Page 14 of Unmask (Crew of Elmwood Public #2)

KAYLOR

T he cold hit me first, followed by the low thrum of student chatter as I stepped onto campus. It was like walking into a spotlight, too many eyes, too many whispers, too much crap pressing down on my shoulders.

I was back.

It was so strange, like a ghost haunting my own life.

Everything was the same, the chipped bricks, the faded mascot banner flapping weakly in the wind, and the sound of sneakers shuffling over gravel, but I wasn’t the same.

Not even close. The world had shifted under my feet, cracked wide-open by secrets and betrayals, and yet somehow it just kept turning.

Students laughed, gossiped, and scrolled through their phones as if nothing had happened.

As if girls weren’t going missing. As if my parents hadn’t been murdered.

As if I hadn’t been played. I stood there, feeling the strangeness of it all sink deep into my bones, this sense of being awake in a dream everyone else refused to see.

Oblivious. Untouched. Free in a way I couldn’t even remember how to feel.

I refused to let them break me.

I wouldn’t hide.

I won’t run.

Nothing like a little internal affirmation to get me through the day. Now I just had to walk through the front doors of Public with my chin high. Fuck them all.

I could do this.

I had Poppy.

I wasn’t alone.

If there was a traitor, and I was still in danger as Kreed believed, this might be a really bad decision, but I didn’t know if his claim had any weight.

It could be another lie, another tactic to manipulate me.

It wasn’t like I was some gang heiress. It wasn’t like Rusty expected me to take up my father’s position in the crew.

That would be absurd and something I had no interest in. I’d leave the criminal activity to Rusty and the Corvos. Turned out, I didn’t have the stomach for it despite it being in my blood.

And then I saw them.

Mason and Maddox stood by the lockers near the main entrance, their dark hair and clothing a sharp contrast against the pale gray walls. Mason noticed me first, his expression unreadable. Maddox’s gaze followed a beat later.

But no Kreed.

My heart twisted in my chest before I could stop it.

I hated that I noticed his absence more than anything else.

Before I fully spiraled or crashed into someone from sheer distraction, an arm looped through mine, grounding me.

“God, you really were about to freeze like a baby deer in headlights, weren’t you?

” Poppy said, her voice a low whisper laced with amusement.

“Come on, babe. You’re not walking these halls alone. ”

Relief washed over me as I leaned into her, grateful and already a little steadier with her by my side. The hallway pressed in around us, but Poppy’s presence carved out a little bubble I could breathe in.

I didn’t look back at Mason and Maddox again.

And I didn’t let myself think about Kreed.

Not yet.

“He’s not here, by the way,” Poppy informed me as she ushered me into the crowd like she didn’t give a single fuck, her black platform boots stomping against the tile like thunder.

A pleated plaid skirt swished around her thighs, paired with ripped fishnets and an oversized hoodie featuring a moody anime girl with bleeding-heart eyes. “If you’re looking for him.”

“I’m not. And I didn’t ask.”

Two space buns perched high on her red hair like little gothic crowns.

Silver piercings glittered along her ears, and a black choker hugged her throat.

She could have stepped out of a Tim Burton dream and into a Tokyo street scene.

She somehow made it work. “You didn’t have to.

Your eyes haven’t been able to stop looking for him. ”

“Sorry. I just don’t want him to blindside me again,” I reasoned.

“Hmm. Is that all? I’d be more concerned with that duo if I were you.”

I followed her gaze to see Mason and Maddox still watching me. “Shit,” I mumbled.

“He hasn’t been at school for the last few days in case you were wondering. Not since we went to see you.”

“Why not?” The question tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

She shrugged. “Probably too drunk in some corner, but he’s going to be pissed he missed you.”

I hugged my bag against my chest. “Good.”

I had so much work to catch up on that when the final bell finished ringing through the halls I could hardly believe the day was gone.

I grabbed my stack of missing assignments and shoved them into my bag; the weight was heavier than it should be.

Perhaps because everything was now. I just wanted to get to my locker, collect the rest of my stuff, and disappear before I had to navigate any more awkward stares or whispers.

I was halfway there when it happened.

A hand clamped around my upper arm and yanked hard. My feet slipped, nearly sending me sprawling as my bag fell off my shoulder. Another body sidled up beside me, too close, reeking of sweat and arrogance.

“I was wondering when I’d get you alone again,” someone whispered, breath hot against the shell of my ear.

