“What if you got drunk, got hot and heavy one night, and forgot a condom?” I suggest, but Hael just gives me a look.

“You don’t forget unless you really like a girl,” he says, glancing down at his phone again. He doesn’t seem to notice the way my body tenses up. Like how Vic always forgets? Or just doesn’t seem to care … “There’s no way I’d ever forget with someone like Brittany. Having a kid with her would be my worst nightmare.”

“Set up a time and place to meet her,” Vic says, making me jump as he appears behind me, slipping out from the next aisle over, skeletons hanging over his head, and an animatronic Cerberus snarling behind him. “But make it after Halloween. Lie if you have to. We have enough shit to deal with this week.”

“I’ll fucking try,” Hael says with another sigh, hitting the power button on his phone and turning the screen off. He slips it in his pocket and then grabs a mummy mask off the wall, looking down at it absently.

“Do you really think they’re going to wait until Stacey’s party to do something with the information they got from Ivy?” I ask, glancing over my shoulder at Vic. He looks down at me, and I feel that violent surge of … something in my body. Feelings and emotions pour through me, half of them glittery and foreign, the other half gloomy and familiar. I frown. “Because I know I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t give us time to plan.”

Vic smirks at me and then drags a lion mask over his head.

“No, I don’t think they’re going to wait. And neither will we.”

He growls at me through the mask and then grabs a package from the wall, pushing it into my arms. My heart thunders as Vic turns and disappears into the maze of Halloween props and costumes, leaving me to stare down at a very sexy cheerleader costume.

Huh.

Well, Halloween is all about shedding one’s skin and donning a new persona, right?

I’d be more likely to sprout red wings and a tail than become a cheerleader.

I’ll take it.

We head to Vic’s house after instead of Aaron’s, but luckily, the place is empty.

As soon as I set foot inside, I can’t stop my eyes from landing on the spot where Vic first fucked me against the wall. He notices me looking, slipping past and raising a brow in my direction. I return his gaze with a hard stare of my own.

“I’ll make the girls a snack,” Aaron murmurs, noticing my exchange with Vic and narrowing his eyes. My hand is clasped around Heather’s. We picked her up on the way back from the Hellhole which is fine by me, but I’m not sure why we’re here and not at Aaron’s.

“It’d be easier for them to entertain themselves at your place,” I say, following him into the narrow galley kitchen. Ashley and Kara don’t seem bothered though, racing through the kitchen and letting themselves out the side door into the yard.

“Can I go?” Heather asks, yanking on my hand. Reluctantly, I let her go, but I watch out the window like a hawk, fully prepared for either Vic’s dad or those awful men to show up.

“It is easier, but we’re being followed, and I don’t need the Charters or the Ensbrooks knowing where I live.” Aaron opens the fridge and pulls out some apples and cheddar, sliding his pocketknife from his jeans before coring and cutting the green fruit like this is most definitely not his first time at the rodeo.

“We were being followed?” I ask, moving over to the living room area to stare out the front window. But it’s pretty much impossible to see beyond the thick foliage at the edge of the yard.

“You have a lot to learn, Bernadette,” Vic says, leaning in close to me and then standing up straight. “As soon as they back off a little, we’ll drop the kids off with the sitter, and head out.”

“And where exactly are we going?” I ask as Oscar turns away from the window to glance back at me and Vic.

“We’re crashing a Prescott party tonight,” he says smoothly, the light from the window catching on the lenses of his glasses. “Victor, do you care to break the news?”

“News?” I echo as Hael looks up from his phone with his brows drawn together, a frown on his lips. “What news?”

“Listen, babe,” Vic says, and my ears burn at that word. Babe. I’m not sure if I hate or … no, I hate it. I narrow my gaze on him as he studies me. Callum slumps into a seat at the table, that boneless fluidity of his a reminder of his past, of all the secrets he shared with me. “Kali is pregnant.”

“What?” I ask, blinking through the words and feeling this sense of frustration and dread wash over me.

“And we don’t beat up pregnant chicks,” Callum explains in that hoarse voice of his, his blue hood pulled up over his blond hair.

“Good for you. Such outstanding citizens. I’ll send you all some fucking metals.” Victor steps forward as I snarl out the snarky insults and grabs both sides of my face, effectively cradling my head in his big, tattooed hands.

“We’ll find a way to get her, Bern, I promise. But this changes our plans a little.”

