Page 248 of Evil Boys

“Don’t. That deal we had, it’s over.”

I raise a hand, trying to control my own emotions as well as hers. “Lana, think hard about the words you’re saying.” I look her deep in the eyes as her lip twitches with rage, but she doesn’t look away. “I think you know as well as I do there is no escaping us. Deal or no deal.”

“I should’ve left you all to die in that club,” she hisses.

Her words sting like a knife thrust straight into my heart.

“Don’t do this, Lana,” Milo pleads. “Please.”

“Too late,” she says.

“You won’t kill us,” I say, tilting my head as she pushes the knife underneath my chin. “Youcan’t.”

She grinds her teeth, clearly getting more enraged by the second.

Still, she retracts her blades and tucks them back into her pocket, then turns around and marches off.

“Where are you going?” Nathan balks.

“Away from you. And don’t even think of following me,” she yells back.

“It doesn’t matter where you go, Lana. I’ll always be there,” I say.

But instead of saying another word, she merely sticks up two middle fingers and struts off, right through the crowd of people who part just for her like she’s motherfucking Moses splitting the Red Sea in half.

* * *

Lana

I burymy face in my pillow and scream so loudly my voice box cracks from the sheer weight of my emotions.

I wish I could kill them.

I want to. So badly.

But I know I physicallycan’t. And it breaks me.

How could I let them get to me like that? How could I let them into my world, my life, my fucking heart, and crush it all up like it meant nothing?

That deal we made meant nothing.

I gave my body to those fuckers, and they betrayed me by throwing my secret out into the world.

“Fuck!” I yell, punching the pillow.

Someone knocks on my door, and I pause. “Lana? Brooke called and said you wouldn’t let anyone into your room so I thought I’d come over. Are you okay in there?”

It’s Crystal.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

I wipe away the tears and sit up straight.

She gently opens the door and peeks inside before stepping in and closing the door behind her. In her hair is that same rose from before.

“She told you about the picture?” I clutch the pillow against my chest.

She swallows and nods. “I saw it. I’m sorry. Can I sit down next to you?”

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