I flip him the bird. “You already pissed on me, and Bry knows where we stand, so lose the caveman act unless you plan to sleep alone for the rest of your life.”
He stalks toward me, leaning down, caging me in with his arms. “I would like to see you try.”
“Okay, enough.” Theo grabs the back of Saint’s shirt, and I gawk at him. “Lo is right. We’re deep in shit, and we don’t have time for this. She’s yours. You don’t need to remind her and everyone else of that every second of every day.”
Saint straightens up, whirling around on Theo, ready to pummel him into yesterday. I jump up, grabbing Saint’s face, and I kiss him hard, shoving my tongue in his mouth and shutting him the fuck up. He doesn’t let me down, wrapping his arms around me and kissing me back with the same fervor. After a couple minutes, I pull back, cupping his cheek and staring into his eyes. “Okay?”
He nods, and I drop back onto the couch beside Bry. Saint perches his butt on the armchair beside me. “You’re up first.” He gestures at Bry. “What are your initiation tasks?”
Bry crosses one leg over his knee, leaning back with zero evidence of discomfort. The guy wasn’t the brute force in Dar’s operation for nothing. It takes a lot to rattle him. “It wasn’t a surprise. Find the rat. Eliminate the rat. Help the Saints take The Arrows down.”
“How fast can you find the informant?” Saint asks, and I’m glad he’s lost the jealousy even though I’m sure it’s only temporary.
“It will take time,” Bry admits, scrubbing a hand over his prickly jawline. “And I’ll need to lean on Dar.”
Galen glances at Saint, and Saint gives him a curt nod. “That might be easier than you expect,” Galen says. “He believes our deal is back on and it hinges on him identifying our traitor.”
Bry smirks. “That’s helpful, and I’ll watch him, see if he intends to screw you over.”
I bark out a laugh. “Of course, he’s gonna screw him over. That’s what Dar does.”
I clear my throat, preparing to fess up. I’ve given this a lot of thought in the past week, and I can’t keep the details of my deal with Darrow off the table any longer. There are too many moving pieces, and I don’t trust that asshole not to rat me out to Galen, anyway.
Keeping shit from one another almost killed me last time.
Diesel will probably freak when he finds out, because he doesn’t trust the Saints at all, but I’ll deal with him when the time comes.
“There is something I need to tell you.” All eyes swing to me. “My escape didn’t go down quite how I explained it.”
Saint drills a hole in the side of my head, and his jaw locks up. Caz cusses, Galen sits up straighter, and Theo has his serious face on. Only Bry looks amused. “I know how to play Dar,” I say, ignoring the hostile vibes emanating from Saint. “So, I manipulated him into letting me go.”
“Stabbing him was to cover your tracks?” Theo asks.
“No, that was pure enjoyment.” Caz chuckles, and Bry grins. Saint continues boring holes in my head. “It only occurred to me after I plunged the knife in his thigh that it gave him the alibi he needed to explain my escape.”
“What did you agree to?” Saint asks, already racing ahead of the conversation.
“I agreed to spy for him and provide intel he could use to take The Sainthood down.”
“Were you planning on delivering?” Bry asks.
“Dude,” Caz intervenes. “Of course, she wasn’t. It was all part of the plan.”
I blow Caz a kiss, loving how confident he is in my motives and how easily and quickly he jumped to my defense. “Right. Playing both sides against one another feeds into our overall agenda.”
Saint loudly clears his throat, sending a subtle glance in Bry’s direction. And I get it. I don’t trust him yet either. He must earn our honesty.
“Let’s park that,” Saint says, and Bry stares at him. “What?” Saint snaps.
“You don’t trust me. I respect that.”
Saint stares at him for a few beats before focusing on me. “What tasks were you set?”
I flick my gaze at Caz. “You might need to sit on him for this.”
For once, Caz isn’t laughing. “We’re expecting the worst. Just tell us.”
“I’m to help you get control of the drug supply in Lowell Academy, show up at HQ once a month to be gang-raped, and kill Commissioner Leydon,” I reply in a level tone. No point in hysterics.
