Chapter 55
Voluntold
Harper
My heart pounds as we enter the high school. The guys have their missions, but I have mine. I need to tell my best friend that my boyfriends are looking into her because they think she might have something to do with what’s going on.
My stomach churns again, and I seriously think I’m going to be sick. Last night, I felt so confident telling Caden that I’d tell her, but now I’m worried. What if she thinks I don’t trust her?
The guys don’t understand how precious Kenz is to me.
She’s been my only friend. My only light outside this school.
It’s inconceivable she’d be the one trying to hurt me.
We’ve been friends since sixth grade. What would even be her motive?
What would she get out of hurting me? It’s not like the guys hurt her in any way.
I mean, if she’s out for me, then there has to be a motive. A reason. And I just can’t see one. I’m not sure the guys actually have more reason than she’s close to me and therefore knows shit.
Caden hands me my books. “It’ll be all right, little nympho.”
“You don’t know that.” I lean against the locker and sigh. If I lose her, I’ll have no one I can trust. Just the guys, and that trust is very loose right now.
“You’re in danger and we want to protect you.” Caden tucks my hair behind my ear. He captures my gaze. “She has to know we’ll look into everyone.”
“I don’t want to lose her.” The words are soft and make my heart ache.
He tips my chin up and searches my eyes. “If she’s not involved, you shouldn’t lose her. You still trust her. We don’t, but we don’t know her like you do.”
I breathe out. Kenz might actually find it amusing the horsemen are digging into her life. Hell, they probably did when they first came after me. Jack had to find that video of us dancing somewhere.
Jack falls next to me against the locker. “If I have to read one more sexting thread between Sidney and Zach, I’m going to puke.”
His head rolls my way and he grins. “We should sext, sweetheart. I could describe in detail exactly how I want to worship you tomorrow, and you can make the appropriate responses.”
I arch my eyebrow. “You think I know what the appropriate responses should be?”
Jack chuckles and tips my chin up, searching me with those deep blue eyes. “You catch on quick, sweetheart.”
Luke stops in front of me, commanding my attention with just a look even though my head is still turned to Jack. A little shiver rolls down my spine. Luke holds out his hand impatiently.
Jack kisses me. “I’ll text you.”
Yeah, I’m not going to open any text thread from Jack today, especially in class. I shake my head, but my lips curve into a smile. Caden grabs the back of my neck and pulls me in for a thorough, claiming kiss before releasing me.
“It’ll work out, little nympho.” He heads down the hallway with Eli, Jack, and Nico, leaving me alone with Luke.
He draws me into his arms. His hand cradles the back of my head, holding me against his strong heartbeat. He’s gotten good at this. I relax into him, drawing comfort from Death.
Without a word, he ends the hug and takes my hand to lead me to our first class. When we walk in, Kenz smiles. I swallow before smiling back.
After Luke and I sit down, I turn to talk to Kenz. “Can you get the bathroom pass? I need to talk to you about something.”
Kenz glances at Luke before nodding. “Of course. Are you going to the game tonight? We could do a movie night. I’ve been dying to see Bodies, Bodies, Bodies. We haven’t had a lot of time alone lately.”
I glance at Luke, knowing he’s listening to every word. Does he think she’s trying to lure me into a trap? Watching a movie with her sounds like fun. I’ve missed our movie date nights.
“I might go to the game.”
“Support your men. Makes sense.” Nodding, she taps her pen on her notebook. She perks up. “We could go together. It would be better than you riding with the wanna-bes. I make a hell of a navigator.”
“Uh, the guys are arranging something for me.” I glance back at Luke. His eyes meet mine. “They don’t want what happened at the last game to happen again.”
“Nobody wants that.” She gives a little shudder, and her eyes get this far off look.
Mr. Wick comes in. “Seats, people.”
After fifteen minutes of lecture, I raise my hand, unwilling to take another second of not knowing how she’ll react. I just want to get this over with and move on with our lives.
“Yes, Ms. Davidson?” His tone is weary. Good. That means he won’t care when Kenz asks for the other pass.
“May I use the bathroom pass?”
Luke’s knuckles brush my spine, sending a shiver through me.
Mr. Wick gestures to the pass on his desk. I take it and walk out into the empty hallway. Maybe I should have let Kenz go first. Being alone right now is stupid. I dart across to the woman’s bathroom and slip inside. The stalls are empty.
Releasing my breath, I wait a few seconds and then Kenz walks in.
“What’s with the cloak and dagger, H.?” Kenz leans against the sink. Her blue eyes lock on mine. “Is it the horsemen?”
“I need to tell you something, and I’m not sure how you’ll take it.” I squeeze my hands together.
Her brows draw down, but she nods. “Are you pregnant?”
Like it’s a given.
“No! Fuck, no.” My heart beats harder. “My mom would kill me and then the guys and then me again. No, I’m definitely not pregnant.”
Kenz gives me a relieved smile. “Okay, then what’s up? Nothing could be as bad as that, right?”
I blow out a breath. Yeah, me being pregnant, not knowing which one is the father, telling my mom. Shit, that would be awful.
Fuck it, rip off the Band-Aid.
“I trust you, first off. You’re my best friend.”
“It’s okay, H. I know you’re under a lot of pressure. Just spit it out, and we’ll deal with it like we always do.” Kenz steps forward and takes my hand. “We can figure out anything together.”
I nod. But this will still hurt. “The guys are looking into everyone in our lives to try to figure out who is out to get me or who’s helping whoever wants to hurt me.”
“Good.” She squeezes my hand. “They should, and I’ll help however I can.”
Inhaling, I search her blue eyes. I can’t lose her. “They’re looking into everyone. Including you.”
