Page 18 of Those Heartless Boys

I slam my hands against his chest and push him. “Get away from me.”

Lucas smirks once he regains his balance. “I hope you know you’re only making this more fun for us. It’s about the hunt, right? Not the actual find.”

I swallow. He just took words my dad said only a few thousand times in his lifetime and made them dirty. Confusion pricks at me. I push past him, skirting around the edge of the crowd with my mind and my core still at odds. Since they’re determined to play this game, I have to be smart about things. It doesn’t matter what comes out of their mouths, I’m not the small-town girl who’ll drop her panties at their whims. What’s frustrating is that they’ll stoop to any level to get me to sign that damn contract.

10

Lucas follows me, but I don’t acknowledge his presence. The partygoers sit in a horseshoe-shaped ring around a bonfire, no one situated with their backs to the Hole. I guess some legends just can’t be shaken.

A few stand in groups, others are sitting on rocks or large pieces of wood that have been dragged out here from who knows where because logs sure as hell aren’t derivative from this area. Most everyone has a beer in hand, and I follow the tracks of two girls who are just now getting to the party back to a cluster of guys. That’s where I spot the coolers, so I head that way. I didn’t come all the way out here just for the guys. No, I finally got invited to my first Clary party, so I’m going to make the most of it, whether I’m the odd one out or not.

My father never shied away from giving me a taste of alcohol here and there. He liked his hard liquor, sipped from a tin cup. If I asked for some, he’d let me have a small swallow. The burning liquid would scorch down my throat and warm my belly. I never sat and got drunk with him. Not that I wanted to. That would be the ultimate depressing thought. Father and daughter, drowning their sorrows together. We weren’tthattype of family. Plus, alcohol was a luxury in our house.

Skirting around the guys, I pull a beer out of the cooler, wiping the water still clinging to the glass off on my jeans. One of the guys holds his bottle opener out and pops the top for me. I take a long swig.

Dear God. This stuff is disgusting.I choke it down. Must be my tastes run finer than this shit. I glance at the bottle, but I have no idea if it’s a cheap beer or an expensive one. Judging by the fact that we’re all students, I’d bet cheap. I shrug it off because whatever works. If that’s what they’re drinking, that’s what I’m drinking.

I scan the crowd, recognizing most of the people here from either high school or college...or obviously, both. There’s a whole big sky out here, mirroring what a huge world we live in, and I wonder if I’m ever going to have a bigger circle than this right here. The sad part is that I’m not even part of this circle. I’m like a drifter, only pretending that I actually fit in.

A giggle to my right interrupts my thoughts that are just way too deep for my current company and piss-tasting beer. I roll my eyes when I spot Meghan sitting next to Stone on top of a tall boulder. She’s cuddled into his side, even though he’s not paying any attention to her. Lucas has just joined them and the three have their heads together. Meghan doesn’t notice she’s being ignored though. Her sharp eyes have focused on me. “I never thought I’d see the day,” she slurs. “Blue’s Clues at Devil’s Hole.” She laughs loud as if she’s said a hilarious joke. “That’s definitely a juxtaposition.”

Not to sound too bitchy, but I’m surprised she even knows the meaning of that word.

When no one pays her any attention, her voice pitches higher. “Maybe you should get a clue and leave because no one wants you here.”

Of course, the song happens to end at that moment, and everyone twists their heads toward us to find out what’s going on. Meghan seems almost stunned by the attention, but she doesn’t dare lose it either. She’s thrived on people fawning over her her whole life.

She slides off the rock, landing in the hard-packed clay with a thin layer of dirt. She saunters toward me, but I don’t fix my gaze on her. I look over her head to the guys who are watching with interest.

“Actually,” I say, knowing full well this could blow up in my face. It more than likely will, but I can’t stand to see her preening like a peacock. “Stone invited me.”

Meghan barks out a laugh. She turns toward Stone as if she needs clarification. Or because she’s trying to get him to sound off on what a ludicrous thing I’ve just said. I can tell by the lilt of her shoulders that she’s not quite sure. He is new, after all. He might as well be a big question mark in her world, but I understand her concern. She’s not used to being second-guessed. Especially not by me.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” I say, running into her with my shoulder. “I have things to discuss with them.”

“What?” she screeches, and I swear high school was two years ago, but you’d think we were smack dab in the middle of those suffocating halls. I guess old habits die hard.

I burn the trio with my gaze, daring them to say they didn’t invite me here. The heat from the fire makes me sweat, but so is waiting for them to decide what they’re going to do next. “Ready?” I ask as soon as I get to them, my heart in my throat.

Stone jumps down from the rock, landing just in front of me. He towers over me, especially with the slight incline leading to the rock, but I’m not going to let him intimidate me. He smirks. “Let’s do it.”

Stone throws his arm around my shoulder, and a shocked gasp comes from Meghan. The noise quickly fades into the background. In its place is feelinghimnext to me. It’s hard not to feel the pull, even if my mind rejects it.

Wyatt leads the way back to the parking lot where he lowers the gate on his truck. He jumps in then holds his hand back to me. I grab it, and he heaves me up into the bed. I find a place to sit, my feet resting on top of the wheel well as the others climb up and find a spot, too.

Once we’re all sitting in the back of the truck, the area behind my eyes heat, but I swallow the emotion down. Only Dickie seems to realize what the loss of my father has done to me. I take a deep breath and let it out, addressing the guys. “I had a chance to look over the contract.”

Stone nods. “My father is eager to hear your decision.”

“I bet he is.”

His lips thin, but he doesn’t bite.

I tap my finger against the bottle and take another swig. It doesn’t taste nearly as bad as it did in the first swallow. I guess this is the kind of shit that grows on you. What doesn’t grow on you is being blackmailed to betray your family. Generations of work. Generations of blood, sweat, and tears. Hopes that are at my fingertips. I can’t just hand them over, and definitely not to the Jacobs. “Before I answer, I want to know why now. Why ask me about my family’s stuff now? Why not when Dad was alive?” I have a suspicion that I know the answer, and if I’m right, they can all go fuck off.

“Jesus, Dakota. Really? It’s a simple business decision,” Stone says. “You either give up the stuff or you don’t.”

Anger flares inside me. “You’ve made it a terrible decision. It’s not easy at all. I either give up what my family has worked so hard for, or I give up my life. Yeah, super easy.”

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