by Ruby Vincent
I nodded along. “Of course, you’re right. I’ve been thinking about that and if their families believe they have to keep silent to get them back, they’d spin a tale to the police. Wouldn’t you?”
“Well, yeah, but— But why?” she cried.
I braved one more sit-up and put my arms around her. She trembled in my hold.
“I wish I knew, Sofia,” I said softly. I nuzzled her cheek, trying to send waves of calm into my best friend. “We can go around and around this trying to understand why, but I can barely fathom that this is happening. All I know is that I trust Ezra. He overheard that strange conversation with Aiden and then Sawyer is sent on a beer run that he never comes back from. Something is wrong and I’m going to help him find out what.”
“Okay, okay. I just—” She paused and took a breath. “If you’re right, we can’t stand by and do nothing. Just promise me we won’t act without proof.”
“We?”
She swatted my hip.
“Ow,” I whined.
“Of course we. I’m on your side always, but the Sallys have been nothing but nice to us. Paisley stayed up until two in the morning last week to quiz me for my chem test. Before we accuse them of being some kind of high-heeled mob, let’s see if we can’t prove Teagan and Sawyer aren’t where they say they are.”
“Absolutely,” I agreed. “For all we know, the Sallys are as clueless to whatever is going on in the Sam house. They could be swallowing Aiden’s lies like everyone else. Too much has happened for us not to be suspicious of Aiden Connelly, but we are giving everyone else the benefit of the doubt.”
“Okay, good. What do we do now?”
“Ezra is digging up more on Teagan and Sawyer. He’s going to track down their parents and speak to them himself. He wants me—”
Sofia swatted me again.
“Us,” I corrected. “He wants us to lie low and see what else we can find out. Everyone was at the party, so someone else took Sawyer. We have to figure out who ‘they’ could be.”
She nodded. “I’ll talk to the girls and see if they know anything. I’ll be discrete of course.” Sofia jiggled my legs. “I don’t want us to be so jaded from high school that we think everyone has an ulterior motive. That said, I have your and Ezra’s back no matter what.”
I dropped a kiss on her forehead. “I love you. Do you want to be a part of my harem?”
Laughing, she shoved me back. “Shut up. Besides, I don’t share. That’s why I’m your only best friend and I’ll fight any bitch that tries to take the title.”
We fell to the floor, cracking up.
“Sofia. Val.”
I flopped onto my stomach and spotted Leighton in the doorway.
“Why are you in here?” she asked. “All the rowing machines are free. Come join us.”
I raised my hand. “Question. Are you trying to kill me?”
Leighton’s soft, throaty laugh rang out in the tiny space. “We are trying to make you the best you can be, Valentina Moon. That’s what sisters do.” She motioned for us to come. “Afterward, we’ll get tacos. My treat.”
“I’ll do anything for tacos.”
She chuckled again as she ducked out.
“She’s so nice,” Sofia said. “It’s hard to believe she’d have anything to do with this.”
“I hope none of the Sallys are involved.” I got to my feet and helped her up. “I can admit it, Sof. I want to be a Sally. I want the parties, taco dates, staying up late studying, and being a normal college student. Normal,” I repeated. “For once, can that not be too much to ask.”
She slipped her hand into mine. “The sooner we find out what happened the other night. The sooner we can get back to normal.”
EZRA
“Bye, Ezra. Bye, Rick.” Adam waved, his face beaming as his preschool teacher led him to class. “I miss you!”
The two of us waved from the Evergreen Preschool sidewalk. Matching expressions on our faces. Val was worried about putting the responsibility of fatherhood on our shoulders. She didn’t have to be. Everyone who meets this kid falls in love with him.
“Bye, Adam,” I said. “Have fun in school.”
“He looks just like Val when he smiles,” Maverick said.
“He looks just like Val period. She gave birth to her clone.”
He chuckled. “All right. We’ve unloaded the kid. Finish what you were saying. Why do we have to go to MMBC?”
“We don’t,” I corrected. “I have to go, but I can drop you on campus.”
