Page 159 of Tell Me Pucking Lies

I glance down at the gun and laugh.

Oxy drags me backward, practically throwing me into the Charger. I peel out, leaving them standing there in a cloud of dust.

By the time we get back to campus, rage is still coiled in my body. Seeing her kiss him––

“Let’s stay the fuck away from Lexi until you cool down,” Oxy states.

“I’m cool,” I say through gritted teeth. “I’m fucking cool, man. What you did back there wasn’t fucking cool though.”

He shakes his head. “Some stupid bullshit, Koa. Now I’m the bad guy for stopping you two idiots from going at it? Have you seen yourself, Koa? You’re fucked up.”

I glance at the rearview mirror and see what he means. Days of back-to-back fighting, and I looked fucked up. Vincent’s marks, falling off the hood of a car, and now the fight with Revan. My face is swollen purple and yellow, blood smeared across with a bloodshot eye. My knuckles are raw and probably broken in at least two places.

I shrug. “So what?”

“Go to your classes like it’s a normal fucking day,” Oxy says, opening his door. “They let her go.”

He’s about to step out when I say, “Do you know why they let her go?”

He pauses, looking back at me.

“Because they know she’ll go straight to her brother, straight to Vincent.”

He gets back in and shuts the door, studying my face. “You’re always one step ahead.”

“I have to be the one to take her there,” I say quietly. “It has to be me.”

“You—” He stops, processing. “Are we kidnapping her?”

“We?” I look at him hard. “No, this isn’t your battle, Maddox. You don’t want to get involved in this bullshit.”

“So what then?”

“I’ll let her have her normal day. Let her think it’s all fine.” My jaw clenches. “Then tonight when she’s asleep.”

Oxy nods slowly. He reaches over and pats my chest, the gesture grounding. “Let’s get to class, big guy.”

He leaves, and I sit in the silence of my car, staring at the dorms where I know she’ll be.

My phone rings.

Vincent’s name flashes on the screen.

I stare at it, letting it ring once, twice, three times. On the fourth ring, I answer.

“Yeah?”

“Time is ticking, Koa.”

The line goes dead.

I lean my head back against the seat and close my eyes.

Just give her a normal fucking day. Tonight. I’ll do it tonight.

Even if it destroys whatever fucked-up thing we have between us, even if she never forgives me, even if it breaks something in me that can’t be fixed.

I have to be the one to take her to Vincent.