Page 24 of Frenemies

“Oh my god, Nay. It’s on fire.”

“What’s on fire?” I swear to god if she said it was a dragon again. . .

“That house on Maple that you told me to stay away from.”

I didn’t tell her to stay away from it, Beast did. He gave all the girls a list of places to steer clear of, and for good reason—they were Reaper houses. They already tried to grab Ava once.

“Ava,” I sighed and scrubbed a hand down my face. “Are you on Maple?”

“Pfft, no.”

“Uh-huh?” I could hear the roaring fire and screaming people in the background. “Go home, Ava.”

“I am at home,” she lied. “On a side note, did you know that people on fire run really fast.”

Of course, they did. They were on fire.

“Maybe we should bring some gasoline to the next track meet. The coach is always asking for school participation.”

“I don’t think that’s what he meant.”

Good god, I could just picture Ava lighting the track team up and then sitting back with her chest puffed out in pride.

“Well, it does smell bad,” She agreed. “You remember when Parker made us those burgers? It kind of smells like that, but more meaty.”

I gagged. That was something I never needed to know.

“Oooh, that guy is really booking it. I can beat him.”

I grumbled at the determination in her tone. Guess the day wasn’t over yet. Apparently, I had to go and stop Ava from racing burning people down Maple street.

Ispent all last night trying to find a way out of this room. Know what I came up with? Jack shit. Considering Merditon station had been abandoned for close to a decade, it was in pretty decent shape. The walls were just as solid as the sink and toilet—neither of which I could break away.

The cell door couldn’t even be pried open. Since the place was so old, I thought it would be easy. Rust should’ve eroded the lock by now, but nope. It held just as strong as the day it was put in. Maybe if there was a window. . .

I grunted and kicked one of the bars. The fucking thing’s only response was to vibrate an annoying twang through my cell.

My fists balled as I paced around. What the fuck were they thinking locking me in here? Did they think this shit was going to magically make everything better?

My brother had two sides. One, that was methodical and planned every detail. The other was an unhinged, angry asshole. Right now, he was pissed. I had seen it written all over his face.

I had Jax right where I wanted him, and now I was locked up in this shit hole. I was gonna kill Beast when I got out of here. And I’d get out of here—I had to. The need for freedom was crawling across my skin, sending an itch through my system. One I couldn’t relieve no matter how many times I scratched.

“Fuck,” I roared and threw my fist into the wall.

Not even the ache of my knuckles scrapping over the cement could numb my anger. It did give me something else to focus on, though.

I gritted my teeth and flexed my hand, pulling open the fresh wounds. Blood pooled out, drawing patterns across my hand before dripping on the ground. The bright red lines reminded me of the chaos I’d ensued lately, the longing still there.

“You want some rags for that?”

Every muscle in my body tensed as I rolled my glare over to Derek, staring at me from the other side of the bars. The judgment in his blue eyes taunted me. Riley got the same glint in her stare—it was the last thing I saw before she was shot. If Beast was going to leave me here with him, the least he could’ve done was leave me my stash.

I waved my hand at him and walked over to drop down on the cot. “Why don’t you fix the temperature in this place?”

One minute I was sweating my balls off, the next, it was so cold my teeth chattered.

“That’s withdrawals kicking in.” Derek tipped his head and sighed. “I should get you something to eat.”

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