Page 12 of Crush
“I’m not doing it.”
I was about to stride closer to the water, but I freeze. Then I say just loud enough to be heard over the lapping waves, “You will do exactly what I tell you.”
“Actually, I don’t have to.”
I clench my teeth, facing her. “And why is that?”
“Because nothing is keeping me here.”
That centers my focus.
“You’ve taken the only thing keeping me in this Society,” she continues, her mouth grim. “The fellowship. There’s literally nothing else to force me on these shores other than curiosity, and I gotta say”—she glances up at the cliffside—“that’s dried up pretty quick.”
“You’re staying.” My hands curl into fists at my sides.
Aurora scoffs. “She’s literally asking to quit, Thorne. Why don’t we let her? She’s such a pathetic recruit, anyway. A misbegotten Weatherby we should chuck in the ocean and let decay. I say, let her wimp out of here and—”
“But you don’t say, do you?” I cut in with deathly quiet.
Aurora throws her hands on her hips, missing the hint to shut the fuck up by a mile. “Why do we have to keep her? I don’t want her. Your father hates her. She’s only at this school because the headmistress probably felt sorry for her. And now she’s wasting all of our time arguing when she should be flattered we even know she exists.”
My patience wears so, so thin with this bitch. “She stays because I demand it.”
“Uh, dude.” Jaxon dares to step forward. “Are you sure? Because it sounds like this isn’t a good fit for anyone…”
“I don’t give a fuck,” I spit at him, his chin darting back. “She stays because she is a legacy. A true Virtue. Fucking mine.”
“I am not yours, Thorne Briar.”
Ember’s greatest mistake is speaking up. My venomous glare finds hers. “You were mine the instant you completed your trials. And you stay my property until I tire of you. You’re not going anywhere, little pretty, except up that cliff and into the water, and only I will fish you out if I decide you’re more important to me alive than drowned.”
“Fuck you, Thorne.” Ember turns on her heel.
No. No goddamned way she’s leaving. I storm after her.
Jaxon tries to catch my arm. “Let her go, man. It’s not that important—”
“Release me before I tear your fucking arm out of its socket.”
“Jeez. Sure. Whatever.” Jaxon looks over my shoulder, catching Aurora’s eye like they’re sharing in my crazy.
Big mistake. “Siding with that bitch won’t win you any points,” I snarl.
It’s easy to close the gap between Ember and me. My sprints are fueled with anger at being defied, at focusing solely on her when I have a whole army of freshmen I’m meant to initiate, at being unable to scrub her face from my memory, her taste from my tongue…
“Let go of me!”
Ember’s cry echoes off the cliffs, silenced only when it hits the blackened ocean.
I blink, realizing I’ve gripped her shoulder, my fingers digging into any soft part I find. My hand twitches. I don’t release her, but I relieve the pressure. Just a little.
“You made a deal with the devil,” I whisper hoarsely into her face. “You don’t get to climb out of hell just yet.”
“Bully me all you want, but I’m not changing my mind. Make my life impossible at school, I don’t care. Show me what a Big, Bad Wolf you are in the hallways, cause every student to hate my guts and call me a cunt, I don’t care.” Her eyes shine, catching stars. “You stole my reason, Thorne. Pocketed it then tossed it aside because my dreams mean nothing to you. I don’t want to be here anymore. I want to go home. I want to give up. I want to be rid. Of. You.”
“You’d do that? Just run home with your tail between your legs, crying to Mommy and Daddy, all because I sabotaged a prize that was already rigged?”
“I hate you,” she snarls.