Page 11 of The Wolves of Forest Grove

My skin bristled. Would I really stay with Jared and Clay that long?

Jared was insistent that I didn’t need to go anywhere.

That I could stay as long as I needed until I was able to find a place of my own.

But, how long would that take? And what happened if one of them lost control around me?

What if I went insane from all the questions wreaking havoc in my head?

I watched the teacher pace in front of the chalkboard but didn’t hear him. I always hated this part of the day’s lesson. We always spent the first twenty minutes of class learning theory before he allowed us into the adjoining kitchen to start cooking.

Quinn slid into the seat next to me quietly, not saying a word. I blinked, pulling my head out of the storm clouds and back down to earth.

“Hey, Quinn,” I said, turning in my seat to face him as I resumed taking down notes about proper cooling methods. But my hand froze before I could write a single word.

Even though he had his head bent, and the dark flop of brown hair covered most of his face, I could see the purplish-blue hue of an angry bruise on his jawline, and what looked to be a swollen eye.

“Shit Quinn,” I whispered, careful to keep my voice low. I didn’t want to draw attention I could tell Quinn clearly didn’t want. “What the hell happened?”

His jaw twitched. “Quinn?”

My heart started to pound. A clammy sweat coated my palms.

He wouldn’t have…

“Why don’t you ask your boyfriend,” he said, finally turning to me. My stomach heaved as I took in his pummeled face. I didn’t miss how his eyebrow ring was missing, the line of dried blood telling me how Devin had ripped it from his head without Quinn needing to say anything.

What. The. Fuck.

I didn’t want to believe it.

My mind rebelled. Hands clenching into fists in my lap.

I thought I knew him. I thought he was good.

How could I have been so wrong? “I—I’m so sorry, I didn’t know that—”

“Save it, Allie.”

Tears pricked in my eyes and I spent the rest of class going over what I would say to Devin in my head when I saw him in the hall today.

Messing with me was one thing, but this was Quinn.

Fun-loving, not-a-care-in-the-world Quinn.

My cooking partner for this class who now couldn’t even look at me, let alone smile or crack jokes like he usually did.

I was still fantasizing about hunting him down with my damned bow and putting a couple arrows in places that would hurt, but wouldn’t kill him, when I ran into Viv in the hallway.

“There you are,” she said accusingly, pulling me out of the surge of students and into an alcove between lockers. Her short honey blonde hair made her look more severe than her slight features would otherwise allow. Her brown eyes took me in appraisingly. “I texted you last night, did you get it?”

“I fell asleep super early,” I told her. “I was exhausted. Sorry, Viv.”

She squinted at me. “Oh yeah?” she asked. “And I suppose you have an equally lame excuse for why you’re limping?”

I shrugged. “Missed the last step on the bus and fell on my face,” I lied, rolling up my sleeves to show her all the scrapes there as further evidence.

Viv tapped her finger to her chin. “You’re lying.” Why did she always have to know when I was lying?

Was it that easy to tell? “I’m not,” I insisted, my spine straightening as the throng of students in the hallway began to thin out. If we didn’t hurry, we weren’t going to make it to the next class on time.

Viv didn’t budge.

On first meeting her, you’d think Viv was overbearing, and that’s because she was.

You might also think she was kind of a bitch, which she also was.

And I suspected those two things were the main reasons why she didn’t have many friends.

But once you got over her filterless ranting, her overbearing nature, the third- degree questions and need to know everything that’s going on, she was the nicest, most loyal friend I thought I would ever have.

“I’ll explain later?” I offered, not really intending to explain anything at all, just hoping to put her off the scent for a while until I could figure out how exactly to explain.

I side-stepped her and rushed in the opposite direction.

“Hey!” she called after me. “See you for lunch?”

“You know it!” I called back, rushing around the corner to my locker before the second bell rang and I was late for AP History. Mr. Brown didn’t just mark you late for that class—he made you stay behind a minute for every minute you were late, effectively making you late for your next class, too.

I already had a voicemail from Uncle Tim I was dutifully ignoring for now.

The school still called them when I missed classes and he was probably wondering why I didn’t go yesterday.

I didn’t want them getting another call today saying I was late.

I didn’t want to give them any reason to suspect anything at all.

