Chapter 58
The Bait and Switch
Luke
We’re on defense again. As I stand on the sidelines, trying to focus on the game, I can’t seem to get my mind or my gaze off Harper, standing next to the water cooler. Wearing school colors, she’s focused on the game, biting the end of the pencil before scribbling numbers on the sheet of paper.
“Head in the game, Foster.” Coach Turner steps between us. His eyes are focused and his lips press into a line. “If she’s a problem, I’ll send her up to the stands. She can do stats from there.”
“Not a problem, Coach.” I narrow my eyes. He’s new and doesn’t bend as easily to our will.
Shaking his head, he walks away. Jack moves to stand next to Harper. She smiles when she notices him but returns her attention to the clipboard and the game.
“I bet she takes cock in every hole.” Parker. That fucker never learns his lesson. He and Adams stand in front of me, watching Harper. Do they know I’m back here?
“She probably begs for it,” Adams says. “She’d probably want both our cocks slamming into her. That’s what she’s used to. Probably needs a third too. Fill her up. Not sure how the five of them go at her.”
The guys laugh.
Heat rises inside me, and my fists clench. Fucking assholes. I should have cut Parker down at breakfast the other day and made sure he stayed down.
Nico’s hand claps my shoulder before I tackle one of the two idiots standing in front of me. “They’re not worth it.”
He’s right. At least for right now.
“Did Jack lock down the locker room?” I’m still going to fuck up Parker’s and Adams’s lives. They need to learn not to mess with what’s mine, even in their filthy brains. She’s not theirs.
Nico nods. “No calls in or out during half-time.”
“Good.” We have to make sure Penny and her friends have time to figure out who’s the one feeding information. Now we just need to see who takes the bait. We couldn’t give the football players a chance to call and abort any plans based on their false intelligence.
Eli steps up on my other side. “The girls are waiting to see who shows up where.”
“I don’t trust those girls.” Penny, Natalie, Isabelle, and Victoria are a necessary evil when we don’t know who else to trust. Everyone we usually rely on could be the mole.
The girls want popularity. They want to be considered elite. We can give them that.
But that’s not all they want. That’s the part that concerns me.
“They were at that first game and accounted for the other times Harper’s been attacked. Jack checked them thoroughly.” Eli swipes his arm over his forehead. “It’s possible they’re driving things, but unlikely. They seem like a safe bet, but we have a contingency plan if they fail.”
When Adams gets called to rotate in, Parker turns to see who else is around to talk to. He’s been warming the bench this whole game. His uniform is pristine clean, and he probably smells like roses. Fucker.
He smirks at us like we’re his besties and strolls over.
“I know you all aren’t letting your new toy out of the box yet, but if you want to share—”
Parker stumbles to the ground at our feet. There’s something satisfying about the squelch of mud through his fingers as he catches himself.
“Oh, didn’t see you there, Ethan.” Caden’s smile doesn’t mesh with the rage in his eyes. “Maybe you should watch where you are and stop looking at my girl.”
I glance over at the water cooler. Harper’s wide gaze is on all of us. She’s not going anywhere, but Parker needs to learn his lesson. She’s not a topic that should touch his tongue ever again.
Reaching a hand down, I wait for Ethan Parker to wipe his muddy hand on his otherwise clean uniform. When he takes my hand and I pull him up, I don’t back away. He’s a little taller than me, but I meet his eyes.
The others provide cover from the coach.
“If you even think about our girl again, we’ll cut your cock off so you don’t have those pesky impulses anymore.”
His eyes widen in fear and his hand trembles in mine.
“You’ll have to pee in a fucking bag for the rest of your life.” I glance down between us at the spot between his legs. “She’s been claimed and that means she’s ours. We don’t share what’s ours.”
Caden grabs him by the back of his neck and guides him back to the bench, whispering in his ear. Ethan’s face grows paler with every word Caden utters until he almost collapses on the bench.
Defense runs in, and I put my helmet on with a quick glance at Harper before running out to the field. If he tries anything with her, I will end him.
Harper
Me:
Are you guys okay? I haven’t seen you at the game
Penny:
We’re good. Just got held up
Vicky:
We’ll be at the party later
One place I know I won’t be. I watch the game carefully, figuring out when to mark something on the sheet.
I don’t know what Luke said to that Parker guy, but before he kept eyeing me like I was his next conquest. It was disturbing and uncomfortable, but better than being trapped in a closet by a sociopath.
After Luke talked to him, Parker’s gaze either goes through me like I’m not here or his gaze avoids me at all costs.
It’s almost eerie.
When he fell, it caught my attention. Luke helped him up, and then Caden walked the guy back to the bench. Everything looked normal, except the coldness in my guys’ eyes.
Izzy:
How’s the game?
Me:
We’re up two touchdowns going into halftime
Pocketing my phone, I wait until our players are back on our side before looking for Kenz. She walks toward me.
“Fuck, this is work. Tell me how I got dragged into this again.” She throws an arm around my shoulder as we follow the guys back to the locker room.
“Because you love me and want to prove my asshole boyfriends wrong.”
She smiles. “I knew there was a good reason.”
