Chapter 3 River #2
“I’m fine,” I say. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“You aren’t fine,” Pandora says. She sits down next to me. “Sorry about your friend.”
She actually sounds sincere, in a way she didn’t the night of Franklin’s death.
“Why are you here?” I repeat.
After what we did to her, it’s definitely not to play nice.
Pandora shrugs. “I knew you’d be here. I didn’t want you to do the whole memorial thing alone.
” She gives me a crooked smile. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m still going to get revenge on you.
But figured you might need…” she trails off and looks down at her hands.
“I don’t know. Somebody. In case Asch and Blaze weren’t doing their jobs. ”
Like this would be the first time I’ve had to grieve the loss of a friend by myself.
“Well, they are. So you can go back to plotting and scheming,” I tell her. Then I remember something, and I narrow my eyes at her. “And snooping. Don’t think I forgot you were somewhere you shouldn’t have been.”
Blaze had claimed that the secret basement room had been used for “frat business,” but Asch hadn’t looked any more convinced of that than I had.
“Kinda weird there was a secret room down there, huh?” Pandora knocks her ankle against mine. “What do you think they used it for?”
“I have a feeling you know more about it than I do,” I tell her.
I don’t know how long she’d been inside before Blaze had dragged me and Asch to the frat house, but it had been long enough for her to look around.
My mouth is suddenly dry, all of the past week forgotten as I ask, “Did you find out anything about Rachel?”
Pandora bites her lip. “Sort of. Did you see the camera in the room? Pointed at the chair? They took photos of people there.”
I remember the tripod in the corner, but I hadn’t thought much of it at the time.
“Did you find any pictures?” I ask her.
“Not yet,” Pandora answers. “But I’m working on it.”
Not yet?
That should have been a simple yes or no answer.
I’m about to question her about it when the door behind us opens. I look over my shoulder to see Blaze and Asch walk out.
Blaze purses his lips when he sees Pandora, and his hand goes up to his chest. She’d left a nasty cut on him, and I don’t think it’s fully healed yet.
“Pandora. How did you get here?” Blaze asks.
“I drove,” Pandora answers. “I have a car, you know.” She pats the spot next to her. “You two should be consoling River, not making chit-chat with whoever’s inside.”
“It’s none of your business what we were doing inside,” Asch says, and while his voice is calm, I can see the way his shoulders have tensed. He’s as wary of Pandora now as he was when we’d first met, and for good reason.
She did just tell me she’s plotting her revenge, after all.
Pandora notices Asch’s tension and smiles at him. “Asch, come on. I’m not going to cause trouble at a memorial service. I’m out to hurt you douchebags, not all of Franklin’s family.”
Pandora doesn’t usually care who she hurts along the way, but for some reason, I believe her.
“Well, you came, I’m fine, and now it’s time for you to leave,” I say. I want to ask more questions about what she’d found, but after Blaze’s evasiveness about that room, I’m finding it a little more difficult to trust him.
There’s a long pause before Blaze sits down next to Pandora. “River’s right. You don’t belong here, Pandora.”
Pandora bumps her shoulder against Blaze’s. “No more than you. Did you even like the guy?”
“Yes,” Asch says. “We all did. He was easy to like.” He stays standing, his arms crossed against his chest.
I wonder what role he’s supposed to have in the Bouchard Syndicate when they return to New Valence. I’ve never asked, but I can make a few guesses based on how protective he acts around Blaze.
Unless, of course, Asch acts like that for other reasons. Feelings reasons. It wouldn’t surprise me.
“Glad you all knew Franklin, then,” Pandora says. She pats my thigh. “And I’m glad River has you two looking out for him. Being alone sucks.”
Yeah. It does. Visiting Rachel’s grave alone had sucked, too, but I hadn’t been in any shape to attend her memorial service. After Pandora’s family and my own father had finished with me…
I grit my teeth.
I should hate her.
I do hate her.
“Brothers stick together,” Asch says.
Is that it? Or are we just in this so deep now that there’s no separating us? After all, burying someone’s remains will bring you closer, won’t it?
The thought almost makes me laugh.
“We should get out of here,” I say, getting up.
Blaze gets up and claps me on the shoulder. “Okay. But if you ever want to, uh. Talk?” He looks over at Pandora.
She stifles a laugh and nods. “Yeah, Blaze. People talk about things. Or so I hear.”
“I’m good,” I say. I’ve talked enough about the whole thing, and it’s not going to help.
Asch casts one more look at Pandora. “You going to keep showing up everywhere you shouldn’t be?”
Pandora’s gaze shifts to Blaze again. “I wasn’t supposed to be here?”
“Nope,” Blaze agrees. He extends his hand to her. “You only cause trouble everywhere you go. We don’t need trouble at a memorial.”
Pandora lets him help her up, then she steps closer to me. “I didn’t cause trouble this time,” she says mulishly. “River… I…”
I want to grab her and pull her in close to kiss her.
I want to shove her away from me.
I want her in my life, and I want her gone, all at once.
“You what?” I ask, my heart pounding.
She twines her fingers around mine, her pinky settling over the nub of my missing finger. “I think you’d look really hot bent over a bench with Blaze pounding into you.”
Of course she had to go and ruin it.
I huff out a laugh anyway. “You’ll just have to keep fantasizing about that one,” I advise her. There’s no way I’m letting Blaze Bouchard rail me.
“There’s better places I can stick my dick,” Blaze mutters. He wraps his arms around Pandora from behind and kisses the nape of her neck. “Truce over, Panda. Tomorrow, I’m going to tear you apart and find all your secrets.”
Pandora winks at me. “I have no secrets at all. You, on the other hand…” She pulls away from Blaze, kisses my cheek, then gets close to Asch. “You want a kiss too, Asch?”
Asch grabs her by the hair and yanks her closer, his mouth finding hers.
The ferocity of the kiss surprises me. He’s been so suspicious, so wary, and he’d be the first to tell us not to get close to her. But here he is kissing her like there’s no tomorrow.
“Truce. Over,” I hear him murmur against her mouth before he releases her and takes a step back.
Pandora rubs her kiss-bruised lips, her expression dazed. I feel a spike of jealousy that Asch did this to her.
“All right,” Pandora murmurs. “Don’t sleep too easy, boys.” She waves to us and walks away, toward the parking lot.
Blaze huffs loudly. “How much worse can she even make it? She already…” He trails off and shakes his head. “Anyway. I’m not too worried.”
“Don’t ever tell her that you don’t think she can make it worse,” I mutter. “She’d take that as a personal challenge.”
Not that she hasn’t already vowed vengeance on us in ways that’ll make us hurt.
I just wish I knew what that meant.