“Dude,” Logan grunted. “If you think we’re doing this because we find enjoyment in your nudity, you might be batting for the wrong team. You know, my girlfriend has a friend. I can introduce you? Though I think Delray could do better.”
Adam glowered. “Fuck you.”
Logan finished searching the pants. He tossed Adam’s wallet on the table, then let the pants fall on the rest of the pile.
“That’s the point, Quinn,” he retorted. “Delray could fuck you, but I still think he could do better. He runs with crime bosses, not with the guy who would be that guy’s bitch in prison.” He winked at Adam. “If you know what I mean.”
Adam didn’t comment.
I knew Logan was waiting for the go-ahead from me. There were a few things my brother liked to do more than others, and burning shit was on that list.
I nodded, and he exclaimed, “Yes!” He grabbed the clothes and took them out.
“Wait. Where’s he going?”
Adam went to follow him, and I slammed him back in place. “You stay.”
“But—” He pointed beyond me. “My clothes.”
“What made you think you’d be allowed to wear them out of here?”
“Bu—” Understanding dawned, and his hand fell back to his side. He gulped. “You’re joking.”
Nate laughed behind me. “It was funny at first, but now it’s insulting. Of all the shit we’ve done, and all the people we’ve gone against, you still think we’d let you leave unscathed? It’s like you don’t know us anymore. Has nothing bad happened to you since high school?”
“But—”
“Shut up with the buts.” Nate shook his head. “It’s becoming annoying.”
A fireball erupted in the backyard. That’d be Logan, who probably doused the clothes in gasoline and threw a match on the pile.
“There go your clothes,” I murmured a moment later as Logan came back in.
“They’re doused real good,” Logan said as he came to stand next to me. “I put ’em in the bonfire pit. Don’t worry. They’ll be ash real soon.” He glanced to me. “Now what?”
I wanted to hit Adam. I wanted it so badly, but if he didn’t move against me, I had no real excuse. Burning his clothes was one thing, but actually assaulting him was something else. I couldn’t justify it in my head, not this time, so I glanced at my brother and shrugged.
“Now it’s time for him to go.”
Logan groaned. “I wanted more fun.” He tsked at Adam, shaking his head. “Thanks for being a pussy and not fighting back. You saved yourself some bruises. Too bad.” He grabbed the flash drive and tossed it to me.
“Hey!”
I gave Adam a look, catching the flash drive and pocketing it. “Stop insulting us. You’re just being stupid.”
“Come on, you guys . . .”
Adam started for the table as Logan tossed his keys to Nate, then grabbed his wallet. He pulled out the cash and went through the rest.
“Nothing in here except credit cards and some other ID,” he said to me.
“Leave the credit cards and money. Burn the rest.”
“What?!” Adam surged forward.
I shoved him back against the wall, harder than necessary. “Unless you’d like to fight me for them?”
He fell back, still holding that pillow in front of him. “You guys are assholes.”
Nate laughed, going to the front door. He took one key off the ring. “And yet you’re the one who broke into our house.”
“What are you going to do?” Adam watched him, warily.
“What do you think?” Nate stepped outside, hauled his arm back, and threw Adam’s keys as far as he could. “We live next to some woods. Those fuckers are gone.” He came back inside and slapped Adam on the back. “Have fun walking into town.”
There was nothing left except the wallet. Logan threw it back to him with the credit cards and cash inside. Adam caught it against his chest, dropping the pillow as he did.
And as he bent to grab it, I kicked it out of reach. Then I pointed to the door. “Get lost.”
“We’re really letting him go without a beatdown?” Logan asked.
Adam wavered, as if waiting for the answer.
“Go!” I clipped out. “Before I change my mind.”
“Oh, hey.” Nate stepped next to me. He produced that one key and waved it at Adam. “We’ll leave your car at some gas station. So don’t bother coming back here for it.”
Adam went to the door, stark naked, and reached for the handle. “I really hate you guys.”
“Trust me,” I said. “Not as much as we hate you. Come back here, and we won’t be as nice next time.”
Adam left, and as soon as the door shut behind him, Logan asked, “Why the fuck didn’t we pound him?”
I gave him a look as I reached for my phone. “Because that doesn’t look suspicious. He was at our house and then he gets beat up? They could charge us for that.”
“And stripping him naked and sending him on his way isn’t something we could get charged for?”
I shrugged. I was willing to bet they’d let that slide.
“Who are you calling?” Nate asked.
I grinned. “A cop who’s friendly with Sam’s dad. Garrett summers here. He gave me a few names of people we could call if we ever needed anything. I figure this guy might want to know about a naked dude walking away from our house, and that it’s the same guy who broke into our house earlier tonight.”
Logan laughed. “Okay, that’s good.” He turned to go burn the rest of the stuff Adam had in his wallet.
“Logan,” I called. “We’ll get him another time,” I added when he looked back.
“We better. The punk needs to be dealt with.”
He did. And we would.
I was sure of that.
SAMANTHA
Call me a vindictive bitch; I don’t care.
But when Mason told me what they did and what they’d found out from Adam, I went the extra mile. I called Becky, told her Adam had showed up at our place with a plan to see her afterwards to “make up.” I told her about the condom, because every girl enjoys knowing she’s an assumed sure thing. Then I followed that by letting her know he hadn’t just “dropped by” our place. He’d broken in because he wanted to plant a spying malware program on Mason’s computer. I ended the call with a warning not to let him anywhere near her computer.
And thinking about that call now—how Becky had been beyond pissed—gave me an extra boost of speed on my run.
It’d been two weeks since Raelynn’s accident, and a week since our latest run-in with Adam. Everything Raelynn predicted had come true. Faith milked her accident like a cat licks every last droplet of milk. By the end of the first time Faith rejoined the team at practice, everyone was acting like it’d been her in that car. And when I dropped by to see Raelynn yesterday afternoon, she told me Faith had already stopped visiting her.
I was keeping a healthy skepticism, but it looked more and more like Raelynn was telling me the truth. Her words hadn’t been part of an elaborate plan of manipulation.
As I ran, I continued to stay hyper-aware of my surroundings. I usually liked to tune everything out and just go, but I couldn’t do that with Faith behind me. It wasn’t that she was breathing down my neck. She was a good half-mile or more away, but I still couldn’t relax. The moment I did, I worried she might pounce—or have someone pounce for her. Coach Langdon was happy with my times, but I knew staying watchful had cost me some of my speed. Once I could tune the world out again, he’d be even happier.
And I soared over the finish line once again.
Coach Langdon clocked it and called out, “Another fast time.”
I felt more in me. Today was an “easy day,” and Coach wanted us to lift weights too. Instead of pushing for another go-around like I wanted to, I slowed to a walk and waited until Taylor crossed the finish line. Courtney came next, then Grace, followed by another prediction of Raelynn’s that had come true. As Courtney and Grace headed my way, their third friend went to Faith’s side. Nettie had replaced Raelynn as Faith’s go-to, right-hand girl.