by J Bree
“What? What’s happened?” I croak.
Harley holds an envelope out to me and inside I find dozens of photos. Every single one is of me. They’ve been taken throughout the day at Hannaford and there’s even a few from the trip to Haven I took with Avery. Lance, because I’m sure it’s the work of that little fuck, has been stalking me for months. I feel sick.
“Ash and Morrison are trashing his room as we speak and looking for anything else he might have. He stays on the planner.” Harley says and I glance back up at his fiercely beautiful face. He’s hesitating. I look over at Avery.
“Harley found your underwear on him when he beat him. He was carrying it around like some sick pervert. He said he took it as extra proof for the bet but we all know there’s been dozens of pairs taken.”
Holy shit.
The creepy little fuck.
Seriously, am I some sort of magnet to disgusting rapists and stalkers?! I give myself three seconds of shock and then I get angry. I get fucking livid. I’m not a victim, I’m not some helpless girl he can covet and jerk off to.
I’m the fucking Wolf of Mounts Bay and I’m going to end him.
Harley smirks at me when he sees the fire that’s been lit behind my eyes. He watches me the same as he did when I attacked Harlow, like he’s standing witness to the dark stain inside me and admiring it.
“Give me two days to sort my uterus out and then I’ll deal with him myself.”
Harley snorts with laughter but Avery’s eyes narrow. “I can hand all of this over to the school board and get him expelled, you don’t have to be involved in this.”
I don’t need her concern, I’m not afraid of that pathetic piece of shit. I shake my head. “This sort of disrespect needs to be punished, Ave’s.”
She picks up on my wording and gives me a curt nod. He’s from the Bay and I can’t send him home without giving him a message. Harley grabs the photos back and shoves them into Avery’s drawer. I slump back and seethe.
I don’t want to call the Jackal. I’m still trying to distance myself from him so he doesn’t have the chance to manipulate me. I could call him right now and Lance would be dead by sunrise. I could kill him myself but cleanup would be near impossible without Avery pulling some serious strings. Besides, I don’t want him dead. I want him afraid. I want him watching every shadow for the rest of his life and wondering if it’s me come to kill him. Well, that settles it.
I have a plan.
I slip my earphones back into my ears and fall asleep.
When I wake up in the early hours of the morning to pee I find Harley sleeping on the floor between the two King Cal’s on the pull out bed Avery keeps under her bed. Ash is tucked up in Avery’s bed, frowning even in his sleep, and Blaise is tangled up in a blanket on the couch. I stare around at them before my bladder forces me to move.
They’re gone before I wake in the morning.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Harley refuses to let me out of his sight. He tells Avery that he’s going to sleep on the roll out bed in our room until Lance has been dealt with. I immediately make the call that Blaise sleeping in our room for three nights was torturous enough and I’ll never willingly put myself through that again. Blaise at least made jokes and played his guitar for me, Harley would sit and stare at me for hours trying to read the secrets written under my skin. So I go with my gut and I throw caution into the wind for the day.
The Jackal sends me a copy of the original photos and I gag when I realize what the photo shop has covered. He also sends me through a little background information on him but it’s nothing Avery hasn’t dug up already. No, it’s the photo that tells me exactly what I need to know and drives home the last nail in Lance’s fucking coffin.
I’m careful about my planning because I need to get him alone. Avery shrugs and jots down a list of places to consider, and it only takes a quick glance to know where it has to take place. The photography classroom is the perfect place to have a little chat with my creepy fucking stalker. It’s where he’s been developing the photos he’s been taking of me and there’s a blacklight in the classroom for creating special effects in photos. Perfect.
The problem is Harley follows me down there when I check the space out. When I confront him over it at breakfast he doesn’t even pretend to look remorseful about messing with my plans.
“I’m not doubting you’re skilled with your knife, I’m just saying any guy at this school is twice as big as you and Lance is clearly fucking deranged.”
Ash glances between the two of us and then shrugs at his cousin. “She took down Rory. Don’t baby her like we do Avery, she doesn’t need it.”
Harley stares him down. “She had the element of surprise with Rory and he had his dick out. She’s inviting Lance somewhere and I doubt she’s going to get him in such a compromising position.”
I shudder and pretend to gag. “I’ve seen more of him then I ever wanted to. If it means that much to you then you can keep watch for me but you’re not coming into the classroom. I’ve got something very specific in mind for the little fuck.”
I’m leaning against a desk when Lance staunters in, though he’s clutching at his ribs I’m sure Harley broke for him. His jaw is mottled and bruised as well and his split lip looks pretty painful but it doesn’t seem to be affecting his mood. The smile is still a mile wide on his face and he gives me this stupid little wave. I just stare at him until he stands before me.
“Changed your mind? I’m still up for the real thing, Lips.”
I clasp my hands in front of my body and take in every detail of his body, slowly dragging my eyes over him. He mistakes my interest, which is my exact intention, and he adjusts his pants suggestively.
“You ever fuck a member of the Twelve before, Lance?”
He blanches and stutters, “Wh-what?”
I lean forward. “I know you’re happy enough to fuck with a member of the Twelve but I don’t know if you’ve ever dropped your pants for one.”
