No kidding.
What the hell was with all these girls? Between Kaylor, Poppy, Kenny, Paisley, and now Hales, we were doomed. They were starting to outnumber us.
Mason came to a dead stop, and all I could think was what fucking now? “Did you hear that?” he hissed, keeping his voice low.
“Hear what?”
He hushed me, and I nearly gave him a black eye, but the snapping of a twig saved him. My head whirled to my right, catching a flash of movement between the trees, and my gaze zeroed in on a dark figure darting through the shadows.
“Fuck,” Mason said, lurching forward.
“Goddamn it,” I muttered and took off after him, my legs pumping hard, muscles burning as I launched myself into motion.
Branches tore at my arms, the rough bark scraping across exposed skin and catching on my shirt. The ground dipped and rose unpredictably, but all those fucking drills Coach put us through came in clutch as I ducked and hurdled, avoiding roots that threatened to break my ankles. I kept Mason in my sights, occasionally catching glimpses of whoever we were chasing
“Stop!” Mason shouted ahead of me, but it was useless. The runner wasn’t about to let us catch him.
We pushed harder anyway. My lungs burned, each breath coming shorter and shallower as my chest heaved. My shoes slid on damp leaves, the slick layer underneath threatening to sendme sprawling with every stride. We climbed up a hill, and as I came to the top, I skidded to a stop beside Mason.
“Shit,” he growled. “I fucking lost him.” He bent forward, hands braced on his knees, breathing hard. “Where did he go?” he gasped out between breaths, his head swiveling left and right, searching the darkness.
I scanned the trees, listening for anything, but my ears picked up nothing. Just the ever-present buzz of cicadas and the whisper of leaves shifting in a breeze. “I don’t know,” I said, frustration coiling in my chest. “But Kreed is going to have our balls for losing him.”
“He couldn’t have gone far,” Mason said, straightening slowly, one hand still pressed against his side like he had a stitch. He kept searching, refusing to give up.
“Maybe,” I replied, turning in a slow circle, taking in the dense press of trees on all sides. “Or maybe he knows these woods better than we do.”
Mason wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, dragging his palm across his lips as he caught his breath, the exertion fading from his expression and replaced by hardness. “What I want to know is what they were doing at Freckle’s house.”
“Nothing fucking good,” I replied flatly. I turned back toward the direction of the cottage, my hands curling into fists at my sides, and tried to ignore the way my pulse was still racing for reasons that had nothing to do with the chase.
Mason followed my gaze, his expression darkening as he put the pieces together. “We need to figure out who it was,” he said quietly.
“Yeah,” I agreed, my voice rough. “We do.”
A few minutes passed in silence as we walked back to where we parked. Out of nowhere, Mason snapped his fingers, the sharp crack making me flinch. “I got it,” he announced as if he just had a come-to-Jesus moment.
I glanced at him warily, already regretting whatever was about to come out of his mouth. “I’m not in the mood, Mas, for any of your antics.”
He looked entirely too pleased with himself, ignoring my scowl wholly. “I’ve figured out your type.”
I scoffed. “I don’t have a type.”
“You’re into girls who are attracted to danger. Dark, man.”
“Shut the fuck up,” I muttered, trying to concentrate on the tangled path in front of me. As much as I hated it, as much as I wanted to shove the thought away and pretend it was just Mason being Mason…he might be onto something.
Maybe I did gravitate toward people who didn’t scare easily. Maybe that was who I needed, considering I wasn’t exactly the friendly type. I needed someone who wouldn’t bat an eye at the shit I’d seen.
The shit I’d done.
I clenched my jaw, teeth grinding together as I kept walking, the muscles in my neck pulling taut. The image of Hales in that window burned into my mind, her silhouette framed by pale light, the way she’d leaned into the glass, the way she’d walked barefoot into the night.
I huffed through my nose, and I kept hiking deeper into the woods, away from the cottage and the girl who didn’t know enough to stay inside where it was safe. It was going to be a long fucking night.
11
MALLORY
