Page 12 of Beneath the Surface

“Youwhat?” Grayson’s jaw dropped, and I bit back a laugh at the expression of shock on his face. He recovered quickly, though, abruptly spinning on his heel. “Come on. Let’s do what we came here to do and get out of here. The sooner we deal with Martinez, the sooner we can get back to our own lives.” He spun back around, jabbing a finger toward me. “That means less of seeing your fucking face.”

“I look forward to it,” I responded instantly. “In fact, I’d prefer if you stayed away permanently. Maybe transferred to another school. I hear Blackstone U’s hockey team needs some help. They could do with a know-it-all like you.”

“Fuck you,” he bit out, but I caught something that looked like hurt flashing in his gaze before he masked his expression. That made me feel…guilty.

“Sorry,” I said to Ava, again, because she shouldn’t have to hear us arguing, and because there was no way I was going to apologize to Grayson.

“Don’t apologize. He’s right, anyway. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner things can go back to normal.”

A smile curved over my lips.It’s kinda hotechoed through my brain, and it gave me the courage to say my next words. “Yeah. But maybe a new version of normal. Maybe we could hang out more often.”

“We will.” She returned my smile instantly. “I missed you these past few months.”

“Me too.” With an effort, I tore my gaze away from her, and we fell into step with a silently fuming Grayson. He’d never been this hostile toward me before, and I couldn’t help wondering if this whole situation was causing us all to act a little out of character. I wouldn’t have gone up against him like this before now, that was for sure. We were all on edge after receiving these messages, and reliving what had happened at the lake had been a nightmare I’d hoped I’d never have to experience again.

We skirted the edge of the crowd, and Cruz came into sight. There was a girl hanging off his arm, but Big Dog was nowhere to be seen. Grayson muttered something under his breath, his jaw still clenched, and I did something I’d never expected I’d do before now. I released Ava and sped up my pace, reaching Cruz before either of them could.

“Cruz Martinez. Could we speak in private?”

His brows rose, and his lip curled. “Cross got his minion to do his dirty work, did he?”

My shoulders stiffened, that same anger Grayson had made me feel before making a welcome return. Except this time, I wasn’t going to lash out. I was going to use it to strengthen myself.

“You have it all wrong. Grayson ismyminion.”

Cruz barked out a surprised laugh, and the tension in the air dissipated enough to let me breathe.

“I guess I have a minute. Follow me.” He disentangled himself from the girl, stalking over to the tree line.

“What are you waiting for?” A mouth dipped to my ear, a voice speaking in a low, amused tone. “Go after him. Your minion will follow.” Startled, my gaze swung to Grayson’s, but he just flashed me a grin. The same grin I’d seen him direct at countless people, but never me. It was…strange. Good, but strange, especially since he’d been snarling at me just a few minutes earlier.

I wondered what I could do to get him to smile like that at me again.

Pushing that unexpected and unwanted thought from my mind, I followed Cruz, with Ava and Grayson falling into step next to me again. Ava’s breathing was coming fast, and I knew that despite her inner strength, she was afraid. In the growing darkness, my hand found hers, my fingers sliding between hers and squeezing lightly. She squeezed back, exhaling a shaky breath.

When we reached the tree line, well away from the crowd, Cruz leaned back against the trunk of a large pine, folding his arms across his chest. “What do you want?”

Grayson mimicked Cruz’s pose, folding his arms over his chest, making his biceps bulge. “You know exactly why we’re here. Don’t act like you don’t.”

“We know you sent the texts.” Ava spoke up, the tremor in her voice almost undetectable, and I felt a rush of pride and warmth at the sight of her, head held high, silky strands of her blonde hair blowing in the breeze, her determined gaze fixed on Cruz.

His eyes darkened as they stared at one another, the silence stretching until Grayson cleared his throat. The spellwas broken, and Cruz looked between us all, his brows pulling together.

“What texts?” he said.

8

AVA

Even with all the background noise from the race, the silence that followed Cruz’s statement was palpable.

He was one hell of an actor or had no idea what we were talking about. He looked at us expectantly, his eyes going from Micah to Grayson and lastly landed on mine. Something about it had me wanting to take a step back. Not because I was scared, but there was an intensity to him that called for attention.

“Have you guys been getting texts?” he asked.

At this question, the three of us looked at each other. We didn’t need words to express how we felt. With just our gazes, we could agree that letting Cruz in on what had been going on was not a good idea.

For all our differences, Micah, Grayson, and I had been on the same side of the boat that day. In a weird, fucked-up way that made us allies—there was also the fact we ran in the same circles, and Cruz was an outsider.

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