Page 86 of The Vipers and Their Venom

I offer him a trembling smile. “Had a bit of shitty news. Want a ride. I won’t be long,” I lie.

Right now, I don’t know if I’ll ever be back. I hit the roads of the Adirondacks and finally feel as if I can breathe. I keep my speed low at first, absorbing the comfort of the engine and the wind against my skin, and then push it higher.

I want the roar of the bike to drown out my thoughts, to stop me from thinking, if only for a minute, but they’re crowding inside my head.

I think of what Angelica said about Dean Rossi having paid off Jarl Olsen. Isn’t that an admission of guilt that something more went on than a simple suicide? No wonder he didn’t want anyone talking about it. How would it look to the outside world if three young men were suspected of having something to do with a girl’s death? I only convinced my father to let me come here because I thought women were safe here.

I realize how wrong I’ve been.

I also hate Jarl Olsen even more than I did before. I’ve never met the man, but what kind of person not only steals a child from its mother, but then, years later, takes payment for her life?What a nasty son of a bitch he really is. I hope I never have to meet him, but if I do, I plan on telling him exactly what I think of him.

My fingers tighten on the handlebars, my knuckles turning opaque. I pick up speed, and the wind tears through my hair, whipping the strands back from my face and drying my tears. How can I ever bring myself to go back there? If I do, will I just be sent away again?

I shake the thought from my head. I should just keep riding until I get back home. Who cares if I’m sent away? I don’t want anything to do with the place.

But then it dawns on me that if I leave, I’ll never truly find out what happened to Reagan. Did she jump, or did one of the Vipers push her, or even throw her? I picture her screaming in one of their arms as she sees the huge drop and tries her best to struggle. Who would have done it? Saint? Zane? Even Lex?

My heart is breaking. Could they really have been behind my sister’s death? I need to ask them, face to face. I need to see the look in their eyes when they find out who I am, and exactly why I’m at Verona Falls.

A flash of movement suddenly darts out on the road in front of me, my headlights reflecting a set of wide, yellow eyes.

Purely out of instinct, I yank the handlebars to the right, trying to swerve so I don’t hit the creature, whatever it may be—a raccoon or squirrel, or maybe even a cat. But my front tire catches on something, maybe a patch of wet leaves or a rock, and in a split second the bike is out of control.

It slides sideways, and I try to straighten it, but I already know it’s not going to work. I’m fighting the bike with all my strength, and everything slows. I can’t win against the momentum of the heavy machine. The side of the road is lined by trees, and now I’m heading straight at them. A head-on collision will be fatal.

I force myself to let go of the handlebars and throw myself to one side. The bike lets out a roar, as though it knows I’m abandoning it, but a split second later, I hit the road. The faces of all the people I love flash into my mind in a slideshow—my dad, Mom, even Reagan. Though I never really knew what she looked like, I always pictured her as a slightly older version of me.

All I know is a moment of white-hot agony sheering down one side of my body, and then I lose all consciousness.

44

LEX

Did I just hear Vani’s bike roaring out of here?

It’s a pretty distinctive sound, and I don’t know anyone else who rides a Harley around here.

Why the hell would she have left Verona Falls at this time of night, and on her own, too? At least, I assume she’s on her own. The possibility of her being with someone else adds a fresh thread of worry to my heart.

What if that person is a man?

No one here would be stupid enough to touch what is ours, but it isn’t as though we’ve made it public knowledge that sheisours. To anyone else on campus, she’s just the new girl, and what if someone is thinking of her the same way we did when she first arrived—that she’s fresh meat?

Does she have her phone with her?

I take my cell out of my pocket and try her number, but it goes straight to voicemail. I type out a message instead.

I hit send, and then send another one out to Zane and Saint.

I almost add something else, but I’m not sure what. Everything else is just conjecture. I have no idea why she’s gone, or who she’s with, or where she’s going.

I also don’t know what the fuck to do about it. Get in my car and try to follow her? I don’t even know what direction she’s gone. I leave my room, though. At least I can go find Saint and talk to him about it.

I bump into Angelica coming down the stairs.

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