Chapter 30
THIRTY
Standing with Blaise in the middle of the courtyard, surrounded by groups of students who are all eying him nervously, Ash is practically vibrating with rage.
Harley frowns when he sees this and moves quickly to stand beside him.
Now I’m faced with all three of them at once.
I stare at Ash, refusing to even glance at the other two, and he looks at me like I’m worse than nothing.
“How the fuck did a little Mounty manage to hack my accounts and clear all of the video files? I’ll have your fucking head for this. There’s no way you can talk your way out of this with the principal,” he snarls at me.
I have no clue what he’s talking about. He’s right, it is outside of my abilities, and I didn’t do it. I squint up at him, and I must look like the dense Mounty they all think I am before it hits me.
Avery.
She wouldn’t even need to hack in. I’ve heard enough from the two of them to know she has all his account details and passwords. It’s the only way his data could’ve been wiped so thoroughly. It’s a steep price she’s paying for my help, and if Ash found out, he’d be crushed by her betrayal.
I could just tell him. I could tell him every intimate detail of his sister’s assault; just how close she came to being raped. But when I open my mouth, nothing comes out.
After years in the foster care system, I’ve seen so many kids who were molested, and it’s truly horrifying.
How far away from my humanity would I fall if I used this against Avery?
They may all be monsters, and I know I’m one, too, but I don’t want to be.
Someday I will be a fully-fledged adult out in the world, and I refuse to let this school turn me the way it has every other student.
“Get fucked, Beaumont.”
Silence. The entire courtyard holds its breath.
Ash opens his mouth to rip me to shreds, then it snaps shut. His face shutters closed, the anger dissolving. His eyes dart to my left and narrow, but not in the same vicious way he'd been directing it at me.
Blaise crosses his arms over his broad chest and Harley straightens.
I realize Avery must have arrived, because no one else gets the boys’ attention so completely.
She steps up beside me, and her fingers wrap around my wrist gently, using her body as a shield so no one else can see.
Her hand is cold and clammy, but her voice is firm.
“Lips didn't clear your accounts. I did.”
Gasps ring out across the courtyard. I look around and see we have the attention of the entire student body.
The gaggle of girls that usually follows Avery around are darting quick glances between the twins, unwilling to get on Ash's bad side, and I want to snap at them. Gutless. I know in my heart she’s right, none of them would have rushed in to help her.
They would have let Rory rape her and then gossiped about it later.
“Avery, what—” Ash starts forward, his eyes haunted, and I glance over to see the white bandages over his sister’s face.
They look professionally applied, nothing like the amateur job I did with my scraps.
Ash doesn't care about the accounts at all now that he's faced with his injured twin.
It would be totally sweet if he hadn't just been on the cusp of ending my school career and my opportunity at a decent life.
“You would know if you answered your phone, but you didn't, so now you can deal with the consequences. Lips… is mine.”
Blaise’s eyes dart between us, and my face begins to flush. Someday I will be able to handle his eyes on me, but clearly today is not that day.
“What the fuck?!” Harley sputters out, and I try not to laugh at the sound. I have never heard any of them sound unsure, and yet all three of the boys are gaping at us both.
“Okay, I get it. I should have answered.
You don't need to take on trash just to get back at me, Floss,” Ash says gently, aiming to placate her.
His hands are stretched out toward her, like he wants to pull her in to him and hold her in the safety of his arms. My angry shield cracks a little at the sight.
Avery's eyes narrow when he uses her nickname, and instead of answering, she slips her arm fully into mine where everyone can see.
I try not to flinch. I know if I push her away now, it will only make things worse for me.
She doesn't get the chance to destroy him, though, as the far door leading into the courtyard opens and Rory walks out.
Ash does a double take when he spots the scratches down his cheeks and the black eye.
He looks back, and I see him take inventory of all the marks on Avery, and then, as if an afterthought, the ones on me.
I watch as everything clicks into place in his head.
It's clear to everyone what has happened. Harley’s face turns thunderous.
Blaise’s cool and unaffected mask finally drops and his jaw clenches.
