about what’s going on around them. The straight-laced kind.
Evie didn’t need to be with us since she wasn’t a King, but she knew enough without knowing too much. She was the popular girl at school. Everyone wanted to be her friend because that’s how Evie made you feel. Wanted. Cherished and loved. She wasthe humanity to our family, and I think her father was that to Dad too.
River’s flash to her phone is popping off in the back, before she directs it toward me and Evie. I flip my middle finger up, and Evie sticks her tongue out to the side.
Lost in a fit of laughter, I turn back to the road and hit the volume up.
The moment we pass the farewell sign as we leave Riverside, I drop it into third and floor it. The deeper you drive on this highway, the clearer it is how very little people come down it. It would have been years since cars drove this road, since the only place it leads to is an abandoned town, and the one town that we have a treaty to never set foot in. The simplistic straight road with bumps of hills and nothing surrounding us but woodlands on either side.
I’m laughing at River and Stella lip-synching “Low Life” for whatever TikTok trend is happening right now, when something runs out in front of my car. My skin prickles and I scream, slamming on the brakes so fast the tires skid to a halt.
Evie hits the radio off as seconds pass in silence, and I turn, checking them briefly. “You’re all okay?”
Stella has her hand over her chest. “Yes, but what the fuck was that?” It didn’t help that there are no streetlights or road lights, so all that we could see was directly ahead of us through the headlights.
“I don’t know…” I whisper, leaning back in my chair. “I’ll check.”
I move to open the door, but Evie’s hand comes to my arm to stop me. “Be for fucking real right now. This is how everyone dies ineverymovie.”
“This isn’t a movie. It’s Riverside. Which means it’s worse.” I open my door and my Jordans hit the pavement. I walk around the front of my car, where headlights beam toward the endlessroad of darkness. Someone is curved to the side, clutching his stomach. “Shit.” I drop beside him, squeezing his arm to roll him onto his back.
Wearing nothing but a pair of ripped jeans and boots, there’s a deep gash over his ribs where blood weeps from. He’s clearly unconscious. I pause when I notice theScreammask.
“Jesus… did we hit him?” Evie asks, her eyes wide on his body.
I scan the front of my car. “If we did, he would have done damage. Old cars like this wouldn’t take to it very well. No. I think he ran out for help.” I push up, pointing to his body. “Stay here with him. I need to call my dad.” I run back to my car and lean in through the door.
River clears her throat from the back seat, flicking her nails. “You and I both know what this is.”
“I know. But Evie is here, and I don’t want to have to have that conversation with her. Ever.”
“I think it’s about time.” Stella sighs, resting her head on the window. “You kept our world from her long enough, and she knows the Elite Kings Club exists and that our families are crooked. This is just ahey, yeah, so on top of that, we also—”
“—Halen! He’s moving!”
“Well, at least he’s not dead,” River mumbles. I know they’re right. I know that beneath it all, I’ve kept Evie away from the drama of our world, not because I didn’t trust her, but because I didn’t want to put her in danger. Maybe doing that was placing her in the direct line of it. Priest has been on my ass for years about telling her everything so we don’t have to tiptoe around her. She is with me eighty percent of the time. It makes things difficult.
A loud howl vibrates through the trees in the forest on either side of the road as I make my way back to them. Evie jumps, turning from left to right. “What the fuck was that?”
“A werewolf?” I joke, leaning back down to the guy on the road. Abs ripple over his torso, his skin naked of tattoos. I tear off my jacket, ignoring the cold bite that leaves teeth marks over my skin, and rest it against the wound on his ribs. He groans beneath the mask, so I slowly peel it off.
Jesus. Please don’t know this guy. Please tell me these idiots haven’t finally taken their shit too far and they’ve actually killed someone on land. Though he is moving…
