Chapter 18 #2
Avery cuts me a look, cold and calculating, with her phone in her palm ready to start work if I deem this a job we’re taking.
There’s no way around it though, we need as many members of the Twelve on our side as we can manage and it’s not like either of us are above a little bit of kidnapping.
Hopefully we won’t live to regret it, but that’s a problem for another day.
“I’ll do it for a favor. Send her details through to me and I’ll have her to you by midnight tonight.”
The Coyote chuckles at me. “Oh, I think you can have her here a little faster than that, kid. She sleeps down the hall from you.”
Avery’s eyebrows nearly hit her hairline and mine aren’t far behind. The Coyote is stalking a Hannaford girl? For fuck’s sake. “Who the fuck is she?”
The chuckles turn into a full fucking belly laugh. “I’m glad you agreed to do it before you asked, kid! Her dad’s a senator and her mom’s a news anchor, so it may make some waves when she disappears.”
Avery drops her phone. I have no idea of who this girl is but by the look on Avery’s face I’ve just made a critical error. “Viola Ayres? You’re cyberstalking Senator Peter Ayres’ daughter?”
His tone changes on a dime. “Oh, hey! Is that the hot girl you brought to the Lingerie Party? I never caught your name, hottie.”
Avery sneers at the phone and I cut in, “Just answer the question, Coyote; is Viola the girl you’re stalking?”
“Yes, but I’m not stalking her, I’m just casually keeping an eye on her from afar. I mean, I could hack her webcams and watch her sleep at night, but I don’t, because I’m not a pervert. Honestly, Wolf, it’s like you don’t trust me or something.”
He’s right on the money because I don’t trust him, or any other hacker on the planet. Which reminds me; my eyes narrow down at the phone as if he can see me. “I thought you wiped my middle name from existence? I keep getting packages with the name listed.”
He scoffs. “I did. There’s no way anyone has looked you up and found out your dirty little secret. Must be someone you know.”
Fuck.
I can’t think of anyone other than the Jackal who knows it.
Fuck.
I share a look with Avery. “I’ll have her to you by midnight. Even if I have to gag ‘er and drag ‘er, she’ll be in the bunker by midnight.”
To say that I don’t have time for Mr. Trevelen’s bullshit is putting it fucking mildly.
Avery gave me the rundown on Viola Ayres while I forced myself to eat breakfast, my stomach roiling with nerves over the potential issues, and I try to scrape together a plan for how the hell I’ll get out of this if it all goes to shit.
I hit Illi up to deliver her for me, organize a pick up time and then all I have left to do is… kidnap the girl.
Fuck.
I’m busy trying to look calm around the guys so they don’t get involved and complicate things even more when Trevelen pulls me out of math class. It’s our first class for the day, and the second he calls out my name, my stomach drops and I share a look with Avery.
Nothing good ever comes from being pulled out of class.
I pack my bag, my face the picture of calm and sure, while Harley glares at Trevelen like he’s seconds away from shanking him. I squeeze his arm gently, discreetly, then follow the principal down to his office.
A shiver runs down my spine as he directs me to sit.
The last time I was in this room I was facing suspension and the Jackal got me out of it.
I watch Trevelen attempt to pull himself into a power pose but he lacks the spine required to pull it off.
I raise an eyebrow at him like a spoiled rich kid, and he clears his throat.
“Miss Anderson, I’m going to get straight to the point. There have been… farther accusations of unbecoming behavior against you put forward by an anonymous party. This time video evidence has been provided and the school board has made the decision to—”
The door slams open and an enraged Avery Beaumont stalks through, graceful as she sits down, even at her most furious.
Not that you’d be able to tell from looking at her that she’s pissed, it’s more the air around her that gives it away; even the dust particles in the air are floating away from her in terror.
My hands have a fine tremble in them, but I clench my fists and my jaw toward them away.
“Mr. Trevelen—”
“Miss Beaumont,” he interrupts, and I freeze. “There is no reason for you to be here. This issue is about Miss Anderson and her status as a scholarship student. It is none of your concern, no matter how much you wish it were so.”
Fuck. Avery is going to destroy him.
Her eyes narrow and she leans forward in her chair, menacing and calm. I speak for her, just to make sure she has all the facts she needs to dig me out of this.
“Who was the anonymous source? I think I have the right to know who is trying to have me kicked out and defend myself.”
Trevelen’s eyes flash to mine and the regret that flashes there has nothing to do with me and everything to do with his own ass that is now firmly on the line.
He clears his throat again before saying, “She—the source has been granted anonymity by the school board to ensure there are no unjust repercussions. Your roommate has a… reputation for such things.”
Avery smirks at him and I settle back in the chair, content to watch her work. I bleed people out for her and she does this stupid political crap for me.
It works.
“I have far more important and pressing issues to deal with than some desperate slut because we both know this reeks of jealous little whores. I’ll have your job for this, Richard. We both know I own you. If you’re lucky, we won’t take your head with it.”
“You can’t just go around threatening people’s lives, Miss Beaumont,” he says, but his forehead is covered with a thin sheen of sweat that belies the truth in his words.
Avery laughs at him, and I shiver at the sound.
Fuck, I love her.
“Oh, you’re mistaking me! It’s not a threat, it’s a fact. If you fuck with my family, you bleed. Have you not met my father, Richard? The apple doesn't fall far from that tree, I assure you.”
Trevelen is now moping his sweat up with a handkerchief, his fingers shaking. “Miss Beaumont, there is nothing I can do about it! The video has now been watched by the entire school board and the ethics committee will have my ass if I don’t act upon it. Maybe Miss Anderson should have acted with—”
“Was Miss Anderson the only student in the video? Was she acting indecently by herself? No. This is all an attempt by Ms. Turner to separate Harley and Lips because she’s a sexual predator.
Are you aware she’s fucking a fifteen-year-old student, Richard?
How does your ethics board feel about that?
Oh, I’m sure they’re fine with it because she’s fucking them too.
I don’t care what it takes, you will make this disappear.
If you don’t, I’ll send my own anonymous letter out to the police and tell them exactly where you buried your first wife.
Does Lucinda know the back porch she so dearly loves to sit on and enjoy is built on the unmarked grave you dug? ”
Holy.
Fuck.
I did not see that coming.