35. Thirty-Five
Thirty-Five
Toni
It had been days, and there was still no sign of Francis.
That should’ve made us all feel better, but it was hard to be optimistic with Mitchell still lingering around.
Both he and Stephanie had taken days off following that horrific night.
He’d come back, Stephanie hadn’t. That was one small blessing.
Not that any of us believed she was really gone.
Upon his return, Mitchell acted like everything was totally, one hundred percent normal.
And not like he’d gotten off on watching my twin brother carve me up.
I might hate it, but that’s exactly where we needed him to be if we had any hope of finding out what happened to those kids, to Holly, and just generally what the fuck was going on.
I mean, it was pretty clear now, after what we’d found the other night, that this went way beyond Jack and my father.
All of our families, well, except Cole’s, were part of this, too.
Had been, it seemed, almost from the beginning.
It was impossible to tell if this all started with Rachel, or if there were others before her.
Xavier’s wrath at his father’s involvement, even tangentially, in his sister’s disappearance had caused him to dive deeper into planning, strategizing and preparing.
While Brennon’s realization of his own parents’ involvement didn’t seem to shock him, though, the weight of it hung clear as day in his blue eyes.
For all of us, this new information cemented our resolve to move forward with our plan.
We weren’t heroes or vigilantes or even special at all.
Just four regular, albeit damaged, college kids.
We weren’t going to take down my father or bring his criminal empire to its knees, but if we could just get enough information, even one shred of clear evidence of his wrongdoings, we would go to the police.
Not the Barrett Hills PD. They were likely under my father’s influence, if not his payroll.
No. We’d go higher. Or at least we’d try to.
That was the plan. Turn everything over to professionals and let them handle it.
But we needed something, anything, that would get them to take us seriously.
And that’s why we needed to talk to Mitchell.
None of us harboured any delusions that Greer was on par with my brother, or hell, even Stephanie, as far as evil villains went. But he was by far the easiest, dumbest, and if we were being honest, the only weak link.
With only one full day, and one more sleep before campers went home, our time was running short.
I had no idea when my brother would be back, although there wasn’t a shred of doubt in my mind that he would be, if only to ensure I was once again shackled to him and carted back to our father at his side.
This was also around the time when Jack decided to do his damn job again after ignoring it all summer.
According to Abbs, it was pretty typical.
In the last few days of August he was suddenly everywhere, making announcements at all the meals, showing up at programs, showering attention on the kids he’d ignored all summer.
“Trust me, it’s kind of a blessing,” Abbi muttered to Michele and I at the breakfast table. I’d only just given the girls a quick rundown of our plan for today as we’d walked from the Village to breakfast.
“With Jack so busy playing Camp Director he won’t have time to notice what you’re up to,” she explained, “And I’ll actually be able to get some of my awards made.”
I looked at Abbs. Really looked, and only then did I realize how tired she looked. Dark, almost purple, at the corners of her eyes, and the creases of her smile that were normally so quick, were slower to rise.
“Abbs, girl, you okay?” I asked. Fuck. In everything I’d had going on for the last two weeks, I’d been the worst kind of friend. The kind who dumps everything on others without ever offering to pick something back up.
“What‘s going on?”
Her eyes looked around me to Michele. My own followed.
“Tell her,” Michele directed. Abbi huffed, “Fine. It’s nothing. Not really.”
“Abbs,” Michele cautioned.
“Cut it out, Abbi, what is it?”
“We’re tired, T.” Her shoulders sagged, “It’s not your fault. We know that. But with you, Brennon, Xav, and now, fuck, even Cole, all running around chasing ghosts, the rest of us have been doing what we can to pick up the slack.”
Instantly, I knew she was right. The four of us had been so damn caught up in our own shit, we’d ignored everyone else’s. We’d ignored the fact that as senior staff members, we had other responsibilities beyond just playing Scooby-Doo gang all the fucking time.
“Abbs, Mich,” I looked between them both and mumbled, “Fuck.”
Mich gripped my hand, as I apologized.
“We know girl, we know. We’re just tired is all.” Abbi’s voice sounded nearly as weighed down as mine.
“Just promise us that after today, that’s it?” Michele eyed me eagerly.