Saint explodes, as predicted, stomping around the basement, throwing shit at the walls, pacing, and cursing while we wait him out.
“Fuck,” Galen murmurs. “That is messed up.”
“No shit, Sherlock.” Saint fumes, stalking to the couch and dropping beside me. He hauls me into his lap, circling his arms around my waist and holding me tight. He leans his chin on my shoulder, keeping me close, cocooning me in his protective embrace.
A messy ball of emotion clogs my throat as warmth spreads across my chest. I feel safe in his arms. Cherished and protected. And it’s an unfamiliar feeling even though Dad and Diesel have gone to great lengths to keep me safe.
This feels different, and in this moment, I realize there is nothing I can do to shield my heart from this onslaught.
The guys have me, and my heart is already invested.
There’s no way I can get out of this now without getting hurt.
“You can’t murder the fucking commissioner,” Bry says, looking genuinely shocked.
“Do I look dumb to you?” I ask, glaring at him, because that is a fucking given.
“I say we slaughter the board in their sleep,” Caz suggests, and Saint whips his head up, warning him with his eyes. Then, he stares at Bry. “Get out.”
“I can help. I—”
“Get the fuck out,” Saint says, whipping his gun out and leveling it at Bry. “I don’t care if you’re one of us.”
Bry smirks, grabbing the gun and moving it to his brow. “Go ahead, asshole. Do it.”
I wrap my hand around the gun. “No one else is getting shot today.” I turn my head, eyeballing Saint. “Put it away. Bry is leaving.” Slowly, Saint pulls back. I stand. “I’ll show you out.” Saint opens his mouth to protest, but I clamp my hand over his lips. “Nope. Not listening to it. Switch your brain back on, and be ready for a serious conversation when I return.”
I escort Bry outside and lean against the side of his truck. “We want to trust you, but it’ll take time.”
“It’s smart, Lo, and what I would do. I’ve defected, and I need to prove my worth. I intend to follow through as fast as I can.”
“That would be wise.” I give him a quick hug. “Later, dude.”
The air is heavy when I return, but Saint seems to have calmed down. I sit beside him, placing my hand on his knee. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think he has any loyalty to The Arrows anymore.”
“I agree,” Theo says.
“I don’t think he has any loyalty to the Saints either,” Galen supplies.
“I don’t disagree,” I say, “but our loyalty could be questioned too, for various reasons.”
My words linger in the air, and no one can deny the truth.
“That doesn’t mean we should trust him,” Saint adds, circling his arm around my shoulders.
“Agreed, but I know Bry a little, and I think he’ll deliver soon. Then, we can decide how much we tell him or whether we tell him anything at all.”
“Have you found out anything on Taylor Tamlin yet?” Saint asks Theo.
“I’m working on it, but I’ll hopefully have something later.”
“The Bulls seem well connected,” I admit.
“Better connected than we realized,” Saint says.
“Parker was the link between Finn and The Bulls,” Theo confirms. “We have footage of her entering their clubhouse a couple nights after we handed her ass to Ruben.”
“Do you think Ruben already knew the truth that night?”
Saint toys with the ends of my hair. “None of us w
ould’ve walked out of there alive that night if he knew.”
I pull at my lips. “It makes little sense. If someone was watching the night I killed Luke McKenzie, why didn’t they pass that tape off to Ruben immediately?”
Theo shrugs. “Who knows? I’m struggling to piece this all together.”
“It’s a fucking shitshow,” Galen agrees.
“One you added to,” I remind him, but my chastisement lacks bite because he knows what he’s done and snapping at him continuously won’t help anyone. While I’m still pissed over his betrayal, reminding him every five minutes only hurts me too. I’m trying to put it behind me, but it’s difficult.
“I know.” His face and his voice are resigned.
“What are we going to do about The Bulls? They won’t stop until I’m dead.”
“It’s kill or be killed,” Saint agrees. “Which is why we’re taking them down.” He explains that Sinner is on board.
