Chapter 25
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE
AIDEN
Ari:
You look too bored for someone who should be celebrating.
Iglance across the crowded room and see Ari chatting amongst some of the guys on the team.
She’s got on her preferred skimpy silk dress mixed with combat boots tonight.
Her hair is pulled back, which shows off her long neck and pale skin—fuck, I just want to bite it.
Lust shoots through me. When she glances in my direction, I raise my eyebrow at her.
Aiden:
And what should I be doing?
Ari:
Socializing. Not sitting in the middle of a party looking like the Grim Reaper.
Aiden:
Just trying to live up to my reputation.
Looking around, the party is in full swing, given the late hour.
The hockey house on campus is where most of the team lives.
Brodie and I never lived here because, frankly, it’s gross and we have standards, but we spent most of our free time here.
It has an all-black exterior, and the location being farther back on the road makes it a perfect place to throw the best campus parties.
Smoke fills the air, a mix of cigarettes and weed, and the floors are already sticky with liquor.
Rooms in the house are very basic, given the fact that all guys live here.
There are a few couches spread out in the main room and a large TV with several gaming hookups.
In the kitchen, instead of a dining table, sits a ping-pong table, and the fridge is stocked full of beer and cheap liquors, and the sink is filled with some sort of cocktail concoction. Yeah, not touching that.
The bass from the speakers is maxed, which leaves a subtle vibration in the air, and with the number of bodies in the center of the room, people are starting to sweat. Nothing says a hockey Saturday night quite like the odor of alcohol, liquor, and sweat.
My phone vibrates in my pocket.
Ari:
Be a good boy, and maybe you’ll get a reward for your behavior.
Aiden:
Oh, yeah? And what is good behavior?
Ari:
Socialize! Talk to someone. Wipe that fucking scowl off your face.
Aiden:
And the reward?
Ari:
I’ll let you pick.
Aiden:
How tempting.
I look over at her and see her typing, turned away from the group she was chatting with. A light blush turns her cheeks red. Oh, this should be good.
Ari:
Maybe I’ll even think about you when your cock is inside me next time instead of your brother’s.
The way I am going to absolutely destroy her tonight when we get home.
Aiden:
What did I say about lying, little venom? You’ll pay for that.
Ari:
We’ll see.
Reese walks over as I’m pocketing my phone and claps me on the shoulders. “Captain, how feral are you going to be during the playoffs? What are we thinking? Come out swinging or wait a little to show your crazy?”
“Trying to hedge your bets?” I ask as Grant and Hunter follow him over.
Reese, with his bad-boy looks and disarming grin, was hard to resist. His well-worn leather jacket is slung over his shoulder, and the helmet hanging loose in his hand meant he rode here on his bike.
He lived in the house for his first two years of college, and this year decided to move in with his girl.
From what I heard, that blew up, and he was now crashing on the couch when he didn’t have another place to stay, planning on moving back in for his senior year.
Reese had an air about him that drew you in.
But he let very few people get close to him.
Hell, I only knew a handful of things about the man.
People are always following him around and wanting to get his attention.
Girls fawn over him. And guys want to get under him.
If he doesn’t make captain next year, I’ll let Bosco pee on my face.
Grant and Hunter were Reese’s shadows. Wherever he went, whatever scheme he was in on, they weren’t far behind. Those two had ties to the mafia, though, so they were fine if they got into trouble, but Reese’s background was on a different level. Even from me.
Reese nudges my shoulder and pulls out his smokes.
“Maybe, but I’ll never tell.” He winks at me as he lights up.
Bumming a smoke from him, I discuss the upcoming playoffs.
The first team we are playing is a rival town about fifty miles from us.
City slickers who think they can play hockey because their daddies said they could.
That will be an easy win. As far as the rest of the playoffs are concerned, we’ll have to wait and see how it shakes up.
We wouldn’t play Bishop U until the finals.
Ari:
See… You can follow directions.
I look over and find her eyes on me, and I give her a lazy smirk.
Only for you, little venom.
Well, and maybe one other person. But that’s not an option anymore.
I glance down at my phone and begin typing my response when sudden movement from Reese has me glance up.
Reese throws the butt of his cigarette to the ground and is across the room before I can blink, slashing Ari’s red cup from her hand onto the ground.
I’m off like a shot. “What the actual fuck, Reese?” Ari is in my arms before she has time to react.
Reese has a firm grip on a blonde girl who is trying to shake him off. Katie, if I remember her correctly. I think Reese hooked up with her at the start of the year. Reese’s tone cuts like ice. “Do you want to tell them, or should I?”
Katie looks up at Reese with terror in her eyes and stumbles over her words. “I don’t know what you’re talking about?”
Reese gives her a hard look. “Oh really, care to explain that?” He nods toward the puddle that formed on the ground from the spilled liquid.
In the middle of the puddle is a half-disintegrated white pill.
Ari blanches. There are only a few reasons you would put a pill in someone’s drink, and none of them are good.
I bend down and snatch the pill before it can dissolve completely, drying it with my T-shirt. “Katie. You better explain yourself right now.”
Katie rolls her eyes in response. Oh, Katie, you have no idea who you are messing with.
I take hold of her other elbow and gesture to Reese. “Thanks for the assist. Help me get her outside to my car, and then you can go back to the party.”
Reese looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “Absolutely not.”
