Axel sulked in the passenger seat without as a glance in my direction. I'd had to pry his car keys from between his fingers once he'd finished them from his pocket. Though he seemed to have sobered up a good bit during our conversation on the porch, there was no way I was letting him risk ours, or someone else's life, by driving under the influence. Oliver had disappeared as soon as I'd pulled away from the house, promising to return, but it'd been close to twenty minutes of driving in the darkness, the break lights flashing on Marcus' car and the dim headlights of Axel's the only source.
"There's no way." I finally whispered my thoughts out loud. "King wouldn't—"
The words trailed into the tense air between Axel and me for a while as I lost myself in my head again.
I knew King. I'd known him for ten years; the guy may be a poser and people pleaser, but he wasn't a murderer. Sure, he had his issues with Oliver, but not enough to kill him, surely.
"Wouldn't what?" Axel's husky voice filled the car as his eyes flickered from the dark road stretching on ahead, to me. "Are you sure you really know the guy?"
There was an almost condescending tone in his voice as he spoke, and it took everything in me not to pull the car on to the side of the road and cross my arms like a petty child until he stopped treating me like one. Unnerved by the question, I diverted the subject momentarily.
"Oliver grabbed the cup at the party."
"What?"
I shot him a quick look. "The beer? The one that I apparently dumped on you and the girl you were planning on getting it on with over the island in the kitchen? I watched Oliver grab it and splash it on you guys. Then I blinked and it was me in front of you."
"You grabbed the cup, Ophelia." Axel denied my previous comment with a snicker. "You walked into the kitchen, froze, then stalked across the room and grabbed the cup. Then you threw it on us."
That wasn't what happened, but I knew we'd spend all night arguing over it, so I dropped the subject for now. To my relief, Axel leaned forward and broke the silence before it could become unbearable.
"They're pulling off the interstate." he stated. "Get ready to turn left."
"Yes, Dad." I grumbled.
He wasn't amused by the comment, or maybe it was the realization of where my best friend was driving the lot of his friends too that'd altered his mood further. "Shit."
"What?" I asked, confused.
"They're heading for the lake."
I frowned, momentarily lost in thought as I tried to piece together what could possibly be concerning about that.
"That's the only thing this far out." Axel explained, taking my confused look as an indication I hadn't heard him the first time. "I've been out here hundreds of times."
Just as I contemplated the idea of turning around, Oliver nearly gave me a heart attack as he poked his head between the seats and said, "He's right. They're skinny dipping."
Once I'd slowed my heart rate, my nose started to scrunch at the thought of seeing King or Marcus naked.
"What?" Axel questioned, eyebrows raised as he took in my new expression.
"Oliver said you're right." I feigned a gag. "He says they're planning on skinny dipping."
Axel sighed. "Of course they are."
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat and caught Oliver's eyes in the rearview. "Do you remember anything? I'd rather not have to see all of my best friend or Marcus tonight, thanks."
Crazily enough, even after all I'd seen, the thought of staring at a penis terrified me.
Oliver threw himself back against the seat with a quick shake of his head, but the squeaking echoed through the car under his weight and Axel swiveled around at lightening speed to stare. Oliver, thinking his brother could see him, leaned a little forward and whispered, "Ax?"
Axel didn't respond. He just stared at the backseat in surprise.
I pulled onto the side of the road across the street from the lake and turned the car off, relieved as the light dimmed then disappeared entirely. There was no way King would notice us out here now.
"What's the plan?" I inquired after a few minutes of silence.
Oliver was shrugging, his eyes trained on his older brother, but Axel was tense in the seat beside me, his eyes on his bruised knuckles.
"I mean, if this is where they came, then maybe. . ." Axel trailed off, and though he doesn't say it, there was no need to elaborate.
The temperature dropped in the car as I shook my head in denial. There's no way King did this.
Oliver, seeing my conflicted look, piped in, "I remember trees and dirt. They're just little fragments, but maybe I'm in the woods?"
I stared past Axel and to the dark, dead trees barely visible from afar, then dropped my hand to my bare stomach. "There's no way in hell I'm going out there in this."
Axel sighed dramatically before unbuckling his seatbelt and shrugging out of his jacket, once it was completely off he tossed it on my lap. I pinched it between my index finger and thumb and groaned halfheartedly. "It smells like stale cigarette smoke."
"I'll take it back if you have an issue with it."
I fought the impulsive of flipping him off and climbed out, pressing the door shut gently behind me despite the fact that I wanted to slam it in his face. I wasn't going to risk us getting caught because I was being a petty child.
