34. Outwork
Outwork
Jack
When we walk into the house, no one is up to greet us. Good. I love my dad, but two nights in a row would be a lot. Lucy knows it’s Homecoming week, so she didn’t expect me home to help tuck her in.
I lead Harper to my room, closing and locking the door behind us. When she disappears into the bathroom to get ready for bed, I get out the bug detector. A quick skim around the room doesn’t find anything. That doesn’t eliminate our phones, but it’s a start.
We’ve checked my room every night for bugs. If it’s our fathers putting them in, mine doesn’t appear to be playing ball with the other fathers.
I pull out Sean’s laptop from its hiding spot. It still doesn’t feel like it’s safe anywhere near us.
I hook it up to my desktop monitor and keyboard and boot it up. While I wait, Harper comes out in her pajamas and rests her hands on my shoulders.
“What are you working on?” Her voice is soft, but her gaze lingers on the laptop.
“What we discussed.” I need to contact our friend to get them the information they can work on for us.
Harper nods. If they’ll even be willing to help us. I push my office chair back and pat my thighs.
She sits across my lap and rests her head against my shoulder. “Should we be worried about the fire tonight?”
“I don’t know.” I set up the chatroom with our friend. “It could have just been a senior prank in poor taste. It could have been a warning shot. There’s too much shit happening right now to determine which.”
She nods and waits as I connect.
“Secure line?” The voice comes through my speakers. I grab some noise-cancelling headphones and plug them in. Our phones are still in the room, so I need to be careful what I say out loud.
“Now.” I say before I type into the field on the screen. While it may be safe for our friend to talk in my headphones, it might not be safe for me to say anything. We don’t know if anyone is listening and why they’re listening.
We need help with some tech stuff. Are you game?
“What kind of help?” they ask.
Files on this laptop. Some files we’ve obtained.
“Yeah, I can help with that.” The click of a keyboard can be heard through the line. “How’s Harper?”
She can’t hear them with the headphones.
Good. Her mom is here.
“Are you guys safe?”
I nod and breathe out.
For now. I also want to give you tracking info. I’ll send it in an encrypted email.
“When do you need this stuff by?”
I blow out a breath.
The sooner the better. We’re missing pieces to the puzzle.
“I’ll see what I can find for you. Anything else?”
I rub my temples. Sleep last night helped to clear my brain a little, but I definitely need more sleep. Especially before the game tomorrow night.
We need to find stuff to take down Zach, which is our first priority. But that’s on us. We need to link William Foster to the drug trafficking happening out of the hospital. But that will be nearly impossible unless he fucked up. And guys like William Foster rarely fuck up.
Zach could be the ringleader of this school problem, but he may just be following someone else’s lead or using the opportunity. Whoever is after us, their focus is bringing down the horsemen, but what does that mean to them?
Did you find anything new on Sean’s drive?
I send, hoping for a breakthrough of some sort.
“What he copied onto it is encrypted. I have machines working to unlock it. Sean was good at what he did.” There’s pride in our friend’s voice.
Jennifer said we can trust them. I’d feel better if I could see them in person, but there’s no time. I type into the interface:
Cloud drive has everything. I’ll upload once we sign off.
“Sounds good. Is there’s anything else?”
“No, we’re good.”
Harper’s fingers toy with my button on my shirt. I close the connection and upload the key to get into the cloud server. I help Harper off my lap as I close up everything and return Sean’s computer to its hiding spot.
Harper takes my hand and leads me to the bed. She unbuttons my shirt and helps me out of it, taking care of me like she does all of us.
I tip up her chin and kiss her softly as she works on my pants. There’s something I never expected to find between us. Down the road in college, yeah, I figured I’d fall in love. But in high school? I didn’t even consider it an option.
Now I’m locked in tight with this girl who binds me even closer with my brothers.
“Tomorrow is Homecoming,” she whispers like it may not come if she says it quietly.
“You ready?” I slide my hand into her hair, cupping the back of her head.
She pushes my jeans over my hips, leaving my boxers on. “I don’t know.”
“We won’t let him hurt you, sweetheart.” I kiss her temple. “We’ve got you.”
She nods, and I finish getting undressed down to my boxers. We climb into bed, and she snuggles up against me after I turn out the light. My mind is racing, and I’m sure hers is too.
