Chapter 30 Ash
I noticed the girls leaving, but my feet were rooted to the spot.
To see my cousin break also broke me. Jett was standing to his side, his head down, staring at his feet, and I knew he was feeling as helpless as I was.
Quinn sat immobile on the couch with her eyes closed as silent tears streamed down her face.
Realizing she needed comfort too, I crossed the room quickly and sat beside her. Wordlessly, Queeny leaned into me, and I wrapped my arms around her as she rested her head on my chest.
Onyx didn’t speak, but his eyes were on Jett, and when his brother lifted his head, Onyx waited until Jett nodded once.
After a minute, Gray sniffed and then gave a short, harsh laugh. He eased away from my cousin and wiped his eyes furiously. “Sorry,” he muttered as he kept his gaze averted from us all.
“Nothing to be sorry for,” Jett said as he stepped closer. His hand reached out, but he didn’t make contact with him before his hand dropped to his side. “Gray?” His voice was low, and I watched as Gray turned to look at Jett.
“I’m okay,” he assured him as he reached out, placing his hand on his shoulder. With a curse, he crossed the room, and he was standing over me and Quinn. “Can I?” he asked me softly.
Standing, I swapped places with my cousin. Onyx was talking quietly to Jett, and I moved away from the couch to hear what they were saying.
“Where’s the sleazeball?” I asked.
“I have him,” Onyx confirmed.
“You didn’t turn him in?”
“No, technically he hasn’t committed a crime.” Onyx smiled at me. “And I knew you would want to play a little first.”
“I do,” I told him grimly. I looked over my shoulder at Gray and Quinn, but they were huddled together, and I didn’t want to interrupt them.
“Gray and I came up with a theory earlier,” I said.
“You probably already have it, since you caught them, but we think they’re using the campus for recruitment. ”
“What?” Jett asked as he looked at me in surprise.
“Quinn was targeted coming out of a medical center. She had the leaflets and was upset,” I explained.
“So, it makes sense they would hang around places like that. But the janitor . . .” I scratched the back of my neck as I thought about it again.
“The janitor has access everywhere on campus. How often do you pay attention to the guy? They do their jobs working around a campus full of students, they blend.”
Onyx considered it. “He would hear and see a lot.”
“Exactly, and we thought, it’s college, there’s hookups whether by relationships, heat of the moment drunk sex, or spiked drinks. Throw in student debt . . .” I shrugged.
“And you have a breeding ground for a lucrative market,” Onyx finished grimly. “The janitor is becoming more interesting to me.”
“That’s what we figured. He knew Quinn, like knew her. I don’t think that was from campus.” I was getting excited. “We thought if we search for dropouts, sudden gap years, ones who fade out and in again, we may learn more.”
“And what better place to make sure they don’t talk when they return than to have a listening device in among them.” Onyx looked thoughtful. “I didn’t think of this. I will look into it more now.”
“How did you catch them then?” Gray asked across the room.
“Daddy Admiral has some very fucking scary SEALS at his disposal. You put Daddy’s resources and my brains on a problem, and you get sweet results.”
“My dad’s involved?” Quinn asked sharply.
Onyx regarded her with his usual contempt. “You’re his only child; you think your father was going to sit back and do nothing?”
“I can’t believe you would involve my dad.”
“He didn’t,” Gray said. “Your dad got involved all by himself.”
“You knew?” Quinn glared at him. “You didn’t say anything!”
“George can handle himself,” Gray told her quietly.
“And our parents?” I asked Onyx. “I know my dad wasn’t letting you have all the fun.”
“Uncle Kage was quite the detective,” Onyx told me.
That figured, my dad was the crazier of the brothers. It made sense he would bond with Onyx over this . . . the crazier of my cousins.
“Who has been handed over?” Quinn asked quietly. “Are you going to tell us?”
Onyx considered it. “A Dr. Leonard Phillips, Sarah Mowberry, Paige Lui, Brent Trucker — that’s actually his name — and a Raymond Mancini.”
“Paige? Was she the secretary?” Quinn asked him as she looked at her hands.
“Yes. Keeps excellent paperwork. Pity she’s so heinous.”
“Bitch, you mean,” Jett muttered.
“I do appreciate organization.” Onyx checked his watch. “I think the majority of the stuff we have uncovered will stick.”
“Fuck, I hope so,” Jett muttered fervently.
“And Red?” I asked as I looked around. “You told her?”
Onyx looked up at me, that innocent smile fooling no one. “Mia? She actually worked it out.” He looked at me with a gleam in his eye that I didn’t like. “She’s a smart one, wasted on computer science, would be better off with psych, I think.”
