Page 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chelsea

Sadie's eyes widened. "So there's a new coach now?"

"Any day now." I sipped my coffee and nodded. "Coach Stanley's remains were found in his car, just off the highway. He hit a tree and it burst into flames, incinerating him and the car."

"Holy shit," she whispered. "That's terrible."

"It is." I couldn't quite meet her eyes. "They're starting to say the Smashers are cursed or something. First it was the GM, now the head coach."

"I'm sure it's a coincidence," she hedged. "Let's hope the whole 'things happen in threes' thing doesn't happen here. Who knows who might be next?"

I had a fair idea of a couple of people who were in the firing line, but I didn't want to involve her any more than was absolutely necessary. Knowing Sadie, she'd want to jump right in with the rest of us. I didn't want to put her in that position. The web was tangled enough as it was.

"It's just one of those things," I said. "Curses aren't real."

"Are you sure about that?" She gave me the side eye. "Maybe you should get some sage and do whatever it is they do to cleanse the stadium or evil spirits." She waved her hand in the air like she was doing just that.

I snorted softly. "You know we're in Dusk Bay, right? If we tried to cleanse the place of evil spirits, there might not be anyone left."

She giggled. "We'd be left. And I'm sure all of those guys of yours would be left. Maybe a handful of other people. At least we wouldn't have to wait in line to buy an ice cream."

"That's Sadie, always with her priorities in place," I teased. "What could be more important than ice cream?"

"Exactly," she said. "And we could move into one of those huge mansions on the cliff. Who could stop us?"

"The fact we don't want to be squatters?" I suggested.

"We wouldn't be," she said. "If everyone disappeared, the property values would be down the toilet. We could pick one up for a steal."

"You thought this through, haven't you?" I asked. "Suddenly, it wouldn't surprise me if you had shares in a sage farm."

"I like to be very sage," she deadpanned.

I snorted. "With jokes like that, you might sage yourself away."

She grinned. "Absolutely not. I'm as sweet as—" She leaned over to grab a packet of sugar from the bowl on the table.

A crack echoed through the morning air, followed by a spray of blood.

It took a fraction of a second for me to realise the sound was a gunshot before I was grabbing for her and dragging us both down to the ground.

Thank you for reading! The story continues in Dirty Ruck. If you'd love a steamy bonus scene from Atlas' point of view, you can find it here .