Chapter 24 Cassie
CASSIE
I closed up the shop with Drew, picked up a couple more things from my apartment, and drove my Subaru back to the Hawks’ house.
It felt a little bit like driving myself to the guillotine, but what else was I supposed to do?
I’d signed the consent form, had opted into the Hunt and all its consequences.
Plus it wasn’t like the Hawks didn’t know where I lived, and if I used Bram as a “get out of jail free" card then everyone in Blackwell Falls — all the people who mattered — would eventually find out about it.
Then I’d be stuck as Bram’s little sister forever, the good girl who’d thought she was brave enough to join the Hunt but had chickened out in the end.
Hard pass.
I’d signed up for the Hunt to make Travis Dorsey pay for what he’d done to my parents and Bram, but there was more to it now: a chance to prove, if only to myself, that there was more to me than just being a coffee-shop girl on the north side of town.
I turned into the pathway leading to the Hawks’ house and navigated my car through the trees to the gravel clearing. There was a three-car garage that I’d never been in, but Vigo’s orange G-Wagon was parked out front.
I pulled next to it, grabbed my bags — one filled with the things I’d picked up from my apartment — and headed inside. They’d given me the code to the front door in the Cozi app, and I’d discovered there were a lot of ways to use it, including a shared grocery list and housekeeping notes for Reva.
I’d also learned the house was a smart house, almost everything wired through another app Vigo had downloaded to my phone that morning.
That was how Jagger had controlled the shades in my room when he’d carried me to bed, but the app also controlled the house’s heating and cooling systems, the lights, and a whole-house sound system.
A lot of things were on a timer, but it was weird to know I could control them with my phone if I wanted to, like I was a roommate instead of a temporary guest.
I found the Hawks in the main living room, rap music playing from hidden speakers, Jagger on his phone while Vigo and Hawk played some kind of fantasy video game, complete with cloaked men, swords, and fire-breathing dragons.
“Hey,” Jagger said, looking up from his phone.
“Hey.”
“How was the coffee shop?” Vigo asked.
“It was fine,” I replied. “How was… whatever work you were doing today?”
“All good in the neighborhood,” Vigo said.
“What is it you guys do for work again?”
“That’s on a need-to-know basis,” Hawk said without looking away from his game. “And you don’t need to know.”
“Fine,” I muttered, heading for the hall. “Whatever.”
“Who’s Travis Dorsey?”
I froze and looked back at Vigo, still staring at the TV and pressing buttons on the video-game controller. “Who?”
“Travis Dorsey.”
I turned back around and headed back into the living room. “What do you know about Travis Dorsey?”
“Just that you’ve been stalking him,” Vigo said.
“I’m not— ” I took a deep breath. What the fuck? “I’m not stalking him.”
“That’s what it looks like from your search history,” Vigo said.
I narrowed my eyes. “How would you know anything about my search history?”
“It’s in your computer.”
I put a hand on my hip. “And how would you know what’s in my computer? How would you even be able to get in to my computer?”
“With your password.”
I flipped through the memories in my mind and understood. “You saw it over my shoulder the other night.”
He pointed a finger at me like a gun. “You’re catching on.”
“I didn’t give you permission to go snooping on my computer.”
“We don’t need permission,” Hawk said, still focused on the TV. “For anything.”
“Goddamnit.” I spun on my heel, but they weren’t going to make it that easy.
“So?” Jagger asked behind me. “Who is he? Travis Dorsey.”
I turned around and found they were all looking at me, the video game and Jagger’s phone forgotten. “You’re not going to let it go, are you?”
Vigo grinned. “Probably not.”
I sighed. “Fine. But I’m going to the kitchen. I’m starving.”