Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
RILEY
Blake and Jax were off the swim team, pending an investigation, and I was to blame. Finn had one of his technology guys trace the IP address the video had come from and it was hidden behind a VPN.
I was just lucky I didn't have the video of them swimming at crazy speeds on my phone or in my cloud storage.
"Riley! Dinner!" Jax yelled up the stairs where I was studying in what was quickly turning into my room.
The week had flown by and been fairly quiet since Monday. Almost too quiet.
I put my pen down and quickly checked myself in the bathroom mirror. We had yet to talk about how it was going to work seeing all of them at the same time. None of them appeared to care when I snuggled up or kissed the other two. I had expected more grumbling from Jax.
I made my way downstairs to find Blake and Jax already at the dining table with food steaming in the center. My mouth watered as I neared the table.
"Is Morgan going to eat with us?" I sat down and put my napkin in my lap.
Morgan had been inside his head the entire week.
He didn't say much when he did talk and barely came out of his room.
He had at least let me hug him the day before after our dance lesson.
Blake said he was fine and he was just processing the fact that his parents were still alive and he couldn't see them ever again.
"I texted him, but he didn't respond." Jax served himself a giant piece of homemade lasagna and handed me the spatula. "I don't think he's been swimming since Monday or Tuesday."
We were about halfway through eating when Morgan came down the stairs dressed head to toe in leather. He took a piece of garlic bread from the table and then started to walk down the hall without a word.
"Where are you going?" Blake stood and put his hands on the table. "Racing?"
"It's none of your business." He slammed the garage door behind him and I flinched.
"We need to go and make sure he doesn't do something stupid." Jax set his glass on the table before looking at me. "You're staying here."
I rolled my eyes and took my last bite of lasagna. I was never going to leave their house if they kept feeding me such delicious food. A man that could cook was a big turn on, and it was even better that all three of them could.
"Maybe if she goes, he won't do anything stupid." Blake started clearing the dishes, and I stood to help.
"If I don't go, can I borrow one of your cars to go get tampons? I'm out." I needed to meet my mom to get the knife back tonight. She had texted me asking where we could meet.
I still didn't know where my mom had disappeared to with the knife all week, and I needed to ask her what she wanted to do about the townhouse.
There was still time before the foreclosure went through, but if she had to stay on the run from Finn and the police, then it might not be worth it with me going away to college the next year.
The feminine hygiene aisle seemed like a really good place to meet. I doubted Blake and Jax would want to be seen there.
"We can stop by the store on the way." Jax put his hand on his chin in thought. "I asked my dad the other day about whether sirens can get pregnant from tritons."
I set the plates I was carrying a little too hard on the counter. "What did he say?"
"He said that he'd never heard of it happening, but it's not exactly something that would be out in the open." Jax shrugged.
"Why are you even asking him that? We're using condoms." I leaned over the table to grab the half-empty lasagna pan and he smacked my ass. "Hey!"
"I asked him because I don't want to wear a condom with you." His grin grew wider as my face heated.
Blake cleared his throat. "I'm on birth control, but I still use condoms. It would be nice not to have to worry about one if you're okay with that."
I almost dropped the lasagna pan and Jax took it as he stood. He handed it to Blake over the island and leaned against it.
"I think I'll go on it too. The other night we could have done it right here instead of going up to the bedroom." He patted the counter.
"You guys have male birth control?" There was so much I still didn't know about them or even about myself. Would human birth control even work for me?
"It's a series of shots we can get once a year. It hurts though, which is why Jax and Morgan haven't gotten it. It's one hundred percent effective with no side effects besides a bruised male ego."
"Why would a man not get that?" I crossed my arms and tilted my head at Jax. "That's better than a condom or female birth control pills."
He rubbed his arm as if remembering the pain of a shot. "I'm not good with needles."
"Humans need this. Will it work on human males?" I was filled with so much curiosity now that I couldn't resist asking questions.
"It does, but every time it gets to the testing phase, it gets shut down." Blake snorted.
"Go get changed out of your pajamas and we'll go. They won't race for a few hours, but we have to stop at the store too."
Time to get my knife back.
To my complete surprise, both Blake and Jax waited in the car while I went into the drugstore. I guess they didn't even want to see the box of tampons.
