Page 88 of Cruel Prep (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 1)

It prompts a lot of troubling questions. Is she hiding something from me? Is she cooperating with whoever is behind the anonymous texts?

Or is she really just that naïve? That ignorant about what’s happening in this town?

Whatever the answer, I know she was followed. I know the bikers are trying to intimidate her, and for reasons I don’t fully understand, I want to show her that I can take care of her.

That she doesn’t need to be scared with me.

Though, if she could remember everything about that night this summer, she’d be running from me right now, too.

“Come on a walk with me,” I say, climbing out of the car and walking around to her side. She clings to the door when I open it, trying to pull it closed. “Lily.”

“Finn,” she says, eyes wide. “Let’s go somewhere else.”

“Why?”

I decide right then that if she tells me the truth, I’ll get in the car and drive away. I won’t push it. If she tells me the truth about the bikers and being afraid, I won’t force her into the woods.

“Because,” she stutters, looking towards the dark park and then back to me. “Because it’s dark, and I’m cold.”

I reach into the back seat and grab a gray hoodie. “Wear this. Come on.”

She grabs the hoodie when I throw it to her, which means she has finally released her death grip on the door. I pull her out of her seat and shut the door, locking it with my fob.

Suddenly, Lily flattens her body against me, her braless breasts pressing against my chest. “Let’s go somewhere else. Somewhere private.”

I grab her hand and pull her towards the trail. She has no idea that she isn’t persuading me, but spurring me on. Now, I want to get to where we’re going even faster.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re alone here. It is private.”

I can feel her hesitation in every step. When we reach the break in the trees where the secluded running and hiking trail starts, her feet practically melt into the ground.

“What’s going on?” I ask, placing a hand on her lower back and pulling her along with me. “You don’t trust me?”

For the first time since we pulled into the lot, Lily smiles. “Of course not. You’re the one who told me not to.”

“And you trusted me enough to believe me when I told you not to trust me.”

She frowns and then shakes her head. “That isn’t how that works.”

“Yeah, but in the time it just took you to puzzle it out, we made it ten more steps in.”

Lily looks around suddenly, like she expects our surroundings to suddenly be horrifying, but they aren’t—just darkness and trees.

I pull out my phone to turn on the flashlight, but Lily grabs my hand and shakes her head. “Don’t. It’s better in the dark. No lights.”

Her fingers wrap around mine in a vise, and I don’t hate it—being the person who protects her. The person she turns to when she is afraid.

When the trail begins to turn, Lily goes rigid. I try to pull her along, but she is resolute this time. She isn’t going to budge.

Her eyes are squeezed closed, and her entire body is clenched, waging a fight I can’t see.

I smooth my hands down her shoulders. “What’s going on? Talk to me.”

Her lips are pressed together so hard they’re white. “It’s this place.”

“What about it?” I know. Of course I know. I wish I didn’t.

“You know,” she says, opening one eye. “You’ve known who I am since I got to Ravenlake. Everyone has. You know what happened here. Why did you bring me here?”

---