Chapter 28
SAGE
I wake up abruptly, immediately reaching out for Kaiden, but my arm stretches across my empty bed. Blinking through the sleep coating my vision, I turn my head to search for him. He’s bent over by my vanity, lacing up his shoes, so I sit up against my headboard to watch him.
“Where are you going?” I ask, rubbing a hand down my face.
He turns, his lips curving up at the sides as he walks toward me. “Home. It’s almost six.”
He presses his knees to my bed, crawling toward me until he’s on top of me. I thread my fingers into his hair, and he kisses me. We kiss slow, like lovers and friends, making my heart pick up pace.
When he pulls away, he grins at me. “See you later.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Will you? Or are you going to ignore me?”
Chuckling, he lifts from me and stands up next to my bed. He circles my jaw with his big hand. “I’m going to ignore you.”
I press my lips together, my nostrils flaring as my eyelids flutter in aggravation. “Great.”
Laughing again, he tightens the hold he has on my face as he leans down and kisses my lips once more. “That’s just how this goes, Sage.”
I nod slowly and change the subject before I do something pathetic like beg for attention again. “Can I show you something before you go?”
His eyebrows dip in question. “Sure?”
I pull from his grip, swinging my legs over the side of my bed, and stand up. Walking around the opposite side, I drop down to pull the pictures from under my mattress, and when Kaiden comes up behind me, I point at the third Hallows Boy in the photo with my mom.
“Do you know who this is?” I ask.
“Yeah.” He grabs the picture to look at it. “That’s Benjamin Gilmore, one of the founders of the Games.”
“Benjamin Gilmore. Where is he? Does he still live here?”
Kaiden sighs, making me turn to look at him. His eyes narrow as he looks at the photo, almost like he’s trying to decide what to say, then he drops his features back to his regular stone mask. “No clue.”
He hands the picture back to me, and I turn my head to the side to examine his face. “Are you lying?”
He blinks once. “Why would I be lying?”
“I don’t know.” I pull the other picture out, the one of the Hallows Boys with ‘M,’ and I point at her. “How about her. Do you know who that is?”
Kaiden snatches the photo from my hands, putting it closer to his face. “Where did you get this?!”
“I found it here. It was with some family photos…” I breathe. “Why? Who is that?”
He’s silent, just staring at the photo for a long minute before he hands it back to me. “No idea.”
I huff, searching his dark eyes. “Now I know that’s a lie.”
He shrugs. “I’m not lying.”
I shake my head, blown away at the fact he’s so blatantly lying to my face, especially since he had such a weird reaction to seeing the picture. I step away from him. “You are lying, Kaiden. I’m not stupid.” I wave a hand toward my window. “Go home. I’ll figure it out all by myself.”
He narrows his eyes at me, licking his lips. “There are some secrets that should stay buried, Sage. This isn’t an episode of fucking SVU. Just drop it.”
I hum between my lips as I walk backwards to my bed, and when my ass hits the side, I sit down and climb under the covers. “Close the window on your way out.”
“I mean it, Sage,” he growls as he walks to my window. “Just leave it alone.”
Nodding sarcastically, I watch him climb out my window without a response. When he’s disappeared, leaving my window open, I swing from my bed again with a groan.
I go to the window, slam it shut, then spin around and cross my arms over my chest. Kaiden just lied to me—I can feel it in my bones. He knows who M is, and I bet you the other Hallows Boys do too, and I’m going to get to them before he tells them to shut their mouths.
My first class of the day starts in a few hours. I have to figure out how to get to Vinny and Beckham before Kaiden does, so I run to the bathroom to take a shower.
Managing to shower in three quick minutes, I step out and run back to my bedroom to dress for school.
I wiggle on a plain white hoodie, then slip my legs into some jeans. Once I’ve pulled on socks and shoes, I go to my vanity and run a brush through my wet hair. I decide to skip makeup altogether, eager to get going.
