“Whatever you say, Juliet.”
I rolled my eyes at his comment as he blazed a trail down the road. There was no one back here. No lights. No animals. No people. No police. If Clint had raced himself into this territory, he didn’t have any help at all. No hope of ever having someone come upon him to help. That was why I wanted to check every inch of this back road. Especially if the tire tracks were still fresh.
“How much further?”
Michael shrugged. “Two, three miles?”
“Can you go faster?”
“Just because Clint wants to break the sound barrier for you doesn’t mean I do.”
I scoffed. “You know what? Go ahead and stay angry with me. I don’t care anymore.”
“You sound more and more like him every day.”
“I’m sorry that you don’t like the fact that I’m dating some guy that punched you in the face. I’m sorry that you think he’s an asshole. But when you take into account the fact that his father literally throws him around the house on a daily basis, and you take into account the fact that I should be pissed off that you’re in love with my best friend, you don’t have a leg to stand on.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because as Allison’s girl, I should be pissed off that you want to screw with her. Fuck her. Or do whatever it is you want to do with her. But I’m not. I want you two to be happy together. I want her to see how you feel about her because I think you two would be great together. Because you’re alike. Because you’re similar. Because your lives mesh. Just like mine and Clint’s do. So, if you expect me to be okay with the fact that you’re slowly but surely macking on my best friend, get your fucking act together and suck it the hell up.”
Michael put the pedal to the metal as we careened around the corner. The last turn before the straightaway over the bridge. His high beams pointed straight ahead, and I saw fresh tire tracks on the bridge.
As well as Clint’s motorcycle crunched against the railing.
“Michael, stop!” I shrieked in his car. My voice filled the space around us as he came to a grinding halt. I ripped my seatbelt off and slammed out of the car, rushing toward the edge of the bridge. My heart leapt into my throat. Tears burned the backs of my eyes. I stumbled over to his bike, taking in the broken rearview mirror and the bent handlebar.
But, all things considered, it looked intact.
“Clint!”
My voice echoed off the trees and into the darkness of the water below. The metal barrier was bent. Fractured. Bowed, in some places. Then I saw the tire tracks right in front of the bike.
“They were here, Michael! They were here!”
Michael jogged up to me. “I’m checking the woods. Call the police.”
“Michael, what if he’s—”
“Just do as I’m telling you to do, Rae!”
I swallowed hard as I watched Michael rush for the woods. He darted into the trees before I turned my eyes back down toward the water. I didn’t want to approach the edge. Flashes of the nightmare I always had before school came rushing back to me. My arms flailing as I fell over the edge. Darkness overcoming me just before I woke up. The smell of smoke. Of burnt rubber, singeing my nostril hairs.
Only this time, I wasn’t sure if the smell was phantom, or real.
“Clint!”
My voice cracked before it gave out. I threw myself over the railing, gazing down into the darkened expanse below. I looked up at the sky, the starry sky that always permeated my worst nightmare. And as my eyes fell back down to the water, my stomach flipped over on itself.
A nightmare come true.
“Clint! Are you down there?”
My pathetic voice did nothing but hiss as I cupped my hands over my mouth. I heard Michael running around in the woods, calling out for Clint in the distance. Tears rushed down my cheeks. My hands shook. They gripped the edge with all their might, and I didn’t know what to do. I knew he was down there. Had he been washed away by the current? His dead, lifeless body, floating down river until his jacket snagged onto something?
I heard Michael trotting up to me. “He’s not in the woods. And if he is, he’s not in a position to call out for me. I don’t hear a car anywhere, either. Those guys must’ve buzzed off.”
Yeah. After they ran him off the road.
“Did you call the police?”
Holy shit. My phone. The light on my phone.
I ripped my phone out of my pocket and turned on the flashlight. I heard Michael scoff as he shook his head, but his eyes fell over the railing, too. Down into the deep, dark abyss of the raging river. I turned the flashlight on my phone up as bright as I could get it, then shined it down onto the water.
