Hate So Good: A High School Bully Romance (The Hate Series Book 2) Nina Lincoln (latest novels to read TXT) 📖

to school, but I’m hoping Colt will be there, so I convince her to let me go, promising to stay inside the building.

Finally, she agrees, and I rush to school, but Colt’s not there either, and clutching his phone like a lifeline, I hide away in the bathroom and lock myself in a stall. Where could he be? Surely, he realizes he doesn't have his phone by now?

I don’t have his password, but I see, once again, he’s got a bunch of new texts, and I scroll through them, hoping someone has said something that will lead me back to him.

There are numerous texts and missed calls from me, a few from his mother, his friends, and an unknown number.

Melania: Hey, Baby, you still there?

Rolling my eyes, I exit out of that one, refusing to look at the new picture even though my stomach is full of bile at the thought that still, still, he’s getting texts and offers from girls. Why hasn’t he told them about me?

Dirk: Where you at?

George: you find Nate yet?

Unknown: I need you, text me a time to meet

Need him for what? What the hell is going on? Am I missing something? Who the fuck needs him, and for what?

Fuck, focus Finn, there’s more important stuff going on right now, but still…

By lunch, I’m crawling out of my skin with worry. I don’t know if Colt is alive, which has me sick to my stomach and fighting back vomit, but also, there’s a niggling feeling in the back of my head over the text from the unknown number. What could it mean?

I’m tempted to go to the bookstore since I don’t know where he lives, and I have no other way of contacting him, but I promised Maggie I’d stay put.

Absently I stare at Hayden as a kernel of an idea forms - if I go with him, I won’t be alone, right?

“What?” he asks grimly, his normally smirking facade gone.

Come to think of it, he’s suspiciously missing a side piece that he’d typically be sucking face with by now. Whatever.

“Do you know where Colt lives?”

“Of course, I do,” he mutters.

“Can we go?” I ask eagerly.

“Now?”

“Yes, now.”

“Finn…”

“Hayden…”

He gives me an intimidating frown, but I ignore it. “I’m worried. What if something is wrong?”

“And what’s going to his house going to do?”

“Hayden,” I say sharply.

Rolling his eyes, he says, “I’m starting to regret knowing you.”

“Whatever,” I mutter.

*****

Neither Colt nor his family is home, which means I can’t even ask his mom or sister if they’ve seen him since last night. His truck is missing, and frustrated, I sit next to Hayden and stare at the house adjacent to the bookstore, which was a surprise but makes sense.

Unfortunately, the store is also closed.

“What now? Princess,” he says mockingly.

Ignoring him, I say absently, “Where would he be?”

“We could check the fort?”

“What fort?”

He shrugs, “It’s an abandoned train car we always called our fort. Played there as kids. Hung out and got wasted later.”

“Do you think he could be there?” I ask, hopefully.

“Haven’t been there in years,” he says.

“Oh.”

“It’s worth a shot. If he was trying to track down Nate, he might have told him to go there.”

With that, he pulls away from the curb, and silently I pray he’s there and alive because the longer he doesn’t respond to our overtures, the grimmer the reality becomes.

After an excruciating ten-minute drive through the town's back streets, Hayden pulls up to a vacant lot, but there’s nothing but unkempt grass and cracked asphalt. “Where?”

“It’s through the trees,” Hayden says.

Stepping from the car, a frisson of caution slides down my spine, followed by a trickle of sweat. This doesn’t feel right, but if it’s Nate who’s my stalker, why would I be concerned?

Does it matter? I have to find Colt, and if he’s back there somewhere, he may need my help.

Following behind Hayden grimly, I glance around wildly. I’m so fucking scared, my body is twitching, and the bile from before is pushing at my throat painfully.

When the hair on the nape of my neck stands on end, I slow down, unwilling to ignore what my body is telling me even as Hayden continues, not bothering to look back.

Glancing around, I see nothing but trees, and I can’t stay here alone, besides I’m eager to see if Colt is back there. So, with a sigh, I keep going, although I fear I’m making a big mistake.

About a hundred yards in, he slows and passes into a clearing where an old, rusted train car sits, surrounded by trees, fallen logs, and sprouts of new growth.

Before the car's open doors sits a small fire pit, hastily formed with small rocks and still containing old beer cans and garbage.

“Yo, Colt?” Hayden calls out, stepping toward the dark interior.

Stopping at the edge of the tree line, I freeze as he steps up to the car, and his entire body goes rigid. For a moment, I stand in complete terror, praying to whatever god exists that Colt is alive before silently, I step up behind him, staggering a little when he backs into me.

Over his shoulder, I see Nate sitting inside with his head hung low. He’s on his knees, sniffling quietly, and beside him, staring at me with wide empty eyes full of accusation, is Sarah.

Her limbs are splayed awkwardly, her skin a disturbing shade of blue, but most horrifically, her mouth is open on the last scream she ever uttered, with the stub of what was once her tongue bulging within.

Gasping, I cover my mouth and moan, turning away as vomit spews from my lips.

Over my shoulder, I hear Nate say, “I didn’t do it.”

Spinning back around, I wipe my sour mouth and stare into his sky-blue eyes, filled with tortured pain. “You believe me? Right, Finn? I didn’t do it.”

He shifts on his knees, and my eyes drop to his hand where he holds a knife, his hands clenching and unclenching around it methodically.

Idly, I feel sweat trickle down my spine and wonder