Page 149 of Blackwood

I settle into the chair like it’s a throne. Spread my legs and rest my arms wide across the sides. If I’m going to be the Hollow King tonight, I might as well look the part.

Eat your heart out Whitmore.

Across the pool deck, chaos reigns. Bella, Ellie, and Haley are huddled in a circle, frantically arguing in high-speed girl code. Hands flying. Heads shaking. Bella grabs her braid, twirls it around one finger while screaming“no, no, no”through a laugh. Ellie screeches something. Haley claps her hands. They’re glowing, laughing like its game night at home and not a war at The Row.

They’re fucking radiant.

Maddie and her two soulless backups are standing stiff, glancing between each other like deer on thin ice. One of them whispers something. Maddie snaps back. Her lip gloss is smudged. Her confidence? Shot.

Ellie takes off. She sprints across the pool deck, barefoot and screaming. She runs up to Knox at the booth and waves herphone like it’s the damn Constitution. He takes it, grinning like the evil genius he is, and starts cueing up their set.

The Revenants still haven’t moved.

I just sit here watching the girl I love light up the whole damn night. I should feel on top of the world. But part of me still aches because Cade would’ve loved this.

He would’ve been laughing right there with them. Joking with Knox. Whispering something in Bella’s ear to calm the storm she always carries in her chest. We were supposed to do this together.The three of us, a fucking family.

I glance back at Bella and something twists tighter in my chest. Round Two is singing. Can she even sing? Fuck. I don’t even know. There is still so much I don’t know about my girl.

Knox’s voice cuts through the heavy bass and the buzz of a few hundred drunk Wolves.

“Alright, alright… Round One! Let’s get this dance-off started!”

I swear I feel the concrete shake under my boots. Knox doesn’t even pause.

“Maddie Rae, since you’re visiting royalty… you and your Revenants are up first.”

The groan from the Wexley students says it all. But Maddie struts forward like she didn’t just lose half her dignity ten minutes ago. She flips her fake-ass hair and blows a kiss toward the crowd that no one asked for.

Their song starts. And I’ll be honest, it’s actually not bad. Not the train wreck they pulled at Fight Night. They hit some clean moves. Maddie’s got rhythm when she’s not too busy being a raging bitch. I’ll give her that.

But then…bam. The one on her left face plants out of a spin. Straight up wipes out like she stepped in oil. The whole crowd gasps.

“There they are,” I mutter under my breath, sipping from my drink. “The Revenants we know and love.”

Maddie tries to recover but the momentum’s already dead. They finish in formation but it’s tight in that try-hard way. Over-rehearsed. No soul.

The song ends. Silence. A few polite claps. One loud boo from the upper deck. Even Maddie looks like she’s rethinking this whole rematch.

I lean forward in the chair. “I’ll give it a six,” I say casually. “Could’ve been a seven, but clumsy there couldn’t stick the landing.”

The crowd explodes. Ellie nearly falls over laughing. Haley’s already miming the wipeout behind Bella’s back. Bella just shakes her head at me like she’s going to fuck me later for being a menace. God, I hope so. Little Lex could use a fucking release.

“Thank you, Maddie Rae. That was… something.” Knox doesn’t even fake the enthusiasm. “Alright Wolves. Next up, the queens of The Row themselves… Trifecta, you’re up!”

Spotlights flip to red. Bass drops. “I Look Good” by Charlie Boy hits with that filthy Texas drawl and swagger-drenched beat.

And then they appear. Bella in the middle. Ellie and Haley around her like lethal shadows. Legs for miles. Hips locked. Eyes deadly. They launch into this sexy-as-sin hip-hop routine—tight, hot, every move sharpened to perfection. Hands flying. Legs slicing. Hair whipping. They switch places on every verse like a synchronized storm.

When the part about throwing the white flag comes on,Bella reaches back and pulls out a white napkin from her shorts. Locks eyes with Maddie Rae and fucking tossesit straight at her.

It floats like a death sentence. My girl. Pure fucking fire.

And just when I think I can’t take more. They come to me. Ellie and Haley flank me first. Ellie plays with my hair, Haley runs her finger up and down my arm.

Bella walks slow. Purposeful. Eyes locked on mine.

Then she climbs onto my lap.