53. Hayden
My throat stuck as I tried to swallow. Knox instantly moved to my side, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me in. “Not without her lawyer.”
Detective Alwyn’s eyes narrowed on me. “You have something to hide, Hayden?”
“No,” Cillian clipped. “But after your unprofessional display yesterday, it was clear we needed our lawyer on hand for all conversations. He is on his way, but Hayden won’t be speaking to you without him present.”
“You let them control you?” Alwyn challenged.
Cillian stiffened. “Keep talking and I’ll be lodging a formal complaint with the police department and the mayor. I have very deep ties to this town. Remember that.”
Alwyn’s face reddened, and he opened his mouth to say something, but Detective Brower held up her hand to stop him. “Enough.” She turned to Cillian. “My apologies. My partner is understandably upset. After an anonymous tip, we found Mr. Brent in pieces deep in National Forest territory. It was quite unsettling.”
My stomach pitched, and I turned into Knox. But I didn’t miss how Brower was watching us. All of us. She wanted to drop that bomb to see our reactions.
Cillian’s face remained a blank mask. “That would be quite upsetting.”
Brower nodded slowly. “So, you’ll understand why it’s important for us to find answers.”
“As long as that quest follows legal pathways, I support it wholeheartedly,” Cillian said coolly.
“Glad to hear it.” Brower turned to me. “Be at the precinct at nine tomorrow morning with your lawyer.” Her gaze flicked to Cáel. “You, too.”
I stiffened in Knox’s hold, but it was Maddox who spoke. “Why do you need to speak with Cáel?”
Brower smiled at him, but it wasn’t in any way warm. “We have an eyewitness who put him in the building at the time Brent was last seen. I’m assuming he’d like a lawyer present, as well, so we’ll get this all done at once. Unless you’d like to get it over with now, Mr. McKenna?”
“No, he wouldn’t,” Cillian growled.
The detective turned her smile on Cillian. “Then we’ll just keep going with our investigation until then. Remember, you’ll need to stay in town.”
Alwyn gave us one last glare, and then they both turned to walk away.
“This is bad,” Easton muttered.
A muscle in Cillian’s jaw fluttered. “I’ll deal with it.”
Knox glanced at him. “We’re sure there’s nothing on the body that would tie it to Cáel or to our property?”
Cillian shook his head. “You know we always take precautions.”
“Murder cases have been made on circumstantial evidence before,” Easton said quietly.
“Not with the legal team we have,” Maddox assured him.
I crossed to Cáel, wrapping my arms around his waist and holding on. I didn’t care who saw or what they thought. I needed to comfort him. To reassure myself that he was here and safe.
Cáel’s arms came around me. “I’ll be fine, Little One. Been in worse jams than this one before.”
I hated that with every fiber of my being.
Maddox cleared his throat. “We need to get to class or there will be more talk.”
I nodded against Cáel but didn’t let him go.
He dipped his head and brushed his lips over my hair. “Go to class. I’ll be waiting for you after.”
I forced myself to release my hold on him, stepping back.
Easton lifted my backpack, offering it to me.
I slid it over my shoulder and followed him and Maddox toward the science building, leaving the rest of the guys to problem solve.
The moment we stepped inside the building, the whispers intensified.
“They think she killed him.”
“I heard she was fucking him, too, and got pissed when she found out he was married.”
“No, they’re all part of a satanic cult, and Brent was a sacrifice.”
I tried to tune it out, but the words slammed into me one after the other. But the one that I was stuck on the most was that Professor Brent had been married. What a sleazy creep. That was probably wrong to say about the dead, but it was the truth.
Easton moved in closer to me, his shoulder brushing mine. “You okay?”
“Everything’s just sunshine and roses.”
He winced. “Cillian has gotten us out of worse situations than this one. It’ll be ugly for a couple of weeks, and then it will stop.”
I wasn’t so sure about that. It wasn’t as if they were going to find the real killer and our names would be cleared. Because we had killed him.
I included myself in that we because I’d been the instigator. The guys were protecting me.
Maddox led us into his biology classroom, heading for his desk. The room was already full of students who were whispering quietly. I headed down the row toward my table at the back.
I didn’t even notice Delaney until I heard her.
“It was bad enough when you were a manipulative slut, but now you’re a murderer. God, just get expelled already.”
The students around her broke into laughter or gasps.
“Enough,” Maddox snapped. His eyes narrowed on Delaney. “Do I need to report you to the dean for harassment?”
Her cheeks flamed. “I’m sorry, Professor, but I don’t feel safe with a suspected murderer in our midst.”
I quickly ducked into my seat next to Wren.
“That’s it,” Maddox said, his voice practically vibrating. “Please leave my class. You can get the notes from a fellow student if anyone can stand to be in proximity to your vitriol.”
Delaney’s jaw dropped open. “You can’t do that.”
Maddox arched a brow. “I can’t? It’s an absence or a meeting with Dean Robinson. Your choice.”
Delaney leapt out of her chair, shoving her books into her bag and stomping down the aisle.
“She looks like a two-year-old throwing a tantrum,” Wren muttered.
I wanted to smile, but I couldn’t quite get my lips to curve. The imagery was right on the money, but there was too much weighing on me to truly let the joke land.
Wren lowered her voice as Maddox began his lecture. “Are you all right?”
I glanced over at Wren, her dark brown hair falling in her face. “Not really.”
“I’m so sorry. Everyone knows Brent was a dick of the greatest proportions.” She glanced around to see if anyone was listening. “I heard he’s taken advantage of students before, maybe worse. It’s not some big loss.”
My stomach twisted. I’d been right; there were others. I chose my words carefully before giving voice to them. “He wasn’t a good man.”
Wren reached under the table and squeezed my hand. “Then he got what he deserved.”
She was right. If Brent had been doing this to woman after woman, he’d earned his fate.
I tried to focus on Maddox’s words for the rest of class, but it was a struggle. By the time the bell rang, I thought only half of the words had made it into my brain.
I gathered my stuff and followed Easton and Wren out of the classroom. Easton pulled out his phone, frowning at the screen. “Knox said to meet him and the guys in the quad.”
“Okay.” I glanced at Wren. “What do you have next?”
“Photography. Across campus,” she answered as we stepped out into the sunshine.
I caught sight of Cillian, Cáel, and Knox near some tables. They were talking to another guy. He was huge, nearly the size of Cillian. His dark brown hair was almost black and hung long around his shoulders. His eyes were a piercing blue-green, and next to one of them was a tattoo of a knife.
Wren stilled next to me, her body going completely rigid.
I slowed, turning to face her. “Are you okay?”
“I-I have to go.”
She bolted away from us. But it was in the opposite direction of her class.