The Peer and the Puppet (When Rivals Play, #1) (22)

I furiously dumped my backpack before stuffing some clothes and all the cash I had inside. Fuck the game and fuck Ever. If Rosalyn wanted these people, she could have them. I was done. All I needed was a car.

I rushed through the bathroom and found my first fortune of the night. The door leading to Ever’s room was unlocked. I used the light from the bathroom to search his room and found what I needed on his nightstand. I didn’t stop to consider if the grand theft of a ninety-thousand-dollar car would only make matters worse. Snagging the keys, I rushed back through the bathroom and didn’t bother looking back. The only thing I’d regret leaving behind were my helmets I’d worked so hard to collect, but they were just things, and at least I’d be leaving a part of me behind for Rosalyn. If she even wanted it.

The hush as I descended the stairs unnerved me. People talked and whispered amongst themselves as they poured from the house. No one noticed me slip into the garage. I hopped in the Range, and with a pocket full of cash, I left Blackwood Keep and swore to never look back.





I FOUND THAT I MISSED the smell most of all. It smelled like home. I caught the rag Gruff threw me, and I wiped the oil from my hands.

“You ready to tell me why you’re back in Cherry?”

“I told you. I was homesick.”

“Showing up on my doorstep first thing in a fancy truck that ain’t yours and a sad little backpack tells me you left in a hurry. Then there’s the river I heard you crying in my spare this morning.”

I sighed, knowing he wouldn’t let it go until I gave him answers. “Blackwood Keep chewed me up and spat me out. I can’t go back.”

Gruff shook his head in disappointment. “You know you can’t face your problems running away.”

“I don’t want to face them. I want to forget them.”

“That’s coward’s talk,” he spat.

Little did he know that I was okay with being a coward if it meant not having to face Ever again.




The next morning, I arrived at the shop and found Thomas having coffee with Gruff.

He took one look at me and said, “It’s time to come home, Four.”

“I am home,” I retorted with my arms crossed.

“You don’t think you’re being a little selfish? Your mother is worried sick.”

“Then why isn’t she here?”

“She’s been ordered to stay in bed. My doctor had to sedate her when I told her you ran away.”

“I—I didn’t mean to—to…” I let the words die and sighed. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t going back.

“Why did you run?”

“You should ask your son.” I tried to keep my voice level and failed when the vision of his friend bleeding from his skull flashed in my head.

“He’s had his hands full. Apparently, Daniel Kim slipped and hit his head at the party.” Thomas took a deep breath and exhaled. “What did Ever do?”

I didn’t know how to answer that since Ever hadn’t ratted me out to our parents. It didn’t mean I owed him a damn thing, but if he decided to talk, I wouldn’t just have Thomas and Rosalyn to deal with.

“Nothing. I just saw an opportunity and took it.”

“You’re saying that kid needing a few stitches isn’t the reason you ran away?”

“Yes.”

His eyes bore into me, searching for proof that I was lying. When I couldn’t take his scrutiny any longer, I turned to Gruff for help, but there was only disappointment.

“Can you please tell him I’m okay here?”

Gruff closed his eyes tight as if in pain before shaking his head slowly. My arms fell to my side.

“Your mother needs you, girl, and if you got demons waiting for you, it’s time you faced them.”

I wanted to rail and scream at him for his betrayal but hadn’t I done much worse? Besides, Gruff could get into heaps of trouble if I stayed, so I considered my options. If I became a runaway, my life would suck, and Ever would win. If I went back and faced him, the next two years could get very interesting.

I said goodbye to Gruff and returned to Blackwood Keep with Thomas, ready to do battle, but there was one thing I hadn’t considered…





One Year Later



“OH LUCIFER. I’M GOING TO puke.”

I glanced at my roommate’s pale face. Becca had begged me to take her when she caught me sneaking out of bed, and it had been fun to have a wingman, but with less than five minutes until we’d be caught, I was beginning to regret it. Becca’s stepmother had her sent here so she could jet set all over the globe, spending her dead husband’s fortune.

“We just need to hop the fence.” It didn’t seem wise to mention the second-floor window we still had to climb through—we’d cross that bridge when we got there. We made it to the chain-linked fence, and I quickly climbed up twenty feet before scaling down and jumping the last few feet. The blue-eyed Texan was still slowly making her way up the other side when I glanced nervously at my watch.

Three minutes.

“Becca, not to be insensitive but light a fire, yeah?”

She groaned as she swung her leg over the fence. “Why did I let you talk me into this?”