Cross’s fist flew. I caught it before I even realized I’d moved. His brown eyes widened in surprise, and then the world blurred as I smashed him to the ground. He had thirty or so pounds on me, but it didn’t matter as I straddled him. The anger roared, drowning out the sounds of the guys’ shouts. It burned through my veins and powered my fists. I hit him over and over, fists landing in time with the drumbeat in my head. My vision flickered red. In some dim corner of my mind, I knew this was unhinged. Uncalled for.Dangerous.Then the coppery scent of blood hit my nose.
And the anger turned ravenous. My stomach growled, and my mouth watered as hunger sank its claws deep. Growling, I seized Cross by the front of his coat and bared my teeth.
“Caleb!” Nathan’s panicked shout pierced the haze of fury. A strong forearm circled my neck from behind, and someone hauled me backward. More hands gripped me. Other voices joined Nathan’s, and then the hands shoved me hard. I stumbled, tripped, and landed on my hip in the snow. Nathan loomed over me, his eyes dark with anger.
“What the fuck, Caleb?” He glanced over his shoulder, where the other two guys helped Cross sit up. “You could have killed him.”
“You fucking cocksucker!” Cross yelled, his hand over his nose. Blood streamed between his fingers and down his chin onto the snow, the red shocking against the pristine white. When one of the guys made a shushing sound, Cross shoved him away. “Get off me! Lawson is fucking crazy. He was ready to rip my throat out!”
Nathan made a strangled sound that drew my attention back to him. His throat bobbed as he swallowed. “Your eyes…” The other guys looked at me. Both paled.
“Dude,” the one with mousy brown hair said quietly, his gaze on my face. “That is fucked up.”
The anger drained away so swiftly that it left me lightheaded. But I couldn’t linger. If my eyes were glowing like they had in town, I needed to get the hell out of the park. Scrambling to my feet, I grabbed my backpack and hurried down the trail.
“Caleb, wait!” Nathan called.
I took a sharp right and bolted into the forest. Snow crunched under my shoes as I broke into a run. I’d just attacked Aiden Cross. He wasn’t the type to keep his mouth shut. And even if he did, he couldn’t hide his nose, which I was pretty certain I’d broken.
Shit.
Shit.
I couldn’t go home. But where else could I go? As I ran, I rehearsed excuses in my head.
He attacked me first.
They ganged up on me.
Cross called me names.
Yeah, the last one wouldn’t fly. My father wouldn’t be moved by sob stories of other kids throwing out slurs. As much as Iwanted to run back into town and get on a bus, I couldn’t. Maybe I just hadn’t hit rock bottom yet, but the idea of becoming a college dropout and possible fugitive was still more terrifying than facing down my father.
Night had fully descended by the time I approached my parents’ house. Relief coursed through me as I entered the garage and saw that my father’s car was missing. He and my mother must have gone to dinner. They wouldn’t be back for a while. For once, a lucky break.
I took a shower and examined my clothes, looking for traces of blood. Nothing.
But when I checked my backpack, my phone was missing.
“Fuck,” I muttered, digging through the pockets. Pencils and cereal bar wrappers littered the carpet as I emptied everything. No phone. It had probably fallen from my pocket when I jumped Aiden Cross.
So much for luck. I should have known it would be short-lived.
It was too late to go back to the jogging trail now. My parents didn’t much care what I did after class but they’d notice if I wasn’t in the house when they returned from dinner.
Sinking onto the edge of my bed, I stared out my bedroom window. My room was on the second floor, but the roof was pure McMansion with a section that was flat as hell and let me jump easily to the ground level without killing myself. Over the years, I’d turned egress into an art form. If things went south with my parents before I could go looking for my phone tomorrow, the window was a tried-and-true escape route.
I went to the window and pulled down the shade, blocking out the night.
If only I could block out everything else in my life as easily.
Chapter
Three
CALEB
Iwoke with a pounding headache and the taste of metal in my mouth. Squinting against the pain, I downed two aspirin with handfuls of water from my bathroom sink, then pulled on clothes from the clean pile at the foot of my bed.
