Page 122 of Gather the Storm

The rest of the day was uneventful, thank god, and I watched the clock like a hawk and booked it out of there at five o’ clock sharp, more than ready to get as far away from Gray as possible.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I stepped out into the summer sun, then crossed the street to my car.

I was putting the key into the ignition when I spotted a stray dog down the street. It was skinny and dirty, a stray, but the breed was familiar — the same breed as Buster, our childhood dog.

Something like adrenaline flooded my body with the realization, and I fumbled in my bag for Blake’s phone. Maybe I’d been thinking about his passcode all wrong, trying numbers when I should have been using words.

My fingers shook as I typed in the name, using the corresponding numbers on the phone’s keypad: B-U-S-T-E-R.

287837.

The phone opened.

I was so surprised I almost dropped it.

And then I was in, all of Blake’s apps shining back at me from the screen, the number42in a red bubble by his text messages.

My heart beat like crazy as I opened the text messages. I went straight to the group chat Blake had shared with Wolf, Otis, and Jace. I scrolled up, looking for the beginning of their last text exchange the afternoon of the party.

Weird. They hadn’t texted at all during the two days before the party. There was one brief exchange on Thursday — the party had been Saturday night — agreeing to a time and place to meet after school that day.

After that, nothing until the afternoon of the party. I scrolled back down and started there, reading the last messages they’d ever exchanged.

Wolf: You know we don’t think it’s funny.

Blake: Good thing I’m not joking.

Otis: We’re not joking either.

Jace: We won’t let you do it.

Blake: Like you could stop me.

Wolf: We don’t want to but we will.

Blake: Like to see you try.

Otis: Dude, why are you putting us in this position?

Blake: No position. I’m gonna do what I’m gonna do. Nothing to do with you. Decision’s been made.

Jace: Then we’ll have to do what we have to do.

Blake: Game on, motherfuckers.

And that was it, the last text changed in the group.

Then we’ll have to do what we have to do.

I stared at the last text from Jace, the words swimming on the screen as tears filled my eyes.

They’d done it. The Beasts had killed Blake the night of the party.

Wolf, Otis, Jace… they’d all been in on it. They’d murdered Blake like an animal in the woods, had left him to bleed out alone in the cold.

I shoved the phone in my bag and turned the key on the Mustang.

I needed to get away from the Beasts, from the men who’d killed my brother and my own shame and everything that had happened between us.

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