“Fuck it.”
I turned the key and put it in reverse. When my headlights shone on Ellie, I took one last look at her. And then I saw him.
Yeah, him. Julian.
I jumped out of the car and ran like hell into the dark woods behind our school. Ellie was close behind me, trying to catch up, shouting, “What is it?”
“Come out, you son of a bitch!” I screamed, full of rage, hatred, and disgust. There was nothing I would have liked better than to grab hold of that bastard and beat him to a pulp.
“Who was it?” Ellie asked, panting as she caught up. But I didn’t respond. We were both breathing hard as we turned on the flashlights on our cell phones.
“Be quiet,” I told her, pricking up my ears. I was determined to find out where he was hiding.
He was still lurking around here. I knew it!
He wouldn’t leave until he’d finished what he’d started. And his ultimate goal was to have Kami all to himself. That terrified me: the thought of him touching her, hurting her.
“Taylor, what are we doing here?” Ellie asked, grabbing my coat sleeve in fear.
“I saw Julian,” I said, turning my head at the sound of a twig snapping.
“Julian!” she practically shouted, and I covered her mouth with my hand.
“Shhhh!” I said, flashing my cell phone in every direction, trying to see. I cursed as I realized he’d gotten away.
“Can we please get out of here?” she asked. Only then did I realize she was shivering. The poor thing was terrified. I took one more look around, but it dawned on me that staying there in the darkness with a psychopath on the loose probably wasn’t the best idea. At least not with Ellie there. If I’d been alone, I wouldn’t have cared.
“Let’s go,” I said, instinctively putting my arm around her to warm her up.
When we reached the school parking lot, people were already getting into their cars, and from the looks on their faces, I could tell we’d lost the game.
Great.
If we didn’t win the next one, we’d be out of the semifinals. And even though I had a million other things going on in my head, basketball still mattered to me. A lot. And I had fucked up that night. I’d been off my game.
“I think we lost…” Ellie said when we reached my car.
“Yeah…” I said vaguely.
“Hey, Di Bianco! What the hell got into you?” a voice came from behind me. I turned and saw it was Victor.
I looked at Ellie and then back at him. All I wanted was to getthe hell out of there, but I needed to warn Kami that I’d seen Julian. Just then, my brother came out of the gym. Even from afar, I could see the bruise on his cheek from where I’d punched him. I hadn’t been able to help it, and as he caught sight of me, I asked myself how I would ever manage to forgive him for what he’d done to me.
“Shouldn’t we call the cops? And let Kami know, too?” Ellie suggested.
I was tempted to sayscrew that, get in the car, and drive off—anywhere, it didn’t matter, but I couldn’t.
“We need to talk,” Thiago said, walking up. When he noticed Ellie next to me, he added, “Alone.”
“Cool, I’ll see you,” she said.
I pulled her closer to me and said, “You’re not going anywhere.”
Just then, Kami appeared a few feet away. Her hair was still wet from getting in the shower with me, and she looked utterly destroyed. My instincts told me to go to her, comfort her, do whatever I could to make her happy again, but that was no longer my role, and never would be again.
I looked at Thiago. “I saw Julian,” I said, watching his body tense up as the words left my mouth.
“You did? Where?” he said, looking around, but the creep had undoubtedly taken off by then.
