I slip into someone’s backyard, only to be tackled from behind a few seconds later. “Move and I’ll kill you, motherfucker,” Wesley growls, just as something hard presses to the back of my head. “Make one wrong move and I swear I’ll fucking kill you.”
My heart slams violently inside my chest, and the rage inside me takes over. “Get off of me, asshole!”
He freezes, giving me enough room to turn over and see the betrayal in his eyes. His violent breaths came out in sputters, matching my own chaotic breathing that’s hard to manage.
The second he speaks, my eyes narrow in irritation. “Poppy?” he questions, his voice slightly breaking. You can see the disappointment lingering, realizing that everything that happened earlier between us was nothing more than an effective lie.
At least, that’s what I need him to believe.
My mouth pulls evilly across my face. “Aww, Wesley, don’t go getting all soft on me now.” The barrel of his gun looks so inviting. Anything is better than facing the consequences of my actions head on like this. Like a madwoman I grab the barrel, pushing it up to my throat, embracing death and everything that comes next. If I return to Warden, he’ll kill me anyway. “Finish me off. That’s what you’d do to anyone else.”
“You started that fire?” Eddie questions once he reaches us, looking at me with complete and utter shock. Rich somehow appears beside them, all of their jaws hanging open like the plot twist didn’t just smack them in the face. Their look of confusion is goddamn intoxicating.
Grinning, I pull myself up to my knees, making them all shift the grip on their guns. “What? Didn’t think the smart girl could have the fire bug in her?”
“Why?” Rich’s voice comes out slightly triggered, as if he never expected someone like me to do this to them.
There’s no emotion behind my laugh, it’s as sinister and decrepit as the drugs that feed my veins. “Why not?” My laugh carries through the yard. “After what you did to my sister, don’t you think it’s deserved?”
Eddie looks immediately wounded. “Poppy, I—”
Cutting him off, I continue, “Moseley didn’t even have to pay me for this one.” The joy in my voice is fucking contagious. “The money was nice, but I did this one out of the spitefulness of my own cold heart.” My eyes narrow even further in on Eddie. “Have you gotten the message yet, Eddie? You lost. There’s nothing left for you here. So, do us all a favor and get the fuck out of Fernley.”
“What happened to you?” Wesley whispers, the look of worship still lingering. I hate that look. It’s like I can do no wrong in his eyes. I just tried to burn their clubhouse down, and he’s still acting like he can save me.
“Life fucked me in the ass and now I’m repaying the favor, making sure my enemies feel the pain they’ve left me with.” My hands fit around his gun again, my desperation only increasing. If I don’t do this right, the Misfits will fucking kill me before he has a chance. I’d rather go at the hands of someone who gives a fuck about me than some fucking asshole who thinks he owns Fernley. “So do it! Shoot me, asshole. End my miserable life before it gets worse.”
Wesley immediately tucks his gun into his pants, refusing to take me out.
“Come on!” I beg him. “Kill me! Do it before they do.”
“Poppy, what do you mean?” Rich questions, lowering his gun just a tad.
“Just kill me,” I urge again. “Please. If you don’t, they will.”
Before I can stop him, Wesley wraps his arms around me, pulling me in for a hug that stirs some more of those unwanted feelings from earlier. In his arms, I feel strangely safe, something I never feel with Arturo or the Misfits. The only reason I am loyal to them at all is because they have what my body needs to survive. But in Wesley’s arms, everything feels different. Like I belong there. Like existing matters again.
It’s why I have to stop it from going any further. Teach him a lesson all of them will remember for the rest of their lives.
Without warning, a feral roar rips out of Wesley’s chest. He staggers backward, his face turning ashy white as he looks at the blood suddenly appearing on his T-shirt and the giant blade I stuck in his side.
Everything inside me shatters when a look of confusion floods his eyes, along with painful tears that make me second guess everything.
For a moment, I want to reach out and comfort him, but he’ll never accept it. Not now. Not after everything that’s happened today.
“Poppy?” he whispers, collapsing to his knees just as I take off through another loose fence board. Thank God, I don’t eat, because I wouldn’t have squeezed through it otherwise.
I don’t stop running until I get back to the Misfits clubhouse where everyone is waiting for my return. Arturo’s bike is parked in the parking lot, and I’m not sure if I should be happy or scared as fuck.
The last time we saw each other, it didn’t go too well. He almost killed me.
Everyone’s eyes are on me when I enter through the front doors, tracking all my movements as if they’re expecting me to run.
I won’t.
I came here for drugs, and that’s exactly what I plan on leaving with. After everything that happened tonight, I need that fix to get me by.
“Where’s Arturo?” I question Bars who’s stationed outside the doors leading to the bedrooms.