“She’s a music major,” I corrected him quietly, to which he rolled his eyes at me. Snob. “Okay, what are you talking about?” Onyx was smart, crazy smart. I honestly didn’t always follow his thought processes.
“Well, I gave her a little run down on her sad existence, and then she gave me mine right back.” He checked his watch. “I like her. Even if she is impulsive.”
“How is she impulsive?”
“I told her I would tell you later, but she thought perhaps you needed to hear it now.” He looked at Gray.
“Maybe she was right.” His attention was back on me.
“You need to shut the shit talking about her down, though. She’s right, again, it’s no one’s business but hers, but this is college, and I don’t want slut shaming to be a PR issue when you go pro. ”
“I’ll sort it.” I was going to beat it into them if I had to. “Wait, pro?”
“Yeah, because you lot never do anything alone, you’re all,” his mouth twisted in a grimace, “in love.”
“Eh? Hello?” My mouth was open. “I hardly know her.”
“You have your whole life to know her,” Onyx quipped as he turned to the door. “I need to go. Two things, where’s the Mayhem? You’re letting me down, guys. Also, have a good game on Saturday.”
He left us, and as usual after an Onyx visit, we were left a little disoriented, slightly speechless, and with an overall sense of bewilderment.
“I’m going to check on the girls,” Jett said as he left the room, and I turned to see Quinn wrapping her arms around Gray. Turning away from them, I heard my phone beep once.
Onyx: Don’t let them get to you, the fiery one has potential
Smiling at my cousin, I replied.
Me: You pushing for Red? Made an impression?
Onyx: She did. Still don’t like the shit talking though, shut it down
Me: On it
Onyx: Also, you need to double down on the fast feet drills, you need to work on the speed
Me: On that too
Onyx: Such a good cousin
With a snort, I put the phone back in my pocket as Jett returned with Ava and Red.
“Is it over?” Ava asked tentatively. “Have the weird late-night disappearances come to an end?”
Red looked confused but said nothing.
“It seems the adults have it in hand,” Quinn said with a begrudging smile, and I knew she was thinking of her dad, not Onyx.
“No one’s coming for you?” Ava stressed as she crossed the room and perched on the end of the couch. “You’re safe?”
Jett, Gray and I exchanged a look, with what we had just discussed with Onyx, things weren’t quite over yet. “Maybe not yet,” Gray said softly. “Not completely.”
Ava looked disappointed but nodded. “I thought it may be too good to be true.”
“There’s a lot of people involved,” Jett explained as he sat on his bed. “We can be careful, for a while yet.”
“Can I go back to my apartment?” Red asked in the quiet of the room.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “We’ll check with housing tomorrow.”
“Ava stays here,” Jett spoke up.
“Ava will do what she wants,” Ava replied easily as she stretched up and kissed his cheek. “Remember?”
“Ava will do what she wants,” Jett amended his earlier statement as he wrapped his arms around her. “Which means Ava will stay here.”
“I’m hungry,” Red said to no one before Ava killed her boyfriend. “And I need to call Wade and explain why I wasn’t at practice.”
“I can make food,” Quinn declared as she stood. “Everyone okay to eat what I make?”
A chorus of agreements resonated around the room, but I watched Red as she slipped out of the bedroom. With a quick look behind me, I followed her into my room.
Her back was to me as she dug through her purse, and she didn’t hear me close and lock the door.
“Hey,” I greeted as I crossed the room to stand behind her. “Are you okay?”
Looking at me over her shoulder, she shrugged. “It’s been one of the stranger days, that’s for sure.”
“Harassment in the morning, sound detection in the afternoon, and Onyx Santo in the evening. What more can you want?”
Red laughed at my blunt recap. “Yeah,” she sighed. “It’s been a day.”
Looking down at her, I realized she hadn’t moved away from me, and there was barely any room to move. “Day’s not over yet.”
I saw her reaction as she rubbed her lips together. Pushing her hair behind her ear, she glanced at me and then dropped her gaze to my throat. “I want to go back to my apartment.”
“I’ll move you back myself tomorrow.”
Red tipped her head back to look at me. “Are you coming with me?”
“To stay?”
“Well, not forever,” she teased.
“No, not forever. It really is quite sm— compact,” I corrected myself.
Red gave me a rueful shake of her head. “You’re just too big.”
Hooking my hand around her waist, I pulled her into me. “You never complained about my size before,” I whispered as I dipped my head into her neck, my lips covering her pulse.
Red let out a little huff as I pushed my hands under her sweater, one hand slipping under her jeans to stroke her lower back. “What are you doing?”
“Hmm?” My teeth nipped at her ear lobe.
“Are you seducing me?”
“Am I?” My other hand moved slowly up her back and unclipped her bra. “I don’t think I am.”