Page 112 of Liars

I exhaled sharply, looking away. “Other than threatening messages in my locker and nearly being kidnapped by some creep? Just peachy.”

Josie and Brock exchanged a look.

I caught it.

An ache bloomed beneath my ribs. “What?”

Brock pushed off the sink, his expression hard. “We don’t have much time.”

I dropped my bag on the floor, trying to read my cousin, which was an impossible task. “For what?”

“To warn you.”

A pause. A slow, sinking, suffocating pause.

I swallowed. “Warn me about what?” Not that I wasn’t happy to see him, but the girls’ bathroom was an unusual place to meet, and Brock never did anything without purpose.

Josie shifted beside me, worry etched in the furrow of her brows. “About Kreed, Maddox, and Mason.”

My heartbeat stumbled. “What about them?”

Brock’s jaw clenched. “Do you know who they are?”

“I’m assuming you mean the Raven Crew. I know they run Public. And I know they have a bad habit of making my life really fucking difficult.”

Josie’s eyes flicked up as she moved to Brock’s side. “It’s more than that.”

I fumbled with the gold chain dangling from my neck. “Then tell me.”

“They’re dangerous, Kaylor,” Brock said bluntly.

A sharp, humorless laugh escaped me. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

Brock stepped closer. “I’m serious. You think you know them, but you don’t. You can’t trust them.”

I lifted my chin. “And how would you know that?”

Josie shifted. “Because I remember their older brother, Raine. He went to Public before I transferred to Elmwood.”

Raine.

The name landed like a blow to my stomach. I thought about the note in my locker. The man who tried to take me at the club. Maddox pinning me against the lockers, kissing me like he had every right to. Kreed pulling me into his bed, making me forget everything except him.

I swallowed hard. “You don’t understand,” I murmured. “It’s not that simple.” I didn’t think telling Brock I’d slept with Kreed was the right move. Who knew what he would do, and with the thought of Brock getting involved, I couldn’t decide if I was more worried about Kreed or my cousin.

Brock’s gaze burned into me. “Itisthat simple. Stay away from them.”

The thought of the two of them meeting sent ribbons of panic knotting inside me. They were from two different worlds that shouldn’t collide. My pulse pounded in my ears. “I don’t think I can.”

His eyes darkened. “Then you’re making a mistake.”

Silence.

Thick, suffocating silence.

“I want you out of that house,” Brock finally said. “Stay with me. My parents are overseas. No one will bother you.”

My chest squeezed. For months, I’d wanted nothing more than to get out of the Corvo mansion. To go home, and now Brock was offering me a way out. A ticket back to safety.

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