Page 121 of Cruel Prep (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 1)

I’m cold and sore and exhausted and … empty.

“You’re in shock.” Finn lays a cool hand over my forehead and then helps me sit down. When I look to my left, I see Officer Ingram’s body lying on the ground, but Finn quickly grabs my chin and helps me focus on him.

Looking into his bright blue eyes, everything else seems to fade away.

“Stay here,” he whispers before leaning forward to kiss my forehead. “And don’t look around.”

He runs over towards where Ingram is and then jogs past me to the front of the car. I hear the gunshot, and I know what he’s done.

His father is dead.

It’s over.

We’re alive.

I saved us both.

45

Lily

We didn’t need to call the cops. Someone else already did.

When the officer arrives, he sees Ingram on the ground, Mr. Foster pinned between two vehicles, and two shaking teenagers in the middle of the road and immediately calls for back up.

Finn is able to spin a story better and faster than I’m capable of in my current state. He settles on the truth, more or less, telling the officers that Ingram had been dealing drugs to the teens of Ravenlake for years, and Finn was going to take the evidence of that to the police. So, when I called 911 earlier to save Finn from the Hell Princes, Ingram didn’t do anything to help him because he wanted Finn out of the picture.

“The body of Nico Barber is in the woods behind my house,” Finn says coldly. “I stabbed him in the back when he tried to strangle me.”

He points to the growing bruises around his neck as proof.

Then, he explains that we tried to leave and go get help, but Ingram blocked the way and threatened our lives. We ran him over, and then were stopped by Mr. Foster.

“And how did he end up … like that?” the officer asks, eyeballing the scene that detectives are still processing.

Finn tells the story with such earnestness that no one really questions him, and when he shows them the security tapes from the driveway, they back up his story completely.

Within a few hours, the police clear the scene and release us to go with the promise that we will be available for more questioning in the morning.

We promise and then stumble back up to the house.

* * *

“You’re shaking.” We are in Finn’s bathroom upstairs, and he is running his hands down my arms, trying to stop the trembling.

“I don’t know why. I’m not even cold.”

He reaches around me and starts a shower. Immediately, the room fills with steam.

I lift my arms over my head as he pulls his hoodie off me. Then, I step out of my shorts and panties when he slides the material down my legs.

I really must be in shock because I barely notice when Finn strips down as well, and helps me into the shower. I’m so grateful for the warm water and the comfort of his arms that I barely register we are naked at all.

Finn rubs soap down my arms and legs, wiping away all of the small spots of blood from the chase through the woods.

I push him down to the lip of the tub and use the sprayer to clean the soles of his feet from his barefoot run. There are several deep gashes that will need to be bandaged, but he assures me he is fine.

“I’m more worried about you,” he says.

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