Chapter 64
The Plan of Attack
Harper
Someone takes the tablet out of my hands, waking me up a little.
“Sleep, sweetheart.” Jack curls up behind me. Apparently, I was already sleeping. The lights are off and Nico snores softly beside me.
I blow out a breath and relax between Jack and Nico.
The bed shifts beneath me and I wake to find Jack getting up. My brow furrows. How long have we slept? How long did he sleep?
He slips off the bed and leaves the room quietly. I sit up and see it’s just me and Nico in the bed now. Trying not to disrupt his sleep, I get up. A little shiver runs through me and there’s a discarded sweatshirt on a chair.
When I tug it on over my head, the scent of grass and sunshine floods my senses. Eli. I smile and head for the stairs. My bare feet don’t make any sound as I descend. I can hear voices, but not what they’re saying until I get closer.
“It’s too much of a risk.” Luke’s voice is low. “We should all just decline being on the court.”
“And then he’ll just plan something else to get to her.” Eli, my voice of logic and reason. “This way we can prepare.”
“I don’t like it,” Caden murmurs. “They’ve got us locked on stage with her. But why cut out Nico and Jack? What if they plan on making Jack immobile too?”
“Have we researched that player that took out Nico?” Luke asks.
“He got a nice new car recently.” Jack sighs. “Either he has rich parents or someone bought it for him. I haven’t had time to dig deeper.”
When I walk into the room, the guys stop talking. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Jack says. “Did I wake you?”
I shrug and sit beside him on the couch. I push my hand into his hair, brushing it away from his face. “Did you get enough sleep?”
“Define enough.” He gives me a smirk that warms my heart, but dark circles linger beneath his eyes. He wraps his arm around my shoulder and pulls me in close against his side. As I nestle into him, the smell of apples greets me.
“What are we talking about?” I glance at the others.
“What we should do about Homecoming.” Luke leans back and watches me with hooded eyes. “I know you want to go, but it might not be the safest plan.”
“We have a better opportunity to control the situation if we’re aware of what’s going to happen,” Eli lays out his argument. “If they miss this opportunity, who knows when they’ll strike next?”
“But do we know?” Caden stands and paces. “Are you willing to risk everything going awry and something happening to Harper because they’ve thought everything through and we’re left scrambling to catch up?”
“Do we know what Sidney has planned for Homecoming?” I ask. Because that’s a whole different nut to deal with. “And if she and Zach are planning something together?”
Luke shakes his head. I can tell he’s thinking about something that’s weighing on him.
“What are you afraid will happen, Luke?” I hold my hand out and he takes it automatically.
“We’ll all be there. I’ll be coming and leaving with you guys, not Zach.
The only access he’ll have is at the dance.
But they announce king and queen at the game, so we won’t even be on stage together there.
He won’t have any reason to be near me at the dance. ”
Luke blows out a breath and stares at my hand. “We don’t know what kind of guy Zach is. How far he’s willing to take this. What he plans to do to you.”
“We already know he was willing to rape you.” Eli leans forward with his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped. His eyes capture mine.
A shiver runs through me. I still have nightmares about being trapped in that closet, but this time, no one saves me. I wake up when the door opens. My heart beating hard. A scream tight in my throat.
Eli continues, “It doesn’t instill confidence in us that he wouldn’t try to get you alone again. Not after what we heard outside the window.”
“I got to you in time when he tried it before.” Caden stops his pacing and his haunted green eyes search mine. “If I hadn’t—”
His hands clench and his eyes squeeze shut like he’s imagining it. I don’t like to go there, even in my mind.
I stand and walk over to him, wrapping my arms around him and resting my cheek against his pounding heart. He wraps around me like he never wants to let me go and kisses my head.
“We don’t know what he has planned, but we know he has something planned.” I breathe in his cinnamon scent and remain in his arms. It’s easy to feel brave when they’re holding me. “We take precautions. We make sure I have a way out of whatever trap they have set for me.”
I pull away from Caden and look around the room. “That I have a weapon to use against him.”
“What kind of weapon?” Jack asks.
Fuck, I forgot about our guest. I glance over at where the laptop had been. My brow furrows to find it missing.
“We moved it to the kitchen, kitten.” Eli gestures with his head toward the kitchen. “We needed to talk, so we wanted to make sure the space was safe again.”
I nod. It makes sense. “We don’t know who we can trust. But we should make a list of those we think we can. We use them as little as possible, but enough that it’s not just us against them.”
“Weapon, sweetheart?” Jack arches an eyebrow.
“A knife, maybe? Or some way for you guys to find me?” I sit back against Jack’s side, but the guys are all looking at each other. “What?”
Caden blows out a breath. “Don’t get mad.”
My brow furrows. “Why would I get mad?”
“Your ring. It has GPS, so we can track you.” Caden runs a hand through his hair and gives me a smirk. “That’s how I found you in the locker room.”
My mouth falls open and I look down at the ring. Fuck, if that’s what saved me, I’m grateful for it, but then my mind takes what he said in. They’ve been tracking me since my birthday? Not that I generally go anywhere without them.
