“I don’t know, Grey. I didn’t check ID. Let’s torch the place and get on with it.” I flip him off. He flips me off right back.
“Hey!” Hayden shouts, raising his middle finger too. “Don’t leave me out, assholes.”
Lilac laughs, a soft, exhausted sound that makes my chest loosen. She’s going to sleep well tonight.
“Why don’t you wait in the car while we take the gasoline up and take care of everything?” I ask, already turning to guide her. “I say we still burn everything to the ground and leave no evidence that we were ever here. They’re both dead and won’t be held accountable. I don’t want the girls to have to go through an interrogation or trial, whatever would come of it.”
But Ramsey cuts in. “Already done, fucker. We just need to drag the bodies up, move the cars, and throw some matches. Then we’re out.”
Hayden gapes at the back of the SUV where we’d stashed the gas. “How the fuck did you get that out without us seeing?”
“I’m magic,” Ramsey says dryly, grabbing Danny’s foot and dragging him toward the house. “This is why you incompetent fuckers call me every time you’re in some shit,” Ramsey says.
Hayden rolls his eyes and follows him, muttering, “I have a question.” Because of course Hayden has a question that’s most likely going to set Ramsey off. “Was this asshole sayingallhockey players have big dicks or just Callum?”
“I don’t know,” Ramsey throws back. “Maybe he snuck in at night and compared everyone’s soft peens. I guess Cowboy Callum isn’t a grower.”
“Oh my God,” Lilac groans into my chest. I laugh and hold her tighter. “He’s never going to let the dick size thing go, is he?” she mumbles.
“Probably not,” I say, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. I tip her chin up. “How are you? Are you hurt?”
She snuggles into me. “I just want to sleep. A bubble bath. And for you to not let me go.”
“I can do that, baby.”
I help her into the SUV that has some damage, but is absolutely drivable. It makes me stupidly happy when Madi and Winter join us and both launch forward to hug her.
“It’s over,” Madi says. “We cannot have any more psychos after this. We get home and this is the end. We have a good summer and come back next year with zero stalkers.”
Winter squeezes Lilac’s hand. “You handled this perfectly. You’re so strong.”
They all settle into their seats, quiet now, watching as smoke starts to rise above the trees.Then Hayden and Ramsey come into view, walking side by side, still talking shit. Ramsey shoves Hayden. Hayden shoves him back. They fall into a ridiculous brawl.
Tristan sighs, tossing me the keys to what I presume is Adam’s car that he must have moved when the girls were joiningLilac and me. “Grey,” he says my name and then gestures toward Hayden and Ramsey who are smacking each other while they fight over who is going to drive the Bentley up to the house to burn it. ”Get your friends or we’re leaving without them.”
LILAC
The cemetery is darker than I expected.
I step between two crumbling headstones, my boots crunching over dry grass and stray leaves. The moon is hidden behind a thick stretch of clouds, but its light still filters through in patches, casting silver shadows across the old graves and stone angels. They watch me like they know what I came here for.
And I do know. I came for him.
I’m already breathless and Callum hasn’t even touched me yet.
We’ve done the mask play before, in the safety of our bedroom, with the door locked, but this is different. This is real. I don’t know where he is. I don’t know when he’ll strike. All I know is that Callum told me to wear something he could rip, and not to be late.
So here I am, in a thin, cropped sweater and a floral mini skirt with nothing underneath. It feels like there are nerves buzzing beneath my skin, and I think this is the most alive I’ve ever felt.
It’s exhilarating.
We’ve been through so much. Death. Lies. A fake engagement that’s become something so much more. But we’re free now. Free to love each other, no secrets, no threats from anyone. And I want to say it, I want to tell him I love him. I want to scream it.
But I don’t know if it’s too soon. We’ve only been together like this for a little while. Not fake fiancés. Not best friend’s little sister and overprotective asshole. Just us.
And yet…it doesn’t feel new. It feels utterly ancient. Like we’ve always belonged to each other. Like our bodies knew the truth long before our minds ever caught up.
I step between two tall monuments and glance up. The clouds are rolling, and the moon glints off the marble statues, giving the figures a ghostly glow. I shiver. Not from the cold but from the feeling that I’m not alone right now.
