8. Killian
KILLIAN
Maybe you should ask your girlfriend why she goes to the lower library stacks every Wednesday at four o’clock .
Felix’s words echo in my ears as I hurry down the back stairwell of the library.
I have no idea why I’m even here, or what I expect to find when I get to the stacks. All I know is that stupid voice won’t shut the fuck up until I see for myself what my stepbrother meant when he said that.
I’ve never been in the library basement before, but it’s not hard to navigate my way through the many hallways that snake under the massive building as I head toward the lower stacks.
Using the main stairs would be easier since it leads right to where I’m going, but if there is someone there, then I’m not giving them advance warning that they’re about to be caught.
I slow my steps as I approach the end of the hallway that should take me to the rear door to the stacks and glance at my watch. Ten minutes until four.
Being as silent as possible, I push the door open and slip through it.
The room is huge and lined with rickety metal shelves, all crammed full of older-looking texts. Apparently the stacks are where all the books that are pulled from the main shelves are kept, as well as any obsolete editions that have updated versions.
Instead of walking through the mess of shelves to check out the area, I keep close to the walls. The lights are on motion sensors down here, and I’m not about to give away my location if I’m not alone.
At seven minutes to four, the main door to the stacks opens, and a row of lights flicks on as someone walks between the shelves.
So Felix wasn’t lying.
I stay hidden in the shadows as the person makes their way through the stacks and track them with the lights as they flick on. They stop when they’re in the middle of the room, and a moment later, the last of the automatic lights shuts down, plunging the area back into darkness.
I resist the urge to go and see who the fuck is here and instead count my breaths to calm down. Brute force is great in some situations, but not this one. I need to know exactly what’s going on, so that means I have to let it play out.
“Jay?” I breathe, knowing the earpiece I’m wearing will pick up my whispered word.
“Contact?” he asks, his voice crystal clear through the piece.
“Yup. Someone’s here.” I quickly count the row of shelves to my left so I can give him the right location. “Middle of the room, two rows left of center.”
“Roger that.” The line goes quiet for a few seconds as he taps into the security cams. “Well, well, well. Isn’t this an interesting development.”
“Who is it?”
“A certain someone my dear brother had a talk with earlier today.”
“William?” I half ask, half hiss.
“The very same.”
“Motherfucker,” I mutter. “Does he want us to kill him?”
“It’s looking like it.” I hear the snap of a chewing gum bubble bursting. “Want me to record what goes down?”
“Yeah,” I say. “We’ll figure out how to deal with all of this once we know what’s going on.”
“Roger that.” He snaps his gum again. “Want me to corrupt his ID so he can’t get back into the house without needing Axel to reset it?”
“Fuck yeah.” I feel a grin tugging at the corners of my mouth. “Do it.”
Each of our leaders has something they’re known for being absolute nightmares about, and Axel’s is anything to do with security.
We’ve all seen him tear a stripe up and down whatever unfortunate soul is dumb enough to let his card get demagnetized or corrupted, and it’s never pretty.
He also doesn’t just lecture or make guys ask for forgiveness.
Instead they have to earn the right to have their cards restored by doing whatever the fuck will entertain Axel and humiliate them.
If I can’t strangle William, then at least I can imagine some possible scenarios that Axel will put him through later.
“Done.” Jace snaps his gum again. “Want me to keep eyes on you?”
“Yeah.” I glance at my watch again. Two minutes to four.
We fall silent, and I lean back against the wall behind me as we wait.
Exactly one minute and twelve seconds later, the main door opens again, and this time I hear the click of heels as someone else enters the space.
Natalie is one of those girls who insists on wearing heels no matter what—even her slippers have a heel on them—but a lot of girls at school like that, so there’s a chance it isn’t her.
Instead of making a beeline for where the mystery lady is clicking her way through the stacks, the lights following her the same as they did William, I ask my eyes in the sky what he sees.
“Jay?”
“It’s her.”
The unadulterated anger that tightens my chest makes it hard to breathe, but I push it aside and focus on the plan.
Losing my shit and ripping them apart for sneaking around behind my back would help ease my rage, but it’s so much more satisfying to play the long game and gather as much information as possible about a situation, then use that info to destroy every aspect of their lives that I can.
