What Lies in the Darkness (Shadow Cove Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

him. Rylen jumps between us, though, and snakes an arm around my waist, guiding me backward.
    “Just calm down,” he says. “It’s not worth it.”
    I glare at Dixon from over Rylen’s shoulder, my chest heaving with every angry breath I take. “No, I definitely think it is.”
    “Mak, think of the rules. If you get into a fight here, you’ll get banned.” His lips quirk into a smile. “And I can’t lose my best competition. It takes all the fun out of winning.”
    I wrestle back a smile. “Fine, whatever. I won’t kick his ass today , only so I can kick your ass at next month’s competition.”
    “Good.” He removes his arm from around my waist and steps back, a pucker forming at his brow. “Wait, what about the competition in two weeks? Aren’t you entering?”
    I shake my head, trying not to sulk. “Nah, I don’t have the thousand bucks to enter.”
    Normally, competitions don’t cost so much, but this one is the yearly Shadow Cove’s Skate Charity Event, one of the biggest competitions of the year. The main market is the upper-class community who can afford the thousand bucks entry fee, which is cool and everything—charity rocks. The problem is it gives people like Dixon another reason to rub his wealth in my face and every other poor kid who dreams of competing. What I wouldn’t give to just once have the thousand dollars so I could enter and kick his spoiled brat ass in front of all his family and most of Shadow Cove.
    For a few days, I actually thought I might be able to after Kennedy offered to fork out the dough. Then her stepmom convinced her stepdad to cut off her cash flow for a while so she can, as her stepmom puts it, “learn how to take care of herself.” This coming from a woman who married for money, something she admitted once when she had a few too many glasses of wine. Fortunately for her, Mr. Wellingford doesn’t give a shit and is only looking for a trophy wife.
    “Are you sure it costs that much to enter? I thought it was less,” Rylen says. “I mean, my mom paid my entry fee, so I’m not positive, but I can double-check.”
    “I’m sure it costs that much.” I sidestep around him and head for the half-pipe. “Thanks for stopping me from getting myself banned.”
    “Anytime,” he calls after me.
    Dixon shoots Rylen a nasty look before sidestepping and blocking my way. “So, you’re not making it to the charity competition. That’s too bad. I’d say maybe you could ask your dad to lend you the thousand bucks, but you’d actually have to be able to talk to him to do that.”
    I count underneath my breath, doing my best to ignore his jabs, and brush by him with my chin held high.
    “Or maybe I could ask my dad to hire your mom,” he hollers after me. “From what I hear, she’s been selling herself on the corner to make some extra cash.”
    That isn’t true at all. My mom works double shifts at the hospital and doesn’t have a single hour to spare. Plus, we’re pretty much as broke as we’ve always been.
    I spin around, walking backward to smile haughtily at Dixon. “You don’t have to ask him to do that. He already hired her last week. And from what I hear, the dude’s got a serious case of erectile dysfunction. I hope that’s not hereditary. From the rumors I hear in the locker room, I think it might be.”
    He glares at me, his hands curling into fists. “Lia needs to shut her stupid mouth and stop telling fucking lies.”
    I tap my finger against my lips. “Who said it was Lia?”
    He looks like he wants to throttle me as he opens his mouth to say who knows what. I don’t stick around to listen. I spin on my heels, drop the skateboard, and skate off toward the closest ramp.
    I spend the next hour hitting the half-pipes and grinding the rails with my earbuds in and some music cranked up. The longer I skate, the deeper I get in the zone and the more the outside world fades away. I feel like the only person in the world, even with at least twenty