Page 53 of Close Your Eyes and Count to 10

On his phone was theRed Worldapp. If Marco got in, he could gift the peach and anything else he wanted to himself since they were still connected on the game. You could give your friends weapons and skins, anything you had in your locker.

“No,” said Blake, squaring off. His mom had been teaching him how to punch on the bag in the garage.People are not allowed to hurt you, Blakey. Sometimes you have to stand up for yourself.

“Give it,” said Marco, stepping closer. “Or I’m going to take it.”

Blake squared off, put up his fists like his mom had taught him. Marco’s eyes got wide, and Blake realized for the first time how much bigger he was than his old friend. Like a lot.

“Come and get it,” he said, barely recognizing his own voice.

When Marco stepped to him, things went a little fuzzy. A kind of roar drowned out other sounds, his thoughts. All that anger he held back exploded. And the next thing Blake knew, Marco was lying on the floor groaning, blood gushing from his nose. He was crying.

“You punched me,” he whimpered, looking up. “I’m bleeding.”

Standing over Marco, Blake quashed the urge to hit him again. He didn’t really want to hurt anyone, he just wanted tostop hurting.

“Don’t fuck with me again, Marco,” he said instead. Again, a voice he didn’t know. “Next time, you won’t get up.”

Then he ran, getting back to class just as the bell sounded. He dropped the pass on Ms. Watson’s desk.

“Everything okay?”

He hid his bleeding knuckles.

“All good,” said Blake.

From his seat he grabbed his pack. Then, as he was heading toward the door, he got a message on his phone from theRed Worldapp. It was from Charger. All it said wasIt’s time.

He paused a minute, and everything around him seemed strange and new as the hallway filled with kids rushing between classes.

Finally he joined the throng, but instead of heading to his history class, he exited the building through the back doors of the school, stepping out into the bright, crisp afternoon. Blake was cutting school for the first time in his life.

17

ANGELINE

The small, stylish hotel was quiet when Angeline and Tavo pulled up in the Range Rover. They hadn’t exchanged a single word the entire fifteen-minute drive on deserted roads.

The violence at the site, the red cloud of the approaching storm on the weather app, Maverick’s unhinged (desperate?) energy, all of it had her jumpy, anxious. She needed to find Alex. He was the one who kept them all centered, grounded. Without him, it felt like anything could go wrong. The game was still five hours away; there was time to steady the ship before the hiders scattered.

On the drive from Enchantments, after they passed through the sleepy little town, which had a few small restaurants and bars, they hadn’t passed another car or a single streetlamp. The island, unlike some other places she’d been in the world, slept a deep and steady slumber off-season. There were no glaring lights, no tacky billboards, no streets lined with revelers, no food delivery.

New York City, the 24/7 candy store that it was, never closed its eyes, not for a moment. But this place gave you permission to power down, to take a breath. She pulled off the empty road,onto the even more deserted one that led up to the hotel, approaching slowly, gravel crunching, then killed the engine in the closest parking spot. They sat a moment, before Tavo reached a hand over and put it on her thigh.

Her whole body tingled at his touch.

“Don’t,” she said, her voice throaty. “Please.”

“Angeline.” Her name on his lips was a sound that made her go weak, crumbled all her resolve.

His other arm reached across, and she couldn’t keep herself from leaning into him, his pull magnetic. His fingers in her hair, the scent of him, something woodsy and clean. His lips. Mav devoured her, aggressive, always wanted to go deeper, have more of her. Tavo explored, asked permission, invited her into the warmth of his energy. He gave as much as he got.

“Please,” she begged.

But she was kissing him back, holding on to the strength of this arms, pulling him closer. It had been weeks since they’d been together.I’m recommitting myself to Mav, she’d told him after the last time.

Mav had been off with Hector somewhere in South America. They’d taken the jet for something decadent like a night out in Rio, and Mav planned to zip-line the next day. She was annoyed about it, for a lot of reasons. Then, in Hector’s post, she’d seen Mav in the background leaning into some busty brunette in a low-cut leather dress. She knew that look, wolfish, hungry. She’d felt a lash of anger, even though Mav cheated all the time. He didn’t think she knew. But she did. Someone like him, with so many appetites, so much freedom and money, he couldn’tnotcheat.

She’d revenge-texted Tavo, since she knew that he was in the city and not off with Mav. She and Tavo had been on-again, off-again for a while. He wanted more than she did. After her text, he was with her in under a half hour. Their lovemaking was passionate,gentle. Afterward, she felt guilty, told him that they couldn’t be together again.

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