Page 16 of Wylder & the Rising Rockstar
She’d been trying to make better choices, but whatever she felt for Logan certainly wasn’t a good choice. It was a new Wylder feeling. The past Wylder never would have let herself even imagine getting involved with someone, letting herself be open to getting hurt. She was a matchmaker, she’d just never planned on making a match for herself.
And she certainly didn’t now.
Running a hand through her too-short hair, she missed her dreads. Kicking the blanket off her legs, she heard Logan’s voice in her head.Music is a part of you.He was right. She’d forgotten it before, but she wouldn’t let herself go back. And there was one place that had always made the music feel safe, made anything feel possible.
It was where she and Beckett had dreamed of their futures. And she could use a little dreaming right now. She pulled on her black boots and puffy white coat, zipping it all the way up before ordering an Uber to pick her up one street over from the school gates. It had been a while since she left without permission, but it felt familiar to her.
Pulling the hood over her hair, tinted with green wax today, she slipped from her room and pocketed her phone and her keycard. The dorm building was quiet in the middle of the school day with few people in or out, but that would change in about thirty minutes when everyone descended for lunch.
She’d be long gone.
She nodded to the security guard as she slipped from the building and hurried down the path to the main gate. This would be tricky. She didn’t have the newest code for the back gate she normally used, and it was impossible to climb the wall from this side, not like she fancied attempting that again, let alone in broad daylight.
She smiled at the image of an annoyed Logan breaking her fall. He was adorable when he scowled at her.
No, he wasn’t. “Stop it, Wylder.” She blew out a breath, trying to push Logan from her mind as she rounded the circular drive.
She was in luck. She’d hoped for any sort of car to be leaving campus, but she didn’t just get a car, she got a food delivery truck roaring up the road behind her from the dorm buildings.
The white truck sported a red swirling logo with the name of the company, but she didn’t focus on it. Instead, she watched the security guard as the truck stopped. He didn’t ask for ID. All he did was wave, and the gates opened slowly.
Wylder pushed away from the wall, hiding herself on the other side of the van, facing away from where the guards sat inside a little building, their desire for warmth making them lax at their jobs.
As soon as the gate was fully opened, the truck moved. Slowly at first, Wylder matched its pace as it came up to the crossroads in front of the school. She jumped away from it, knowing security would be able to see her if they looked right then.
Pressing herself flat against the wall, she silently pleaded for the driver not to look in his rearview mirror. When the van turned down the next street, she let out a breath.
With one glance back at the security window, she noticed two guards with their backs to her. A grin stretched across her face as she sprinted through the snow, running across the street into the tree cover. She didn’t slow until she was obscured from view.
Adrenaline buzzed in Wylder’s veins, and her lungs burned. That was brilliant. She’d never gotten such a rush sneaking out before, mostly because it had always been by some other method—usually stolen codes from one of the unmanned gates. There hadn’t been a huge risk of being caught.
But this… “I want to do that again.”
Pulling out her phone, she cursed as she checked the Uber app. She’d taken too long and missed her car. “Wonderful.” Looks like it was hiking for her.
She could have called her parents, but they would definitely not have approved of this, and they’d ground her. She was banking on them both being at the family hardware store when she got home. And she’d leave before they came home from work.
With a sigh, she started off in the direction of Twin Rivers. It was one town over from Riverpass, and neither town was huge, but it would still take a while. She supposed she could order another Uber, but she really didn’t want to pay again, and she needed to move.
By the time she made it to the river, her limbs were frozen solid, and she swore icicles hung from her eyelashes. That was probably dramatic, but it was cold.
An unfamiliar car drove by and slowed. It looked like it had seen better days. Wylder glanced around, hoping to see people walking through the park stretching along the banks of the river from Defiance Falls to the bridge, but who was she kidding? Only she was crazy enough to go for a walk near the river in Ohio in December.
A window rolled down, and she kept her gaze on the ground. If she was about to be kidnapped, she wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing her fear. Her heart kicked up a notch, hammering against her ribs.
“I have mace,” she yelled. Though, she hadn’t thought to bring it with her. Who needed mace in a town like this? But it was always the quiet towns that ended up in those documentaries about bodies being found in the woods or floating down the river.
She chanced a glance at the river. She could probably make it down the bank, but that water would—
As if sensing the direction of her thoughts, a voice finished them. “The water is freezing this time of year. Trust me, I’d know.”
Wylder squeezed her eyes shut before opening them and turning toward the car. “Julian.”
He flashed her a grin. “You going to get in or continue to freeze?”
Wylder didn’t know how long it had been since she’d seen her old bandmate. A year, at least. She didn’t hesitate before yanking the passenger side door open and practically falling into the warmth.
Julian closed his window and turned to her, one eyebrow raised. “Thought my eyes were deceiving me when I saw you. Isn’t the great Wylder Anderson supposed to be locked behind high walls that keep her out of trouble?”
