Page 123 of Destroying Everleigh

Movement out of my peripheral caught my attention and my head jerked in that direction. The silhouette of a person was leaning against a tree near the back, but they were dressed in a black hoodie and dark jeans. It looked like a man. His face was blanketed in darkness from the hood covering his face. It could be nothing. However, the cold chill that swept down my spine told me otherwise.

Tearing my gaze away from the stranger, I focused my attention on my grandmother again. Her dark eyes glistened with tears as she spoke fondly of my mother.

Sniffles and exaggerated sobs echoed around me, sending another current of anger and frustration zipping through me. Fuck them.

The service dragged on for way too long, and then they lowered the casket into the ground. It felt like a weight had beenripped from my shoulders as they packed the dirt over her. It was one less thing I needed to worry about.

Chatter echoed around me while people started greeting one another and hugging each other like this was some kind of social event and not a damn funeral. Screw this. I started toward the gate, ready to leave when someone called out my name. My body went rigid. I was in no mood to socialize. I just wanted to get home and sleep for the rest of the day—to forget today ever happened if I was being fully transparent.

Whirling around, I turned to face my cousin and what appeared to be his girlfriend. I’ve never met her, but she was pretty enough. She had medium-length purple hair with green eyes and a series of freckles dusted across the bridge of her nose.

“How are you holding up?” Hunter asked me, seeming unsure on whether he should have asked that or not. There wasn’t exactly a rulebook on how to talk to a grieving person, though, so I couldn’t really fault him.

“Fine,” I replied dryly. “Is your mom here?”

I glanced around, looking for any sign of her. Hunter and his mom weren’t close, and from what I gathered, she wasn’t a good person. My mom hated her for a reason. That much was clear.

Hunter’s mom had married his father, taking on the last name Castillo. He left Hunter in his earlier years, so we both hadthatin common. His mom was into partying, and the last time I’d seen her, she was so strung out she didn’t even know what day of the week it was.

He ran a hand through his dark brown hair. “Nah. She…couldn’t make it.”

I snorted in response. That wasn’t a surprise. Maybe I was being a bitch, but I think for one day, I had the right to be.

My gaze bounced over to the girl at his side, my eyes raking down her thin body in a slow manner. She wasn’t exactly dressedfor the occasion. She was wearing a pair of gray leggings and a black T-shirt paired with a leather jacket.

“Oh,” Hunter blurted out, like he’d forgotten something. “This is my girl, Aspen.” He wrapped a hand around her waist, tugging her close to him in a possessive manner.

Hunter and I were close when we were younger. He’d stay at my house a lot so his mom could run off and do whatever the hell she wanted to. His girlfriend shifted uncomfortably, clearly as uncomfortable about this interaction as I was.

“Nice to meet you,” I told her before looking back over at my cousin. “Thank you for coming, but?—”

“That was some speech.” He smirked, cutting me off.

Irritation blossomed inside of me. I just wanted to leave. “Thanks…but I should really get going.”

He nodded in understanding. By now, most of the people who had come have already left. The parking lot was clearing out from what I could make out of it. “I don’t blame you. I’m on BookFace if you ever want to reach out. It was good seeing you, Everleigh.”

“You, too.”

I turned on my heels, booking it toward the parking lot. There was a secluded pathway toward the gate with trees surrounding it on either side. A cold chill swept over me once I distanced myself from the others, my short legs straining with the long strides I was taking.

When the gate came into view, a breath of relief expelled from my lungs and my shoulders relaxed a fraction. I absolutely hated dark and unknown places. Living on the north side for an extended period of time would do that to you.

The sound of a twig breaking had my back snapping straight. I whirled around, scouring the empty area with my eyes. My heart thumped violently within my chest. Nobody was there. Deciding it was probably just an animal, a breathylaugh whooshed from my lips. That is…until I caught a shadow bleeding onto the narrow pathway. It was a silhouette of a human, and they were hiding near a tree. My throat tightened and I stumbled backwards. If this person meant me any harm, they had a good chance of reaching me, but luckily, I was fast.

The hooded figure stepped out of his hiding place—the same person I’d seen earlier. A series of chills swept over my skin. If he hadn’t just been lurking in the trees, I could have passed him off as a regular guest. But there was just something about him that made me feel…off.

My first thought was Lucas.

I wouldn’t put it past him to go to lengths like this. Not after he hit me. Not after he growled in my face that I wasn’t allowed to break up with him.

As soon as the stranger took a step toward me, I whirled on my heels and started sprinting down the pathway. My feet pounded against the hard dirt, making my ankles throb, but it didn’t deter me. My breath was shallow and erratic, the fence coming closer and closer with my car parked right on the other side of the mostly empty parking lot.

I rounded the corner, slamming into a hard chest. A scream caught in my throat when their hands landed on my hips, pulling me closer into their body.

“Everleigh?” the familiar voice asked in surprise, his words laced with concern.

Raising my gaze, relief poured off me in waves. It was Kash. It was just Kash. It wasn’t the hooded figure. Glancing over my shoulder, the stranger had disappeared, probably hiding in the trees again. Or maybe it had been a figment of my imagination. The thought that I’d somehow hallucinated something like this had me trembling.

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