I had texted the number my mom had contacted me from, which was different than the previous time. She was definitely trying to cover her tracks, and I wondered how long she could stay hidden.
The FBI had called her a person of interest, but because of the lack of DNA and no evidence, they hadn't gone on a nationwide manhunt for her. It might have also been the fact that he was already costing taxpayers billions of dollars.
"Ri." My mom stopped beside me in front of the tampons, wearing a hooded sweatshirt and baggy jeans. "I miss you, hon."
"I miss you too." A tear slipped down my cheek and I wiped it. "Are you going to be okay without the knife? I've been doing all right."
"I'll be fine for a few weeks now that your father is taken care of." She stepped closer to me, and while reaching for a box on the top shelf, pushed the knife out of the pocket of her hoodie.
I grabbed it and put it in my own hoodie pocket before selecting a box of tampons and stepping away from her. "I love you. When are you coming home?"
She looked as if she was examining the back of the tampons. "As soon as I can figure out an alibi for where I've been."
"Maybe I can-"
"No." She shoved the box on a shelf it didn't belong. "I don't want this to impact you any more than it already has. I'm already out of the running for mother of the year."
I snorted and I itched to hug her, but she was backing away toward the other end of the aisle. "I love you."
"I love you too."
And just like that, she was gone.
I'd managed to keep them from seeing the knife by putting it in the bag with the tampons. It was funny they could lick it but couldn't stand knowing it bled.
"What's so funny?" Jax put his arm around my waist as we walked to where there was a bunch of motorcycles and people gathered around.
"Just thinking about my bleeding vagina." I looked at him and he grimaced, making me laugh even more.
"We don't want to hear about that." Blake took my other hand. "Maybe you should tell Mo that your bleeding vagina can't handle him racing tonight."
I snorted. I doubted Morgan would care. He didn't even seem to care that Ashley had tried to stir up trouble between us.
"There he is. I'll go talk to him." I pulled away from them and they went to talk to some swim team members.
I watched them for a moment as the other guys gave them annoyed looks. The pictures that were released were pretty damaging to their reputations.
I moved through the crowd to where Morgan was sitting on his bike, talking to some guy who had on way too much cologne. I felt the urge to sneeze.
"Riley! This is Ryan." Morgan was too chipper.
I exchanged pleasantries with Ryan before he fist bumped Morgan and then headed to another guy on a bike who had girls hanging all over him.
"You didn't eat dinner." I put my hand on the helmet he had on the seat in front of him. "I'm worried about you."
Morgan ran a hand through his hair. "I'm fine, vixen. Just blowing off some steam."
"I don't think racing at high speeds is a good way to do that." I took his hand. "We can go back to the house and we can go in the pool or even the cave."
He raised an eyebrow and brought my hand to his lips, kissing the palm. "You? Swim?"
"The water soothes you, doesn't it?" I frowned as he let my hand go and grabbed his helmet. "Come on, Morgan. Don't race."
"The water used to soothe me." His jaw ticked and he looked over at the guy on the other motorcycle, who I guessed was Kamal, his racing nemesis, from what the guys had told me. "I need to do this." He put on his helmet and lifted the visor. "I could use a kiss for good luck."
I kissed him the best I could through the helmet and then backed up a few steps. Blake's arms went around me as Morgan started his bike and pulled away to the starting line.
The course was a three-mile-long loop and would end where they started. The race would probably last less than two minutes at the speeds they would be going. Jax came to stand next to me as we watched Morgan and Kamal stare each other down.
My heart was beating wildly as Ryan stood in front of the two motorcycles with both of his arms raised. They revved their engines, Ryan counted down from three, and then he brought his arms down. Both motorcycles peeled out, sending smoke in the air as the crowd cheered.
Everyone moved off the road we were on, which was some limited access road I wasn't familiar with. I shivered as we waited for the race to end and Blake pulled me closer, rubbing his hands on my arms.
"You can wait in the car if you're cold." Jax checked the time on his phone. "They should be back in less than a minute.”
Sure enough, not even a full minute later, I heard the distinctive sounds of a fast-moving motorcycle. Kamal flew across the finish line well ahead of Morgan, who was nowhere to be seen.