Page 98 of Heart of Thorns

This feels alittlelike bad luck, running to tell my best friend a secret of my fake girlfriend’s. But I can’t face this alone. How the fuck am I supposed to walk into the locker room, or onto the field, every day knowing that one of my teammates tried to kill Briar?

But unfortunately, Rhys knows me too well.

The second he walks in and finds me waiting at his desk, he drops his bag, closes his door, and says, “Spill.”

For the record, neither of us gossip. We just keep each other appraised of things going on in the school if it’s necessary. Or interesting.

Okay, so, maybe that’s a form of gossiping.

“If it’s about one of the hockey girls hooking up with Ben Patterson, it’s already gotten out.”

I freeze. “What?”

“Oh. Did you not hear? I think it’s a revenge plot against Briar, honestly. But he clearly has a type, and that type isscary. No offense, dude. I’ve seen Briar’s scowl, and it’s not something I want to cross. I can only imagine that her thighs are thick enough to crush my skull—well,yourskull?—”

“Shut up,” I snap. “What the fuck is his problem?”

Rhys laughs. “You, obviously. And Briar… together. Do you see where I’m going with this?”

I wave him off. “That’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Somethingelsehappened?” He sits on his bed and grabs a notebook from his bag, flipping to a blank page. “I’m ready, Professor. Fill me in.”

“Put that shit away,” I groan. “You’re impossible. And this has to stay in the vault. It’s serious shit.”

To his credit, hegetsserious. He tosses aside the notebook and focuses more fully on me.

“Remember the fire that nearly killed Briar?”

He rolls his eyes and nods.

“Well, it wasn’t an accident. Someone set the building on fire with her in it.” A lump forms in my throat just thinking about it.

“Holy shit.” Rhys’ eyes go wide. “How?—”

“She saw the guy. Kind of. Not enough to identify him completely, but shewasable to ascertain that…” I press my lips together.

Do I tell him this?

It’s not a matter of trust—I trust Rhys with my life, no questions asked.

But do I trust him with Briar’s trust?

Something uncomfortable snakes through me.

“Please spit it out,” Rhys says, interrupting my internal debate. “What did she see?”

“It’s someone on the football team,” I blurt out.

“Fuck.” He echoes my earlier sentiments. He gets up and paces in front of me. His hand goes to his hair, and he pulls at it while he ponders everything I just said. Finally, he stops and looks at me. “Okay, so, what’s happening?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, are the police on it, or…?”

“Yeah. There’s an open investigation, but Briar hasn’t heard anything. She thinks they’ve run out of leads, which would make sense. A fire tends to destroy all the evidence, and I’d guesswhatever incendiary device was used was too common for them to narrow down.”

“If this guy has even done it before,” Rhys muses. “I mean, he went for what hethoughtwas an abandoned old warehouse, right? Key word: abandoned. If I had a fixation on fire, I’d probably start somewhere that felt safe to practice on.”

---