Nightfall Read online

  I glanced at the door, but it was no use. Kai and Damon, I assumed, were out there somewhere still.

  I glared at Will as he took a slow step toward me.

  “I’m not scared,” I told him.

  He cocked his head.

  “I’m annoyed.” I clenched my weapons in my hands. “I have to walk home in the rain now.”

  I threw the cylinder at him, damn-near hitting him, but he whipped out his arm and swatted it away before it hit his face.

  It crashed to the floor, and I backed away, snatching another flask off a table as he stepped closer. “You got a problem with my brother, then you take it up with him. Don’t be a coward.”

  He stalked toward me, and I launched the flask. It hit him in the chest, making him stumble, but it didn’t break, tumbling to the floor instead, the glass finally shattering.

  He walked, the glass cracking under his boots, and I watched as he laid his gloved hand on the black lab table, gliding it over the top as he moved.

  My heart pounded in my chest, my stomach swirling as the fear took root, and I looked up at his face, his eyes through the little holes in the mask barely visible in the darkness.

  I stopped, suddenly lost in those voids for a moment.

  He took another step, and a jolt hit my heart, my whole body warming.

  Still, I didn’t move.

  I couldn’t.

  Another step. He was almost at me.

  Why wasn’t I moving?

  My pulse raced more by the second, and the feeling almost made me smile because I kind of liked it.

  Something built inside me, stacking one brick on top of another until I was a wall, and every second more that I stood there, the more the room started to spin around us like a storm.

  And he and I were the eye.

  What was I doing? What if this wasn’t a joke?

  Just another second. Just one more second. I wanted to push it.

  With every moment that passed, my lungs worked faster to take in air, and I just wanted him to take another step—one more step—to be closer to me. Until…

  Until he was there, two inches from my body and looking down at me—so close that if I spun around to bolt, there was no way I’d get away.

  My stomach swirled, and my knees shook.

  I tried to swallow, but I couldn’t. “Is this the part where I giggle?” I said, trying to sound tough but failing. “Or beg?”

  He cocked his head to the side again, like he was studying me.

  I forced a smirk despite my hands shaking with fear. “Stop it, you’re scaring me,” I whimpered, imitating one of his Barbie dolls. “Oh, no. Whatever will I do? Don’t be too hard on me, Daddy.” I bat my eyelashes. “But I admit, I like it when you’re hard on me. Sooooo hard.” And then I moaned for good measure.

  Then I dropped the smirk and cocked an eyebrow. Is that what he expected from me?

  “You… don’t scare me,” I repeated.

  Shooting out my hand, I grabbed a set of test tubes and reared my arm back, throwing them through one of the windows. I growled as it crashed through, all the glass hopefully falling on top of the skylight of the gym below and alerting someone I was up here.

  The sound of rain filled the room even more, and cool air rushed in, the wind blowing my hair. I looked up, glaring into his eyes, hoping that that did it and he’d stop now.

  But he just stared down at me.

  And then, as if accepting a challenge, he reached out and swiped an entire stand of beakers, flasks, and funnels off the countertop and onto the floor.

  The crash ached in my ears, but I didn’t flinch. Reaching out, I grabbed hold of another stand and pulled it onto the floor, every empty vial and container shattering between us as I backed away and he advanced.

  Passing the next student worktable, he reached for the left and pulled the chemistry set onto the floor, and I reached right, yanking another between us as he continued walking, the glass crackling under his feet.

  We moved faster, him reaching left and me reaching to the right, metal stands clanking to the floor between us as glass crashed and filled the room with chaos after chaos.

  Again. Left, right, left, right. We kept going, his getting faster and me stumbling back to grab the next table’s stand as something filled up in my stomach, my muscles charged, and I started to smile.

  He moved into me, and I stumbled back, tripping on my foot and losing my balance. I fell backward, but he followed, his arm circling my waist just in time as his other grabbed the table for support.