He frowns and take a faltering step away from me. I nod at him, slowly, humming under my breath.
“Listen Lance, you’ve got my attention. I’ve done my research and I know all about you now. I know where you live when you’re not here. I know you grew up in the ‘burbs, you have two loving parents and a little sister. I read your application for the scholarship, it was pretty decent, not as good as mine. I know your taste for girls runs on the damaged side. You want them broken so when you’re finished with them no one will believe them when they say nice guy Lance Micheal Owens would ever stalk, beat, dehumanize, and rape a girl. I know that the money was a good incentive but that’s not why you wanted me. You thought I was just your type, a little foster girl with a tragic backstory. But Lance, I’m telling you now, you thought wrong.”
His chest rattles as he begins to wheeze. I nod again like we’ve come to an agreement.
“You’re going to drop out and go home to the bay. You’re going to keep your head down and never, ever say my name again. You’re going to take a vow of celibacy. You’re going to go to bed every night and pray to fucking god that I don’t come looking for you. You’re going to watch the shadows and remember that I’m watching you. Because I am watching you, Lance. You’ve gotten my attention and, fuck me, you have no idea how bad that really is for you.”
The stupid smile on his face is gone. I’m sure his erection is too but I don’t break eye contact for a single second. I wait until the words have sunk in.
“The mistake you made was thinking the guys who beat you are the predators.”
I flick the lights off and the black light glows. Lances eyes widen and he scrambles to get away from me, falling straight onto his ass as he gapes up at me with horror, the whispers in the Bay precede me and tell a hundred stories in the silence between us.
It's only in black light that you can see the ink that covers me. The skeletal structure I've had tattooed to my skin, the jaw opening wide etched in my cheeks with vicious teeth. Every in
ch of my body is covered in the whorls and arches that imitate the pelt. The black light shows that underneath the human facade I wear the truth of who I am.
The Wolf.
Harley smirks at me when I step out of the photography classroom and straighten my blazer.
“If I asked you what you did would you tell me?” he drawls and I smile back at him.
“Who says I even did anything? We had a chat.”
Harley snort and pulls out his phone, turning the screen so I can watch the video he’s recorded of Lance bolting from the classroom like the devil himself is on his ass. I bite my lip to stop the smug smirk from forming.
“A chat did that?”
I nod and, without thinking, tuck my arm into his like I do with Avery. It’s as close to a hug as I ever get to giving out. He looks down at our linked arms and when I blush and try to move, he grabs my hand and tugs me along with him, our fingers laced together.
“Uhm-”
“Get over it, Mounty, we’re friends now, remember?”
I sigh and let him drag me back up to the girls dorm. I drop his hand before we walk through the halls because all I need is a photo of the two of us of the ridiculous fucking gossip website to finish off this week. Avery is waiting for us, and Blaise is cackling over the video that Harley sent them all. I smile at her and then laugh when Harley starts making up stupid stories about how I did it. By the time I get out of the shower Blaise calls out to me, “Did you really slice one of his balls off and crush it under your heel?”
I stare at them, all three guys now Ash has showed up, and just quirk an eyebrow.
“Did you know there are quite a few different ways to castrate someone? Lips has talked me through four different methods. If she took her knife to him he would have lost more than a single testicle.” snipes Avery and they all turn a little green. She looks over at me with a smile and says, “Lance dropped out. Packed everything and called his parents to come get him today. Mr Trevelen questioned him and he said he doesn’t belong here. The administration tried to talk him into finishing out the year and he said he needs to leave immediately.”
I make a gesture like I’m ticking a box and say, “Off the planner you go, Mounty fuck.”
I sit next to Avery and pull out my notes for history, ready to ignore the TV and the conversations around me. She murmurs into my ear quietly, “Is he definitely out for good?”
I nod. “He understands he is being watched by the Wolf and that is not a position he is happy to find himself in. I think he actually pissed himself.”
Harley notices us whispering and looks like he wants to push me for more but then Avery flings a leg over his lap and tells him to rub her feet. He scoffs at her and then, to my absolute shock, he pulls her shoe off and gets to work. I love Avery, I really do.
But right this very second, I would bathe in her blood to take her place.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Lance’s departure from Hannaford makes the gossip website and Avery reads every comment out to me while I cook us both pancakes for breakfast. Some of the theories are disgustingly close to the truth and I know Avery is quietly stewing in her own curiosity at how I’ve actually managed to scare him. I haven’t told her about my tattoos yet, I’m saving that truth to mess with her later. For shits and giggles.
Spring break arrives and Harley decides to go home with Blaise as moral support. I think he’s hoping Blaise’s dad will run his mouth in front of him so he can deal with him. Blaise gives me his iPod before he leaves with a wink and when I listen to it I realize it’s all his new unreleased songs.
I have to take a minute to lie down.
Of course Ash decides to walk in midway through my fangirling and he snort at me. I glare back and snap, “What time are you leaving?”
“Avery didn’t tell you? Our father has been called away on business and he told us to stay here. You’re stuck with all three Beaumonts this week, Mounty.”
