by L. E. Bross
He can’t need a watch to find someone if he already knows where she is. I rub the throbbing spot between my eyes. I don’t understand any of this and I can’t imagine what’s going through the guys' heads.
Baz and X crowd close and Baz reaches for the watch.
“Why was Wendi’s watch even in Hook’s safe?” X asks no one in particular. “Why would she give it to him when Peter has a safe here?”
Riot goes rigid next to me before he pulls away. The other two don’t notice, they’re too busy looking over the watch. Ry goes to the window and stares out into the darkness.
I follow, but stop a foot away. He needs space. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to have all this thrown at your feet. Completely out of the blue.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you. I never meant to hurt you guys.” I huff out a laugh and shake my head, staring out the same dark window. “I never even expected you guys. Peter didn’t tell me about you before he brought me here.”
He doesn’t answer, doesn’t even acknowledge I’m standing there, but I continue anyway. There are things I need to say to him and this might be the only chance I get.
“Belle is...everything to me. She’s my reason for breathing, my heart and my hope. She’s everything good and pure in this world and I love her more than anything or anyone else. When I lost her, I thought I was going to die. You lost Wendi, so you must know how it feels.” I stop and take a ragged breath in. “It was my fault they took her away the last time. I did something desperate when I aged out and my foster parents told me to leave, and they basically hid her from me after that. At that point, I would have done anything to find Belle, and when Peter made me that deal, I didn’t even need to think about it. I hate that I had to lie to you, but Peter left me little choice.”
“Where did he find you?” Ry asks, not looking at me.
“I got caught breaking into Panchard. I heard they had the ability to find anyone. It was stupid, I’m not even sure what I was expecting to do. I’m not computer savvy at all, but I was desperate. Peter came to the police station. He offered me the deal. I took it.”
Riot scrubs his hands over his head.
“So you steal the watch and he tells you where she is? Because he said he needed it to find Wendi? When he knew where she was all along?”
Frustration fills his voice and I move to his side, laying my palm against his rigid back to let him know I’m there for him.
“Why the hell wouldn’t she contact someone? Why wouldn’t she tell us she was okay?” Pain breaks free and into his words.
“I don’t think she can.” I recall the bits of conversation I heard. “I think wherever she is, they’re keeping her sedated most of the time. That’s what I heard Pet… ”
A growl rips from his throat and he spins around.
“I’m going to fucking kill him.”
He’s halfway to the door when I realize what he’s doing.
“Ry, no!” I race after him and grab his arm, but it’s like a mouse trying to stop a rampaging elephant. Riot is furious and nothing is going to stop him. “X, help me.”
X is across the room with his arms around Riot just before he reaches the door.
“Let me the fuck go, X. He’s not getting away with this.”
With X pinning Riot’s arms to his sides, I can get right in his face.
“You can’t, not yet. We don’t know where Wendi is. You don’t know why Peter did this. You can’t go charging downstairs and punch him in the face, Riot. There’s no telling what he’d do. We have to play this smart.”
Riot stands still, his chest heaving under X’s hold. Wild eyes meet mine and I can see the fury and pain swirling like a storm inside them.
I lay my hands along his flushed cheeks. “We need to figure out why he wanted the watch, where he took Wendi and how to get her home. That’s what's important right now.”
His gaze locks with mine and I try to be the beacon he needs to pull himself free from his rage. Seconds pass, but I don’t look away. He needs me and I will stand here all night until he knows I have his back.
“She’s right, man,” X says quietly. “I want to bust his door down and fuck him up just as much as you do, but we need to play this careful. Until we know what Pete is after, he can’t know we know.”
Little by little, X loosens his hold. When Riot takes a step away, X clasps him on the shoulder.
“You good?”
Ry grunts, but he nods.
“I think I might know why he wanted the watch.” Baz looks up from where he’s been examining the timepiece under the desk lamp. “There’s a chip. Almost sure it’s Panchard tech, but it’s newer. Prototype by the looks of it.”
He holds up a tiny rectangle between his fingers. It’s no bigger than the end of a pencil eraser.
“What the hell is a protochip doing in Wendi’s watch?” X asks. “Can you read it?”
“It’ll take some time. I don’t know what kind of encryption is on here. I was involved in the early stages of design, but this looks like someone took it a step further.”
“How much time?” Ry asks. What he really wants to know is how long before he can confront Peter.
“I won’t know until I get it into a reader.”
“Days? Weeks?” Ry runs a frustrated hand over his head. “Wendi’s out there drugged up somewhere while that bastard is walking around pretending he doesn’t know where the fuck she is.”
“I know that, Ry,” Baz snaps. He glares up at Riot. “You think I want her like that? Whoever put this chip in the watch did it on purpose. Whether Wendi knew about it or not, I don’t know, but Peter knew it was there. He wants whatever’s on it and was willing to blackmail Ever to get it. If we’re not careful we could lose the advantage, and right now it’s all we have.”
“Do your thing, Man,” X says. “I know you got this.”
Baz nods and hands the watch back to me.
“We have some time to come up with a solid plan.”
