“Before They Burn Us”

Summer in the Outer Banks was like a fucking theater—the sun was beating down like a spotlight, sand in your shoes, salt on your skin, and people were acting out their parts. Pogues vs. Kooks, poverty vs. luxury, loyalty vs. everything else. And then Haillie showed up.

She wasn’t from Figure Eight. She wasn’t even from the Outer Banks. She rode in on a bike that sounded like a Trojan horse and smelled like fire after a storm. She had a scar on her lip, a tattoo on the back of her neck, and a look that Kiara looked away from. Pope grimaced. John B didn’t say anything. JJ had fallen in love.

“Who the fuck are you?” he asked, as if he couldn’t believe this was actually happening.

“Your worst decision,” she replied with a smile, and he knew right then that he was doomed.

Two weeks later, Haillie was living with them at the Chateau, sleeping in JJ’s bed, smoking more than he did, drinking faster, and having more scars than the rest of the Pogues combined.

But then strange things started happening.

1. Someone broke into the Routledges’ warehouse and left a message: “She’ll destroy you.”

2. Pope found an old newspaper article—fire, three missing, sole survivor: Haillie Reyes.