He watches me carefully for a reaction and I shrug, putting the earphone back into my ear and I try not to shiver lustfully at the heavenly sounds of Blaise’s crooning.
Ash tugs it back out and says, “I haven’t seen my father since you had your mysterious little midnight metting in Haven. How long should I be expecting this separation to continue?”
I sit up and find Avery staring at me from the bathroom door, a toothbrush hanging from her mouth. “If I had anything to do with your father’s busy schedule, I would think that after graduation you and Avery would both be free of him anyway and the...interference would no longer be necessary.”
Avery nods, wide eyed, and ducks back into the bathroom. Ash stares at me until he finally scoffs and walks away.
I spend the rest of the week studying and avoiding Ash. Avery does her best to keep him busy and away from me but he sleeps on the roll out bed every night, just in case his brother comes out to find us.
The day before the students return from spring break I bite the bullet and text the Jackal. I’ve put it off for too long and I’m only endangering Avery and Ash with my fear.
I’m calling in a favor.
I roll the diamond between my fingers absently while I wait for the reply. Avery watching the little stone move with something predatory in her eyes. She looks at the diamond they way I imagine I look at Harley, Blaise, and Ash and I hope to god they never notice. I think she’s honestly turned on by it. I start to feel weird about playing with it so I sigh and hold it out for her. She lunges for it like a crack addict.
My phone rings.
“What happened to calling me for help, Wolf?”
I flinch at his tone. I don’t need the memories that flood me when I hear the dark rage I have pushed the Jackal into. Avery notices and hesitates before tucking her arm in mine.
“I don’t want to be a burden to you anymore. I need to stand on my own two feet.”
Dead silence. He must be sitting in his bedroom or maybe in the vault, counting his money. I wait him out. I won’t break protocol but he might.
“Should we meet somewhere to discuss your requirements?” He spits out from his clenched teeth. Fuck. If I meet him I think I’ll be kidnapped and my body never found again.
“Over the phone is more than adequate. You have a customer and I would like him cut off. Permanently and from everything you offer.”
He grunts and then says, calmer, “Your little friend just dropped by to see me. I’ll do as you ask but he has enough to last him a few weeks already.”
I take a deep breath. “I have another favor to discuss with you. I’ll see you at the meeting in the summer.”
He pauses and then says, smooth and warm as he tries to trap me once again, “That’s your last favor little Wolf. I hope it’s worth the cost.”
I hang up because my voice wouldn’t be level if i tried to answer him. Avery leans her head on my shoulder as she rolls the diamond obsessively like one of her routines.
“What’s your next favor?”
I pluck the diamond out of her hands and roll it back into the little velvet bag, ready to send back to Mounts Bay with whatever thug the Jackal sends to collect it. “I’ve got a plan. A huge, expensive, utterly terrifying plan but I think it’s going to save Harley’s life so it’s going to be worth it.”
Avery tucks her hand into mine and says, “Those idiot boys have no idea how fiercely the Wolf of Mounts Bay guards them.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
You know that old saying ‘when it rains, it pours’? Well, some bastard was out there with a fire hose aimed right the fuck at me.
The shrill sound of Avery’s phone wakes me. She mumbles out a string of curses as she answers it and a quick check of my own phone tells me it’s 2am. We’ve barely managed to get an hour of sleep. Fuck. I flick the light on and glance over at Avery. She has her Joey face on. Fucking great. I get up and start throwing clothes on.
“We’ll be there shortly. Keep a set of eyes on him until then.” She hangs up, immediately starts a new
call, and slides out of bed with the phone pressed to her ear.
When she speaks again she looks at me. “Joey’s at the bar in Haven. Ria said he’s cooked, we’ve got to go now.”
I nod as I slip my knife into my pocket and fumble around for my Doc’s. “Ash coming?”
Avery slips an elegant, tailored coat over her lacy nightgown and instantly looks like she’s dressed to meet some high profile governor. I roll my eyes at her as she smirks at me. “Blaise and Harley are back, too. Blaise will drive us there.”
I throw my hair into a messy high pony and then we’re out the door.
The guys arrive at the stairs as we do and, surprisingly, Ash gives me a respecting nod. I’m thrown a little. Then he tucks Avery under his arm and we head out to the staff car park where Blaise’s Maserati is sitting. “Fucking rich kids.” I mumble and Avery cackles at me.
I end up in the backseat between Ash and Harley, trying my best not to touch either of them. Blaise makes the trip in half the time the schools town cars do, thank god, and we pull up outside the quaint towns only bar.
“Park around the back, Ria will let us in the service entrance. She’s lost sight of him, we need to get in and out fast.” Avery says with her phone at her ear. I think I’m going to suggest getting a bluetooth earpiece to her at some point. Her brothers ensure she’s glued to the damn thing.
Once Blaise parks we pile out and wait by the door. A heavily tattooed woman in her forties opens it and scowls at us all. “It really gonna take five o’ you to git him outta here?”
I raise my eyebrows and expect some fire to spill out of the twins but then Blaise swaggers forward and I nearly choke on my tongue at the smooth, honey tones of his voice. “When have we ever turned down the chance to spend the evening with you, Ria?”