“Excuse me?” I say in a deadly tone. This girl is not getting away without answering my questions, and Reese is smoking something other than nicotine if he thinks this girl he fucked once gets a pass.
Reese shakes his head. “Listen. I know what you do.”
I step back, and I feel Ari tighten her hold on me. “What did you say?” I ask him.
“I know more than you think. Your connections might be vast, but mine are bigger and better.” What the hell was this—a biggest dick competition?
I highly doubt this man knew what I did with my extracurricular time, even with the power he holds.
“Stop looking at me like you’re shocked.
I know, Reaper. That’s all you need to know.
And after this display, I have some questions of my own that need answering.
So, I’m coming with you,” he says, leaving no room for interpretation.
Apparently, Reese is coming whether I like it or not.
I’m a little amused by his boldness and the audacity that he would know what goes on in my morgue, but I decide to play along.
After all, he did save Ari. Plus it will allow me to find out exactly how much he actually knows.
With a tight grip on Katie and my other arm around Ari, I start heading to my car. “Fine, follow me.”
After dropping off Ari at home under the watch of Gage and three other bodyguards, we make our way to my morgue.
That was an entire argument that I am sure I will pay for later.
Not only did I want Ari safe, I needed to make sure Katie actually lived through an interrogation.
Ari might be hot as sin when she’s cutting someone’s limbs off, but questioning a civilian takes a little more finesse and my little venom hasn’t mastered that yet.
Reese didn’t seem surprised when we got here, which put him on my radar, but it wasn’t something I was going to deal with tonight.
Katie sitting tied to a chair in the middle of my morgue is not how I saw my night going, but I’m not going to complain.
I couldn’t use my favored techniques to get her to talk because this was a campus girl.
Not some scumbag here to wait out his death.
Don’t get me wrong, she is scum, but killing a rich girl on campus wouldn’t fly under the radar.
And I don’t think it will take much to crack this bitch as it is.
I haven’t even done anything yet, and she is squirming as much as the rope will let her and trying to bribe Reese and me. What a hilarious notion.
I bend over the chair and grip both of her arms against the armrests and give a hard squeeze.
I don’t say anything because I don’t need to.
Katie is well aware of the information I desire.
She whimpers before trying another attempt at bribery.
“Please, Aiden. Let me go. My dad will cut you a check. Whatever you want.”
I breathe through my nostrils, trying to calm myself.
The reaper inside me rattles its cage, begging to be released so it can stab this girl in the heart.
“Katie. Do yourself a favor and shut the fuck up.” Looking her dead in the eyes, my words are laced with a barely contained fury.
“Why did you put a pill in Ari’s drink?” We assume it was a roofie or some other sort of benzo that alters the nervous system, but we gave it to Ashton just in case.
If it’s something worse, I may have to take a finger or two from this bitch, repercussions be damned.
I look over to Reese, and his face is a mask of anger.
He leans against the wall near the door and has not moved or said a word since we put Katie down.
Reese clearly knows way more than I thought possible, and that will be something I need to follow up on in the near future.
Until then, we need to make this cunt talk, and while we may not be able to kill her, we can sure as fuck scare her. He dips his head in agreement.
“Okay, have it your way.” I push off the chair and walk over to my wall of tools, spotting the blowtorch right away. Perfect. This should get things started.
When I turn around and light the torch, she immediately screams, “Okay! Fine! I’ll fucking tell you whatever you need to know.” I walk toward her, not bothering to turn off the torch despite her newfound acquiescence.
“A man approached me before I walked into the party. He was older, for sure not a student. But I don’t think he was a professor either.
I’ve never seen him before.” She takes a deep breath, eyeing the torch as I approach before rattling on, “He gave me the pill and told me he would make it worth my while if I put it in Ari’s drink tonight.
I told him I would do it if he could get Professor Jacobs fired, and he said he would take care of it if I was successful. I don’t know anything else. I swear.”
“Did he have any noticeable marks or identifying features?” I press her.
“No, it was dark, and I was more interested in what the guy could give me than who he was. I don’t think he was going to kill her. Just a roofie.”
Just. A. Roofie.
This bitch is even dumber than she looks and not worth any more of my time.
I shut off the torch and take the still-hot tip of it and drag it down her arm. What? I’m not a saint. This is more of a warning anyway.
Violent screams pierce the air, and I look over at Reese to see him rolling his eyes. Okay, no love lost there.
Snot and tears cover her face by the time her screams quiet down. “If you ever come near Ari again, I will gut you like a fish. Is that clear?”
Katie nods. “Yes, yes, I swear.”
Reese approaches, and I offer him the torch, but he declines. He bends over and, in a tone that almost makes me shiver, he says, “You left me in bed after the Halloween party in October. Do you remember?”
Katie nods, “Yes—”
“Shut the fuck up.” Reese stops her. “There was a flash drive missing from my room the next day. Did you have anything to do with it?”
Ahh. So this is why Reese wanted to come with me.
Katie tenses. “No.”
Reese snatches the torch from me and lights it.
“I swear to fuck, Reese! I swear!”
With a flip of the switch, Reese hands it back to me and leans down, giving Katie a clear warning. “If I find out it was you, and I will find out, you’re dead.” Reese turns on his heel and leaves.
“We will be talking soon, Reese,” I call out to him before he slams the door behind him.
Crouching in front of Katie’s chair, I murmur as I untie her, “You’re a dead one, babe. Find your own way home, and if a truck drives by, do me a favor and jump in front of it.”