  I looked over my shoulder, seeing bits of glass on the floor where I would’ve landed.

  Turning back to him, I stared up into his eyes as my fingers clutched his shoulders.

  And then I felt it. The smile still on my face.

  I was smiling. A little.

  Shit.

  Slowly, I let it fall, but I couldn’t take my eyes off his. Guilt washed over me at the mess we made, knowing I couldn’t pay for it, but the worry left as quickly as it came, because all I could feel was the here and now.

  The rain and wind blew through the room, and I reached up, my hands shaking as I lifted his mask off his face and dropped it to the floor.

  He just held me as I slipped the hood off his head and looked up into dark green eyes.

  “I was never trying to scare you,” Will said, rain glistening on his face and wet hair. “I just wanted to see something.”

  I stared at him, because I couldn’t speak no matter how hard I tried. I didn’t know what was wrong with me, I...

  I wanted to go, but…

  I didn’t want to leave.

  I liked this.

  But I twisted out of his hold, stumbling backward and landing on my hands away from the glass. A smile glinted in his eyes, and he dropped to his hands and knees, too, watching me with mischief.

  My heart raced again, hearing the glass crunch under his palms, and I held his eyes, scooting back slowly as he moved toward me.

  But just then, he moved with the speed of light, barreling right at me, and I yelped as I leapt to my feet and so did he, but before I could run, he crashed into me and pinned me to the wall.

  I exhaled hard, trying to keep the smile off my face, but I couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped. My heart was beating so fast.

  His body pressed into me, and I could feel his eyes on me as he tipped his chin down, his nose nearly brushing mine.

  “Get… get…get away from me,” I stammered, because I was trying not to laugh.

  A drop of sweat trickled down my back, his body on mine making it too unbearable to even breathe.

  He took my chin in his hand and lifted it up, trying to get me to look at him.

  His heat surrounded me, and the pulse between my thighs throbbed.

  I didn’t want him to go anywhere.

  And I hated that.

  Blinking long and hard, I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked up into his eyes, hardening my gaze. “You’re all assholes,” I said, grabbing his wrist. “Boring and predictable, and maybe that shit works on everyone else, but not me.”

  I yanked his fingers off my chin and shoved him in the chest, stepping away.

  He didn’t want me. He wanted to use me, and no matter how much I wanted to indulge a fantasy of fun and excitement, I’d be the one to pay later. Not him.

  Getting me into bed, so he could get laughs when he told everyone what a lousy lay I was or rub it in my brother’s face that he’d gotten me to spread my legs, were the only things he was interested in.

  No. He wasn’t going to win.

  “Unlock the doors,” I told him.

  But he just stared at me for a moment, and instead of heading to the hallway and toward the stairwell doors that had been locked, he walked for the wall of windows, the wind and rain barely staying at bay beyond the broken glass.

  “Unlock the doors,” I said again, walking over to his side.

  “Why?” he asked.

  I scowled
. “Why?”

  What do you mean, why?

  “I wasn’t trying to scare you,” he said, staring out at the rain pummeling the roof, “but why wasn’t I?”

  “Real monsters don’t wear masks, William Grayson III,” I retorted. “They look like everyone else.”

  He kept staring at the rain, but he didn’t respond.

  “Now unlock the doors.” I turned around. “You’re pathetic, and you’ve wasted my time.”

  I walked for the classroom door, but then I heard his voice behind me.

  “They won’t let you walk home in this weather,” he said.

  “They can’t stop me.”

  “I won’t let you walk home in this,” he clarified. “You’ll sleep here tonight.”

  I glanced over my shoulder at him, placing my hand on the door handle. “Make me.”

  And before I could even turn the doorknob, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, tapping the screen.

  “‘Stop it, you’re scaring me,’” I said on the recording. “‘Whatever will I do? Don’t be too hard on me, Daddy.’”

  I stopped breathing for a moment, every muscle in my body losing strength. My hand dropped from the knob.

