Page 58 of The Hallows Boys

I push through the doors of the building again, finding the quad empty, and pull my cigarettes from my pocket. I take one out of the cardboard, slip it between my lips, and light it with my zippo.

It’s a dirty habit, but there’re worse things in life than smoking, so fuck it.

I take a deep inhale of the smoke, dropping my eyes closed as nicotine and menthol burn my lungs. If Kai would just admit to himself that Sage is different, everything would be so much fucking easier. She’s the last goddamn puzzle piece to our trio, sliding in flawlessly and with so much ease you’d think she was fucking made for us.

But he won’t. He’ll keep her at a distance, maybe fuck with her a little, and waste this opportunity.

I open my eyes just in time to spot Sage’s little friend, Juliet, sneaking off campus toward the woods that sit behind school, her phone pressed tightly to her ear.

Her eyes widen a fraction when she looks over her shoulder and catches my gaze, making my brows pull down in curiosity. She acts as if I’m the campus fucking police, like I’ll give a shit she’s skipping class.

Finishing off my cigarette, I toss the butt onto the ground and stomp it out.

I decide to head to the library to see if I can find anything in the old yearbooks about Andrew Blackmore. Maybe by the time I get to second period, I’ll have some answers for Kaiden.

I make my way across campus, waving at the librarian sitting at the desk just inside the library doors, and head to the back to where they keep the old yearbooks and class photos.

I hear the door for the library open, and when I look up to glance that way, I see Sage poking her head through the door before she pushes it all the way open and walks in cautiously. I duck behind the bookcase I’m next to, watching her in between a few of the books. She looks around like she’s looking for someone –me?

When she doesn’t see whoever she’s looking for, she makes a right and goes across the library to the very end of the room, then starts walking slowly back, looking down each aisle as she passes, as if she’s on the hunt.

My lips pull up as I walk toward where she is, creeping on my feet lightly while she searches the room. When she’s gone through the entire reference section, as well as nonfiction, she groans and heads for the fiction aisles.

I lick my lips, watching her hips sway as she walks, getting frustrated she hasn’t found whatever it is she’s looking for, and I decide to put myself right in her path, just in case it’s me she’s looking for.

Circling the room, I stalk behind her, going down the next aisle to circle back and put myself in front of her.

When she turns the corner and sees me, she jumps back, sucking air into her lungs like she’s frightened. Spreading my lips into a big smile, I cross my arms over my chest before addressing her.

ChapterTwenty-Five

SAGE

“Are you looking for me?”

I just about swallow my tongue when Beckham fucking Bentley appears in front of me, his mouth wide in a malicious smile that screams confidence. I clear my throat, trying to gather some of the confidence back I had when I followed him in here, and put my hand on my hip.

“You guys are avoiding me.”

He tweaks his head to the side, blinking. “And you took that as me sayingplease, follow me into the library and creep on me?”

I take a step back, looking into those dark blue eyes that save me in my nightmares. “Figured Kaiden wouldn’t let you talk to me, so I wanted to catch you alone.”

He laughs humorlessly, threading his tattooed fingers together to crack his knuckles as he steps toward me. “Is that how you think it goes, Sage?” He takes another wide step toward me, putting his face inches from mine. “Kai saysjumpand I sayhow high?”

Nerves bubble up inside of my chest at his close proximity, so I take a step backwards. He moves with me though, so I keep walking backwards until my ass hits one of the bookshelves. He gets closer to me this time, putting his mouth an inch from mine, making the taste of his breath infiltrate my tongue, sending me flying back into my memories of his mouth against mine in the crypt. I swallow thickly as my stomach spins and my clit tingles.

His lips turn up into another sinister smile, this time keeping his mouth shut. “Why are you following me, Sage?”

My chest heaves, my eyes flicking up and down from his eyes to his lips until I find the courage to speak again. “I want to know about my dad.”

His gaze travels down my body. “And you think I have information about him?”

He runs a finger over my lips, my chin, my throat, finally to the slit I cut into my black t-shirt this morning. He flicks his gaze back to mine. “Did you cut this?”

I gulp. “Yes.”

He curves his pointer finger inside the cut in the fabric, pulling it open a little more so he can look at my tits. “I like it.”

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