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The Stranger

Violet

Intuition.

Instinct.

The hair on the back of my neck prickles with whatever creeps through me.

Liam takes the next turn faster than he should, and my nails dig into the leather seats.

I want to tell him to slow down before we end up wrapped around a tree, but I’m tired of arguing about his driving. I’m tired of arguing with him in general.

He’s on edge tonight, and I don’t want to make it worse when he’s the one who convinced me to leave my dorm room.

Liam takes another hard turn, and the forest whips past us, churning the unease in my stomach. His irritationis rubbing off on me, and my nerves are amplified by every curve as we dive deeper into the forest.

“Are you sure we’re going in the right direction?” I grip the leather seat in Liam’s Ferrari and stare out the window, barely able to make anything out in the darkness.

Liam’s been driving for almost an hour, and we’ve taken so many turns since leaving the main highway out of Bristal that I’m not sure where we are anymore.

“Trust me, baby.” He plants a hand on my bare thigh and turns to look at me. He’s grinning, but I don’t miss the undercurrent of something else he’s hiding in his smile. “This will be fun.”

Fun.

I’m not sure that’s what I’d call this when I don’t have time between work and classes to waste energy enjoying myself. But Liam doesn’t understand that. For him, it’s any other day. Partying and drinking away his college years.

While I keep my nose down and stay focused, Liam spends his time indulging in anything and everything that pleases him. It’s one of the main differences between the two of us.

Liam comes from money—picture-perfect family and a bottomless trust fund. He didn’t get into Briar Academy on a scholarship and good grades like I did. The Westwood family name is plastered all over this town—including the school library. And that was enough for the school to offer him anything he wanted.

So while I spend my spare time working in the coffee shop on campus, he’s throwing keggers with his fraternity. We couldn’t be more different.

But that’s also what attracted me to him. His blinding smile. His confidence.

The first time I met him was in the middle of a double shift at work. He ordered a black coffee and tipped triple what he paid, and something about his smile made the weight on my shoulders feel a little lighter. He asked me to a movie, and then another. It was easy when my life wasn’t.

We don’t make sense together, but I thought maybe dating my opposite would help me step outside my comfortable little box. I didn’t realize at the time that I couldn’t be more wrong.

Now I’m stuck in a car with someone who doesn’t understand me and, worse, doesn’t care to listen.

“Violet?” He squeezes my thigh, pulling my attention back to his sharp blue eyes. A golden strand of hair falls just above his eyebrow as he smiles.

Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever glow like Liam does.

He’s always at ease. Never stressed.

I suppose it’s one of the perks of being gifted anything and everything you can want or ask for.

“We’ll have fun, I know.” I force a smile and hope he doesn’t see through it, even if we both know I didn’t want to join him tonight.

I prefer it when we stay in. When we’re surrounded by my friends and not his. Knowing tonight I’m stepping into his world is unsettling, given that I try to avoid his fraternity whenever I get the chance.

If Liam notices my unease, he doesn’t say anything. He grips the steering wheel once more and focuses on the winding forest road.

When he said we were going to a party at the Peterson family cabin tonight, I didn’t realize how far outside of town it would take us. I’m already anxious enough that Liam wanted me to tag along to their annual Valentine’s Massacre party, and the long drive isn’t helping.

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