After a few minutes, her fingers trace patterns on my chest.
“I find a good orgasm tends to put me right to sleep,” I mention.
She glances up at me and gives me a small smile. Her hand drifts down to stroke my hardening cock through my boxers. “We need as much sleep as possible.”
I roll her onto her back. “Yes, we do.”
Harper
It’s almost lunchtime when I get a text.
Mom:
Picking up you and Kenz to go dress shopping.
Meet me out front
I show the text to Caden since we’re in art class. He growls.
“No.”
I shake my head at his declarative statement. The guys have been attached to me all day, passing me off like a football. It’s sweet but annoying too.
“I have my keychain thing, and I’ll be with Mom and Kenz.” I touch his arm, and his muscles tense beneath me. “I need a dress for tonight, Caden.”
His eyes soften, and he looks up from the sketch he’s drawing of our final project. I haven’t seen Tanner since he got kicked out of art, and I’ve never been happier. I know he’s lurking in the background, but I’m glad I don’t have to deal with him on a daily basis.
“One of us goes with.” He tips my chin up when I look down. He has to know I’ll be fine with the two of them. “Or you don’t go.”
Fuck. “I want my dress to be a surprise for you guys.”
“Then have him stand outside. I don’t want you out of our sights today.”
I’m not going to win this fight. “Okay, who?”
He grunts and looks over at Nico, but he’s not much help with his knee the way it is. And he definitely shouldn’t be on it more than necessary.
“Fuck, I can go,” Caden grumbles, like it’s the worst.
I lean in and kiss him on his cheek. “I can ask Jack or Eli.”
“Nah, little nympho. If you’re leaving campus, I’m on you.”
My cheeks flush with heat.
“Not like that,” he says softly and leans in. “But if we have some time, you can show me where you and Luke hid at the end of lunch yesterday.”
I wave my hand in front of my face to cool down my cheeks. But it doesn’t cool down the desire or the need. I want to connect with them. Be part of them. Especially with everything happening. It’s not just to forget for a little while.
I need them.
When class ends, Kenz bounces up to me. She grabs my elbow and shakes it. “Your mom texted me. I can’t wait to get your dress. I’m sorry about the other one.”
“Me too,” I admit. Caden packs his backpack and helps Nico to his feet. “I wish I could have worn it.”
“But now we get to pick something especially for you.” She squeals and shake-squeezes my arm.
“Caden’s coming with.”
She laughs. “That tracks. I didn’t figure you’d be let out without supervision.”
I smile, and we follow Caden and Nico to the cafeteria. Jack catches up to us.
“Taking Harper to get her dress.” Caden hands Jack Nico’s backpack.
Nico glances my way, and I blush thinking about yesterday afternoon. Our sex was slow and playful. I enjoyed every second of it. And last night with Jack...
Oof, I get hot thinking about it. It wasn’t slow or playful. We were two needful things coming together. He made me come three times before he came inside me. We passed out curled around each other.
He looks even more well rested today though. And I didn’t stay up all night worrying. So it worked in that respect, but I did have a nightmare about Zach Gray. I might tell the guys later when this is all done, but they don’t need any more fuel on their fire of hatred for him.
“I could go,” Jack offers, but Caden shakes his head.
“I’ve got her.” He steps back and puts his arm around my shoulders. I love the weight of him there. The security it offers.
“We need to go.” Kenz glances up from her phone. “Come on.”
I wave to the guys. I send a quick text to the group chat to let Eli and Luke know what’s going on. Caden leads me out the door and into the sunshine. I blink and lift my hand to cover my eyes.
Mom’s car is in front of the school and she waves from the driver’s seat. I could be nice and sit in the back and let Caden ride in the front. But I’m still feeling the high of having my mom back, so when Caden opens the front door, I slide into the car and give him a grin.
He waits for me to get in all the way and closes the door before climbing into the backseat with Kenz.
“Thanks for doing this, Mrs. D.” Kenz blows out a breath. “It’s tense as—uh...”
I snicker knowing she wants to say fuck.
“It’s okay, Kenz. I know things aren’t normal.” Mom drives to the store. “But today we’re going to do this old school. That means everyone put your phones in the glove box, and you’ll get them back after lunch.”
