Page 108 of Ashes

She snagged the joint from my fingers and took a deep hit as I scowled at her.

“Hello, kettle,” I muttered.

She blew the smoke out, her blue eyes locked on me. “Hello, douche.”

I took back my joint and finished it off, not bothering to look at her.

Fuck, she was an asshole.

“Why are you here?” I asked, not taking my focus from the lake.

“I told you why—”

“No. Why are youherein our house and not in the dorms with the other nut jobs?” I finally looked over at her.

“They gave me a dorm. I gave them the finger, and now I’m here and I’m not going to leave either. Because I’m keeping an eye on you.”

“Me?” I rolled my eyes and turned to fully face her, my arm on the deck railing as I leaned against it.

“Notjustyou,” she said, rolling her eyes right back at me. “All of you watchers or whatever you call yourselves.” She mirrored my stance and raised her brows at me.

“So you set a fucking car on fire with your stepdad in it? All to annoy the shit out of us?”

“I set his car on fire with him inside it in the hopes it would kill the prick,” she said. “Not to annoy you. I needed to be here for my sister. She needs me. I’m her ride or die.”

“Then you better tell the rest of the guys that you’re her partner in crime because I think you’ll have competition.”

“And you’renotcompetition?”

“Nope.” I pushed off the railing. “I’m a prick who doesn’t deserve happiness.”

“How melodramatic,” she said, smirking at me. “Is that part of your mental disorder? Feeling sorry for yourself classifies a person enough to be here?”

“Fuck you,” I snarled at her. “You don’t know shit about me.”

“I know you hate yourself. That you run. That you’re a grouchy prick. That maybe you know what really happened to my sister.”

I got in her face, my pulse roaring in my ears. She didn’t back away from me as I stared her down, my chest heaving. In fact, she pushed back, clearly ready to fight me if it came down to it.

“Don’t fucking come at me with that shit. You’ll find yourself dead.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” she grumbled back, poking her finger hard into my chest. “Fuck with me, and I’ll fuck with you right back. And fuck with my sister? You’ll be the one who fucking wakes up dead. I’m going to find out who did this to her. So if it was you, I’d start running. This is me giving you a head start.”

“Yeah?” I breathed out, my hands trembling.

“I’m fast as fuck, Sinclair,” she said softly. Dangerously. “I promise that you don’t want to find out just how fast. If I catch you, you’re a dead man.”

I swallowed thickly. I’d never met a girl, or person for that matter, who’d ever stood up to me. I wasn’t even sure how the fuck to navigate it. Backing down seemed like a pussy thing to do, but deep down inside, I wanted to run. And she was right. I wanted to die.

“Everything OK?” Ashes called out, strolling out onto the patio as Cadence and I stared one another down.

“Yeah,” she said, stepping away from me. “We were just getting to know one another better.”

I glared at her. “Yeah. We were. It’s cool.”

“Good. Cady, what’s your first class?” Ashes shot me a quick look. I knew he felt the tension in the air.

“I don’t know. English? Or maybe some shit on plants.”

---