Chapter 30
Damon
I knock on Wilder’s door. Ivan is playing Xbox in the room, and I just need to find somewhere I can talk to Evan and the guys alone. Evan insisted.
Wilder opens the door and looks me up and down. “What’s up?”
“I need somewhere to talk to my girl.” I glance down the hallway, hoping Jackson isn’t anywhere nearby.
He’s been quiet since the boxing room. Basically ignoring me, which suits me fine.
It would be easier to find out more about him if I pretended to like him, but everything inside me curdles at the thought. So we’ve just been avoiding talking.
Unlike Ivan, Wilder seems like a guy with his priorities straight. Hopefully, he understands.
Wilder nods. “If this is a conjugal visit, I’d say no, but Axel says she’s got a stalker.”
“Yeah, she needs to talk.” We’re not in the right place for a conjugal visit. But when I get home, I might have to fuck her before we talk. Prove to her and me that she’s still mine.
Wilder steps back into his room and opens the door wider for me to come in. “Give me a minute, and I’ll go fuck off somewhere else. Take as long as you need.”
“I’ll be done before curfew.” I’m not going to take up his room for too long.
He slaps his hand against my back. “I’ve got something to prepare for this weekend, so I’m going to be a while anyway. Take your time. Don’t nut in my room.”
He takes off out the door and closes it behind him. When Axel realized me being with Jackson probably wasn’t the best for anyone involved, he passed me off to Wilder since Ivan isn’t exactly school-oriented.
Wilder is focused on classes and hockey. It’s a much better fit. And he seems like a good guy. The guy he knows at his old school is apparently going through some shit with his girl right now too, so he’s not really available to help me out. Which sucks, but I understand.
I run my hand through my hair and sit at Wilder’s desk in front of the window. I prop up my phone on the desk and start the video call.
Evan picks up on the first ring. Her pretty face fills the screen. Her blond hair hangs around her. Her blue eyes lift when she smiles softly and something loosens in my chest. Fuck, I’ve missed her.
“Hey,” she says. That sadness still lurks in her eyes, but it’s tempered by determination.
“Hey.” Fuck, I don’t want to be miles away from her. I want her on my lap, threading her fingers into my hair. Her body warm against mine as we sleep curled into each other. I miss fucking her, but not having her sleep beside me feels like an open wound bleeding.
“Fuck, I miss you.” She shakes her head. “We really need to figure our shit out and college too. I don’t think I’ll survive long distance.”
“I’m working on it, little devil.” I smirk. “Crowne Mawr is a good option.”
“Good.” She sets the phone down and Hawk and Cam come into view. Fuck, I miss all of them. How did we ever consider going our separate ways? It would have been torture not having these guys at my side.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
Cam glances at the others. “The social media account isn’t down.”
“I get alerts when something new posts,” I say. It’s not frequent, but there were two new posts from this week and Cam confirmed those were new photos. I had to stop reading the comments because people suck.
“My mom talked to me tonight.” Evan folds her hands on her lap and meets my eyes. “We knew she had received some texts. They started about the same time I received my first text.”
I swallow. We knew about the texts but we weren’t able to get into Heather’s phone. I was hoping to find someone outside of Deimos to hack into both Jackson’s and Heather’s phones.
“She also told me why she was in a hurry to move us out of the apartment complex.” Evan takes a deep breath, and Cam rubs her back. She leans against Hawk, but her eyes meet mine.
“Just spit it out, little devil. Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it.”
“She wanted to wait until you were with us to tell us,” Hawk says as he takes Evan’s hand.
“Mom was being harassed by the neighbor whose husband was a cop, but that’s not why we moved.” Evan shivers. “Someone was breaking into our apartment and taking things. Little things. Mom noticed some of her panties went missing, and that’s when we moved.”
My insides boil. Jackson. It has to be him.
He was at the complex, and he found her again.
He’s fucking right here. I could take him out and the problem would be gone forever.
Getting away with murder is hard. While everything points to him, it’s possible I’m letting my dislike for the guy push us in that direction.
“She never reported anything, and she’s not sure who it was.” Evan bites her lip. “I told our parents about my texts and Jackson.”
I don’t say anything. I don’t know what good it will do to tell them. But having my dad know there’s danger isn’t a bad thing.