Nice. I get Kenz’s and Caden’s phones and put them in the glove box along with mine and Mom’s. At least we’ll be able to speak somewhat freely in the store.
“Great.” Mom pulls into the parking lot and grabs a spot. We all get out, and Caden takes my hand, weaving his fingers with mine.
The store just sells dresses for formals. Kenz and I came here last year to look for her prom dress.
“What do we want? Short? Long? Revealing? Modest? Slutty?” Kenz grabs the door and smirks at my blush.
Caden squeezes my hand as we enter the shop. He releases me and heads off down the aisles like he’s on a mission.
“Couldn’t get away without backup?” Mom asks. Her gaze follows Caden as he circles the whole store and then comes back to us.
He gives her a nod and then sits in a chair beside the doors. My faithful guard. I run my hand through his hair and he smirks up at me. My heart squeezes.
Mom leads me and Kenz deeper into the store, where a clerk finds us.
“Homecoming?” she asks, looking over me and then Kenz.
“I’m on the court.” I’m not sure why that slips out, but her eyes widen in alarm.
“Tonight?” She presses her hand against her heart like I said I was dying. She glances around at the dresses.
“Yes, tonight.” I feel it’s necessary to explain. “My dress got ruined.”
Her look softens, and she becomes determined.
“Okay, no time for alterations. We’ll have to find something off the rack.” She looks me up and down.
I tug at my blue t-shirt. I should have done this yesterday after school instead of sinking into Nico’s bed. But Nico and I needed that time together.
“I think we might be able to find your size over here.” She leads the way, and I follow with Kenz and Mom behind me. She looks me over one more time and starts pulling dresses.
Turning, she puts a bunch in my arms. “I take it we’re doing this during lunch time?”
I glance at Mom.
She steps forward. “Yes, sorry, we’re in a hurry.”
“No problem.” She grabs another bunch and hands them to Kenz. “You two head to the dressing rooms, and your mom and I will go through what’s left.”
We head to the dressing room and hang up the dresses one by one. Of the ten she picked out, we both agree to discard five of them without even trying them on.
“Good luck.” Kenz gives me a thumbs up as I close the curtain and strip to start trying on dresses. Kenz has to help me with the zippers and snaps on them. Two of them don’t fit in the bust.
“You could stuff your bra or wear a padded bra,” Kenz suggests.
“I don’t love either of these enough to stuff my bra.”
She nods, and we discard those two and keep trying on dresses. It’s nice to be out with Kenz. We’ve done this every year for her and the dances she went to. I tried on dresses then, but we were never shopping for me.
“Did you find a dress this year?” I ask, curious because she didn’t ask me.
Her cheeks grow pink. “I went with the wannabes a couple weeks ago. They’re going as a group, though I think Vicky or Izzy has a date. Of course, Will Frank is going with Penny, so she wanted reinforcements with her.”
“I don’t think Will Frank is the kind of guy you need reinforcements for.”
Luke Foster, yes. Will Frank, not so much.
“Guys can surprise you.” Kenz steps back to look me over. “This one’s nice.”
It’s a pale green long dress, but it’s not something that will make my guys say wow. It may be girly, but I want that moment. While this dress fits me, it isn’t making me feel that moment. So far, none of the dresses have given me that feeling.
It’s the best of the bunch as I turn to look at the back in the mirror.
“Beggars can’t be choosers?” I ask as I meet Kenz’s eyes.
“It’s very pretty.”
“It’s not it, little nympho.”
I jump at Caden’s low voice. Fuck, I hadn’t forgotten he was here, but he hasn’t really been present. Until now.
He leans against the wall like he belongs in this dress store.
Mom comes toward me, smiling big with a couple of dresses draped over her arms. She glances at Caden. “You should let her try these on without you seeing them.”
He nods and gives me a wink.
Please let my mom have not heard him call me that. Though we’re probably past that point by now. I am dating five football players and sleeping with all of them.
She gestures for me to go into the dressing room where she hangs the two dresses she found. There aren’t price tags on any of the dresses, but these look more expensive.
I touch the pale purple one with the silk organza. “This might be too expensive.”
Mom shakes her head and closes the curtain before saying, “Just try it on.”