Her smile drops for a second. “Oh.”
“I told them they don’t have to. That I trust you, but it’s not like I can really get them to stop anything.
You have access to me like no one else does.
” The words well inside me when she still doesn’t say anything.
Tears thicken my throat. “I don’t know what all they’ll do, but it’s not like they’ll interrogate you. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. There’s nothing for them to find.” She smiles softly and pulls me into her arms. “I’m glad you have them, H.”
“What?” I hug her to me, afraid that this might be the last time.
“Yes, they’re the reason someone is coming after you, but they’ll do everything to protect you.” She hugs me back and then pulls away so we’re eye to eye. “You have this blind spot to people who get close to you.”
“No, I don’t.” Do I?
Kenz smiles. “Tanner. Even Penny and the girls. You want to believe the best in everyone, but that’s not the way the world works. Fuck, H. That’s probably why those boys cling to you. They’ve never had someone who hasn’t tried to use them for something.”
“You aren’t mad?” I swipe at the tear that escapes down my cheek.
She shakes her head and rubs my arms. “No. You and I are good. They won’t find anything because there’s nothing to find. I’m not after you. Fuck, you’re the only girl worth knowing in this school. I’m just glad no one else has realized that before this year.”
Her grin makes me smile. My body feels lighter. She’s okay with this. We’re okay.
“We should get back to class. Are you sure you’re good?” I have to ask. But if Brandon knew Kenz was in trouble and decided to look into our friendship, I wouldn’t have an issue with him going through my stuff either.
“One hundred percent. It’s not like they’re going to blast my personal information everywhere. That’s not the way they work.” Kenz puts her arm around my shoulder. “You and me are good.”
I breathe a sigh of relief. But the nerves are still there because I need to go into the principal’s office at lunch and talk about the picture being circulated. Maybe I should just go home.
Jack
Fuck. My nerves are getting the best of me standing outside Coach Turner’s office. But he’s the obvious choice to make sure my girl gets to and from the game without harm. Getting her on the bus with us past Coach would take a miracle none of us are capable of. Steeling myself, I knock.
“Come in.”
I open the door and step into his office, closing it behind me. He sits at his desk with a pen in his hand. Whatever he was doing, he stops.
He watches me with curiosity. “How can I help you, Jack?”
Smirking, I sit in the chair across from him. “See, that’s what I like about you. Willing to help.”
“I’ve got a game to help strategize for, plus a bunch of paperwork to catch up on. So if this is a social visit...”
“Right to the point then.” I drop my smile. “There’s been some shit happening to my girl.”
He flinches when I say my girl. Maybe he’s not truly over what we had, even if it was brief. But there’s no one else I can trust. He’s not interested in me like that anymore, not when he has a career to think about.
“What kind of sh— stuff?”
I grin at the correction. We didn’t talk about how much to tell him. “Just prank stuff, but it’s gotten out of hand. We want to keep her safe, but can’t do that while we’re playing the game.”
“Is that why Caden missed the last half?” Narrowing his eyes, Darius leans his elbows on the desk and clasps his hands together. “And why I had to release Zach Gray from the laundry room the other day? Somehow the door got wedged shut after gym class. I found him after the next period.”
I resist the urge to smile. It wasn’t enough after he terrorized our girl but locking him in was almost too easy. Zach’s a fucking arrogant bastard.
“That’s crazy about Zach. Maybe you guys need to double check the safety of those laundry rooms. About Caden, I’m not at liberty to discuss that at the moment.
” We don’t need him pulling at the loose threads and unraveling everything before we catch whoever is after Harper.
We need the rest of the guys on the team to think we haven’t caught on.
“Let’s just say we don’t want our girl to get hurt. ”
“So what does that have to do with me, Jack?” He arches an eyebrow.
“You sometimes drive to the away games. Could you make sure Harper gets there and back? Otherwise, Caden might try to smuggle her onto the bus.” He would too.
“You want me to drive a student to an away game?” He leans back in his chair and glares at me. “What the hell, Jack? Not everyone knows I’m gay, so driving a female student to the game could definitely look suspicious and get me in trouble.”
I pause for a few seconds to consider that. “Okay, well, what if it’s two female students?”
Putting MacKenzie in the car shouldn’t be that big of a deal. Harper trusts her, and she wouldn’t be alone with MacKenzie or Darius.
“What excuse am I supposed to give the coach for bringing two females to an away game?” Darius scrubs his hand down his face, and I know I have him.
“What if Harper helps out? She could be your runner.” That way she’s on the field with us, and we’ll know exactly where she is.
Darius leans forward again. “If I do this for you, what’s in it for me?”
Yeah, I kind of figured it’d come to this. “We aren’t going to hook up if that’s—”
“Fuck. No, Jack. I’m not that hard up.” His hand runs through his curls. Honestly, I would have been surprised if that had been his ask. It’s not like he should be hurting for company.
“Then what do you want? Because honestly, I’m confused.”
Darius sighs. “I need someone to volunteer to help with the flag football team at the grade school.”
I laugh. He brought that up a few times this week during practice, but no one volunteered. It’s an inner-city school that honestly could use the help. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, I need someone to help, or the team won’t be able to play.” He leans forward. “These kids could use a healthy choice and being an athlete could change their lives for the better. Even if they don’t go pro, the game teaches teamwork and discipline.”
This is an every-weekend type of thing, which is why no one volunteered. Before Harper, I might have, but I don’t want to miss time with her. But if Coach Turner is willing to help keep her safe when we can’t...
“Fine. You have a deal, but Harper and MacKenzie ride with you to all the away games.”
He nods and holds out his hand to shake mine. “Practice is seven a.m. Saturday morning.”
Fuck.