Page 19 of Reckless
Vaughn spoke, his voice low, “Or…”
Dante stopped, staring at him, then at me, then at the way his arms were around me, and then back at him. “Or what?” He was too enraged at the finger to pay much attention to the jealousy I bet flared up within him.
“A warning,” Vaughn whispered, staring at me. “A promise that things can get worse. Somehow, they were able to set you up perfectly. It’s clear they have it out for you, and I bet they plan on making your life miserable until they decide to strike again.”
Something in my stomach twisted, and I really felt like bending over that toilet in the corner and throwing up. Not something I wanted to do in front of Dante and Vaughn, but then again, finding a finger in my locker wasn’t something I ever thought I’d do.
“Do you think it could be Archer?” I asked, remembering what Ollie had said. I’d told that man practically everything, so he knew Archer and Brittany’s relationship hadn’t been the most real thing around. If Archer thought I was the one who told the world about his father’s illegal secret, thereby destroying his family, it wasn’t too far-fetched to believe he’d want revenge.
I knew I said I wanted to get back at him for lying to me, but that was crossing a line. That wasn’t me. I wasn’t the one who told the world the truth about his father. Someone else did, but it wasn’t like he would believe my innocence.
Vaughn dropped his arms, pulling away to finally look at the finger. Dante moved closer to me, the smell of his worn leather jacket entering my nostrils. I wanted to bury my face in that jacket and never come up for air again; the world was too harsh, too cruel, anyway.
“Do I think Archer Vega could’ve killed Brittany, framed you, and sent you this finger as a warning?” Vaughn voiced my question, his dark eyes raking over the severed finger. It was another moment before he added a single word, a word that confused me to no end: “No.”
I blinked. All this time, I’d been steeling myself for the worst where Archer was concerned, and then Vaughn went and said he didn’t think he did this? What in the world was going on?
“No,” I repeated, clueless. “Why?” Or, perhaps I should’ve asked, why not? Because, let’s be honest, if it wasn’t Archer, that could only mean one thing…it was someone else, someone we weren’t expecting, and I wasn’t certain I could handle that.
“If you look at the finger, where it was cut off, it’s not a clean mark. Someone with Archer’s strength would’ve been able to cut through a finger like this easily,” Vaughn explained.
“Yeah, or maybe he wasn’t using the right tool for the job,” Dante spoke, the master of all things knives. He liked to stab, that much we all knew by now. “Maybe this was Archer’s first time trying to threaten someone else. It could be that he’d had enough of Brittany’s shit—which I don’t blame, because she was a bitch—and something in him snapped. I’ve seen it happen before, the star pupil everyone loves turning to the dark side.” He shot me a smug look. “It is fun over here, but that fuckboy’s got another thing coming if he thinks he’s going to take you down next.”
Vaughn listened to his reasoning in silence, but I could tell, just by a quick glance in his direction, he didn’t believe it was Archer. I was not going to study that finger hard enough to see the cut marks; I wasn’t. He believed Archer was innocent, while Dante believed he was guilty. Which was the truth?
And, perhaps most of all, did it matter? I shouldn’t be concerned with Archer Vega, because he wasn’t the one who was suspect for Brittany’s murder; I was. I was on the hook for something I didn’t do, and whether or not Archer was the one behind it, I had to stay one step ahead.
Unfortunately, it looked like whoever did do the crime was quite a few steps ahead of me, still, if that finger meant anything.
Vaughn ended up taking the finger—after wrapping it up in paper towels and stuffing it in his pocket. He handed me back my textbook, and he told me he was going home for the day, to bring the finger back to his family’s estate. I had no idea what he planned on doing with that finger, but as long as it wasn’t in my personal space, I was fine with it. Out of sight, out of mind, right?
At least, that’s how things were supposed to work. They didn’t really work like that, sadly.
Chapter Six – Dante
Jaz was deservedly out of it the rest of the day, and I paid all of my attention to her, especially during lunch. It sucked, but I didn’t have any classes with her, so I couldn’t be her rock all day, every minute.
If Skull would’ve just let me bring her back, none of this would be happening. Seriously. None of it. She’d never have gone to that winter formal and made a fool out of Brittany, and I bet Brittany would still be alive and kicking. That had been such a public display of humiliation, and that blonde bitch had been so furious at Jaz for stealing her crown…
Of course, my girl looked way fucking better in that crown than Brittany ever would have, but that was beside the point.
I sat beside Jaz at our lunch table. Vaughn was gone, so there was no food for me to steal. I thought about taking some of Jaz’s, but I figured she, out of everyone, needed to eat. The stress and anxiety of the situation had been getting to her; you could tell by the slight bags under her eyes and the tight frown she wore more often than not.
God, I really would do anything to make her happy again, to wipe away all of her worries and see that sly smile.
Jaz had been mine before we’d even met; keeping her safe, keeping her happy was the least I could do for her. If there was ever a gorgeous girl to make me her servant, it was Jaz.
I was trying to think of something witty to say, something to make her laugh, but Jaz was the one who broke the silence of our table. The rest of the cafeteria was talkative, as usual, though only about half of the typical student body was here today. Ryan’s funeral gave kids a free pass to take the day off.
Ryan. Who gave a fuck about Ryan? Certainly not me. But, I guess, I did have to hand it to Vaughn. I took care of Ryan’s friends, thought I’d left Ryan for dead, but he’d pulled through—not for long, but still. It was only a matter of time before he woke up from that coma and told everyone who’d attacked him and his friends at the park.
Vaughn could get his hands dirty. I had a newfound respect for him.
A very tiny respect, but still respect. Better than nothing, right?
“Can I ask you something?” Jaz spoke, staring at me with those amber eyes that drove me wild, made me want to be her protector, her savior, her guardian. All of that and more, whatever she needed me to be. The power she held over me was something no other girl had before, but I credited that to the fact Jaz was always supposed to be mine.
If her mother hadn’t stolen her away from the gang, she and I would’ve been together our whole lives.
