Page 1 of Reckless Vengeance

CHAPTER ONE

RORY

The cool night air had seeped into my bones, shivers racking my body to the point my teeth chattered. I had no idea how long I’d been sitting here, staring out into the night from the Hawthorne Heights High’s roof.

The day’s events played through my mind on repeat, coming to the same heartbreaking conclusion.

Slash was dead.

I should’ve felt guilty for sneaking out and leaving home on foot without my phone, but I’d left a note. Caden and the guys were dealing with Tyler, his need for company completely opposite to my need to be alone all day.

I’d lied a little, claiming I’d gone to Mule’s for the night, but I couldn’t sit in that house and act like everything was okay.

My hands shook as I held them up in the moonlight, Slash’s dried blood cracking and falling off my skin as I tried to flex my fingers. Caden had put me in the bathroom for a shower hours ago, but I couldn’t.

How did you erase the last piece of a person that you had? No matter how morbid it seemed?

It had been around twelve hours since he’d been pronounced dead, but it felt like time hadn’t passed at all.

The guys would freak out if they knew I was here, especially now that the Soldiers had made a move and outright said they’d come to town for me.

Was it stupid to wander around alone? Probably, but I wasn’t exactly thinking clearly.

“Rory?” I heard behind me, the sound seeming further away than what it probably was. Like it was under water.

I didn’t move, continuing to stare at my hands and hoping he’d go away if I pretended he wasn’t there.

“Hey. Are you okay?”

“What’s wrong with her?” someone else said, and I glanced over to find Hunter squatting beside me with a frown on his face. The shaking got worse as I focused on how cold I was, and Marco appeared in my vision next. “Hey, Princess. Who’d you kill? Daddy dearest?”

“Shut up, man,” Hunter huffed, carefully reaching out to take my hands in his. I flinched back, almost falling off the damn roof, and he put his hands up to show he wouldn’t touch me. “You’re fine, I won’t touch. Are you hurt?”

I shook my head, making him blow out a breath of relief.

“Whose blood is on you?” Marco tried again, wincing as tears sprang to my eyes and trailed down my cheeks.

“Babe, talk to me. Let me help. You want me to call Skeet? He might kill me, but I’ll do it if you need me to,” Hunter offered seriously, sitting back on his heels to study me.

“Slash,” I managed to get out, my throat tight from the hours of crying I’d done.

“You want me to call Slash?” he asked as he got his phone out, and I held his gaze as I choked on my next few words.

“Slash is dead.”

“What?” he murmured, looking up from his phone with confusion before flicking his eyes to the blood on my hands again.

“The Soldiers came for me. He jumped in front of the bullets to save me,” I whispered, the guys having a silent conversation with their eyes before Marco vanished, leaving Hunter alone with me.

“Where’s Skeet?” Hunter asked, not coming closer.

“I don’t know. He stormed off from the hospital and told me to go home.”

“So why are you here?”

“How can I sit in that big house with the fancy shower and soft bedsheets when Slash is cold in the morgue?” I bit out angrily as more tears fell, not being able to fight him even if I’d wanted to when he shuffled closer and tucked me under his arm.

“You’re freezing,” he sighed, not seeming to care when my bloodied hands slid under his jacket for warmth. He actually reached down to where my hands were and moved them from between his shirt and hoodie to his heated skin, letting me soak in his body heat.