He stands and takes my hand. “And I know where Belle is, so you don’t have to worry about Peter holding that over your head anymore. You’re free from his blackmail now. You can do whatever you want.”
I swallow thickly when he squeezes my hand and lets go. I’m not free from all the blackmail yet.
Ry narrows his eyes in suspicion. I hate that he reads me so easily.
“The fuck aren’t you telling us now?”
Heat climbs up my neck as all three sets of eyes focus on me. Shit.
“The night I broke into the safe... Trey caught me. He has pictures. He’s been blackmailing me too.”
X throws up his hands, Baz glares but I don't think it’s directed at me, and Riot loses his shit. He’s storming toward the door again and manages to get it open before I can wrap my arms around him from behind. He all but drags me down the hall with him.
X ducks around us and gets in front of Ry who vibrates with rage under my hands.
“Move. He doesn’t get to threaten Ever and keep walking.”
X nods and crosses his arms over his chest. “I agree. You’re just not going without me.”
The murderous matching grins on their faces scares me. I look to Baz but he shrugs. With a growl of my own, I slip around the front of Riot and press my hands to his chest.
“No. Neither of you are doing anything right now. He said he’d give the pictures to his father, the sheriff, if I didn’t do what he said.”
“If that fucker thinks he’s blackmailing you for sex…” Ry’s eyes go dark. “I will fucking kill him.”
“Oh my god, no. It’s not like that. He’s making me go out with Luc. I don’t know why, other than he wants to hurt you guys.”
“I’m going to fucking hurt him instead,” Riot grits out, fisting his hands at his side.
“I’ll hold him,” X adds.
“No,” I say again. “We need to figure out a way to get the pictures. If you threaten him what do you think he’ll do? I don't know what his en
dgame is, but this is my future at stake and you’re damned well going to listen to me. And I say leave it alone.”
Riot narrows his eyes and ducks his head until we are practically nose to nose. I can feel his hot breath on my lips and try not to let it distract me. The hallway full of almost naked guys is enough to fry my brain.
“You telling us what to do now?” There’s a hint of something more burning in his eyes now. Challenge maybe? It ignites a fire in me that I didn’t know I had. I press closer.
“Damn right I am.” I punctuate my reply with a poke to his gut. “You don’t get to decide this, Riot. Not when it affects me.”
We’re locked in the stare off until X groans. “Kiss and make up or fuck already. You’re throwing off some serious angry sex vibes right now and it’s waking up Little X.”
It takes a moment to sink in, but when I realize what he said, I burst out into a fit of giggles. Ry shakes his head, but a grin teases his lips. X grins, too, and just like that the tension is gone. Just like he planned I’m sure.
“We need Trey’s phone,” Baz says like X didn’t just tell us the name of his junk. “He probably sent the pictures to himself thinking he was covering his bases, but if I have his phone I can trace them. We can destroy them and he can’t use them to blackmail Ever anymore.”
“Be happy to get that asshole’s phone,” Ry says with a little too much enthusiasm.
“Brute force won’t work this time. If his phone goes missing, he’ll probably panic and send the backup pictures to his father. No, we need to be smart about it.”
“Maybe Meri will help?” X says.
“She knows you guys and Trey don't get along. She won’t go along with it.” Plus she thinks Trey’s a nice guy, just misunderstood.
“We need someone close to him, but that doesn't leave too many people. He’s an asshat.”
I glance at X, then at Riot. There is someone but they aren’t going to like my suggestion.
“I think Luc can help us. He can get close…”
“Fuck no.” Riot glares daggers at me, all amusement from moments ago gone. “Your fake boyfriend needs to stay the fuck away from us.”
“Ry,” Baz tries to cut in. “It’s actually a solid idea.” He looks at me. “Do you think we can trust him?”
“I do,” I say.
“No,” Riot barks.
I spin around. “You don't get to decide, remember?”
This time the anger flying between us has nothing to do with pent up sexual frustration. It’s one hundred percent regular frustration.
“Peep,” he growls.
I step closer. “Don’t you Peep me, Riot. If you don’t want to help me than leave. Because this is the best plan we have.”
After a few seconds, his face goes blank.
“I’m done then. If you’re doing this then count me out. Not making nice with Luc for anyone, not even you Ever.”
He storms back down the hall and slams his door. I freeze, waiting to see if Peter comes out of his office to see what the commotion is, but everything downstairs remains quiet. I let out a shaky breath and turn to X.
“Do you know why Ry hates Luc so much?”
“Always figured he had a good reason. Would take something pretty bad to fuck up the friendship they had so I got that he didn’t want to talk about it. We got his back and that’s good enough for us.”
They certainly have the loyalty part of their brotherhood down.
But this is the best course of action and the sooner we get the pictures deleted, the sooner they can stop worrying about me and focus on finding Wendi.
They both listen to my idea and reluctantly agree. When I go back to my room, I’ve got the timepiece tucked into my pocket. That’s phase one. Phase two starts when we tell Luc the truth and hope like hell I didn’t read everything about him wrong.
Chapter Seven
Peter is in the kitchen when I walk in the next morning.