They hadn’t bothered to contact Viv or her parents at all so far to make sure I was actually staying there, and I didn’t think they ever would so long as I stayed in line and didn’t cause them any hassle.

I just had to last until the guy above the bookshop moved out and then I was home free. Even if they found out about the lie anytime after I turned eighteen, it wouldn’t matter. There wouldn’t be anything they could do about it then.

I managed to make it to lunch without much incident. I crossed paths with Jared in the hallway once and kept my head down. I kept expecting to run into Devin, but I never did, not even between third period and lunch, when I always saw him at his locker. He must not have come today.

On my way to lunch, I took out my cell phone and jammed the screen until I had his text conversation pulled up. Ignoring the zillion messages from him, I typed out one of my own.

Allie: What the fuck is wrong with you? Quinn didn’t do anything to deserve that.

My cell phone buzzed with his reply almost immediately and I pulled it angrily back out of my pocket.

It slipped from my trembling fingers and skidded onto the floor between the lines of moving bodies on their way to lunch.

I sucked in a breath and darted between people to grab it, but someone else was faster.

A tan hand closed around the cell and I looked up to find Jared watching me with a worried furrow in his brow. I snatched the phone from him, my gaze shifting to make sure no one was watching us.

“Thanks,” I chirped, trying to shoulder past him.

He stopped me with a hand lightly on my shoulder and whispered my name.

I shivered. “Are you avoiding me on purpose?” He asked the question so quietly; I was hopeful that no one heard.

But if I didn’t keep moving someone would notice us talking and I didn’t want the drama that would surely come with being publicly involved with Jared Stone.

Already, I heard Amanda Schmidt whisper under her breath to Stella Baker, her eyes sliding over me with a question in them.

“I need to go meet my friends,” I rushed to say, unable to look him in the eye.

“I was hoping you’d have lunch with me.”

My eyes widened and I snapped my head up to see that he looked dead serious.

“What?”

He cocked his head. “I said I was hoping you’d have lu—”

“No, I heard you,” I whispered, tucking my phone away. “But I told Viv and Layla I’d eat with them. See you later, kay?”

I rushed off before he could reply, weaving through the front atrium and up the stairs into the cafeteria.

I sighed as I entered, finding Viv and Layla at our usual spot in the far-left corner, just next to the small raised stage that didn’t make any sense to have in a cafeteria.

It was literally never used, but it made our spot a little more private than the rest of the wide-open space.

“Did you really come to school this morning with Jared?” Layla asked the second I sat down.

Couldn’t anyone keep shit to themselves in this fucking town? I groaned and let my head fall to smack against the table.

“Guess that means it’s true,” Viv teased, knocking her shoulder into mine. “Spill. Now.”

“It’s nothing alright,” I muttered without lifting my head. “I missed the bus connection and he saw me walking.”

“And he offered you a ride?” Layla asked, her voice giving away her shock.

I lifted my head, trying my best to keep my expression neutral. “I was as shocked as you are. But I would’ve been late if I hadn’t accepted the ride.”

It sucked having to lie to them. Each time I did, I felt the hollow pit in the bottom of my stomach yawn open a little more. Sucking a little bit more of my soul down into the dark. Soon, I wouldn’t have to lie I told myself.

Soon.

Viv studied me and I hoped to hell I was passing whatever weird lie-detector thing she had going on.

After a minute, she gave a one-shoulder shrug and went back to her mac ‘n cheese.

Layla, however, spun in her chair and watched as Jared walked into the cafeteria.

I watched him, too, unable to help myself.

When our eyes met, I hurriedly turned back to the table and stole the clementine off Viv’s tray and began peeling it.

“There’s something off about him,” Layla mused as she brushed her long jet-black hair from her face and spun around. “I don’t know what it is. But I get a weird vibe from that guy. Like he’s radioactive or something.”

I barely managed to keep my composure at her comment. She had no idea.

“So, about Thompson’s party…” Vivian said, speaking around half a mouthful of cheesy noodles.

And just like that, I got away with another lie.

Walking to the bus stop after I locked up the shop for the night felt familiar, and if it wasn’t for the feeling of unease skating over the back of my neck like a warmth breath, I would have been skipping.

I couldn’t help but keep glancing over my shoulder, afraid to find a wolf ’s glowing eyes or Devin following me.