Total pages in book: 186
Estimated words: 176552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 883(@200wpm)___ 706(@250wpm)___ 589(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 176552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 883(@200wpm)___ 706(@250wpm)___ 589(@300wpm)
Layla’s face stayed impassive at first. Then came the tiniest flicker of emotion. Her shoulders tensed, chin dipped, and suddenly she found the turf to be the most fascinating thing on earth. I realized then I was missing something. There was an entire subtext playing out here, one I wasn’t privy to. Roxxi hadn’t said that by accident. Whatever it was, Layla understood perfectly. I stood there, sandwiched between them, trying to act like I wasn’t completely out of the loop. Brooke took a small step back, as if she felt the shift in the air too.
Roxxi turned away to address the rest of our squad, her tone snapping everyone back to attention. “Alright, ladies and gents, cool-down stretch before we grab our gear. Let’s go!”
No one questioned her; we knew better.
I found a space and dropped into a deep lunge. My muscle memory took over while my mind wandered somewhere far away. Kellan and Noah were on one side of me, and Brittany was on the other. She shifted into a seated straddle and leaned in to speak to me. “You sure you’re okay?”
“I don’t know what the hell that was,” I confessed under my breath.
Brittany gave me a sad smile. “You’re a better friend than most people deserve, Sanj. Not everyone’s issues are on you.”
I wasn’t sure what or how to respond to that. She made it sound like I was a pushover or something. I didn’t see myself that way. I leaned into my stretch and happened to look up, catching sight of Ryder standing across the field, helmet still tucked under one arm, dark hair pushed back, his practice jersey clinging to his frame.
His hand was raised mid-command, voice sharp as he directed his line. It wasn’t the shouting that had me freezing in place, but the way he stared when he turned his head in my direction. I didn’t know how to describe what I was seeing. His face wasn’t closed off or blank in a distant or preoccupied way. It was total emptiness, as if something had vacuumed out everything human inside him. Why was he staring at me that way?
Ashton watched him watch me, his own expression tightening, like he was trying to read something and not liking what he saw. The moment broke when Cade jogged across The Pit with Xander on his heels, both of them grinning as Cade tried to trip Dougie with a sneaker tap. Ryder turned, said something to Cade, and just like that, he was smiling again.
Effortless. Charming. Familiar.
Fake.
“The fuck was up with that?” Noah asked softly, his concern evident.
“I…I don’t know,” I murmured.
Roxxi caught my eye from further down. Her usual resting bitch face had shifted, brow furrowed. She’d seen the same thing I just did. We finished stretching in silence, then gathered our things and started across the turf. The sky was darker now, the breeze sharp against our skin. A few conversations resumed around us, casual and easy, while tension clung to me like a second skin.
Sydney reached the locker room first. She pulled the door open and froze. “Uh, why are the lights off?”
That was weird.
They were always motion-triggered. I squeezed past her and reached for the switch that manually controlled them. The fluorescents buzzed awake overhead. Everything seemed to stop for a full minute after that.
Polaroids.
Dozens, if not more.
Taped to our lockers. Strewn across benches. Lined up like sick little trophies all over the walls.
I moved toward my locker, knowing I hadn’t been an exception in whatever this was. Dead center was a picture of me and Ryder, taken the other night, when he hugged me in the driveway. Thick black ink smeared across both our faces, erasing them completely. I peeled it away, fingers trembling slightly. The angle... something about it felt wrong. Too close. Too high. It didn’t look like it was taken from the street or sidewalk.
It looked like it had been taken from inside my house.
“This is one way to have a photo op,” Roxxi quipped dryly beside me.
She stood in front of her own locker, holding up a similar photo. Hers was with Cade, and they looked like they were caught mid-conversation. The same thick black ink slashed across both their faces. All around us, more girls began reacting. Some gasped quietly, others whispered curses under their breath as they pulled their own snapshots. The unease spread quickly, murmurs bouncing off the walls, the weight of it settling in the air like a storm cloud.
“If we got one of these, does that mean we’ve been Marked?” Victoria, a smaller cheerleader with vibrant, colorful hair, asked.
“Hey, even if it does, this is only The Hunt, girls,” Brooke’s voice cut through the rising tension, airy and dismissive. “They’re just trying to mess with us. It’s kind of the whole point.”