I never considered that he might have left late last night. He’s rarely around at all and this is a lucky break. I won’t have to wait to set things in motion.
My heart is in my throat as I approach him. The boys are still sleeping, I got up early enough so that I could do this alone.
“Morning,” Peter says distractedly. He pours himself a cup of coffee and goes to move around me but I stay put.
“I have something for you.”
He pins me with his stare until I see it click into place. His pupils dilate and I don’t miss the way his breath hitches. He thinks he’s won whatever game he’s been playing. I fight to keep my face neutral.
“Come to my office, please.”
He’s all business as he leads me across the entry. Inside his office he points to the chair and then closes the door behind us. I admit I’m a little nervous being alone with him, but the boys are right upstairs and I can always shout if I need them. Baz at least knows what I’m doing this morning.
“You had it all this time?”
“Just a few days. Last night...I wasn’t sure I could trust you. Our deal. But I thought about it and it’s why I did all this, to find my sister. There’s really no benefit to keeping the timepiece when we both get what we want by giving it to you. And I hope you find Wendi, the boys really need her to come home.”
A flicker of remorse passes through his eyes and I wonder if he really is sorry for what he’s doing.
“So you’ll tell them why I was here now?”
“I’m not sure that’s in their best interest. I’d rather wait until I have something concrete to tell them. Like that I found her and she’s coming home.”
I nod like that makes sense and slowly pull the timepiece from the pocket of my sweatshirt. His gaze immediately goes to it.
“My sister?” I hold my breath. He could have been lying to me this whole time, could take the watch and tell me to get out, but he doesn’t. He opens his briefcase and takes out a folder. I expected a sticky note with an address not an entire accounting of her life.
We make the exchange and I clutch the folder to my chest, trying to quiet my frantic heartbeat. Peter stares at the watch, completely tuning me out, so I back away slowly.
I wonder if he can tell the chip is missing.
“Thank you.” My voice wobbles and I swallow loudly.
He finally looks up and there’s a calmness in his eyes that wasn’t there before.
“Thank you, Ever. Everything you need is in there. Now if you’ll excuse me…” He gets up and moves to the door, the watch clasped in his fist. I skirt past him and dart up the stairs, hearing the door close behind me.
I thought the boys were still sleeping but Baz is waiting outside my door wearing a low slung pair of sleep pants. His gaze drops to the folder.
“You got it?”
“Yeah,” I whisper. My hands shake as I slide my back down the wall and sit. The weight of the past few weeks pushes down on my shoulders. It should have eased up, not gotten worse.
This is it. What I’ve been working for all this time. But what if it isn’t? I look up at Baz.
“What if it’s another dead end?”
He crouches down in front of me and cups my face. “Then we’ll keep looking. Now that I know it was Panchard tech hiding her, I can get past it if we need to. But you need to see if this lead is real first. Here, I wrote down the address I found. If they match there’s a pretty good chance it’s real.”
He’s hands me a slip of paper and I tuck it against the folder.
I have Belle in my sweaty hands.
“Do you need me to go with you?”
I push up to my feet. “Thanks, but I think I want to do it alone this time.”
“I’m here if you need me.” Baz pulls me into his arms and rests his chin on top of my head. I wind one arm around him, losing myself in all the warm bare skin.
“I’ll let you know when I get back,” I promise.
His lips are gentle on mine. It’s a sweet kiss. One filled with promise. He doesn�
�t say goodbye or good luck, but I see it in the way his gaze softens.
He heads down the hall and I duck into my room. My hand shakes when I set the folder on my bed, but I can't wait a moment longer. Inside are the answers.
My breath catches when I flip the folder open. Belle looks out at me, her blonde hair shorter but her smile brighter than I’ve ever seen it. Tears burn my eyes as I trace her face with a finger. She looks older even though it’s only been half a year.
She looks every bit the fairy princess she always wanted to be in a pale pink tutu. Whoever took the picture must have been in the audience of some kind of production.
I wasn’t there to see her on stage for the first time.
What else has she done without me?
I swipe my forearm over my wet eyes and leave the file just long enough to throw on some clothes. I don't bother reading anything else because it’s not important. All that I need is the address. I double check and sure enough, Baz really did find her.
I take her picture and the paper and leave everything else on my bed.
It’s Sunday so I don’t have to worry about missing school, not that it would stop me. Not when I’m so close. I put the address into the car’s GPS and realize that Belle is only about forty minutes away in Ashley Forest.
So damned close.
It feels like forever and too soon when the GPS tells me I’ve arrived. I park across the street, a little down from the cream-colored two-story house. It’s a little before ten so Belle should be up. She was always an early riser.
I watch the windows for any sign of life.
What if she’s not here? What if it’s like last time and Belle is gone again? A tight feeling starts in my stomach and makes its way up into my throat. I didn't eat before I left so there’s nothing in my stomach to upset it. Still, the sour taste sits on the back of my tongue.
About an hour later, the front door opens and three people come out.
My gaze immediately finds Belle behind a man and woman. I grip the door handle, ready to push out and bolt across the street to grab her. Something makes me hesitate, though, and it’s not until I look closer that I realize what it is.