“Your dad wants to take everything to the police. But without a name, there’s not really anyone they can file a restraining order against.” She blows out a breath. “And I’m not comfortable accusing someone when it might not be them.”
I’m glad it’s not just me in this. I’d be going nuts if she was alone. I wouldn’t be able to sleep. Even if our house is harder to get into than their apartment, it’s not impossible.
“Do you still think it’s Jackson?” I ask, wanting her read on it. She’s always thought it was him.
“Maybe.” She blows out a breath. “I told Mom and Adam about Jackson at the apartment complex. It might have been coincidence he kissed me and we moved shortly after, since someone had been in our apartment.”
“But there’s a good case for some of the recent shit to be Chase Chadwick.” Hawk runs his hand over his hair. “Annie and Keira worked out a timeline.”
“If we disregard the apartment complex as maybe someone just wanting us to move, then yeah, it could be anyone.” Evan looks down at her hands in concentration. “Chase really didn’t start paying attention to my existence until his dad pointed me out at the spring showcase.”
Yeah, I listened to the recording she sent of him bragging in class. I’m going to punch him in the balls next time he dares to talk to Evan.
“How do we untangle this?” Evan looks up at me. “Obviously Jackson isn’t taking pictures in our school. He’s hours away with you, but someone is still taking pictures. Maybe the account isn’t him at all. Someone at the school could be doing some of it. Like the rose and the social media account.”
I press my lips together. Bringing up Brandt again won’t help anything. No one else heard what he said to me. Maybe Brandt isn’t directly involved, but I bet he’s whispering in someone’s ear. Telling them exactly what they need to know to fuck with Evan.
“It’s possible. We need to keep digging.” I blow out a breath. “Maybe I can lean into Jackson a little more in the last two days we’re here.”
“Don’t fuck up your shot for that asshole.” Hawk leans forward. “There’s something wrong with him. If you corner him, he might lash out, but it may not be you who takes the hit.”
Hawk looks at Evan, and she swallows. Implying Jackson might go harder on our girl. I figured that out. Especially if he loses his shot here because of me. Maybe his attention before was all about Evan, but now knowing she’s mine could be tipping him over the edge.
How much more can Evan take? She’s strong, and she’s put up with a lot from us. But what’s her breaking point? What happens when she reaches it?
“The phone numbers on the texts are a dead end.” Cam leans back on the couch. “We can’t trace the social media user id, but I’ve got a guy trying to dig into the metadata on the photos.”
“Mia thought the angle of the picture today was off,” Evan says. “Like the person would have to be super tall or holding the camera up, which would have been super obvious, or—”
“Or there’s a camera in the hallway someone accessed,” I finish. Fuck. “There aren’t many cameras around the school. Mostly just security ones. The pictures on the account seem to be too good of quality to come from the security footage.”
“Unless they run them through AI to make them appear like photos and not security.” Hawk shakes his head. “It’s possible. They could also be using AI for the content.”
“We’ve got that footage of the hallway from the rose incident.” I glance at Evan. “Who do we give it to to see if that works?”
Cam’s already typing on his phone. “On it.”
“Two more days,” I say, drinking in Evan.
Evan’s smile is a little too bright. We still have things to talk about. “Can we talk about something normal? How’s the visit going?”
“Honestly,” I clear my throat and look around the dorm room, “the guys on the team are great. The facilities are top of the line. Apparently, a donor really went nuts when the team became D1. The house is a house and could be an issue. I’m in Wilder’s room right now.
He’s got a single. I’d be surprised if Ivan is here next year, but the rest of the team have been awesome. It’s an excellent opportunity.”
“But...” Cam knows me too well.
“But if it doesn’t work for all of us, it doesn’t work for any of us. There isn’t another college close by. I have no doubt we can all get in, but it’s just if the programs they have are good enough.”
Cam chuckles. “I’m all in, but you know that.”
“We’ll dig a little deeper into the programs and make a decision,” Hawk says. “In a few months, we can take a weekend and ride up to visit.”
“I’m ready to be home,” I admit.
Evan gives me a soft smile. “We’re ready for you to come home.”
The ice is smooth and fresh for practice.
It’s almost a shame to cut it up with our skates.
But that’s what it’s there for. I glide out on the slick ice to begin my warm ups.
This week hasn’t been easy. Coach Mitchell has been putting us through our paces—drills, scrimmages, the works—to find out if we’re good enough to play on his team.