Page 109 of Cruel Prep (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 1)

My stomach drops. Finn curses under his breath.

And I feel like the world is tipping upside down.

No one is going to save us.

No one is going to help.

Ingram slowly rolls his window back up. I watch with baffled horror as his car lights disappear down the driveway.

We’re fucked.

“I think you’re the one who has it wrong,” Nico says. His eyes are locked on me like a predator on prey. “You are sleeping with the person who caused all of this. Who hurt you and hurt Dallas. He tricked you, and now you are confused and don’t know who to trust, but you can trust me.”

“Don’t,” Finn barks. I’m not sure if he is talking to me or Nico. “Don’t talk to her, you psycho.”

“I’m a psycho?” Nico asks, hand pressed to his chest. “I’m a psycho because why? Because I’m the one who got caught? Because I’m mad that the person who was supposed to be my best friend bailed on me? That makes me psycho?”

“No, hurting innocent people makes you a psycho,” Finn snaps.

Nico spins around to the bikers behind him, all of them laughing.

The moment his eyes are off mine, Finn turns to me. His eyes are wide, panicked, and he tips his head to the right, clearly telling me to run.

When Nico turns around, Finn stops looking at me. I realize all at once that it doesn’t matter who is telling the truth.

The only person I can trust here is myself.

“It’s funny because you were the one who taught me how to manipulate people,” Nico says, taking another step towards where Finn and I are standing. “You are the one who told me to go after your little girlfriend there, and now you’re protecting her.”

“You almost killed her,” Finn snaps. “That wasn’t the plan. You went too far.”

“And you didn’t? Dallas has been breathing through a tube for weeks now, you fuck. That’s not too far?”

“I didn’t do that. He did it to himself.”

Nico shrugs, laughs, scowls, a million different emotions at once.

Then he springs forward.

The next few seconds pass in a blur.

Nico pulls a knife out of his pocket.

Finn lunges forward, shoving me out of the way and towards the house.

He yells for me to run just as Nico yells for the bikers to get Finn.

Everything is screaming and movement and chaos, and the only thing I can think to do is turn and run.

I can’t trust anyone else, but I can trust myself. I can trust my two legs.

So I run.

41

Lily

Running started as a way for me to run away from my problems. And that has never been more true than right now.

---