I feel my heart beat faster when I look him in the eyes. His eyes, for a change, are soft and welcoming.
“I tried to get you to leave on your own, but man, are you stubborn as hell.” I can’t help but smile at that comment. “You need to leave—now. Before this goes any further. My father is not what he seems.”
“I know that already. I found that out yesterday when he used me as a trophy.”
Lance shakes his head again. “More than that. They want to k—”
The large security guard, Bart, walks up to the cemetery gate out of breath. “Hey!” he coughs out.
Lance leans in closer and kisses me. His soft lips wrap around mine. His small peck turns into a more sensual kiss. I feel his tongue between my lips, and I welcome it fully. In this moment, all the pain Lance has caused means nothing. I feel my stomach explode with butterflies.
Bart stumbles up to us. “What are you two doing?”
“What does it look like, Bart,” Lance says coldly. “You mind giving us some privacy?”
Bart shakes his head. “No way. I’m not losing my sight on this one again,” he says, pointing at me.
Arthur Cain walks into the small cemetery, holding a bouquet of pink roses. He can’t hold back his curious look when he sees the three of us.
“Didn’t expect company,” he says.
“I was just leaving,” Lance says with a cold look at his father.
“You all done with your make-out session, then?” Bart says laughing.
Arthur looks at his son with a smirk, then at me. “Interesting.”
Lance looks at Bart with a similar expression, which quiets his laughter immediately. He turns back to the headstone. “I miss you,” he says before leaving the fenced in area abrasively.
Arthur Cain walks up beside me. “I think we both get a little emotional today. It’s the anniversary of her passing.”
My anger for Arthur Cain is sidelined momentarily. “I’m sorry to hear that.” Arthur places the flowers besides Lance’s rose, ignoring me. I get the hint. “I’m going to continue my run.”
I look back at Bart with devilish a smile. His expression is nothing less than pure terror.
Chapter 11
Danna
“If Bryce was here, he would shit his pants,” Danna thinks to her herself. The flickering of torches inside the clock tower would certainly scare her best friend, but for her, it creates the complete opposite emotion.
She had been carefully planning for this for several days. She didn’t go out, barely slept and ate—not that this was a problem for her before, but it was all worth it for this moment.
She had been sneaking into the clock tower after school for days now. It didn’t take her long to find a loose basement window of the old clock tower to sneak into. Most normal sized people would not be able to squeeze through a small window like she did, but her petite body came in use.
She found an old large crate covered with a tattered sheet her first night sneaking inside. She made small holes inside the crate to view what was happening from all angles. The holes were big enough for her and her camera to see through. She planned to video anything and everything she saw.
Much to Danna’s surprise, nothing happened for several days. While she sat inside the hollowed-out crate, taking turns at different peep holes, it was beginning to seem that her efforts to find out anything about the Beasts were useless, and her unwavering enthusiasm was finally starting to disappear.
Whatever Elle, Bryce, and she saw last week could have been a one-time thing.
But she had a hunch, and when she had a gut-wrenching one, she had to follow through, even if it meant sitting inside a crate doing shit all for several days.
It all came to fruition tonight.
She knew something good was going to happen when she saw a few cloaked men dressed in black suits pass her. She witnessed the men in black speak into a microphone head sets to one another.
At one point, Thomas Winters walked up to one of the men in black, and said, “Only warning, don’t mess up again tonight.” The man nodded back in understanding.
What was Elle’s driver doing in the clock tower?
When she observed the first flickering of a torch in the dark clock tower, she almost wanted to jump up with joy.
Finally, something is happening.
This would be her big break—maybe her only one. How many journalists get a life changing story in high school?
This could start her career on the right path. She could see herself anchoring a cable news show within a few years. Danna Marson, the youngest news personality ever.
She could picture herself, in front of the cameras, dolled up to her best for the world to see.
First, of course, was breaking the story in front of her. A few more flickering torches broke her daydream.
She hadn’t turned on the camera, because of course, the night that something finally happens, she didn’t charge it fully. She wanted to save her battery for the good stuff, whatever that would be. She decides that a few shots of cloaked people with torches would be a good start.
She turns on her camera, and a bright light illuminates the crate. She quickly covers the light with her finger. She peeks around different holes, but doesn’t see any movement that would suggest she was caught.
She starts recording when she sees more torches. She tries to zoom in on the cloaked people, but can’t make out any faces.
She wishes she had moved the crate a few feet closer to the action. She knows if she did though, someone could notice.
Three men walk into a corner and remove their cloaks. It isn’t very hard to make out that one of them is Chase Aldridge. His handsome good looks and boyish charm made him an obsession of Danna’s for years. She is pretty sure he didn’t even know who she was until she became friends with Elle.
Danna isn’t completely shocked that he’s involved with