“So she gets knocked-up and she’s suddenly exempt?” I snap, trying and failing to pull away from Victor.

“She’s not exempt,” he says, forcing me to look right into those dark eyes of his. “But we have to adjust our plans a bit. Don’t worry, when we’re finished with her, she’ll be ruined.” He looks down at me for a moment and finally releases me, but I can feel all the places he touched. I’m on fire on the inside.

“Right,” I snap back, shaking so hard I feel like I might break if I don’t punch something. “I get locked in a closet and chased through the woods and dropped off in the middle of nowhere, and she gets a free pass because she screwed some dude without a condom. Who’s the dad anyway? Is it Mitch?”

“Doubtful,” Oscar says as Hael leans against the living room wall, watching us. Oscar moves toward us in his ridiculous suit, the white shirt underneath unbuttoned just enough to show off his tattoos, and then he tosses his iPad down on the table next to me. “Unless she’s been fucking Mitch for the past three months.”

I look down and find a private text conversation between Kali and this other girl who goes to our school, Wendy something. I remember that first day I sat with Havoc at lunch, how Vic knocked Hael’s tray over and Wendy scrambled to pick up all the garbage. Clearly, she owes Havoc for something. This must be part of her repayment plan.

Kali: I haven’t had my period in over three months.

Wendy: Have you taken a test? I could swipe a box or two from the pharmacy near my house.

Kali: Can you? I’ll catch up with you after school. Mitch has shit to do today.

Wendy sends her a thumbs up emoji, and then there’s a gap in time before the messages start up again.

Kali: They could be wrong, right?

Wendy: Girl, you took six. One could be wrong, six is pregnant, chica. Figure it out.

I lift my attention from the screen to Oscar’s face, those sharp gray eyes of his focused on me and not the iPad.

“Who was she sleeping with before Mitch?” I ask, trying to think if I saw Kali prancing around with anyone before the end of junior year. “She’s two-timing him with some asswad from Oak Valley Prep, right? Is it that guy’s baby?”

“No clue,” Vic answers instead, but I’m having a hard time looking at him for some reason. When he talks, my pulse thunders. “Kali wasn’t exactly on our radar until you gave us your list.”

“You’d think it was fucking spring or something,” Hael murmurs, his gaze faraway, jaw tense, neck tight. He’s very clearly still focused on Brittany.

The back door opens and Aaron disappears outside to give the girls their snack, a paper plate covered in apple slices and cheddar squares. He smiles as the girls bounce up to him to grab some food, not looking at all put-out at having to take care of them. Like me, this is his sole purpose in life. This is his reason for living.

My chest gets tight, and I sit down heavily in the chair behind me.

“Just because she’s pregnant,” Callum muses, playing with that knife of his, the one I borrowed from his pocket and stabbed Kali with. Maybe I should feel bad about that, but it’s hard to drum up sympathy for that girl. Or maybe my heart’s just dead. Either way, I feel nothing. That is … until Vic looks at me again, and then I feel everything. I clench my jaw. “That doesn’t mean we can’t mess with her face.”

I raise my brows at the blatant threat of violence in his voice, at odds with the beautiful way he danced. Sure, he was angry, but he wasn’t violent. But then I think about the baseball bat and the security guard, and the way he beat the ever-living crap out of Kyler.

“Scar her up a bit?” Vic says, bouncing Cal’s idea back. “That would certainly mess with her future modeling career.”

Aaron slips back in the door and comes over to join the rest of us, leaning back against the wall where Vic and I …

“She’s more than just a name on Bernadette’s list. She’s been openly and blatantly defying us. The whole school knows she started that shit in the bathroom with Billie. We have to make an example of her to the entire student body.” Aaron kicks his boot up against the wall, crossing muscular arms over his chest as he scowls.

“Scarring her face up wouldn’t do that?” Cal asks, glancing over his shoulder to where Aaron’s standing. My ex shrugs his big shoulders and then gets out a cigarette, lighting up like he’s been doing this forever. I know for a fact he never touched a cigarette until after his dad died and he joined Havoc. “Trust me: I know the cost of a good scar.” Callum runs a finger along the scar that traces his jawline and sighs.

“I’m not saying that’s not a valid idea, just that it’s not enough.” Aaron turns his green-gold eyes to the backyard, watching the girls giggle and scream as they swordfight with sticks. Ah, the resilience of children. I wonder when I lost that, the ability to let go and just have fun.