The temperature hadn't only dropped in the car, but outside as well. The minute I walked around the front of the car to meet Axel at his open door, the cold, brisk October air started to nip at every inch of my very exposed body. I unfolded the Levi jacket I'd folded over my arm, and shut my eyes once I realized I still had the crappy wings on my back.
"Um, Axel," I mumbled, shifting on my feet beside him, "can you get the wings? Or at least one side? I can do the other."
He didn't respond, but closed the small gap between us. The moment his fingertips brushed the skin near the strap of the wings, goosebumps erupted across every inch of my body. I wished to blame it on his hands being cold, but they weren't. Maybe I could pass it for a ghost being near. Yeah, that'd work.
"He wants to take the bra off too." Oliver commented from where he leaned into his brother's car, suggestively wiggling his eyebrows. "And I don't think you'd stop him."
"Shut up, Oliver." I growled, tearing the wings from Axel once they were off and shoving them into the car. He shut the door behind me while I slipped my arms into his jacket, my anger dissipating once I saw how big it was on me. It nearly swallowed my entire body whole.
The boys were on my flanks as we crossed the street to the lake, or more specifically, the mostly dead forestry to the left of it. The closer we got, the more I heard King and Marcus, and even an occasional girlish squeal out of Serena.
"You know," I decided to break the silence, "King would string me up by my feet if he knew I was out here right now."
Oliver responded, "For all we know, he did string me up by mine and drive a knife through my chest or put a bullet through my skull."at the same time his brother muttered a quiet, "Why?"
I decided to pretend I hadn't heard Oliver and answered his brother instead.
"He thinks I'm antisocial and when I decide to be social I always get myself into shit."
When he didn't say anything, I halted and spun to face him. He was smirking, blue eyes bright as he stared down at me.
"You agree!"
"I mean, since I've known you it's been drama and bat shit crazy stuff like being able to see dead people, so yeah, Ophelia. I think I'll have to side with your friend on this one."
I turned to Oliver for support, but he wasn't even looking in our direction anymore, but behind us, head tilted to one side. Then, so rashly, he shoved me back. Unfortunately for everyone, Oliver underestimated his strength and his blow to my chest not only knocked the air from my lungs but sent me into his brother and into a tree hidden in the shadows that weren't illuminated by the moon. When I lifted my head again, trying to get a full breath out, it hitched in my throat. I was flush against Axel, hands wrapped around his biceps to keep myself upright, his tangled around my waist. We were so close I was positive we were breathing the same air, and I could feel the speeding of his heart when I moved one of my hands from his bicep to his chest.
"They're about to pass." Oliver's voice severed the sexual tension between his older brother and me. "I don't know who it is but you two need to hide."
I only had to get one good look at Oliver to know this was serious. I grasped Axel's wrist and pulled him behind me, ducking behind a bush a few feet away. What I hadn't anticipated was how close he'd have to be to me in order to keep the dead branches from jabbing him in the back. I could feel the warmth of his body against my back, but couldn't tell him to try and move, as the sound of branches snapping and quiet chatter filled the quiet night.
"Why do you even care so much?" I recognized that voice and my body immediately grew rigid.
King.
"I thought she'd want me by now." Marcus. "Most chicks like it when we pretend not to give a shit, you know that bro."
I felt bile rise in my throat hearing the words, but King's words sent it back down. "Well, Fai's not like most chicks, man. She's rough around the edges. Like. . . real rough, but she's worth it. She's one of the best people I know."
There's a snicker-like sound out of Marcus before he laughs and says, "I'm not looking to get to know her, dude. I'm looking for a good lay. She's feisty. I bet she's great in bed."
I nearly threw up in my mouth at that and desperately hoped my best friend would jump to my defense, but instead I heard a zipper unzip and I quickly averted my gaze to Axel behind me, shaking my head. He was just as tense as I was, but like me, had looked away even though it was dark.
Neither of us were in any mood to see penis' tonight.
One their zippers had been pulled up, King's voice broke through the quiet chirp of crickets, a warning that I was sure Marcus wouldn't take credence in laced through every word. "I think you should just back off, man. She's not looking for that kind of shit."
"I'll get her eventually." were Marcus' parting words.
Over my dead body, I thought to myself, but the though held much more significance given the reason we were here and I shuddered as I slowly rose.
"You good?" Axel questioned once he'd joined me, staring after the way the boys had went, their quiet bickering no longer audible.
I shrugged a shoulder. "I guess. Just tasting my lunch again."
There was a hardness, a warning and bitterness with far more malice than King's, as Axel touched my forearm and whispered, "If he touches you, let me know, okay? I'll make it so the next time you see him he's no longer breathing."