“How is it going down?” I ask.
“Boy wonder has tracked down all the key players within the organization, and we’ll eliminate them in a targeted attack,” Saint says.
“I’m still finalizing the details,” Theo says, “but we’ll hit each of them at the same time, wiping the leadership out in one fell swoop.”
“Will that be enough? Won’t the other members seek revenge?”
“They’ll be too busy scrambling to maintain their business,” Saint says, grinning. “Because we already have men infiltrating their ranks, and we’ll start picking off towns and taking ownership.”
“They’ll be too busy fighting to save their income to care,” Galen says.
“Is it really that easy to take over their turf?”
“It is,” Saint says. “I don’t know what Ruben is thinking. He knows he owns his turf because we’ve let him have it. We’ve coexisted peacefully for years because there was a mutual understanding.”
“And now, he’s coming after Lo over a piece of shit like McKenzie,” Caz shakes his head, lighting a cigarette.
I jump up, grabbing it and stomping it out with my foot. “You’re smoking way too much. You’re going cold turkey.”
“Now, princess. You—”
I shut him up with a dark look. “You might not care about your lungs, but I do, and we’re not done discussing this.” He pins me with a moody pout, but underneath it, I think he secretly likes that I care. “So, when the new leadership realizes you’re taking control of their territory, you’ll do a deal to stop them from retaliating in exchange for the return of their turf, and the threat goes away,” I surmise.
Saint tweaks my nose. “Top marks, princess.”
I swat his hand away. “That’s a good plan. When do we execute?”
“Hopefully, next week. We want our ducks in a row first. Ensure we’ve covered all bases,” Saint says.
“Of course. That’s smart.” I tap my fingers off my chin.
“What?” Saint asks.
“There’s something we’re missing.” My gaze dances between him and Theo. “What if Sinner isn’t the only one to realize women can play a role?”
“You think Taylor is involved officially?” Theo asks.
“She’s got to be. She relayed the info to Corr, and that must have come from within the ranks. And if she was sniffing around The Arrows back in April, maybe, there was a reason for that too.”
“I think you’re right,” Saint says, looking at Theo. “Which is why we need that intel on Taylor ASAP.”
“You’ll have it,” Theo assures him.
“Your deal with Darrow,” Saint adds, gripping my chin. “Is there anything more to it?”
I shake my head. “I sold him on having a spy in the ranks to save my ass”—I purposely stare at Galen, and he averts his eyes—“and because it makes sense to feed him some intel. We can use this to our advantage. Get The Arrows to fuck with Sinner and distract him.”
“And the rat can take all the blame,” Theo adds.
“Exactly.” I bob my head.
“There is something else.”
I’ve debated this too, but I’ve got to put my trust in them. Galen is still on my shit list, but I believe the others are on my side. That they won’t hurt me, and I’ve got to include them. I remove my locket from under my shirt. “This is a tracking device and an audio recording device. I got the whole conversation with the board on tape.”
Saint narrows his eyes at me, and I poke him in the ribs. “Do not give me that look.”
“That asshole gave you it, didn’t he?”
I nod. “Yes, and before you rip me a new one, I didn’t tell you because you would’ve destroyed it and I knew it would come in handy.”
“Who has that recording, Lo?” Theo asks, and his troubled expression alarms me.
“It saves to the chip, and a copy uploads to the cloud. Diesel has access.”
“Fuck!” Theo jumps up, pacing.
Saint sits up straighter, exchanging a look with Galen. “What don’t we know?”
Theo stares at me, and I realize he’d intended on speaking to me alone, but events have overtaken things. I’m momentarily speechless, because I can’t believe he would keep something from the guys, putting me above them. I don’t know what to make of it, and I’m not about to decipher it now. “You know who he is.” It’s the only explanation for his reaction.
Theo nods.
I stand, walking to him. I place my hand on his arm. “Tell me.”
“I had my suspicions when I saw the bullet from your gun. He gave that to you, right?”
