Page 59 of Tag

Even after we got her off the ground, she talked a big game and made some idle threats. They didn’t hold much weight with piss and blood all over her face.

Our families stepped in quickly.

My father and Roxxi’s made a house call while Sarah was still recovering, reminding her dad of a few debts he owed and some tax records he wouldn’t want brought into the light. Ever since, Sarah had been playing model student. I’m sure it didn’thurt that our families made sure she walked away with a new nose and a shiny smile.

“Fucking dumbass,” Nick fumed.

“You know he’s not all that bright,” Rook pointed out. He finally looked away from the window, eyes darker than usual. “He doesn’t deserve Sanj. Never has. Let him keep digging his own grave. Makes less work for me when I put him in it.”

“You think he’s actually fucking Sarah?” my brother asked, “Xan’s been off recon since all this Hunt shit started and couldn’t dig in fully yet.”

Nick looked up at the truck’s ceiling, resting his head against the seat rest. “He’d be a damn fool if he is. Who trades a throne for a park bench?”

Cade let out a short laugh. “Damn. I need to write that down.” Then he sobered again and met my eyes in the mirror. “His fucking up works in our favor, but Sanj being caught in the fallout? That’s the problem.”

“He can’t break a heart he doesn’t have,” Rook stated. “She’s always been Ryder's. We all know it.”

My brother looked contemplative

“What is it?” I asked.

“He makes a good point. I know she’s not feeling Dead-Weight like that, I’ve seen her look at those muffins you bring her with more adoration than she’s ever given him. That doesn’t mean his actions won’t hurt her on principle.”

Nick’s expression shifted, more concerned now. “She hasn’t said anything to us about this.” He turned to me. “No mention to you?”

I shook my head once. “She hasn’t told me a lot of things lately. I’m working on it. She gave a pep talk in the truck earlier; it said more than she probably realized.”

Cade sighed, arms folded tight. “We’re close.”

“I know.”

I reached for my phone, unlocking it with the same code I’d always used: Sanjana’s birthday, backwards. The wallpaper came up, a photo of us all from last summer. We were standing in front of the run-down gas station-turned-motel fromTexas Chainsaw Massacre. Sanjana’s smile was wide and open, mine half-hidden behind a smirk as I threw an arm around her shoulders. Her long hair was windswept, she wore no makeup, and her skin was sun-flushed. Each time I looked at this picture, I stopped and stared at how beautiful she was.

I surprised her with the trip.

I told the boys, and we packed everyone up in a carpool and drove out without telling them where we were going. The only instructions I gave her were to bring a bag, wear something comfortable, and trust me. We spent three nights in the tourist trap. It was perfect. That had been one of the last weekends I could pretend she was only mine. I stared at the photo a second longer, then shot a few text replies back to a few teammates and peers before putting it back into my pocket.

Cade abruptly leaned around Nick. “Holy shit, we know who that is! It’s Lindsey Moore.”

Nick’s mouth dropped open, and he let out a short laugh. “Say you swear. There’s no fucking way.”

I shifted my attention toward the girl still standing outside in her red dress meant for summer instead of fall. “Are you sure?”

“I’m positive,” my brother doubled down.

This was a far cry from the awkwardly built girl I remembered with that name from high school. “So, she peaked in college then. She didn’t look like that in our senior year.”

“Hell no, she didn’t.” Cade whistled low. “You interested?”

I laughed, knowing he was fucking with me. “Only one girl has my attention, and she looks far better than that.”

“Our girls are the prettiest in Hemlock. That’s not a fair comparison,” Rook countered, exhaling a slow drag of smoke, eyes fixed on the group Lindsey was with as they wandered toward the pub entrance for the third or fourth time since we’d been sitting there.

“Sanj isn’t one of the prettiest girls in Hemlock. She’s more than that.” My mind flashed back to the way she looked in her driveway, flushed from the cold, eyes wide from the adrenaline, lips parted like she was daring me to do something about it. I could’ve kissed her right then, finally taken what we’d both been denying ourselves. I knew if I had, I wouldn’t have been able to ever stop, and timing was everything.

Nick opened his mouth to say something else, but paused, his gaze catching on to someone new. “Hey, look. It’s Zoe,” he said, nodding toward a girl slipping out the pub’s side door. “I think she works here now.”

I tilted my head, watching her move between parked cars.

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