Falls Boys

That was Hugo’s car she took. She left Rivertown in a Jeep Cherokee. I turn my head, spotting the old navy-blue vehicle way down in front of Mr. Woodson’s house.

She took the wrong car.

Guilt hits me. She took the closest escape.

But then, it hits me. Green…

“Shit,” I whisper.

It was a ribbon hanging out of her pocket. A tattered. Green. Ribbon.

I turn to Kade, pointing to his truck. “Go!”

We run, Stoli and Dirk following, all of us piling into the cab. I start the engine and take off. “She’s got Jared’s charm,” I spit out, racing around the corner.

“The thumbprint?” Kade asks.

“It was in Dylan’s room.” I hit the gas, not caring if I get a ticket. “The Rebels would love to have that fucking trophy.”

The thumbprint belongs to Dylan’s mom. She made it when she was a child, and there’s a whole story about it between Dylan’s parents. It’s special. Jared always had it on him for races, and last year, he gave it to Dylan for luck on the track. It’s worth five cents and our family’s most valuable heirloom.

“Goddammit.” I zip around a car and speed up on another. Hugo and his guys appear ahead, and I fly past, watching them in my rearview mirror.

“I don’t see her,” I pant, searching the road ahead.

But Stoli speaks up. “It’s just a piece of clay, Hawke.”

“And the only thing of value to Jared, other than his family,” Kade fires back. He looks to me. “Don’t lose her. I want it out of her dirty, thieving hand.”

Where the fuck did she go? I spin around the corner, race down the empty street, and look left and then right. Taillights catch my eye, and I jerk my head, seeing a car enter the park.

Those aren’t Mercedes taillights, but I recognize the vehicle. I hit the brakes, a screech filling the air around us.

“Ugh, there goes ten dollars’ worth of tire,” Kade grumbles.

Reversing, I turn and hit the gas, driving into Eagle Point, around the bend, and up the lane. The chain-link fence lays across the road, the back entrance of the park only for people entering on foot.

Did she do this? Is she trying to get arrested?

I drive in, the fence grinding under my tires, and survey the area, looking for any sign of her. Picnic tables and playgrounds decorate the landscape, along with a pavilion and amphitheater, and then there’s the…

I glance left, seeing the pond.

The Mercedes is there, driven to the edge of the bank that overlooks a fish pond about ten feet down. The driver’s side door hangs open.

I turn, hurrying over.

“Where is she?” Kade asks.

I pull up to the car, leaving it ru

I stop at the edge of the basin, looking down into the water below. Dylan’s parents were married here. It’s a small body of water, man-made, surrounded by a rock deck and rock walls. A small waterfall spills below me, a tiny stream leading to the water. It’s blue-green in the sunlight, but tonight it’s black.

Where the hell is she?

I head back to the Mercedes, searching the car, but there’s no sign of her.

The trunk.

That’s what Axel had said. He was worried about the trunk. I pop the lid and look inside, two black duffle bags next to each other and stuffed in the back.

I pull one out, unzipping it.

Stacks of cash sealed in Ziploc bags cover the bottom, two large, red bricks of coke on top.

Son of a bitch.

Kade peers inside. “Is that…?”

“Yep.”

“In Shelburne Falls?” he blurts out.

I shake my head. He doesn’t let himself see things he doesn’t want to see, including the fact that our nice, little town has a dark side.

I yank out the second bag, finding more money.

I don’t give a shit about the cash, but if these drugs belong to who I think they do, turning them in to the cops is useless. My gut twists, knowing what my dad would do. Especially after what happened a few years back.

All this shit does is hurt people.

I snatch up the two packages of drugs and head down the small hill, digging my pocket knife out.

Kade jumps in front of me. “Hawke, what are you doing?”

“Move.”

But I don’t wait. I veer around him, unsheathing the blade.

“Hawke!”

I stop at the fence that separates us from a hundred-foot drop off a cliff that overlooks the river with barges, the dam, and Weston on the other side.

Stabbing the package, I slice through it, white powder clouding the air, and I rip it open, holding my breath as I spill the fucking shit over the side of the cliff. The wind picks it up, and a cloud of white sweeps over the tops of the trees below, drifting south.

“No!” I hear a girl’s howl and footsteps pounding toward me.

But I already have the second one torn open, and I shake it hard, emptying the contents.

“Shit!” she cries. “Stop!”

I spin around, chucking both packages over the side and see the girl, grabbing her collar as I shout at Kade. “Go! Take the guys, and go now!”

“Hawke—”

“Just go!” I yell. “Don’t leave Dylan’s side. I’m right behind you.”

He hesitates, looking like he wants to argue, but then he twists around and runs. Stoli and Dirk follow him.

I take hold of her with both hands, backing her up to the tree behind her.

“I’m dead,” she murmurs. “What did you do?”

Reaching into her pocket, I pull out the charm and hold it up. “That’s all I wanted.”

She slams me in the chest, baring her teeth. “Don’t touch me.”

I almost laugh, because not once did it ever occur to me to touch her how she thinks I would.

But it’s not fu

I turn to leave, but someone is there. I halt, seeing Officer Reeves.

Shit.

He stands there, out of uniform and alone, approaching us. “Hawke.”

I feel the girl at my side, and my legs are suddenly too heavy.

“You okay?” he asks me.

I steel my jaw. His Challenger idles behind him, the headlights off, and he reaches into his leather jacket. He’s not on duty. I wish he was. He’s more of a problem when he’s not.

“Miss Marquez,” he says, nodding. “Quite the mess you’ve made. Are you armed today?”

I glance at her, but she stares at him, not responding. That look is in her eyes again. The fear. Just a bit, but it’s there.

Reeves’s Challenger is the car I saw entering the park, and I followed, because he was probably looking for her too. Hugo would’ve called him, because Hugo’s not the one in charge. Not ultimately.

I’ve known about Reeves and Green Street for a while. And who really runs it.

“You can go home,” he tells me. “Your parents will be worried with all the commotion over there. I’ll take it from here.” He walks toward us. “Tell your mom I said hi.”

I see the girl out of the corner of my eye, and I know…

She’s going to take punishment for this. I don’t know what I was thinking.

“I should come with you both,” I finally say. “Give my statement. I dumped some drugs I found.”

He stops, his gaze hard. “You destroyed evidence?”

Evidence. I want to laugh. No, I just cost you thousands of dollars.

But I just say, “Yes, sir.”

“No,” the girl blurts out. “He didn’t. He’s just trying to be the hero. It was me.”

I look over at her. Why is she lying? He’s going to hurt her. Or worse.