Page 114 of Kings & Chaos

We were all thinking the same thing: our school email addresses weren’t public. They were assigned at admission, and they were private unless we gave them out, which no one did. Who wanted to use an email address like [email protected] when they could use [email protected]?

Which meant the person who’d contacted Connor had done it using his school email because they had access to school data.

“Last week,” Neo said.

Dean Giordana had been dead for nearly a month. Someone else at Aventine was still trying to hide what had happened to Emma and the other girls.

“Fuck,” Rock said.

“Which is why we’re leaving,” Neo said.

“I can’t just leave,” I said. “I have school and—”

I was stopped by the slam of Neo’s fist on the table. His mug jumped, coffee spilling onto the marble surface. “They’re trying to kill you.”

The roar of his voice and his obvious anger sent adrenaline rushing through my body. Not too long ago, I would have told myself I was scared.

Now I knew better. I was fucking turned on.

I knew what it felt like to be at the center of that particular storm, and fuck me if I didn’t want to set up camp and live there forever.

“I know,” I said calmly. “I’m just saying, I can’t just disappear.”

“We have to regroup.” Rock’s voice was calm. “Try to figure out who the fuck is behind this.”

“You can tell your professors you’ve had a family emergency,” Oscar said. “Ask to take your finals online."

It sounded perfectly reasonable when he said it. Three of my finals were papers that were submitted through the school portal. I only had one actual test, and I could take that online.

“Where would we even go?” The question was a concession, but I should have known better than to think that it would be an out.

The Kings looked not at me, but at each other, like they were seeking silent approval for what would be said next.

Then Neo looked at me, his eyes boring into my fucking soul.

“We have a place.”

Chapter44

Willa

Ilooked out the window from the front seat of the Hummer and looked out across the Atlantic to the horizon. The last time I’d been to the ocean, Emma and I had been in high school. At home she wanted nothing to do with me, but alone at the shore, our old closeness had returned, and we’d bodysurfed and tanned on the beach next to Mom. We’d even snuck out of the hotel one night to go swimming when Mom had been down at the hotel bar “unwinding.” We’d slipped outside like thieves, and I’d been surprised when Emma grabbed my hand like she had when we were little.

We’d stripped to our underwear and bras and waded out into the dark surf, past the break, where we’d floated on our backs, hand in hand, cradled by the sea, watching as the beam from the lighthouse across the bay swept over the dark water beyond the breakers.

“You didn’t tell anyone where we were going right?” Neo asked from the driver’s seat.

It was the third time he’d asked some variation of the same question.

“I don’t know where we’re going remember?”

“Just making sure you’re not texting anybody along the way,” he said.

“I told Mara and Claire you guys were taking me away for a surprise post-birthday vacation,” I said.

“Damn,” Rock said from the back seat. “That’s a good idea. Note to self for next year.”

I didn’t plan to be at Aventine at this time next year, but I didn’t say that, probably because it was getting harder to think about leaving the Kings, andthatwas getting harder and harder to accept.

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