Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 100294 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100294 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
The pieces start clicking together—sickening and inevitable. “You lured her to the boathouse.” Holy fuck. She’d be able to mess with the camera footage at Caleb’s.
“That I did.” Lana’s smile is terrible. Creepy as hell. This is not an act; this is the real her. She’s more sick and twisted than I ever could’ve even imagined.
Lana’s smile widens, showing too many teeth. How did she manage to make it creepier? “Finally. You’re not as stupid as you look in that skirt.”
The hell? If I weren’t freaking out on the inside right now, I would laugh.
“Can we get to the point so my skirt and I can get out of here?”
“You’re not going anywhere!” she hisses at me; the dreaminess vanishes. “You ruined everything. Joey’s in jail because of you. If you’d just minded your own business and stayed in your lane, none of this would have happened.”
“Lana—” Oh noes. Joey sucked her into the crazy, or maybe crazy is drawn to each other.
“Everything was going great until you came here. After you showed up with your sad dead dad story and your big eyes, suddenly Joey couldn’t stop talking about the new girl who was going to be a problem. You even went after fucking Luke Locke!”
That’s not true. He came after me. Pretty sure I told him to fuck off and that I bared my teeth to him the first time we interacted.
My stomach turns for both of us honestly. “You killed someone. For a guy who doesn’t even want you. Who was obsessed with Emi—”
“Don’t.” Her hand flashes out, and I feel something cold and sharp press to my throat. A knife. Small but enough. “Don’t you dare say he doesn’t love me. You don’t know what we had. What we could have had, if you hadn’t destroyed it all.”
“Lana.” I keep my voice calm, my eyes on hers, but they’re wild. “Put the knife down.”
“Why? So you can go back in there and tell everyone? So Joey can hate me even more?” She laughs, and it sounds unhinged. “He’s never going to forgive me. I know that. But at least I can give him one last gift.” The blade presses harder. “The thing he wanted most. You gone, and when Luke comes to find you, he’ll get his too.”
I open my mouth to try to stall, but the door behind us explodes open. I don’t have to turn around to know who it is.
He must have seen us leave and pulled himself from the final minutes of the game. I hear the distant buzzer and the roar of the crowd, but it’s all background noise when my concentration is on the knife at my throat.
“Let her go,” Luke says, his voice terrifyingly calm.
Lana only pushes the blade into me. I let out a small gasp when I feel a sting, warmth trickling down my neck. “You don’t get to tell me what to do, Locke. This is her fault. All of it.”
“Okay.” Luke raises one hand, the other still gripping his stick. “Okay. It’s her fault. I get it. But you want me, right? I’m the one you really want to hurt.”
Lana hesitates. I feel it in the tension of her arm, the slight shift of her weight.
“Joey talked about you,” she says. “How you were the golden boy. How everything came easy. How you got Madeline without trying.” Her voice hardens. “I hated you for that. Both of you.”
“Then let her go,” Luke says, taking a step closer. If Lana thinks Luke won’t hit her, she’s dead ass wrong. “And take me instead.”
That’s not happening. This bitch isn’t taking my man, and I’m over playing nice with her.
My hand closes around the skate I never put down.
When I took my skates off earlier, I quickly shoved my feet into my sneakers without lacing them. I carried my skates out here with me. Now the blade sits in my palm. Maybe a part of me knew in the back of my mind I’d need them.
I don’t think about it for another second. I just move.
I drive the toe pick into her thigh—hard. Lana screams, her arm jerking away from my throat, the knife clattering to the pavement. I don’t stop. I bring my knee up into her stomach, then shove her backward with every ounce of strength I have.
She hits the ground, skidding on the concrete, and I kick the knife away.
“Madeline!” Luke is there, grabbing my shoulders and pulling me back.
Now that she’s on the ground, wide-eyed and terrified, all that crazy bravado is gone. The urge to pounce is strong.
“Madeline.” Luke’s hand is on my waist, gentle but firm. “Baby, don’t.”
I hold Lana’s gaze for three long seconds. Then I step back. I won’t let her turn me into her.
Lana doesn’t move. She’s crying now, ugly sobs that shake her whole body. “You don’t understand. I loved him. I did everything for him.”