Chapter 14 Jett #2
“Can’t use that then,” Quinn thought out loud.
“Use it?” Ash questioned her before he looked at me. I returned his stare and saw his sudden understanding in his grin. “Nice.”
“The little bitch will talk or . . . she’ll walk, her choice,” I grumbled as I went back to reading about her.
“Gimme my laptop,” he told me, and I handed it over. With a few clicks, he was handing it back to me. “See what I see?”
Her Facebook page was in front of me, and on it was a photo.
Grainy at best, it looked like it had been taken a few years ago.
Ava was standing with a trophy. I didn’t give a fuck what it was a trophy for; what I noticed was what she was wearing: an Alabama Lions jersey.
I looked up at Ash, and he nodded grimly.
“There’s your why,” he said as his eyes narrowed in anger.
“Now I just need the who else,” I said, passing the laptop to Quinn and Gray so they could see also.
“Son of a bitch,” Gray cursed as he looked closer.
“I see it now,” Quinn said quietly.
“What?” I asked as I stood, stretching.
“The attraction, she’s pretty.” She studied the photo more. “I didn’t see it today ’cause all I saw was her fleeing, but I see why you would pick her.”
“He didn’t pick her,” Gray said as he closed the laptop. “She picked him.” Gray’s knee was jittering again, and I knew he needed to let off steam.
“I need more,” I told Ash. “I need to know what she does when she’s not in class. She may be scholarship for the full ticket, but what else does she do?”
“Yeah, I have feelers out.”
“I can work on this,” Quinn said as she stood. “There won’t be a thing I don’t know about her by tomorrow,” she promised as she picked up her bag. “I’ll be in touch.”
When she had left, the three of us looked at each other. “So, she’s definitely back in?” Ash asked, his eyes on the floor, before he lay back on my bed.
“She was never really out,” I answered with a quick look to Gray, who sat quietly. “We’ve known her forever. Quinn could bury each and every one of us in this room in a heartbeat, and you know it.”
Ash huffed in derision as he stared at the ceiling. “So, she’s here in case she blackmails us?”
“Shut the fuck up, and don’t be an idiot,” Gray bit out as he stood. “Quinn’s like family.”
“And are you forgetting the other thing we’re doing?” I asked Ash. “For Quinn?”
“That’s different.”
“How?” Gray and I asked at the same time.
“Because Quinn getting used and hurt is not the same thing as Quinn eating fucking dinner with us again.” Ash rose off the bed. “She shouldn’t get a free pass.”
“She hasn’t!” Gray said with more sting than I think he realized.
“You’ve ignored her for almost two fucking years; we’ve kept her out for you.
But fuck, you’ve fucked more women than she has men, you’ve proven you’re over her, she gets it.
We all get it. Stop being a whiny bitch.
” Gray shoved his hands deep into the front pockets of his jeans. “Move the fuck on.”
Ash and he stared at each other for a long time, and I sat between them, waiting for either the punch to be thrown or the acceptance. I hadn’t been in the middle of this shit at any time, and I sure as hell wasn’t starting now.
“Whatever,” Ash eventually shrugged. “We done?” he asked as he looked at me.
“Yeah.”
With a curt nod, he headed to the door.
“Where you going?” I asked him as he pulled the door open.
“To get laid.” The door closed firmly behind him, and I turned to my brother.
“Went well,” I commented as I crossed the room to the bathroom.
“He’s been a pussy for too long.”
“She did cheat on him,” I reminded Gray as I dropped my shirt in the hamper before I came back into the room.
“Yeah, well, he’s over it.” Gray chewed the inside of his cheek as he stared out my window.
“I don’t think he is.” I gave my brother a skeptical look as I pulled off my jeans.
“He is,” Gray insisted as he sat back down on the couch. “He just doesn’t like that she cheated first.”
“First?” I queried as I pulled on my shorts.
Gray’s eyes flicked to mine before he looked away again. “They were hardly perfect.” His tone was slightly defensive, and I considered my next words carefully.
“Tell me again why you told her to break up with him?”
Gray stood and met my gaze. “One of them had to, it wasn’t healthy for any of us.”
“So . . . you did it for our friendship?”
“Yeah.” Gray gave me a smile. “And because he’s stubborn. He has the Santo bullheadedness.”
Slowly, I nodded as I regarded my brother. “Okay.”
“You going for a run?”
“Yeah, exercise for the ankle,” I said mockingly as I put my running shoes on.
“Coach will skin you if he sees you. He already cast doubt on your injury when he let you practice yesterday.”
“Coach can suck my dick.” I left my bedroom to the sound of my brother’s laughter. I didn’t give a fuck if Coach found out; he could hardly be pissed that I was damaging my ankle.
A good run and a clear head, that’s what I needed before I planned my move against Ava. My lips curled in distaste as I left the house. Ava . . . Snake suited her better.
The best way to deal with a snake . . . cut its head off.