Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 125121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
The T.O.D. Club was too dangerous. People were so afraid of the consequences of denying a dare that they’d do anything they’re asked. My final payback was shutting them down, taking away the Royals’ entertainment, and the Dregs’ easy money. The problem was I didn’t know if I’d done enough. People were talking about the mysterious dare club, but were enough whispers going around to make the founders nervous?
I couldn’t answer that but there was one thing I did know. The Phantom didn’t want me dead.
It was horrifyingly clear to me how easy it would’ve been for the Phantom to use the club to get rid of me if that’s what they wanted. What did it mean that they didn’t want to kill me? I could only guess. They attacked Winter because she knew something, and they’re leaving me alone because they know I’m clueless? Just how close were they to me that they were certain I didn’t know them, or know what drove them to destroy my sister’s life?
Were they someone who looked in my eyes every day, secretly laughing at my cluelessness?
I reached the steps of the Gallery and took out my key. I let thoughts of the club and the Phantom go, and returned to Wilder,
What could he be doing in there and what did I say to get him to come out and talk to me?
Pushing open the door, I shrugged off my jacket. “Wild—”
Pain exploded in the back of my head.
I dropped and my arms tangled—caught up in the half-on, half-off jacket. I couldn’t get them up fast enough to break my fall.
“Ahh,” I cried, skull bouncing off the hardwood. “Wilder? Wilder!”
“Shut up!”
Hands grabbed and flipped me over. I gazed up into the glittering eyes of Wesley Hill.
“What are you doing!” I kicked at the blurring figure overhead. I was seeing two of him. “Get off me!”
“You left me no choice,” Wesley said, fumbling to pin down my arms. “You shot your mouth off about me, Levi, and Owen giving Ashton an alibi. Everyone was focused on Levi, but he disappeared. Now they’re looking at me and asking why I haven’t been removed from the line— Hold still!”
Wesley got the zip tie around my wrists. “Saylor stopped Katie before she could do the same to me, but then you released those texts. The Royals hate Burkhardt, Alvar, Starling, and Montana right now. They won’t do a thing they say, but of course, you protected your friend.
“Katie still has the power to fuck with my family, and I can’t have that. My mom is terrified of what’s going to happen, so I’m getting rid of the problem—you.”
“What... do you think you’re going to... do to me?” Agony spiked through my skull with every breath.
“Easy. You’re going to meet with an accident.” His nasty grin spun. “Fatal.”
Wilder, where are you? Please, come. Help me, please!
“You just couldn’t back off and leave it alone. I didn’t want any of this,” he burst out. Wesley moved down to my flailing legs. “They dared me. You can turn down a truth or dare one time each. Only once. Go for a second and they spill every dirty little secret they’d got on you—”
“Wilder! Wilder, help!”
Levi jumped up to cover my mouth. “I said shut—”
His head snapped to the side. Going limp, Wesley flopped on top of me. Cato threw him off like a sack of trash.
“Luna.” He knelt and heaved me gasping and shaking into his arms. “I’m sorry. I’m here.”
Five words, and they were everything. I buried my face in his chest—just breathing him in as my terror leached away. I was afraid. For all that I’ve done, and for all that I convinced myself I was an untouchable badass. With those ties around my wrist and hatred burning in his eyes, I knew what was coming, and I was afraid.
Cato lifted me up and carried me to my room. I was helpless to stop him wrapping me in blankets and laying me on the bed.
“Ten minutes.”
Ten minutes and he’d come back to me. After he took care of Levi.
I knew we couldn’t leave him sprawled half out the door when armed guards would come looking for him at any minute, but practicality be fucked. I wanted Cato to leave me right then like I wanted a hole in the head. I almost cried when the door shut.
Relax, Luna. I breathed slow—in and out. Wesley came for me because they thought the guys were all in class. He was wrong.
That’s what mattered. Cato stopped him. Cato was coming back. I was safe.
I repeated that to myself while listening for his footsteps on the landing. He returned in ten minutes exactly.
“Cato.” I held my arms out to him. “Are you okay?”
“We’re ready.”
“Ready? Ready for what?” I snaked around his shoulders and found myself lifted out of the bed and carried out. “Cato?”