  “‘But I admit, I like it when you’re hard on me. So hard.’”

  I closed my eyes, hearing myself moan on the phone. Shit.

  I turned around, meeting his self-satisfied little smile and knowing he’d recorded his prank. They always documented their dumb crap on that stupid phone.

  I almost walked out. My feet almost took that step, and they could post that online for everyone to have a good laugh. My brother would get angry, because his mind would make up whatever story was the easiest to go along with what he thought was happening in that recording, too.

  No skin off my nose because I was used to it.

  But then Will said, “Door’s unlocked. Go get some pizza.” And he picked up his mask off the floor. “We’ll clean up here.”

  I hesitated, looking around at all the broken glass and how much trouble I’d be in if my brother found out I’d helped make this mess. Even though I was kind of defending myself, I still didn’t want him to have any idea of what happened up here because he’d just blame me.

  I blinked long and hard. Fine.

  I walked out, charging down the hallway and through the doors to the stairwell.

  I should be at home. I should be with my grandma.

  He just wanted to play with me to prove he could.

  But… a night away was rare. At least I could relax, knowing Martin wouldn’t be here. I had my earbuds and a book.

  I still wasn’t giving Will another inch tonight, though. The lock-in was filled with witnesses. Let him try.

  I kicked rocks all the way back down to the gymnasium, ignored the pizza, and planted my butt on the bleachers.

  Opening my phone, I tapped the app and tried to continue reading The Night Eternal as the music and activity went on around me.

  But after ten minutes, I’d barely absorbed a paragraph.

  And when he and his friends finally came back downstairs, I forgot about the book as I waited for him to come over and try something.

  Engage me. Annoy me. Tease me.

  But he didn’t.

  He left me alone.

  I faltered for a moment, a little confused. I expected him to try to piss me off or coerce me into the scavenger hunt they were having or something.

  But he just left me sitting there, the minutes stretching into an hour, and the hour stretching into two.

  Just as I thought. To prove he could…

  The band director called my brother and asked if I could put in more work-study hours by helping in the kitchen tonight. Then they’d keep me over since it would be too late to go home.

  Martin was probably fine with it since I was “working,” but I didn’t for one second think the director came up with that lie herself.

  Because I didn’t help in the kitchen at all.

  I just sat there, trying to read on my phone. Will glanced over every once in a while as he spent time with his friends or slow danced with some girl to make sure I was where he’d left me.

  He just liked making me sweat. That’s what this was about.

  Control.

  Before I knew it, the lights were dimming and Will was shoving me toward his sleeping bag smack-dab in the middle of Michael, Kai, and Damon.

  I groaned. Did I really have to be here?

  “Take it.” He pushed me again, and I stumbled. “I’m warm enough without it.”

  Like I care about your comfort. Seriously.

  He laid down on the mat next to his sleeping bag—black with red and black-checkered lining—and I stood there, scowling.

  Keeping my shoes on, I climbed inside the sleeping bag, seeing Crist on my right, Torrance lying at my feet, and Kai above me. Michael pulled off his T-shirt, his long, toned torso spread out next to me like he didn’t know we were still in public no matter where we were sleeping.

  I quickly turned away, heat rising to my cheeks.

  I scooted up toward Kai—the safe one—but something grabbed my feet and yanked my ass back down. I glared at Will, but he just smiled to himself as the lights in the gym went off and everyone settled in, giggles piercing the air and chaperones patrolling to keep peoples’ hands off each other.

  Yes, let’s lock up over a hundred hormonal teenagers in one space. What a stupid idea.

  My stomach growled, and I shot a glance up at Will, seeing his eyes closed, his arm propped up under his head as a pillow, and his lips curled with a smile.

  He’d heard that. Someone brought me pizza earlier as I sat on the bleachers—maybe at Will’s behest—but I told him to screw off.

  Now, I regretted it. I hadn’t eaten in over twenty-four hours.