The dread in my stomach solidified into ice.

I recognized them; all three played for the football team.

Bodie. Keenan. And Dawson. Big. Cocky. Too confident in how much they could get away with.

I remembered seeing Bodie smirk at me earlier in the hallway, but I hadn’t thought much of it.

Now, that same smirk twisted darker. Bodie was in my chem class.

I didn’t know Dawson and Keenan well, but they’d all been in the cellar on Raven Night.

“What the—let go!” I snapped, jerking my arm, but another one flanked me. My spine stiffened, every nerve screaming danger, but my feet still moved. I was being funneled. Herded. It was like being pulled into a nightmare.

They shoved me through a door, and I instantly knew something was wrong. The stench of urinals and disinfectant slapped into me. The boys’ bathroom.

I twisted to bolt, but one of them blocked the exit, and another pushed me back against the wall so hard my head hit the tile. “Hey—get off me!” I tried to twist again, but Dawson shoved me so hard the breath flew out of me. My bag hit the ground with a loud smack.

“No more Raven boys to protect you, huh?” Keenan sneered, his breath a mix of mint gum and ego. “Did Kreed get tired of playing house?”

Bodie grabbed my wrists. “Word around school is he got bored and tossed you aside, just like he does with all the girls.”

Heat surged up my throat, thick and choking.

Dawson leaned a shoulder on the wall beside me. “Don’t worry, baby. We’ll make you feel wanted.”

“Kreed doesn’t fight for anyone,” Bodie said, grabbing my chin and tilting my face up. His grip was bruising, fingers digging into bone. “But you…I don’t see the appeal.”

I didn’t move. Couldn’t. My muscles were locked, a thousand alarms blaring behind my eyes. What was the angle here? What could they possibly want with me besides the disgusting obvious? Did this have something to do with Kreed?

“He’s never protected a girl before,” Keenan added, his eyes raking over me like I was a meal, not a person. “Only ever bled for his crew. But you? You’re not a Raven.”

“Do you want to bet your life on that?” My voice was hoarse, but I latched on to it like a lifeline. “What do you think he’ll do if he finds out you’ve got me trapped in here?”

It was a bluff. It had to be. But maybe, just maybe, that sliver of doubt would buy me time.

“He’s not here today. That’s the best part. How fucking convenient for us,” Bodie muttered, dragging a finger down my cheek, not soft enough to be a caress. “We don’t mind Corvo’s leftovers.”

Shit.

Terror lanced through me. I tried to scream, but a palm clamped over my mouth, rough and unrelenting, silencing the sound before it left my throat.

My body writhed in instinctive panic, but it was useless.

I was trapped, and nobody was coming. Evan wasn’t here to burst in like a guardian angel.

Brock was miles away. And Kreed…was probably at the fucking club drunk. Useless to me in this situation.

Bodie grabbed my chin roughly. “Because of you, my nose will be permanently crooked.”

I tried to jerk my head out of his grasp, but his fingers only pressed deeper.

Dawson licked the side of my cheek, and revulsion rolled through me. “I spent a week in bed. It hurt so much to just breathe.”

They were pissed they got their asses beat and thought it would be a good idea to take it out on me?

I’d thought my association with the Ravens granted me a certain amount of protection.

My first day back at Public, I was learning the hard way that might not be the case, particularly since it seemed everyone at school knew the Corvo boys and I had a falling out.

I fought. I did. I kicked, scratched, and shoved, but it wasn’t enough.

I was outnumbered. Outmuscled. Out of options.

Basically fucked.

My skin crawled with disgust, and my vision blurred as a coldness seeped into my veins. Every cell in my body screamed for oxygen, for space, for help. I tried again, kicking, biting, clawing, but they were too strong.

Tears pricked my eyes, and just when I didn’t think I had any more fight left in me, the door burst open with a crash.

Bodie gripping me was suddenly gone, yanked back so fast he let out a startled yelp before his head cracked against the stall door.

I stumbled forward, only to see Keenan get slammed into the sink with a force that cracked porcelain.

Mason.

He stood like a shadow peeled from the corners of a nightmare, jaw locked, his light-green eyes darker than I’d ever seen them with rage. Maddox was beside him, even quieter, even deadlier.

“What the fuck—” Dawson began, but Maddox cut him off with a punch, crumpling him to the ground like a rag doll.