Ashley deserved the best life. She’d given me seven years, and I hadn’t exactly been the nicest person to live with. I’d sobbed, and when she’d found positivity, I hadn’t.
Running my hands down my face, I wanted to do nothing more than sob, but instead, I controlled myself. Taking long deep breaths, I slowly brought the car to a stop, up to the curb on the school grounds.
I hadn’t even bothered with the seatbelt.
“Emily?”
I fumbled with the car door handle and finally got it open. Spilling out of the car, I wasn’t exactly graceful, but I got there.
At first, I stared at the ground. The scent of wet grass was heavy in the air. Slowly, I drew my gaze up to stare at the school.
In the dark, it looked haunted.
With my arms folded, I just stared. Drake got out of the car and joined me. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.” I whispered the words, not wanting to make too much of a sound. It could wake the dead.
Licking my lips, I stepped away and then decided to take a step toward the imposing building.
“I hated this place,” I said.
“I think we can all safely say we hated this place.”
“Really? Even you?” I asked.
He smiled. “I … this was not just a place for kids of monsters, Em. This was a place where assholes like my father dumped the kids they didn’t want to own up to.”
“You’ve got a lot of issues when it comes to your father.”
“He’s the one who gave me a lot of crap. He hated me and I guess I loved him, but that quickly turned to hate.” He blew out a breath. “Damn, you know I pass this place so often and I don’t even take the time to look at it.”
I forced a laugh. “I’ve done nothing but think about this place. I hated this place, but it was by far better than my home life.”
“How come?”
For a second, I was confused, because I figured he knew about my past but then it wasn’t like he was cushy with the Monsters back then.
“My dad, he’d beat me and put me through virginity checks. My driver hated me and to make my life worse, he’d lie and say guys were sniffing around me, or he’d be this arrogant prick, and he’d get to watch me being punished.”
“Tell me he’s dead?”
“Oh, he’s dead all right. It turns out my father had been plotting to oust the Monsters. He got caught. My brother, mother, all of my family, and the driver, they were all killed.”
“You were spared.”
“Yep. I was sent to England with Ashley. Her mother was having an affair with my father.”
Drake laughed. “And you guys are friends?”
“Her mother was in the firing line as well, Drake. Me and Ashley, we’re the only two who made it. We were supposed to die that night all of those years ago. It’s only because of their sons that we’re still alive.”
“Well, that answers the question about why you’re so worried and so loyal to your friend.”
“She’s worth it. She has been there for me every single step of the way.” I sighed. “I’m sure you know all about loyalty.”
“Here we go. You still think I’m a traitor?”
“I don’t know what to think when it comes to you. But I don’t trust you.” I unfolded my arms and screamed at Drake just as a man clocked him around the back of the head with a wooden baseball bat.
Drake didn’t even have time to move. He fell, hitting the ground with a thud. I stared into the eyes of Marshall Keller.
“I knew we should have killed you when we had the chance.”
The rage in his voice took my breath away. Rather than try to understand why he was so pissed, I turned on my heel and started running.
It was a big mistake. Within seconds, he was on top of me, shoving me to the ground. I let out a scream, hating that I was on my front. He grabbed my hair, jerking my head up, and I whimpered at the pain.
“I’m going to take every single ounce of pleasure in killing you.” He licked my cheek, making me gag. Rather than fight, I acted as though I’d fainted. Literally slumped to the ground. Women did that all the time in movies because of fear, right? This was what I was doing. I was afraid. My body was nothing more than a dead weight, but it did the trick. I noticed when he wasn’t so heavy on top of me, and he fumbled for something. I hoped it wasn’t his damn belt. I reacted quickly, suddenly pushing my weight and spinning over.
The action jerked him away from me, but it didn’t get the job done.
We were a tangle of limbs, and he managed to get his hands wrapped around my neck, cutting off my air supply.
At first, I gripped his hands, but he was close enough to me that I was able to clock him around the face. I jabbed at him, once,
