Mason POV
"Are you serious?" I asked in disbelief.
"As a heart attack." Chris nodded. "They aren't canceling it."
"We are going, right?" Jax asked, scrolling through his phone.
"Yes." I nodded. "I'm not missing an opportunity to get drunk. I need it after the week I've been having."
"What is wrong with your week?" Jax asked, looking from his phone to me.
I raised my eyebrow. "You are kidding, right?"
"Oh, you mean your sister being in our group made your week tough?" Jax smirked. "I think that it is a good thing."
I rolled my eyes and sighed. "I don't."
"Keep lying to yourself, dude." Jax said, looking back at his phone. "I'm looking forward to seeing how long you will last like this."
I clenched my fists and glared at him. He really wants me to beat the shit out of him. I don't really know why I haven't done it yet. He's been getting on my nerves a lot lately. He thinks that he knows what I'm feeling and what I want. He couldn't be more wrong.
"Do you think Emma and Hazel will go to the party on Friday?" Chris asked.
My head snapped toward him. Of course not. She is not going. I'm not watching dudes stare at her the whole night. I'm not letting her get kidnapped and killed. She is staying here where it's safe.
"She is not going." I said through my teeth. "I'm not letting that happen."
"And why is that?" Jax asked, looking up from his phone. "Is it because you care?"
I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists. I narrowed my eyes at Jax, but I stayed silent. I couldn't speak. I wanted to say that I didn't care, but the words got stuck in my throat.
"Or maybe you don't?" Jax continued, taunting me. "Maybe you wouldn't feel anything if she was the one found dead in the forest?"
That's fucking it!
I jumped up and wanted to launch myself at him, but Chris grabbed me, locking his arms around my shoulders.
"What the fuck, Jax?!" Chris screamed at him. "Do you want him to kill you?!"
My chest was falling up and down rapidly. I wanted to grab Jax by the neck and squeeze until his eyes popped out.
The image of her lying on the ground dead was so real that I wanted to run to her to make sure that she was here, alive and I only imagined it.
"I want him to admit that he fucking cares about her!" Jax screamed back. "He is my best fucking friend and he is only hurting himself!"
Chris' grip on my shoulders tightened because I started trashing. I will beat the shit out of Jax!
"There are other ways of doing that, Jax!" Chris shouted, tightening his grip on me again. "You are only making it worse!"
Jax sighed and looked at me. "I am sorry, Mason. I shouldn't have said that. I just don't want to see you hurt, okay? I don't want to see her hurt. She seems like a nice girl. You should talk to her. I don't know what happened, but it could all be just a giant misunderstanding."
I clenched my fists and took a deep breath.
"If I let you go, will you kill him?" Chris asked me.
I shook my head, and Chris let go of me.
"You have no fucking idea what you are talking about, Jax." I said through my teeth. "You don't know why I'm angry at her. You don't know if she is a nice girl. You don't know her. Stop assuming things."
"So you don't care?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "You are right, Mason. I don't know her. But I know you and I know when you are bullshitting me. And you have been doing that ever since she came here."
I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth. I need to get away from here.
I bolted toward the door without a word.
"Where are you going?" Chris shouted after me.
"Out!" I shouted back, practically running away from my room.
I slammed the door shut and walked away angry. I didn't know where I was going. I needed a drink, but I knew alcohol would only make me feel worse.
Was Jax right? Should I talk to her? Was there an explanation? I didn't think it was a misunderstanding. My dad wouldn't tell me that my own twin didn't want to see me or talk to me if he wasn't one hundred percent sure of it.
It broke me. She broke me. I loved her more than anything in this world. She was my best friend and the only person I could count on. I would have done anything for her.
I don't know what I did to make her not want to see me or hear from me. Was she mad that I stayed with dad? But that wasn't my choice. I would have gone with her. I would have kept her with me. But it wasn't up to me.
I was walking aimlessly. My fists were clenched tight and my chest kept rising and falling rapidly. I walked past a few people who looked at me wide-eyed and got out of my way immediately.
I guess I looked the way I felt. Pissed the fuck off.
I was walking toward the library when I saw her.
She was holding a book in her hand, reading, and not paying attention to her surroundings.
She was alone.
Was she fucking crazy?!
There was a murderer on the loose, and she was walking around all alone.
My anger rose even higher.
As soon as I got close enough, I grabbed her arm and pulled her further into the hallway where there were fewer people walking around.
I heard her gasp as she stumbled behind me.
I let her arm go and looked at her. She was staring at me wide-eyed, with her book pressed to her chest. She took a step back from me and my heart clenched.
Did she think I would hurt her?
"What the fuck are you doing?" I said, gritting my teeth.
She furrowed her eyebrows and looked down at the book in her hands.
"I was in the library." she mumbled quietly.
"Alone?!" I said, trying not to shout. "Are you insane?! There is a murderer on the loose!"
She looked up at me, shocked. I could see that she wanted to say something, but she was too stunned to speak.
"Where the fuck is Hazel?" I asked her, narrowing my eyes.
Was she meeting someone else? Was it fucking Oliver? Or did she really just go to the library?
"In our room." she said quietly.
"Were you meeting someone?" I asked, taking a step toward her.
"No." she shook her head. "I was just going to the library."
I clenched my fists and took a deep breath. She looked so small and confused and all I wanted to do was hug her...
Shit.
"You are not going to the party on Friday." I said, trying to distract myself.
She furrowed her eyebrows. "Is there still going to be a party?"
"Yes." I said. "And you won't be going."
She looked confused. To be honest, I was too. A girl was killed, but the party was still being held at the lake. I'm sure that the teachers or the police are going to hear about it and stop it at some point, but the kids weren't afraid.
She opened her mouth to speak when we were interrupted by loud gasps around us.
People were staring at their phones in disbelief. Murmurs started getting louder.
"What the fuck is going on?" I asked one of the girls walking past us.
She looked up from her phone. Her eyes were wide and filled with fear.
"Another girl went missing." she said quietly. "She is from our school."
My hand instinctively grabbed Emma's arm and I pulled her to my chest.
Shit.