Page 50 of Beautiful Dark Temptation

He’d been staying at the chapel loft fordays instead of in his bed. I learned he’d been cast in theschool’s musical and spent most of his evenings in the theatrebuilding. I had never let him go. But I had fucked up. I knew heneeded some sort of validation, but I couldn’t give it to him. Icouldn’t voice the truth. Not yet. Not even for him.

“You better know what you’re doing withhim,” Fox had snapped at me just seconds before I stopped Wren fromtaking him. We were meeting with Tor and the others at Renew. Theclub we used to wind down, to debrief. We all knew the risksstepping foot off campus, but we had the hookup with the securityguard on night duty. Getting out wasn’t the issue, getting back inwould be.

Fox stopped at the gate in front of us.

“They’ll just let us pass?” Tomás asked,shifting in his seat beside me.

His presence took me out of my element,confused me. “So long as we pay the toll. Money is power. If youhave it, there’s nothing you can’t get away with. Rice will takeour bribe. We just have to make sure we make it back by dawn.”

“What happens after dawn?”

“The shift change. If we get caught, they’llput us on lockdown, contact our sponsors.”

Fox handed Rice the envelope of cash. Ibreathed out a sigh of relief when Fox drove off and I droveup.

Rice looked from me to Tomás. “Who’s this?You know the rules.”

“He’s new to the house, Rice.”

He gave Tomás a look. “It’ll cost you extrawhen you return, or he ain’t coming in.”

“Fine,” I said. Then to Tomás, “Give himyour phone.”

Tomás handed him the phone and Ricedeactivated the tracking and returned it. I did the same. “Y’all besafe out there.” He winked.

I sped off onto the narrow mountain road. Wehad an hour drive to the Catskills.

“I don’t get it,” he said. “Why would hejust let us through.”

“Security here is just for show. When theschool first opened, one of the students was murdered by a rivalfamily on campus. Then that rival family ceased to exist. All ofthem. Every family that had a kid in the school got together andannihilated that bloodline. Gone. Forgotten. Erased. Their billionssent to probate, probably still sitting with no one to claim it.Nothing like that ever happened on campus grounds again. So as longas you remain inside this sanctuary, you are protected. Out here,”I shrugged, “well, anything goes.”

“How much is his take?”

“Two thousand to leave, four to comeback.”

He coughed. “Six thousand dollars? Where doyou keep so much cash?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”

He snapped his mouth shut. “Right. I’m surethat’s pocket change for you.”

I didn’t say anything because it reallywas.

“Is it worth it? The money and therisk?”

“We can take care of ourselves.”

He made a noise at the back of histhroat.

The drive to Renew would take ninetyminutes. Ninety minutes in the car with Tomás felt like eternity.He tried the silence thing for two minutes. I timed it.

“So where’s Marley, or Piper, or whoever isyour flavor this week?”

I grinded my molars. “So we’re doing this?Here? Now?”

“Yeah, why not? You can’t run from me thistime.”

I kept my eyes on the dark road in front ofme. Fox’s Jeep helped keep my focus as we drove through the windingroads. The air was cold, the sky cloudy. Snow would blanket thisside of the world soon. When it snowed, the towns usually fell intolockdown mode. It always made me feel trapped. And I hated feelingtrapped. Like now, in the car.

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