"House," Hayden decides, nodding slowly as he surveys the area. "Might make it hard to get out if the fire spreads too fast."
The girls stick close together, hovering toward the center of the group. I note that Madi’s showing Lilac how to snap open a box cutter.
I hate that Lilac’s even holding that blade. That I’m not enough to shield her from this completely. I do agree we made the best decision. We can’t risk splitting up. We don’t know how many people might be in that house. I’d be so distracted right now worrying about Lilac.
“Are we going to sit around and fiddle with shit all day or are we going to go set a fire?” Ramsey says exasperated, but the rustle from the trees to the left steals the spotlight from him.
We all freeze for half a second and then our guns come up, safeties off.
"Come out, motherfucker," Hayden snarls. "We’re here to talk. Isn’t that what you fucking want?”
But it’s not who I’m expecting.
The moonlight leaves no doubt that I’m staring at Adam Fairbanks.
Lilac’s brother steps out of the treeline, hands raised, eyes unreadable. What the actual fuck is he doing here? He can’t be behind half of this shit, he has an alibi.
“Shoot him or no, Callum? I’m feeling a little trigger-happy and the instructions are unclear right now,” Hayden snaps, but Tristan seems to have come to the same conclusion I did that Adam isn’t behind this, so he’s not pointing his gun at him.
“Hold off,” I bark at Hayden and then look at Adam.
“You’ve got thirty seconds to explain yourself, and you better have a fucking good reason for being here,” I snap at Adam. I can see he’s trying to get Lilac’s attention by staring at her, but she won’t look at him. I shift on my feet and move so that she’s obstructed from his view. Just because I don’t think he killed anyof the girls on her team doesn’t mean he gets to have access to her after what he tried to facilitate.
Adam doesn’t move any closer. "I followed you to apologize. For what happened at our parents’ house and I just wanted to say goodbye to my sister."
"She’s not your sister any longer. You don’t deserve to know her, and you’re lucky I haven’t put a bullet in you already. The only reason you’re breathing is because I don’t want her living with the fact that her future husband killed her own brother.” I can feel my hands trembling. I want to fucking murder him right here, but I won’t do that for Lilac’s sake.
He swallows. "I’m leaving the state right after I leave here or I’m going to end up six feet under,” he says, and when Lilac doesn’t make a peep from behind me, Adam looks at me. “The least I can do before I leave is to tell you what I know. Our parents set up what happened that night, but something went wrong. We were just supposed to get caught trespassing, no one was supposed to get hurt."
Hayden’s eyes narrow, and he looks at me lifting the can of gasoline. "He’s taking too long with this little storyline, can I light him up first?"
Adam’s eyes jump between all of us, but I don’t care if he’s sorry, I just want the truth.
"What do you mean our parents orchestrated it? What are you talking about? Tell me, Adam!" Lilac sounds horrified as she peeks around from me to finally look her brother dead in the eye.
Rage pulses through every vein in my body. I want to rip his fucking head off. Want to make him bleed for ever dragging Lilac into danger. For ever letting her get hurt.
Adam rubs both hands through his hair, but he speaks to me instead of her. "Think about it. Why the fuck would I have agreed to come here the first time when that bitch Lexi suggested it?Pussy? I can get plenty of that on campus without having to scale a fucking fence, Grey."
I grit my teeth so hard my jaw feels like it’s going to crack.
He keeps going. "They told me to find a way to get Lilac into a scandal. Said if I could make her look bad enough, they could force her to marry Vincent. I didn’t want to. I did it to save my own ass. But you have to believe me…none of the murders, none of that was me. No one was supposed to die."
"You’ve never protected her," I snarl. "And I’m ashamed I ever called you my friend."
He opens his mouth to speak, but I don’t let him.
"You’ve done enough damage. Now get the fuck out of here before I take the time to bash your fucking skull in."
Lilac steps back toward Madi and Winter. I catch the motion in my periphery. She doesn’t want to distract me if shit goes sideways.
Fairbanks shifts forward. I tense up because I think I’m going to have to shoot my girl’s brother right in front of her. Tristan and Hayden lift their guns, but none of us anticipate what is about to happen.
A shot cracks from deep in the woods, and Fairbanks drops like a rag doll. A perfect hole is dead center in his forehead. He was the only one of us out in the open, not shielded by the vehicles. Lilac screams and I move so body shielding hers as I scan the treeline.
CALLUM
We move fast.
