Chapter 35
Hawk
We left the party quickly after our discussion with Olivia. It didn’t sit well with either of us, letting her walk out of that room thinking she lost Damon, but she wouldn’t face consequences for her actions.
She can think that tonight. Because we have work to do and need her to stay quiet.
I like Keira. She’s a good person and a better fit as a friend for Annie than Mia. If we didn’t have the video, Olivia would have walked. But with the video in the right hands, she’ll face punishment. Maybe not as much as she deserves, but more than a slap on the wrist.
Cam, Damon, and I talked in the waiting room about what needed to be done. And what was left of our plan. We just need to loop Annie into it.
We also discussed timing for the other plan for Chase, but we need to find a way to make sure Annie is safe while we execute it.
We climb out of the car and head into the house. I stop to grab a few bottles of water to bring up with us. Damon heads to my computer and pulls up his cloud account.
“What do you need to edit the video?” Damon glances at Annie. We don’t want to hand Olivia proof of her “assault.” It can be her word against ours. But we’ll win, because we always win.
“Drop it in my file and I’ll work on it when I get to my editing software.” Annie sits on the edge of the bed and releases a breath. She’s tired and worn out. Tonight was a lot.
Damon nods and copies it. I hand Annie a bottle of water, and she gives me one of those soft smiles. There are so many things I want to tell her. I’m all in on this girl.
Before we can get into anything, Damon hits play on the recording. Cam sits beside Annie, and I lean against the wall as we all watch the playback.
“You promised her you wouldn’t send this to the police?” At the end, Annie sets her drink down and stands. “Without this, she’s definitely going to get away with it.”
“She’s not getting away with anything.” Damon leans back in my desk chair. “We had to let her walk tonight. There wouldn’t have been a way to get her out of the party without her making a huge scene. We’ll send the video tomorrow, and they’ll have the evidence to prosecute her.”
“Keira didn’t remember much. She talked to the police officer at the hospital, but her test results should be enough to prove she was drugged.” Annie runs a hand through her hair. “But they need the recording to prove Keira didn’t take the drugs herself.”
I step up to Annie and put my hands on her shoulders. She meets my gaze.
“Olivia isn’t going to get away with this.” I pull Annie into me for a hug. “She doesn’t get to get away with this. I don’t think she’ll receive prison time, but she definitely won’t be at Deimos for long. They have a reputation to uphold.”
She rests her ear against my heart and wraps her arms around my waist. “I never thought something like that could happen to someone I know.”
I want to hold her like this forever. Keep her from anything or anyone who wants to hurt her.
“It shouldn’t have happened,” Cam says. “We may have parties, but we would have heard if someone was slipping drugs into drinks.”
“Olivia said she got them from Tanner.” Damon leans back and rubs the back of his neck. “Maybe no one’s had access to them before he came into town. And most people may be using them recreationally without saying anything. Not trying to assault other students.”
Annie takes in a deep breath and releases it. “We need to talk.”
She releases me and steps away. I let her. Her blue-gray eyes lock on each of us.
“I need to know what the plan was and what it is now. You told Mia the plan was to ruin me.” She wraps her arms around herself but lifts her chin. “Obviously, you know how I feel about you, but that doesn’t mean you don’t intend to hurt me.”
Cam and I turn to Damon. This is his revenge. He scrubs his hand over his face and looks down at the floor between his feet.
“I meant what I said.” He lifts his gaze to Annie’s. “I want to take care of you. I love you. But before that I was willing to hurt you to get what I needed.”
Damon
Evan’s eyes search mine. I could let Hawk or Cam tell her how this started. Let them smooth out the rough spots, but it all starts with me. And if she’s going to be angry with anyone, it will be me. I could lose her. My chest aches, but I have to tell her.
“Okay.” She blows out a breath and moves toward me.
I can’t do this if I’m touching her. Because even though I don’t want to hurt her now, this still might burn. I glance at Hawk, and he guides her to the bed beside Cam and then sits on her other side. He takes her hand and she takes Cam’s. They all face me.
“I didn’t know you. Chase hit me. You were his girlfriend. It made sense you were the girl in the car.”
That night is burned into my memory. Glancing over and seeing her sucking his dick. The moment the car swerved into me, too quickly for me to react, to get out of the way. Falling. I take in a shuddering breath, jerking myself out of the memory before the pain.
