The Storm King(49)

There was an officially sanctioned graduation celebration after tonight’s ceremony, but the real party would follow that at Jim Tatum’s house at the edge of the headlands.

“I’m eating with the guys, but maybe I’ll swing by Jim’s after,” Tom said. “Call if he needs me to pick up anything.”



Emma clutched Tom by the back of his head and kissed him before sauntering down the hall.

“Thunder Run tonight?” The hallway was loud, but Owen whispered anyway.

The question and the pain in Nate’s arm made him smile. The meteorologists forecasted the rain to begin midafternoon, but Nate guessed they’d see the first drops closer to dusk. He was rarely wrong.

“Yep. Going to finish out on a high note,” Nate said.

“We gotta get Kritzler, Nate,” Johnny said. “He ruined me.”

“We already planted those termite nests in his walls.”

“I don’t think he even noticed. Wouldn’t they have tented his house or something?”

“The longer it takes him to find them, the more damage they’ll have done. A debt past due accrues interest.”

“But Nate—”

Silken hands wrapped themselves around Nate’s eyes. He slid around in their grasp to hoist their owner up and onto his hips. Lucy clutched the sides of his face as her thighs gripped his waist. He kissed her as he spun them around in the center of the hall.

“Love,” he said as he slowed their pirouette.

She kissed him once on the forehead before letting him lower her to her feet. He paid no attention to the group of underclassmen girls staring at them with their hands clasped over their chests. He pretended not to hear Johnny sigh next to him.

“So who are we getting tonight?” Owen asked.

“Lindsay.” Nate grinned at Lucy.

In the wake of Adam Decker’s forwarding of her private photos, none of their peers had been more vicious to Lucy than Lindsay Stone. The two had been best friends before the trial and hostile afterward, but the release of those photos had marked an escalation to open warfare across the battlefield of high school politics. Their relationship had lately cooled to a détente, but Nate selecting Lindsay as the Thunder Run’s final target was symbolic. This was his graduation present to Lucy.



“Again?” Johnny rolled his eyes. “But we have to get Kritzler next, come on.”

“Nate’s done with the Thunder Runs after this.” Lucy addressed the others, but her gaze was fixed on Nate. “The Night Ship, too.”

He nodded to confirm.

Johnny slumped against the walls of lockers.

“One more wouldn’t be that big of a deal though, would it?” Tom said. “We could play it really safe. Nothing risky. Like maybe we could—”

“Are you deaf, Tom?” Lucy asked. “He said he was done.”

Tom took a step backward, stung by her venom.

“I’m getting my nails done,” she told Nate in a gentler tone. “Then I’m going to see if Jim needs any help.”

“A manicure?” Nate asked. Lucy had never shown any interest in such things. Nate had only seen her in a dress maybe a half dozen times in the last two years.

“And a pedicure.”

“Whoa, really?” He was genuinely surprised. Money was always tight for the Bennetts, and it wasn’t like Lucy to splurge.

Nate’s compensation had been feeble compared to what he’d lost, but his misfortunes had netted him more assets than he could imagine spending. Whatever black arts his financial adviser employed ensured that these resources grew quarter by quarter. He would have bought anything for Lucy. He would have paid the rent on the Bennetts’ house if it gave her one less thing to worry about. But she rarely accepted his gifts. She was proud and tough, and Nate admired her for it.

“Our new lives start today, McHale.” She dug a finger into his sternum. “Remember that.”

He thought about it constantly. In three months, they’d be living in Manhattan. On weekends they’d go to plays and visit museums and walk in those famous parks. They’d meet Tom for dinner a couple times a week. Next year, they’d move in together. They’d get a one-bedroom somewhere between Columbia and NYU. There’d be artwork on the walls and someday a dog. Eventually there’d be a ring and a pair of children. One day they’d have everything they ever dreamed of, and their journey to that perfect place started today.



He kissed her hungrily, feeling the bones of her face against his palms. He ran hot and she ran cold, and he kissed her until they reached perfect equilibrium. Before he pulled away, he landed a peck on the crown of her fiery hair.

She smiled at him before she walked away, and it lit a blaze deep inside him.

When he turned back to his friends, they avoided his gaze.

“So, we’re grabbing pizza, now, yes?”

“I guess.” Tom still seemed hurt by what Lucy had said.

“I bet I could eat a whole pie right now,” Nate continued. He grabbed his books, carefully folded the Columbia pennant into his bag, and closed his locker for the last time. He hammered a fist against it by way of farewell.

His friends accompanied him to the room where he was supposed to return the books. They walked down the center of the hall, and people parted to let them pass. He nodded to everyone and returned the pats and playful punches he received.