Gran is in the kitchen when I get downstairs, sitting at the table and reading the newspaper as always, and when I push into the room, she looks up at me. “Mornin’, sweetheart, I made you some breakfast.”
I run to the coffeepot, grab a travel mug from the cabinet, and fill it before I spin around. “No time, gotta get to school!”
Gran chuckles. “You’ve got a fire under your ass this mornin’.”
I laugh, sipping the hot liquid in my mug and hissing when it burns my tongue. “Things to do, Gran. Sun’s up, I’m up!”
She laughs at me again when I hustle, kissing her on the head as I pass.
“Have a good day, sweetie!” she yells after me, but I’m already through the front door and into the chill of the morning, so I don’t bother responding.
The sun is peeking over the horizon, fog and steam rolling through the air and up from the grass, giving everything a creepy vibe. Taking a deep breath, I savor the feel of the crisp autumn air, hoping today won’t be another day with more questions instead of answers.
I’m starting to feel dizzy and overwhelmed by the number of mysteries that keep popping up in Blackmore. It’s almost like I’m in some weird show, and I’m just waiting for the finale so I get the big explanation.
Who’s M? Why did my parents leave Blackmore? Where’s Benjamin Gilmore? Is the Blackmore Tragedy true, and does it involve my parents? Why was Kaiden so off-putting and dismissive this morning? Plus…am I falling into a relationship with three separate guys?
I stomp my feet a little harder as I walk down the road, letting the multitude of questions snake up my throat and take over my entire being.
My walk goes by quickly because I’m so deeply immersed in my own mind, and when I walk up onto the concrete of the courtyard at BU, I scan the area with my eyes, searching for them.
I search every inch of campus for Vinny’s broad shoulders and Beckham’s tattooed arms. They have to be here somewhere.
There’re kids littered all around the quad already.
The Hallows Boys are usually sitting out in the fresh morning air this early, so it’s seeming like they’ve already headed for their first classes.
I go into the academics building, looking at my watch to see how long I have until my first class—half an hour.
When I get to the other end of the corridor, and I still haven’t spotted them, I get discouraged. I hum under my breath as I go back outside, heading for the gym. Maybe Vinny is working out? We do have a football game in a couple of days.
Finding a few girls on the cheerleading squad stretching in the middle of the basketball court, I cut left to avoid them, going around the perimeter of the room to go out the back door to the football field.
I wave at Coach Steele as I pass her open door, and she calls out to me.
“Sage!” She stands from her desk, and I take the few steps through her doorframe to meet her.
“Hey!” I greet her. “What’s up?”
“You coming to practice tonight?” she asks. “I’m thinking you could show us a couple of your old routines. Maybe you can work with Rachel to piece together some new stuff for us!”
I smile, hoping it doesn’t look too forced, but when she laughs, I know I’ve given myself away.
“She’s tough, I know.” Her eyelashes flutter a little. “But you guys could do really great things together. I think you’ll find you have more in common than you think.”
I nod. “We definitely have a lot in common.”
Coach smiles. “That’s the spirit!”
I grin at her. “I need to get to class, but I’ll see you at practice, Coach.”
“Sure thing. Have a good day, Sage.”
I nod, smiling at her one more time before I leave her office. I don’t know how to tell my coach that my new captain probably won’t want to work with me—since she hates me—but I guess I’ll just slap my plastic smile in place and do my best to play nice, even if Rachel won’t.
Pushing out the back doors of the gym, I walk past the bleachers to the football field. There’re a few students running laps, working out, or hanging out in the middle, so I examine them closely to search for Vinny.
I find him sitting on the bench at the side with a couple of other guys, and I make a beeline for him.
All three guys look up when I come into their atmosphere, and Vinny’s face turns up in a smile.
“Can I talk to you?” I say in greeting, putting my gaze on the guy I need.
His eyebrows pull down. “Sure.”
He leads me down the edge of the field, then around the back of the bleachers, making me roll my eyes at the implication. Turning to face me once we’re under the shadows of the metal seats, that cocky smirk pulls at his lips.