I rub my leg, even though the pain is mostly gone.
“I was so fucking angry at Chase for stealing my dreams.” I shake my head and lift my gaze to meet hers, because I’m not going to hide from her now.
“Juniors was my mom’s and my dream. It was one step away from the NHL.
It’s what we worked so hard for. But it also meant spending a year in someone else’s house and going to school up there while playing hockey.
Dad wouldn’t see reason and wouldn’t let me go, even though I had recovered for the most part. ”
Evan swallows. She knows what it’s like to have a huge dream. One that seems unattainable, but she’d do anything to get it.
“I was stuck here this year. No more Juniors. No more NHL. And then my dad tells me he’s moving in his girlfriend and her daughter.” My smile is not nice as I remember them offering her to me like a present. “Imagine my surprise when the daughter was the girl who helped cause my accident.”
Evan doesn’t react. She’s got a great poker face, but she knows most of this. Nothing I’m telling her is new, but Evan also loves her mother. And I have to tell her the whole story if I want her to trust me going forward.
My hands tighten into fists, and I drop my gaze. “My dad’s brought other women around. Gold-diggers. Women who could never compare to my mother. He didn’t deserve to find happiness with someone less than her. Not after what he did to her.”
Evan shifts, and I jerk my gaze up to hers. She knows my thoughts on my mother’s death. The guilt and anger. But her desire and need to comfort me is laid bare on her face. The others hold her back. She doesn’t know I don’t deserve it. I don’t deserve her.
“We were at a party, and I was still calculating how best to get revenge. I knew I had to get rid of the gold-digger, but she was bringing you into my territory. Giving you to me. I didn’t know who you were.
You were an ant. Smart, driven. Dating Chase Chadwick.
I saw you at the party and you didn’t fit in.
Your hair up in a messy bun and a sweatshirt and jeans, hanging next to the beer pong table while your boyfriend ignored you. ”
It feels like forever ago.
“It was before school started. Olivia wanted to talk to me, so I asked her about you. She waffled between calling you a prude and obviously giving it up to your boyfriend because everyone knew he got around. Like he wanted a good girl to clean up his rep.”
I tap my foot and look away.
“The plan was to get you to fuck around with us on your boyfriend. Take you from him and prove to everyone you weren’t the good girl everyone thought you were.” I meet her stormy blue eyes. “It would have hurt Chase, you, and gotten your mom to leave. It was everything I wanted.”
Her chest stops rising and falling like she caught her breath.
I laugh, but it’s bitter now. “It was so easy to convince my dad to use the room for the daughter my parents never had. The one connected to mine. Changing the locks was simple, and since he rarely comes into my room, he never noticed.”
I shake my head. “It shouldn’t have been so fucking easy. To get to you. To make you mine. Not if you were the good girl everyone said you were. I never imagined I was forcing an innocent to play my warped little game.”
I blow out a breath and meet her eyes, expecting to find disgust in them.
But they’re almost silver. Her face is carefully blank.
I wish I could read her right now. My heart thumps hard in my chest. I don’t know how, but if I’ve lost her, I’ll get her back.
I’ll force her back into my bed and remind her how much she loves me.
She releases the others’ hands and stands. Will she leave me now? Have I lost the only good thing in my life because I was a vindictive asshole? I deserve it.
She crosses the floor to stand in front of me. I straighten and brace myself for the slap I deserve. The anger she should let loose on me.
Instead, she straddles me and sinks onto my lap. Her hands cup my jaw and she searches my eyes. Her breath spills onto my lips, and I breathe her in like she’s the air I need to live.
“Okay. Tell me what the plan is now.”
I rest my hands on her skirt bunched up on her hips and release the fear. She’s mine. Fuck, I don’t deserve her, but I’ll spend my whole life making it up to her, giving her everything she needs.
“To make Chase pay and to keep you safe.”
“And how do we do that?”
“Olivia falls.” I draw in her woodsy scent. “Chase gets punished for the party, and then he finds out he’s lost you. We make sure Jackson can’t get to you. You stay ours.”
Her lips press into a thin line. “What about my mom?”
Evan has defended her mom. I want to look away, but she’s holding my face and searching my eyes.