Maverick leveled me with a steely look. With his bulk, it was even more intimidating.
“Want to stop fucking around and tell me how I can help?” he asked. “You’re my brother and Val’s my girlfriend. I’m going with you.”
“I have a brother,” I replied, fighting a smile. “Your ass looks nothing like him.”
Maverick chuckled. “You have four brothers and it’s hilarious seeing people’s faces when you say I’m one of them.”
“Let’s get a few heads scratching at the station.”
The two of us piled into the car and peeled out of the parking lot. Maverick picked up the conversation as soon as we were on the road.
“Do you think the whole frat is a part of whatever is going on, or just Aiden and the other guys that were in the basement?”
“You were at the party,” I replied. “When I came in shouting about Sawyer being taken, the brothers were freaking out. I can’t believe that all of them are that good at acting. This must be confined to Aiden and the guys he knows he can trust. Caleb was down there and another guy that sounded nervous about the whole thing. So, two guys for sure.”
“Well, those two and... Sawyer.”
“What?” I shifted away from the window to catch his look. “What are you talking about?”
“I’ve been thinking about what you heard that day. The nervous guy was freaking out because he didn’t believe they could pull off pretending Teagan didn’t exist. How could they if she was Sawyer’s girlfriend?
“But if Teagan is the Sally that dropped out to be with her mother,” Maverick said, taking his hands off the wheel to throw in air quotes. “Then Sawyer did go along with it. He told you he didn’t even know her.”
My mouth fell open but nothing came out. Holy hell. He’s right. Sawyer swore up and down he never dated a Teagan. He must have known. They took his girlfriend and he did nothing. Why?
“I can’t explain that,” I finally said. “But I can tell you he didn’t know he was going the same way as her. Otherwise, Aiden wouldn’t have needed to lure him to the van. Sawyer could have just packed a bag and driven off into the sunset. Trust me, he didn’t know he was going anywhere that night.”
“They take his girlfriend, he keeps quiet, and then they take him? And you have no idea who ‘they’ is?”
I shook my head. “Val grilled me too. I don’t have to tell you how big that campus is, Rick. Aiden and I don’t have classes together. We don’t see each other at all outside of the Sam house. And when I’m there, he doesn’t go shooting his mouth off or meet masked men on the lawn. I wouldn’t know anything at all if I didn’t end up on the wrong staircase at the right time. I don’t know much about this guy or what he’s into. That’s why we’re going to MMBC. I’m changing that.”
Maverick stopped before a red light. Taking his eyes off the road, the look he gave me belied his seriousness. “If this is what we fear it is, you need to get out of that frat, Ezra. You and Valentina. You don’t want to go up against a guy who can make people disappear.”
What could I say in reply? Maverick was right. A good reporter didn’t strike until they had all the facts. The more I collected about Aiden, the clearer it became that a strike would not end well.
We didn’t talk for the rest of the drive. Maverick rode up to the security guard who took one look at us and opened the gate. My friends and I were regular fixtures around MMBC’s news station.
MMBC. Media Maven Broadcasting Company.
I said us Lennoxes weren’t modest.
“Pull into Mom’s parking spot,” I said. “She’s at the restaurant today vetting a new chef. Brian, the lucky bastard, gets to eat everything off his menu.”
Maverick turned into the spot directly in front of the station and killed the engine. “Why didn’t Mama Melia share the love? I’m very good at vetting five-star chefs.”
“Are you kidding?” We climbed out of the car and made for the fifteen-story building. “She’s loving all this quality time with Brian. This is what it’s like not to be the favorite.”
He laughed. “Cheer up, mama’s boy. Brian never stays that long. You’ll have her all to yourself in no time.”
I snorted. “I don’t know about that. It’s been weeks and he’s showing no signs of leaving.”
“Doesn’t he have a wife and kids to get back to?”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
The two of us stepped into the lobby and locked eyes with Mom.
It was hard not to. The portrait she hung over the reception desk seemed to track everyone who stepped into the lobby.