“Can I show you something?” I ask, slipping my bag off my shoulder and dropping it to the ground at my feet.
“You can show me whatever you want, Sage,” he says, gravel coating his throat.
I ignore the sexual tension in his tone, dropping down to pull out the photo of M with the founding Hallows Boys from my bag.
Standing back up, I hand it to him. “Do you know who this is?”
He takes it from my hand, looking at it closely for a minute. “That’s the founding fathers.”
“The girl,” I push.
His eyes flick up to mine for a moment. “Where did you get this?”
“Vinny.” I step close to him, putting a finger on the photo, right above her head. “Do you know who that is?”
Our gazes connect again, and when I catch the heat in his eyes, I know I need to use it to my advantage to get the information I want. No more Mrs. Nice Guy—I want fucking answers. Licking my lips, I step toward him. “You know who that is, right?”
His mouth drops open as my chest brushes against his, and his free hand slips up behind me to grab my waist.
“Yeah,” he breathes. “But I can’t tell you.”
I pout, looking up at him through my eyelashes. “Vinny.” Sliding my hand up the front of his stomach, I feel sweat coating the thin cotton material. “I promise I won’t tell anyone. Please, just help me out.”
He looks down at my hand, then takes a step backwards so it falls away. Returning his gaze to mine, he grits his jaw. “Maybe you should talk to Kai.”
“I don’t want to talk to Kai.” I roll my eyes playfully, stepping toward him again as I brush my hair over my shoulder. “I want to talk to you.”
A cocky and sinister grin takes over as he stares at me. “I know what you’re doing, Sage.”
I cock my head to the side, stepping into him so our breaths mix. “Oh?”
His hand grabs my waist roughly, his fingers digging into my flesh. “You’re trying to use the heaven between your thighs to get information from me, just like you did with Becks.” He chuckles. “But I’m not thirsty enough for it to work.”
I scoff. “It didn’t exactly work with Beckham either.”
Yanking me closer, he grips the fabric of my shirt in his fist as his face falls into my neck and he breathes deeply. “If I fuck you, Sage, it’ll be because you’re so fucking desperate for my cock that you can’t help but beg for it.”
My stomach flips as his breath fans across my skin, and when he licks my neck, I suck down a sharp breath.
“It won’t be because you’re trying to get information out of me”—he pulls back, looking into my eyes once again—“because I don’t need your pussy that bad.”
“Yeah, because you have Rachel for that, right?” The words leave my lips before I can stop them, and his eyes light up with humor.
He pulls back, holding me at arm’s length. “Someone’s been gossiping in the locker room.”
I roll my eyes, turning my head to the side to show him the green and blue blooming on my jaw. “Gossiping? No. Getting punched? Yes.”
He grabs my jaw in his hand, careful not to touch the area where the bruise is and inspects it. “She hit you?!”
I shake from his grip. “It’s nothing.”
His jaw clenches. “It’s not nothing. I’ll talk to her.”
“No!” I shove his chest. “I don’t need you to fight my battles for me, especially with your little girlfriend.”
His eyes narrow, but I continue.
“What I need”—I point to photo still clenched in his hand—“is to know who the fuck that is.”
He lifts the picture, scanning it with his gaze again before he looks at me and sighs. “Sage… There’re things you don’t know, and things you won’t want to know. Can’t you just let the past stay in the past?”
I groan in frustration, clenching my fists. “I deserve the right to decide for myself what information I get, Vinny!”
I stab the picture with my finger again. “This is my family, my history, and my fucking life!”
He sighs again and hands the photo back to me. “Her name is Megan Gallagher, but I’m telling you, Sage, if you go digging for information, and you don’t like what you find, don’t blame me.”
“Thank you,” I breathe, stepping into him and hugging him. “Thank you for telling me.”
Wrapping his arms around me, he squeezes me tight. “If Kai finds out I told you, I’ll deny it.”
I laugh, shaking in his hold. “Deal.”