Page 59 of Fire Fight

Before Drake can answer, Hudson’s grip on my hand increases. Hard. Harder.

He clenches until the bones grind together. Another second and they’ll snap. I cry out.

With an impatient shake of his hand, he releases me.

He runs to his vehicle, then stops. His fingers scrape through his hair while his eyes widen with shock. “What thefuck?!”

Stacey gasps. Her mouth falls open, and she clamps a hand across it, eyes wide with shock. I follow her gaze, dread making my limbs heavy.

His vehicle sits low on the stained concrete floor.

The tyres are completely flat.

Even from my distance, I see the dark flaps of rubber, the long rents in the material. Not a prank—the air let out as a tasteless joke—this is pure vandalism.

Someone tore them apart with a knife.

“Wow,” Drake says, eyes resting on me. “This is terrible. I had no idea this was such a dangerous neighbourhood.”

Hudson whirls around. He gapes at Drake, voice tight with anger as he chokes out, “You attacked my car?”

“No!” Stacey says, indignant as she steps forward. “Drake drove me here and hasn’t left my side since except to go to the bathroom.” She waves her hand at the damage. “Whoever did this, it wasn’t him.”

But Hudson isn’t listening, and I can’t blame him. It’s obvious from Drake’s thin smile he planned it, even if he left the execution to others.

I put my hand on his Hudson’s arm.

“Don’t touch me!”

He turns on me with such ferocity I fall back a step, hands wringing together.

This is the same boy I glimpsed before, when Drake forced me to alter our plans.

But far, far worse.

“You might be a nice piece of arse but there’s no fucking way you’re worth this much effort.” He jabs a finger in my face. “Stay away from me. Stay away from my family. If you pass me in the corridors at school, pretend you don’t know me.”

I freeze in place until Drake pulls me away, stepping in front of me until I can’t see Hudson past his hulking frame.

“Don’t take it out on her, man.” Drake’s voice is calm, but his eyes narrow. “It’s not her fault you’ve got a talent for making enemies.”

While Hudson makes choking sounds, the veins on his temple pulsing, Drake pats Stacey on her behind. “Do you mind catching the bus, babe? Looks like my sister needs a lift home.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

DRAKE

“I’ll grab an Uber,”Cadence says, face blank with shock as we walk to the elevator.

Stacey has already made her way down the stairs, a bonus tucked in the side of her bra because her performance tonight was pitch perfect. Especially her indignant defence just now.

As Cadence stares at her phone, there’s a flutter in my chest at her dawning realisation.

She doesn’t have the money.

Her mother’s new sugar daddy is rich, but he pays bills and bestows gifts rather than handing out cash. A way of exerting control to ensure his fixations don’t leave him. Not until he’s done.

A trait that annoys me but plays nicely into my hands on this occasion.

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