I nod, and it’s admitting I lied because I told them I got it from my dad’s study after he died.
“The bullet had distinguishing markings on it, and I knew I’d come across that image on the darknet before. I’ve been trawling through shit trying to relocate it, and I finally did.”
Tension is so thick the air is borderline claustrophobic.
“Who do the bullets belong to?” I ask.
“A mercenary group who operates on the fringes of society, hiding in the shadows. They’re called VERO. For years, stories of their existence were like an urban legend because they left no trace. Until a couple years back and some bullet casings, like the one you had, were discovered at the scene of this massive explosion in Germany. Since then, I’ve read shit on the darknet. I’m not sure exactly what is truth and what is fiction, but it’s said they are a global operation, composed of ex-CIA, ex-FBI, and ex-Homeland Security. Highly skilled individuals who lacked the discipline to remain in the employment of the US government.”
“Who do they work for? Who owns it?” Saint asks.
“This is where it gets scary,” he admits, and chills creep up my spine. “If the intel I’ve gathered is correct, they hide behind a shell corporation, so it looks like a legit multimillion-dollar global private security firm. But it’s just a front. This organization carries out deadly and dangerous missions, the type no one wants anyone to know about. We are talking major shit here. And if it got out, it would be a global scandal. Enough to cause mass hysteria and mass damage.”
“Who is behind it, Theo?” Saint barks, his patience finally snapping.
“The government,” Theo admits, pinning his eyes on me. “Diesel is working for the US government’s biggest secret.”
CHAPTER 17
Harlow
I SIT IN stunned silence, unable to form a single coherent thought. I mean, it’s not like I haven’t considered the possibility Diesel was CIA or Homeland Security, but I always dismissed it because why on Earth would he get involved with me? And this revelation is so much bigger than that. A secret government mercenary group up to shady shit? I believe our government can establish such an operation, but the connection to me is what I can’t wrap my head around. “It makes no sense,” I blurt, my eyes fixing on Theo. “Why would Diesel train me if he’s a part of such a dangerous, secret government organization?”
“That’s what I’d like to know,” Saint says.
“We should haul his ass in and demand answers,” Galen supplies.
“No fucking way.” Caz folds his arms around his chest. “We start asking questions about that kind of shit, and we all end up dead or imprisoned and tortured.”
“Caz makes a valid point.” Saint scrubs a hand back and forth across the top of his head. “We need to think this through.” He glances at me. “He can’t know we know.”
I nod, still in a bit of a daze. “He may come to us first, anyway. If he listens to that recording.”
“Then, we play dumb and say nothing about this.” There is no mistaking the gravity of the situation. While I don’t think Diesel would hurt me, he has no loyalty to the guys. It would be crazy stupid to ignore the threat, because who knows what his boss would do should he discover we know the truth?
“How did my dad cross paths with Diesel?” I murmur. My head jerks up as an idea lodges in my brain. My eyes meet Theo’s. “Do you think my dad was working with them?” Is that why there are coded files hidden in the floor in his office at the cabin?
Saint rises, coming around the couch to walk to where Theo and I are standing. “We’ve got to assume it’s a possibility.”
“Then, there’s something you need to know.” We sit back down, and I tell them about the files.
“Where are they?” Theo asks. “I’d like to go through them. Maybe we could figure it out together?”
This is the shady part, because while I want to trust them fully, the cabin is my safe haven, and I’m reluctant to reveal it. It’s my last closely guarded secret. The special place that holds so many precious memories of weekends with Dad. I’m not ready to share it yet.
“They are hidden for safekeeping,” I admit. “But I’ll retrieve them soon and bring them to your place in the forest. Then, maybe, we can crack the code together.”
_______________
I’m getting changed in my bedroom when there’s a knock on my door. I left the guys downstairs, reeling from my revelation about the secret files, because my head is about to explode, and I’ve reached my limit today. Besides, I want to visit my bestie, and there is only a short window of opportunity as the hospital visiting hours end soon.
The Sainthood : A Dark High School Romance (The Complete Series) Page 42