I watch as Ash’s entire body begins to shake, the need to break and smash and destroy whoever has touched his sister is so strong that the other students begin to back away slowly, and Blaise steps up to join him, his eyes dark, swirling pits.
Harley calls out to Rory, and when he turns fearful eyes on them, he signs his own death warrant.
The guilt is written on every fiber of his being.
“Where did you get those from, dickhead?” Harley says, gesturing at the scratches. He has always hated Rory, and his voice is dark and taunting. There is blood in the water and sharks are beginning to circle.
“We had a misunderstanding. It's not a big deal.” Rory sounds arrogant, even with the terrified look on his face, and it makes me see red.
“I hope your broken ribs puncture your lungs and you drown in your own blood,” I hiss at him. I would say more, but Avery starts tugging me away. She never did enjoy watching her brother mete out his physical punishments. I’m not sure if Rory will make it out alive.
“I told you, I don't want your protection,” I murmur. I can't be too loud about it in case any of the students hear and it gets back to Ash.
“This isn’t payment, it’s a white flag. And an olive branch. I want to be your friend.”
I stop dead in my tracks. I can hear screaming and yelling starting in the chapel, and I flinch. Memories of my time in the Game surface, and I shove them away. I don’t have time to deal with my own issues right now.
“What?”
“I don't have friends either. I want one, and I want one as fierce as you.”
“You can't just—Blaise is your friend.”
She shakes her head dismissively, and I roll my eyes at her. Had she not just seen their reactions to her injuries? I’d kill to have them defend me like that, to have my back and expect nothing but friendship in return.
“No, he’s Ash’s friend, and he loves and respects me well enough, but he will always defer to him. I want a real friend that's mine.”
“You can't just claim me. I'm not property,” I sputter, and my voice is louder than I intended it to beg.
I glance around, but the halls are deserted.
Everyone wants to watch Rory die. I kind of do, too.
Mostly because there’s something about watching justice being served that makes my dark heart sing.
Plus, the boys are hot at the best of times.
Watching their fists fly and beat Rory bloody?
Um, yes, please. I just need a pair of earplugs to drown out the yelling and I’m good to watch the whole damn thing.
Avery huffs and pulls me into the study den. There's a group of students packing up, and at her sharp look, they high-tail it out of there.
“I know you don't trust me, and I deserve that. I'm going to give you something as insurance, so we know we’re both in this for the right reasons. That is, if you want a friend?”
I do. Desperately, really, but how can I trust this girl that looks like an angel but is really a crossroads demon, bargaining and making deals with mere mortals for their souls?
She can be just as twisted as Joey; they are siblings, after all.
I know in my heart she isn’t a sociopath like him, but she can be just as ruthless.
She could survive the Wolf, my mind whispers unbidden.
She’s probably the only girl I’d ever met who could.
“Why did Joey call a ceasefire?” she asks with a raised brow. It’s a test, one last hurdle to leap before we can be friends. Can I do it? Can I take the leap?
“We have a… mutual acquaintance. Joey thought this person was under his thumb, but he was wrong. He was told that under no circumstances could he harm me again.”
Avery leans forward and whispers in my ear, “The Jackal?” and I nod. A smile flits at the corners of her mouth.
She hands me an envelope. I open it and, after leafing through the papers for a second, I scrunch it up hurriedly. I’m holding the missing piece of the puzzle. I’m holding the records of the Beaumonts’ mother’s death. Alice Beaumont, nee Arbour, was murdered.
“Why the hell—”
“That's your insurance. It would destroy both me and my brother if that got out. I've spent years keeping that out of people’s hands. Everything I do is to keep Ash and the boys safe. Everything I did to you was to keep us safe.” She doesn't look sorry at all, like my year of torture was reasonable.
I don't know what to do with that or with the envelope in my hand.
“I want a friend I can trust to have my back completely, and no girl has ever looked at me as anything other than competition or a way to get in with my brothers. You took everything I threw at you and you're still here. Unbroken. Are you in, or not?”
God help me, I’m so in. My hands begin to shake.
“I don't want you to speak to them for me. The boys.”
“Well, I don't want to speak to them at all, so you're safe there. I promise I won't tell them to be nice, but if we're friends, then I'm on your side from here on out.”