You fuck with me or mine, and you’re going to discover what it truly means to find out.
Natalie stops walking, and the lone light in the stacks flicks off.
“Huh,” Jace says in my ear. “I guess he’s not as brain-dead as I thought.”
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t record them. They moved into the only blind spot in the room.”
“Roger that.” I stand up straight. “Can you clear a path for me?”
“Already sent it to your phone.”
I check the message, then make my way down the rows he’s turned the sensors off in, moving slowly so I don’t alert them to my presence.
I can hear hushed voices the closer I get, but it isn’t until I’m standing next to them, separated by a single shelf, that I can make out what they’re saying.
“How much longer are we going to keep meeting down here?” Natalie’s voice is breathy and low, but her words are crystal clear.
“Not too much longer,” William assures her.
“That’s what you said a few weeks ago.” The pout in her voice is as familiar as it is grating. So is how she adds extra syllables to her words in a way that reminds me of a toddler whining about not getting their way.
“I know, baby. But it’ll be worth it. I promise,” he coos at her. “You know I’d do anything for you, right?”
She huffs out a “whatever” sound that I’m also very familiar with.
“Come on, babe,” he says, still cooing at her like she’s a puppy he’s trying to coerce to accept some pets. “We just need to stick to the plan, and all this will be worth it.”
Carefully, I pull a large text off the shelf separating us to give myself a line of sight so I can see and not just hear them.
The room is dark, but not so dark that I can’t make out how he has his arms wrapped around her and is kissing her neck while she clings to him like the gold-digging whore she is. She lets out a little sigh and wiggles against him. He grabs her ass and squeezes hard.
I lift my phone and turn on the night vision setting on my camera. Time to get the proof I need, then get the fuck out of here before I commit a double homicide.
“What have you found out?” she asks, still rubbing against him like a cat in heat. “Anything new?”
“Not really. K and the boys have closed ranks around him,” he says against her neck.
Who are they talking about? I assume K and the boys are me and the twins, but who have we closed ranks around?
“He’s so annoying,” she says, not bothering to whisper anymore. “And such a drama queen.”
I have to bite back my snort of laughter. Natalie calling anyone a drama queen is one of the most ironic things I’ve heard in a while. The girl is drama personified, and there’s nothing she hates more than not being the center of attention.
“Yeah,” William agrees distractedly, still kissing her neck and groping her ass. “But we don’t need to talk about him right now.”
She huffs out a disgruntled sound but closes her eyes and tilts her head to the side, opening her neck up to him even more. “Don’t leave a mark,” she warns.
“I won’t,” he assures her.
I keep my camera on them as she finally shuts up and stands there passively so he can pull her top aside and drop some wet, slobbery kisses on her exposed cleavage.
Natalie has an incredible rack, but does William know what her tits looked like before the boob job?
Or her face before the multiple procedures, monthly treatments, and quarterly maintenance injections she religiously gets?
I keep filming as she fumbles with his pants and hastily pulls his dick out. They paw at each other for a few minutes, then he turns her around and bends her over.
I stop recording and tuck my phone away. I don’t need a camera roll full of footage of William’s bare ass as he plows my ex-girlfriend.
Moving as carefully as possible, I replace the book I moved aside, then head back the way I came. Their soft moans and grunts follow me until I’m through the door and back in the maze of hallways.
“You good?” Jace asks.
“No.”
“Want me to flip the lights on and scare the fuck out of them? Or I could set off the fire alarm. The exit doors lock from the outside, just saying.”
“Tempting, but no.” I hurry down one of the hallways, my footsteps loud and echoing in the enclosed space. “We’ll deal with this another way.”
“Roger that.” He snaps his gum again. “Want Jax to meet you at the gym?”
Usually, taking my anger out on the house gym equipment is the best way to deal with it, but I’m not in the right headspace to be around people.
One wrong look or misunderstood comment, and it’ll take more than Jax and his grappling skills to stop me from tearing apart the first guy who pisses me off, accident or not.
I might be impulsive, but I’m not stupid. Starting fights with house members won’t help anything. I just need a few hours alone to process everything and work out a plan for taking both of them down.
They want to play hardball? Then game fucking on.