I swore to them both, “If our plan works. That really will be it. At least for us.” I meant what I’d said earlier.
“We’ll let the police take it from there. But before that,” I turned to Abbs, “I need one more favour.”
The Throw wasn’t remote enough for the little chat Xavier had planned, nor did we really want Mitchell polluting that place.
Whether we said it or not, Stones Throw was sacred for all of us.
It was sickening enough to watch him wander around camp like nothing had happened.
I found myself pressing my fingers into my scar every time he was in my line of sight.
A reminder that, while he and all the other men in my life who’d used and abused me, could just continue to exist like it was nothing, I didn’t have that luxury.
The last thing I wanted was any memories of that scumbag tarnishing Stones Throw.
Xavi’s plan had us hiding out in the woods, past the climbing wall and ropes course.
Out here, with nothing but the pines and the smell of damp earth, Nick’s ghost seemed to hover in the air.
The breeze was colder, the forest darker, and though there was a bead of sweat tracing my spine, it was the result of nerves rather than any warmth.
If it hadn’t been for the body heat on either side of me, as Bren and Xav caged me in, that chill would have transformed into full body tremors.
Their constant whispers helped me stay in the present.
It started with Brennon making jokes about fucking me out here in the woods, but I guess he didn’t realize just how badly Xavi wanted to do just that, or how badly I wanted to let him.
So those jokes rapidly morphed into Xavier explaining that my reward for making it through today would be him hunting me through these woods tonight.
“Maybe, when I catch up, Nettie, I’ll even let my boyfriend fuck that pretty little mouth of yours while I fill your desperate aching cunt.”
Not only did his words take the edge off the chill but hearing him call Brennon his boyfriend so casually made my heart swell.
Its effect on Brennon was obvious, too, as he roughly reached around me and grabbed Xav by the throat.
His long, tattooed fingers squeezing gently as he promised, “You won’t let this boyfriend do anything.
Say that again, and hers won’t be the only mouth I’m fucking out here. I’ll play with my toys as I see fit.”
He released him, and both Xav and I stared at him.
My panties were damp, and to my side, I could feel Xav readjust himself through the jeans he was wearing.
Even knowing what we were about to do, my mouth watered at the thought of taking care of him, of both of them.
Lately, that was my permanent state. I was a bitch in heat around them, even though now definitely wasn’t the time.
The familiar crunch of leaves and twigs underfoot was getting closer and closer.
Early this morning, Xav snuck out here with a bottle of spray paint, borrowed from Michele’s personal stash.
He’d marked Xs on a series of tree trunks, small enough to go unnoticed but big enough to spot if you knew what to look for.
Cole’s job in this whole thing was to spot those markings and follow them, hopefully, with Mitchell in tow.
Nothing about that was a foregone conclusion.
Cole, himself, reminded us last night that he and Greer hadn’t exactly been on speaking terms since the first time Cole confronted him this summer, specifically over Mitchell taking very much uninvited, unwelcome, and intimate photos of me.
Ones we never quite managed to destroy, but hopefully today, we would see to that, too.
The three of us splayed ourselves out low in the dirt, hidden from view behind a small slope in the earth. Only Xav had a clear line of sight beyond the ridge, but I could hear Cole’s voice getting louder and louder as they came closer.
“Thanks for coming with me, man.”
“Whatever… what did you drag me all the way out here for?” I wasn’t sure if I was hearing things or if that nervous edge to Mitchell’s voice was real.
“I wanted to talk about the Barrett b-”
He stopped short of calling me a bitch. It wouldn’t have phased me. I’d gotten used to Cole’s casual cruelty last summer.
“I wanted to talk about Antoinette Barrett,” he continued, voice reaching full volume.
On the other side of our hiding spot was a tiny clearing where there was actually enough space amongst the trees for a group of people to gather.
That was a rarity this deep in the forest. We felt as much as heard their footsteps now and the next time Mitchell spoke it was like they were directly above us.
“Oh, yeah? What is it? Wanna get a look at those photos now?”
“Ugh, no, I just thought your pal Francis might be interested in knowing it’s not just Rothberg she’s fucking.”