“Glenis?”
An elderly woman with powdery cheeks and cat-eye glasses peeked over the reception desk. “Ezra, Maverick, how are you boys?”
“We’re good. We have to run upstairs for a minute.” I winked at her. “Don’t get any more gorgeous until I come back?”
“Silly boy,” she cried, cheeks pinking. She scanned us through in a flurry of giggles and hand flapping.
Maverick laughed at me under his breath. “Does Val need to be worried? When are you and Glenis making it official?”
“Mom’s third lesson: people open up to a charming smile.”
I pushed the button for the elevator. It dinged open on command.
“One of these days,” he said, “you have to tell me all of these lessons.”
“I’m afraid they’re a Lennox family secret.”
He clapped my back and propelled me into the elevator. I straightened with a wince. Maverick had yet to get his head around his strength.
“What are we doing here?” he asked. “What in this building is going to tell us about Aiden Connelly and Sawyer Burn?”
“Not what. Who.” I pressed the number for the very top floor. “Ever heard of an assignment desk editor?”
“Should I have?”
“They are the ones who track developing stories and send out reporters to cover them. Mom’s has been with her since the beginning and his—”
The elevator opened and a rush of noise flooded in and drowned me out. The floor was a flurry of activity. People charged around the cubicles, talking to coworkers, at coworkers, and over coworkers. It was amazing. In this tiny section of the world, nothing else mattered but the news.
I motioned toward the back. “This way.”
Maverick and I weaved through the glorious chaos, collecting nods, hellos, and handshakes as we went. Everyone knew who I was and I knew them.
The cubicle nearest the office at the back contained a small desk loaded down with papers, and a tall, buttoned-up guy working to sort through them.
“Hey, Mike,” I said. “I can’t wait to see pictures of the honeymoon.”
The assistant rose from his desk—and kept rising and rising and rising. Mike rivaled Maverick for height, but the similarities ended there. He was thin, gangly, and by far his best feature was his smile. A smile he couldn’t get rid of since he married his girlfriend of three years.
“Are you sure?” asked Mike. “I’ve got about three hundred.”
“Oh.” I pointed over my shoulder. “Then Maverick can check them out.”
He laughed. “You know you can go in. Nolan is inside.”
I didn’t even glance at the editor’s door. “Actually, it’s you I need to speak to. Got a minute?”
His brow inched up his forehead. “I do. What’s up?”
“Maverick, this is Michelangelo Barker,” I introduced. “He is the unseen puppet master of this place. The Lucius Malfoy to Mom’s Voldemort.”
“Do you realize you just compared your mother to a genocidal maniac?” Maverick shot back.
I ignored him. “So here it is, Mike. There is something strange going on in my fraternity, Nu Alpha Theta. Otherwise known as the Somerset Sams.”
Mike immediately reached for a notepad. “What do you need me to find out?”
“I know a little about the president, Aiden Connelly, but I need to know everything. He’s involved in a kidnapping.”
Mike’s pen stilled. “Kidnapping? Someone was kidnapped? Ezra, you need to call the police.”
“I did,” I replied. I pointed at the notepad for him to write this down. “Sawyer Burn was taken off the street Friday night. People claiming to be his parents told the cops they were responsible, but I was there. Mommy and Daddy were not in that van.”
“The hell? What’s going on?”
“That’s what I need to know. Track them down. I want to talk to them myself. And while you’re at it, look into Elizabeth Teagan Kainer.”
He scribbled faster than I spoke. “Kainer, Connelly, and Burn. Got it. I’ll do a deep background, tap into a few sources, and have something for you soon.”
“You’re the best, Mike.”
He waved me off, his mind already on the task as his fingers flashed across the keyboard.
“I thought we were seeing a news editor,” Maverick said.
We headed back to the elevator.
“Nope. A news editor’s assistant. He tracks all the little details and that’s exactly what I need right now. I can’t interrogate the brothers or Caleb without it getting back to Aiden. I want him kept in the dark while I gather information. No one is better at that than Mike.”