Michael sighed. “It’s at least a twenty-foot drop.”
“You think that’s enough to kill him?”
He paused. “I don’t really know, Rae.”
I flashed my light against the water as Michael stepped off to the side. I heard him talking into his phone. Saying something about ‘a prior call’ and ‘needing an ambulance.’ His voice faded away after that, though. Because the second my light fell onto Clint’s body on the side of the river, my voice reached another fucking planet with the octave it leapt into.
“He’s down there!”
I took off running, only for an arm to wrap around my waist. I felt Michael pulling me into him as he continued talking on his phone, trying to give directions to whoever the fuck was on the other end of the line. I heard him talking about tire tracks, and a car of guys. A bike on the bridge and a body in the river. I cried out for Clint, raking my nails against Michael’s bare skin. But, despite the pain I knew he was in, he didn’t release his grip.
“Rae, you can’t go down there. It isn’t—Rae!”
I growled. “Let me go.”
“Not on your fucking life. I’m not losing you, too.”
“He’s not dead! Don’t say shit like that!”
“The bank is too steep. You’ll hurt yourself traversing it at night. The police are a few minutes out. When they get here—”
My nostrils flared. “Let—me—go, you asshole!”
I struggled against him as I heard his phone drop to the pavement. He wrapped both arms around me, hoisting me off my feet. I cried out for Clint as my voice left me completely. Tears rushed down my cheeks as I tried prying Michael’s arms from around my waist. He carried me back to the car, away from the bike. Away from the bridge. Away from Clint’s body lying on the edge of the riverbank.
“Clint!” I called breathlessly.
“Come on, Rae. Let’s get in the car. This is a crime scene. The police are only a few minutes out.”
“No, Clint. Please. Don’t do this to me, please.”
“I’m sorry, Rae. I’m so, so sorry.”
Michael set me down onto my feet and pinned me against his car. I bashed my head against the glass, only to feel his hand wrap around it. I sobbed out into the night, gazing up at a nighttime sky I’d come to hate as images of my recurring nightmare continued to bombard me. The squealing of tires. The crunching of metal. That dumbass smell of burnt rubber that still lingered in the fucking air.
I drew in a shuddering breath. “It’s my nightmare come true.”
And when Michael didn’t say anything, I knew he’d been thinking exactly that.
How could this have happened? Things were finally going smoothly. Things were finally going well for me and him. I knew what I wanted. I knew what I needed. I knew what I wanted to do with my life and who I wanted to do it with. I’d found someone who got me. Who understood me. A guy who made me feel on top of the world, and absolutely gorgeous in his arms. I found someone who didn’t only leave his judgment of my life at the door, but he literally understood my life. Understood the judgment that came with my life. I finally had everything I could have ever asked for.
Him.
And now, I felt it all slipping through my fingertips.
Michael kept me pinned. “Do you want me to call Allison?”
I shook my head, unable to speak.
“Do you want to get out of here?”
I shook my head harder, trying to give my voice a few minutes to return.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
My eyes whipped open as tears streamed down my face. I glared at Michael, hating him for everything he was suggesting. Oh, he wanted to be here now? After being an absolute shitbag for the past couple of weeks? I could have spat in his face. I could have slapped him right across that dumbass, concerned little furrowed brow of his.
But I settled for shaking my head as I leveled him with a DEFCON-5 stare.
“Fair enough. I deserve that.”
I nodded curtly, trying my hardest not to say anything. Trying my best to save my voice so I could keep calling out for Clint. I had to wake him up. As long as Michael was here, he wouldn’t let me down that bank. Yelling was all I had to get him to wake the fuck up and get back here.
Because he couldn't leave me. Not now.
Not when I finally had all I wanted.
42
Clinton
I felt my head pounding. I felt disoriented. For some reason, I felt water rushing over my legs. And I had no idea why. I sniffed the air, groaning as my head pounded with frustration. I felt something sharp underneath my side, prompting me to move. So many things bombarded my senses as I slowly came out of it.