Burned Ones

Chapter 26

Annabeth.
15 years old.

I stood on the driveway of the Casey house with a glare on my face that I was beginning to think was becoming permanent. My arms were crossed over my chest and my gaze was set on the entrance gates. There was a slight ache to my jaw that told me I was clenching too much but I ignored it.

The tension in my shoulders hadn't dropped since I left the Dacosta house and punching Cameron hadn't helped any. In the back of my head, I knew it wasn't Cameron's fault I had shot that guy. And I knew I would have preferred shooting the man over him shooting Alex. But that didn't stop the irrational part of me for blaming Cameron because he had been gone and bad things always happened when Cameron was gone. And I needed someone else to blame other than my dad, Lucky, or Callum because if I went and gave them a piece of my mind, they would find out I was the one who burned Lucky's car with Alex and Finn. I didn't trust their reactions to that.

A breeze picked up, shifting the keys dangling from one of my fingers. They belonged to the newly purchased car I'd bought that morning with Jay. Each one of us got paid for being in the Casey's. My cousins and I got paid when we did jobs, but then also we just got money because of who we were from our dads. Most of the time, it went into special accounts once the money was filtered through various businesses but ever since we had planned to run away, and even a little before then, I started to ask for cash. My dad hadn't been keen about it at first but I told him I didn't trust banks and wanted cash in hand as a fail safe. He liked the Plan B nature of it all and gave me half in cash each time a payment was made. And after I shot the Dacosta member, my dad gave me more money than I'd ever received. He said it was a bonus. I didn't think there should've been a bonus for killing a man but I had more than enough to drag to a dealership.

It was a sleek black car that was the fastest on the lot. The man didn't seem to think I could handle it, so Jay did most of the talking which was fine because despite the dealer's condescending attitude toward me, I got to see that smirk wipe off his face when I handed him all of the cash.

The dealer was right, though.

I nearly crashed the entire drive home. Jay had braced himself against the seat, looking like he had one foot already in his grave.

After we made it back in one piece, I spent hours training on the mat but nothing eased the tension inside of me that had stuck with me for days. I took a shower after and stayed there until the hot water started to fade. The bathroom felt like a sauna when I stepped out and wrapped a towel around myself and the steam was so thick I could barely see. I pulled some clothes on and was squeezing out the excess water in my hair when I glanced at the still steamy mirror. Right in the top corner, higher than I could reach was a hand drawn heart. Next to the heart, the word HI was visible. I narrowed my eyes at the drawing and got dressed, losing count of how many times my eyes sought it out.

Outside, footsteps came up behind me and I felt my nails dig into my arm out of annoyance. I didn't want to talk to anyone right now. Thankfully, it was just Jay. He was on the other side of my car, which was low enough that he could fold his arms on the roof and rest his head on them as he looked at me.

"Whatcha up to?" Jay asked. He was in shorts and a t-shirt that was covered in sweat so he must have been in the training room while I was in the shower.

"Nothing," I said, eyes going back to the entrance.

Other Caseys members walked around in the yard, staying out of my way. My car was parked right in the middle of one of the driveways leading to the house, which was inconvenient but I didn't care. Anyone who came in had to pass directly by me and I didn't want to miss the face that I was looking for. Earlier, someone had to drive their car half on the grass to go around me and I distinctly heard them grumbling about "fucking teenagers" when they went by.