Someone caught my eye.
“Cyrus, you look like death warmed over,” I said. “Go home.”
Cyrus Giles, Mom’s newest, and therefore hungriest reporter, let out a laugh choked by phlegm. “I’m fine,” he said. “Besides, I’m meeting with a source from Senator Worth’s office today. I don’t have time to be sick.”
I ground to a halt. “Senator Worth? What’s the angle?”
Cyrus gestured for me to come closer. Maverick and I ducked into his cubicle.
“The senator’s been pushing this new foreign aid bill hard,” he whispered. “But my source hinted there may be more in it for him.”
Austin’s dad. What is the senator up to?
“Keep Ms. Lennox apprised of the situation,” I said. “She’s bringing him on for a segment to speak about that very bill.”
He bobbed his head. Cyrus’s red-rimmed eyes shone with eagerness. “I’m on it.”
Maverick waited until we were in the elevator to speak. “If anyone is Amelia’s Lucius Malfoy, it’s you.”
VALENTINA
“Are you sure we should go?” I asked. “If there was ever a perfect time and place to make people disappear, dragging them hours away to a ranch in the middle of nowhere fits the bill.”
Sofia shoved her makeup kit in the duffle. “Benefit of the doubt, remember?”
She had been reminding me of that a lot. A week had passed since the Close Enough party and it brought midterms with it. Lately, the Sally house was a museum of textbooks, highlighters, coffee mugs, and exhausted coeds. Everyone was too focused on their tests to worry about anything else, so my clumsy attempts at questioning were shushed.
Ezra stretched out on the couch and rested his head on my lap. “We can’t refuse to go,” he said. “But Mike will have something for us soon. Any day now.”
The three of us were in Sofia’s dorm. She was packing. I was getting in last-minute study time before our English Lit test, and Ezra was sneaking me kisses when her back was turned.
“Leighton said it will be fun,” Sofia continued. “Obstacle courses, music, hanging out, and showing the boys up. Perfect way to celebrate getting through midterms.”
“Sorry to disappoint, Sof,” Ezra spoke
up, “but if anyone is getting shown up, it’s the Sallys. One of the brothers gave it away that the big prize is a spring break cruise for the winning house. The losing house has to fundraise to pay for it.”
Sofia’s compact slipped through her fingers. “That’s the prize? Oh my gosh, that’s epic,” she gushed. “You shouldn’t have told me, Lennox. Now I’m ten thousand times more motivated.”
I shook my head. “Have you guys forgotten you can buy your own trip and a fleet of cruise ships to go with it?”
“That’s not the point,” they said at the same time.
I rolled my eyes.
A teasing grin came to Sofia’s lips. “But Ezra forgot he loses even if he wins. There’s no way you want to be trapped on a boat with your frat brothers while Valentina waves you off from the dock.”
“Damn. You’re right. Especially if Aiden is there.” He smiled up at me. “How about you and I go on our own cruise?”
My fingers tangled in his hair, delighting in the silky smoothness. “Like you have to ask.”
“The whole point is brother or sister bonding,” Sofia said. “If they’re ‘cleared from suspicion’ by then, you’ll want to come with the Sallys, Val.”
“Or you could come with us,” I replied, quickly warming to the idea. “Forget the competition. Let’s plan our own cruise and spend spring break together.”
“You want me on your floating sex vacation?” She planted her hands on her hips. “We both know you and Ezra won’t leave the suite.”
“She’s got a point,” Ezra said.
I flicked his forehead. “Then bring a date along and hole up with him,” I said to her. “By March, you’ll be in a much better place about the breakup. You’ll be ready to date. Maybe even ready to date—”
“Don’t say it.”
“—Logan.”
Sofia pinched the bridge of her nose. “You said it.”
“Who’s Logan?”
“He’s this guy in our class,” I told Ezra. “He’s super nice and fond of giving Sofia treats.”
“Is he the guy Maverick told me about? The one handing out cupcakes?”
I laughed. “You boys really tell each other everything.”