Pepper disappeared after the game. One minute, she was telling Zoe something, and Zoe was nodding, and the next she was gone. We were all standing around, deciding where to go, and then we were leaving, but Zoe didn’t ask us to wait for Pepper. It wasn’t a quick trip to the restroom, and I was pretty sure I already had the answer to her whereabouts without asking. All of her friends were shooting me hesitant glances, and I was practically certain she had plans with Clayton, and they were nervous about how I was dealing with that.
Well, the only reason I wasn’t flipping my shit is I’d heard, from Zoe via Wes, that Pepper was not super into it. I was mostly annoyed with Clayton, who clearly wasn’t reading her right, but then again, maybe Pepper was being too nice, which wouldn’t surprise me.
It wasn’t until we left the field and I walked right into ghosts from my past that I was actually grateful she wasn’t here with us. Wolfe, Rex and an equally sketchy-looking dude were standing right in front of us, and Wes stopped in his tracks, having spotted them too. I knew they’d moved to Denver a couple of years ago, but I hadn’t seen them. Wes and I kept track of them for a while after they messed with Pepper as a way to get back at us for not connecting them up with the gang who sold us drugs. It was hard to believe that guy who sold drugs and dealt with gangs and dudes like Wolfe and Rex was me. It was like I shed him a long time ago but he was still lingering in the shadows, taunting me. I had made so many mistakes.
I glanced at Wes, and I could tell he was studying them, trying to decide if their presence was a coincidence. When they finally noticed us, there wasn’t a whole lot of surprise in their expressions. Our friends were getting restless beside us, but they seemed to notice at the same moment that there was a reason we’d stopped, and it wasn’t a good one.
Wolfe lifted his lips, almost like he wanted to laugh at me, and it made my blood go hot. I was the one with the upper hand here, not him. Narrowing my eyes, I tried to convey the threat without words. I had information on him that could put him away for years. Deciding that I needed to know why he was here, and if there was any reason for alarm bells, I stepped forward, and I could feel Wes at my side a moment later. We had plenty of guys with us right now, though I would’ve rather not gone there tonight.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, my voice calm and confident. I wasn’t afraid of these guys, I just needed to know their agenda.
Wolfe tilted his head to the side and looked at the group behind me. He spread his hands. “Here for the same reason you are.”
“Really?” There was no emotion in my voice, but the question conveyed I didn’t trust this guy for a second.
“It’s been a long time, Wilder. We used to be buddies. I’m over our dispute. We have our own thing going on down here, and your business is old news.” By business, he meant my dealing connections. I hadn’t kept tabs on Wolfe recently, but last I knew he was still involved in that world, trying to climb the ranks in a bigger city. He’d gotten a little smarter, but if he was still using, he wouldn’t last much longer.
Rex shifted beside Wolfe, and the other guy with them was glancing between me, Wes and Wolfe uneasily. He didn’t know who we were, and that told me enough. Wolfe hadn’t prepped his sidekick about me, and Rex looked like he wasn’t expecting to see us, so this wasn’t a planned encounter.
Wesley drew the same conclusion, and when I gave him an approving nod, he reminded Wolfe, “It’s a good thing you aren’t causing us any trouble, because I’ve been dying to unload the evidence I’ve got sitting around on you.”
We walked away then, and as we did the reasons why Wolfe was dangerous rested heavily on my shoulders. He had terrified Pepper one night, forcing her with him and other guys to a pool house during a house party, until we’d intervened, leaving all of us to wonder just how far he had been planning to go. And the video he sent, which had threatened to tear Pepper and me apart before we’d barely had a chance, still made me feel sick. But we’d overcome all that, so why was Wolfe’s appearance making my heart race and my adrenaline pump? This was how I felt before a game, when my body was geared up for a challenge. Wolfe hadn’t challenged us, and I didn’t understand why I was reacting like this.
Was the unease that settled in my gut simply from the reminder of my past mistakes, or was there something more? I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing something.