Black & White [Jeremiah Fisher]

twenty-seven

ROWAN

I lied.

All my dignity was thrown in the trash.

Wet, cold, barefooted, Belly, Taylor, Elena, and I huddled together, draped under a fucking boat cover as we trudged our way down this random back road.

We were all shivering and pissed off internally, but surprisingly, the only thing the four of us could do right now is laugh.

After my perfect dive into the water, Belly, Taylor, Elena, Nicole, and of course, Gigi, followed after me. The water droplets on my face blended in with my tears, but of course, Belly could tell right away I wasn't actually fine. Taylor and Elena too, but nobody dared to bring it up when Gigi confessed to all of us.

I tried my hardest to have a good time with my best friends, and thankfully, Gigi swam back to the dock to go get her towel. As she was doing so, she announced to Nicole that she received a text message from Conrad.

When she said that, my eyebrows furrowed, but the four of us stayed silent as Nicole swam over to the dock, leaving us alone.

When Nicole was out of earshot range, Belly wrapped her arms around my neck, whispering, "What Gigi said can't be true. I know it can't be Row."

I wished her convincing helped the continuous stabbing feeling in my heart, but it didn't. The only person who could settle my nerves would be Jeremiah, but unfortunately, I do not want to look him in the face for a while.

As I was about to reply back to her, I heard a car start and headlights lit up the water.

Immediately I knew what was going on.

And so did Taylor.

"Those bitches!"

So here we are now.

"Can one of you please call either Jeremiah or Conrad? Steven is not going to answer, we've already established that." Elena begs, stopping us in our tracks as she is the one in the middle.

I let out a sigh, not wanting to face Jeremiah like this if what Gigi said was true. It would be peak humiliation.

"Let me try Steven one more time." I try to fumble with my phone, gripping the boat cover with my other hand.

Next to me, Taylor shakes her head. "No use, try Conrad."

"No, don't try Conrad. I'm sure Nicole and him are hashing things out right now." Belly sighs, knowing that the encrypting text she received from him is what got us into this mess in the first place.

"Well, I'm not calling Jeremiah," I state, blankly looking over at the three of them.

We stand in silence for a second.

"As much as I want to punch that fucker in the face, I'd rather risk an awkward car ride than freezing to death from hypothermia." Elena pipes in, her lips already turning the shade of purple. I know mine are close to that shade as well, but I just can't stomach seeing him right now.

I speak too soon once again because two sets of car lights illuminated us from the back. My heart drops into my stomach, praying that it isn't some kind of weirdo trying to abduct us.

My head immediately went into action, looking either way to find some kind of clearing if we did need to take off running, but unfortunately, there was none. We were on a side road that had thick brush on either side.

I'd rather be sliced up and stabbed with thorns than with a knife.

But those thoughts slowly washed away once I heard his voice.