We follow the team until they disappear behind the doors. With a sigh, I slide down to the floor where we sat before, and Kenz joins me.
“What do you think they’ll talk about in there?” Kenz glances at the door. She says in a deep voice, “You’re creaming them out there. They can’t seem to keep up with you, but that’s not good enough.”
I laugh. “I don’t know what kind of pep talk you could give the horsemen and their followers. Maybe, try not to send everyone to hell.”
“Not send everyone to hell. What kind of bullshit is that, sweetheart?”
I startle and turn to see Jack leaning against the locker beside me. “Why are you here?”
He holds his hand down to me. “Figured you’d want in on the fun.”
Kenz snort laughs into her hand.
“Not that kind of fun.” I bump into her shoulder. When I glance up at Jack, he smirks. I don’t think that kind of fun.
“Will you be okay out here?” I glance down the long empty hallway.
“No one is trying to get to me for revenge. Go. See what your hunky boyfriend wants you to do now.” She pushes my hip. “Just remember the last time he made you do stats for his football game.”
Jack chuckles and shakes his hand at me. “Come on. We’re waiting for you.”
I take it and he pulls me to my feet. I glance back down at Kenz.
“Go, H. I’m good out here.” She takes her phone out and opens her book app. “I’ve got a dark romance to read.”
Jack tugs my hand, and I follow him. He leads me around a corner and down another hallway to an unmarked door that a shoe props open. The outside of the door is just metal without a doorknob.
He holds his finger to his lips as he leads me into the locker room. Metal lockers shut and men’s voices fill the space, along with the scuffing of shoes.
Jack leads me through a row where the lights aren’t on and into an office. He closes the door quietly behind us as I take in the horsemen sitting in their football uniforms around the desk. It’s almost like a bad AI photo. Men in uniform at office.
Luke holds out his hand, and I go to him. He’s covered in grass stains and mud, but he takes my hand and pulls me down beside him into a chair of my own instead of his lap. They’re all sweaty and dirtied up as my gaze takes them all in.
I cross my legs and focus on what they brought me here for and not how primal they feel in this moment. Eli sits back with a smirk, watching me.
Jack opens his laptop and turns it so we all can see. There are six separate feeds. A couple are from inside my house, the kitchen and the hallway outside my bedroom. Two are from Crusty’s. Those look like legitimate security cameras and not cameras Jack planted.
The other two are security cameras from the diner.
“What are we waiting for?” I ask quietly.
Luke holds up his hand. On the screen, Penny and Izzy enter Crusty’s, while in the diner, Vicky and Nat walk into the restaurant. The cameras in my house remain empty. Mom would already be at work.
At Crusty’s, a couple of guys look up at the girls but then do something on their phones. One guy at the restaurant notices the girls as they sit in a booth. After a moment, another girl joins each of the screens.
The new girls have long brown hair and wear clothes similar to mine.
“Who are they?” I whisper.
“My sister’s friends.” Caden’s voice is quiet. “They miss Ava and were easy to convince when they found out Tanner’s harassing you too.”
I reach for his hand across the desk, and he takes it.
A girl walks through my house. Similar build and height to me.
“Wait, you left her there alone?” I startle, and the need to warn her races through me.
“That’s a college student who interns with my mom.” Jack rubs my back. “She’s amazing and anyone who decides to take her on will learn quickly that she’s not to be messed with. She has martial arts training.”
I worry my lip with my teeth as I watch the fake Harpers join the girls, and the one in my house moves into my bedroom. “Are you sure they’re safe?”
No one else should have to feel cornered like I did.
“We doubled up on each place so even if the mole does send Zach or Tanner or whoever the fuck is messing with us, there should be someone there to protect the fake you.” Jack shuts the laptop.
“We’re recording everything, but we can’t control their timelines.
We just know they attack when we aren’t there to protect you. ”
“Right now, there are six guys in the locker room wondering why their phones don’t work.” Nico laughs.
When I give him a questioning look, he smiles. “Jack jammed the signal so the football players can’t let whoever plans to ambush you know it’s not you.”
Luke squeezes my hand. “We’re going to find out who the mole is and then we’ll use them to trap whoever is controlling them.”
I nod and look around at the guys. They fill up the room with their size and padding. “Don’t you need to get back out there?”
Jack chuckles. “Yeah, come with me. I’ll get you back to Kenz.”
When I stand, Luke pulls me down for a quick kiss. Fuck, if I thought his cologne was potent, it has nothing on his natural pheromones. I want to sink into him, but Jack draws me away.
Luke’s eyes hold mine, and a little smile plays at his lips, keying up my insides. He knows exactly what he does to me. Jack leads me back to the hallway. Kenz looks up from her phone and waves with a smile.
“This is only the beginning, sweetheart. We’ll figure this out. We’ll keep you safe.” He leans down and brushes his lips across mine.
My eyes search his. He’ll do everything he can to keep me safe. I feel it in my bones, but that doesn’t mean they’ll succeed. When he draws away to head back to the others, I shiver and wrap my arms around myself.
I sink down next to Kenz and rest my head against her shoulder. Her hand comes up and holds my head as her thumb moves up the page on her book.
“We’ve got this, H.”
Fuck, I hope so.