  The minutes passed, the chatter started to quiet, and Bryce started to snore from the other side of the gym. Arion Ashby slipped on her sleep mask and some students put on their expensive headphones to cancel out the noise.

  I was too hungry to sleep, and the granola bar in my pocket called to me.

  I turned my head, looking over at Will. His hair had dried, and even though I’d never seen it looking so messy, he still pulled it off, because he was born with it. Stern brown eyebrows, a sharp nose, but soft lips and the most beautiful eyes I’d ever seen behind those sweet, sleeping eyelids and long lashes.

  Why couldn’t guys this cute ever be nice?

  I blinked, dropping my gaze. Of course, he did give me his sleeping bag.

  And probably the granola bar and Godzilla, too, even though he broke into my locker to leave it for me.

  “So what were you trying to do?” I asked in a low voice.

  “When?”

  I looked up to see his eyes still closed. “You said you weren’t trying to scare me upstairs,” I told him. “So, what were you trying to do?”

  His chest rose and fell in steady breaths, hesitating a moment. “I was trying to see if you liked it,” he whispered.

  If I liked what? Him?

  The chase? The danger? The risk?

  Well, I didn’t.

  But I couldn’t help but ask, “And? What conclusion did you come to?”

  The corner of his mouth curled into a smile, but he didn’t open his eyes, and he didn’t answer. “Go to sleep.”

  I turned my eyes back up to the ceiling, seeing the rain still hitting the skylight.

  He needed to leave me alone. Just give up. If he kept pushing me, I’d do something stupid because I could feel it coming.

  I clenched the sleeping bag in my fingers.

  There were moments I wanted to do something outrageous. I mean, sure, I wanted a boyfriend. I wanted fun.

  But I couldn’t bring someone into my life. It was a nightmare, and I needed to keep it together for my grandma.

  Just mess with someone else, Will Grayson. I don’t want your attention.

  Unable to stop myself, I turned my head again,
taking in the peaceful look on his face as he slept. The way his neck looked so smooth and soft, and what would’ve happened upstairs in the chem lab if I hadn’t pushed him away.

  I would’ve regretted it, but I would’ve liked it, I think.

  I stared at his lashes and the way they draped over his skin underneath his eyes.

  My own burned with tears I refused to let loose.

  I guess I understood people letting themselves be used, even for just a night if it meant not being alone for once.

  I turned over on my side, watching him sleep, but then my eye caught something, and I looked down, seeing Damon lying on his stomach and watching me. His head was propped on his hand, his eyes sharp as he brought up his fingers and dragged his thumb across his throat, not blinking once as he stared at me.

  I clenched the sleeping bag tighter at the small scowl in his eyes.

  Rolling over, I stared at the ceiling again, getting the message. You’re not special, so don’t get confused, girl.

  I reached into my pocket and fisted the granola bar.

  But I was no longer hungry.

  Will

  Present

  I stared at her through the two-way mirror as she stood on the other side, moving her gaze left, right, up and down, taking in Aydin’s bedroom.

  Noticing the bathroom, she hurried through the door and turned on the faucet, filling up a glass with water. She tipped her head back, gulped down the whole thing, and refilled again, drinking that, as well.

  I finally blinked, balling my fists as I watched her in her tight, cropped black pants, and her sweet little, fitted white blouse with the collar buttoned right up to the neck. She might look like the grown-up architect she was if it weren’t for the white Adidas sneakers instead of heels.

  Amusement curled the corners of my lips, remembering overhearing her words in class once. “It doesn’t matter if I arrive in style if I can’t arrive at all.”

  She hadn’t changed a bit. Why the fuck was she here?

  I let my eyes fall down her body, knowing she couldn’t see me as I took in her dark hair, kinky and wild from the tumble. The heat on her cheeks, rosy against her golden skin, was still so beautiful, and I’d bet her slender neck could still fit in my hand.