“I tried to find you earlier today when I got to your house, but it wasn’t sending a signal.” Luke turns toward me and narrows his eyes. “Where were you before you showed up at Starbucks?”
I tip my head. “In the woods with Mom.”
“Really?” Caden asks.
“I should be mad you put a tracker on me like a real pet, but it’s already proven useful.” I smile and twist it on my finger. “My mom and I went to this cabin on a property my family has owned for generations. My dad’s family.”
I lift my gaze to Luke’s eyes. He flinches slightly but holds my gaze. His father had something to do with my father’s disappearance... death. It still sits funny in my brain. All these years I thought he abandoned us, but maybe he didn’t leave by choice.
“I’m sorry, princess.”
“It’s not your fault he’s gone.” I draw in a breath and get control over my thoughts. “There’s a cabin there where he hid the hard drive and Mom put his broken laptop. No one’s touched it in all this time. But that’s probably where I was when you checked the tracker.”
“The woods could have interfered, or maybe there’s a blocker around the cabin.” Caden rubs his neck. His eyes find mine. “Promise you won’t take it off.”
I stop messing with it. “I can’t guarantee I’ll wear it forever, but now seems like a good time to have it.”
Caden nods. “Most of the time you’re with one of us, anyway.”
“Yeah.” I smile as my heart beats a little harder at the love in his eyes.
“If we give you a knife, princess, we’re going to have to train you to use it and find a place where no one will look for it.” Luke caresses the back of my hand and I turn mine over to take his.
“Where would that be?” I arch an eyebrow because if they think I’m putting anything inside my body—
“Maybe not a knife.” Jack has his laptop open and is searching for concealed, non-lethal weapons. “There’s this thing called a Kubaton. It can be pointed, but it can help you hit harder. We can get you two and put your hair up using them.”
I arch an eyebrow at the keychain things he shows me on the screen. “I don’t think they’ll go with my dress.”
Caden has his phone out and clicks on it. “I got you, little nympho. They’ll be pretty and effective. You and I will train this week. I’ll have Ava help. She trained for self-defense, which is why she’s a little boxer now.”
His smile melts my heart. He catches my soft look and winks.
“We need a fool-proof plan.” Luke draws my hand up to his lips and kisses my knuckles. “One where you don’t end up needing to use those. It’s not guaranteed Zach will come after you alone this time.”
My blood chills and my heart pounds. I’ve been surrounded by guys that I’m not sure what their intentions were before. Not that long ago my guys freaked me out. But there’s always been a part of me that was curious about them.
The same can’t be said about Zach and whoever he brings along with him.
“And there’s still Tanner.” Eli watches Caden carefully. “He’s part of this and we can’t forget that. We don’t know if he’ll try anything this week or help Zach.”
“Mike Cook has been monitoring him.” Jack stretches. His shirt rises to show his abs. He catches me looking and smirks, but I don’t mind. I focus on the issue.
“He’s been good lately during art class for the most part.” I shrug. “He doesn’t try anything now that Caden is part of our group.”
“We can’t forget he was there at the house.” Eli leans forward again and his face is concerned.
“He hasn’t been there since, but that doesn’t mean he’s not involved.” Luke squeezes my hand.
I draw in a breath. “I’m game to do whatever is necessary to take them all down.”
“Hopefully, whatever my father has planned waits.” Luke meets everyone’s eyes. “This week we need to focus on what our peers are working on. The quicker we get this dealt with, the sooner we can focus on getting out from under our fathers.”
“Who do we think the person is on the computer?” I’m curious if anyone else believes it might be my dad.
Jack tips my chin his way. “Whoever it is, they wouldn’t answer any personal questions. Not even a gender. They’ve unlocked a few things, but we’re not into the main computer system yet. I don’t know if we should give them access to the hard drive. There’s too much at stake if that gets wiped.”
I nod. “That makes sense. Are we going to be able to get into the hard drive?”
Jack smiles. “Have faith, sweetheart. I haven’t found the system that can resist me once I set my sights on it.”
He kisses me softly before drawing away.
“We work with the mystery person until we can get in without them. It’s someone your mother or father trusted with your pickup word at a time when they could have gotten you as a child.
They never made a move to abduct you or hurt you, so we trust them until they prove us otherwise.
We wouldn’t have gotten this far without them. ”
“But if they’re just trying to destroy my father’s work?” Too many friends have turned out to be foes lately. I’m not sure what to think of Penny with Sidney. I know it’s part of the plan, but it hurt a little to think we might actually be friends and to watch her betray me like that.
“From what I can tell, your father wrote this script.” Jack runs his finger down my arm soothingly. “It’s elegant. He really was good at what he did.”
Did. I haven’t come to grips with the fact my father not only wasn’t a lousy husband and father and ran from his responsibilities, but he may have died trying to protect us. It changes how I felt about him my whole life. But it’s also too new to process. Not with everything else going on.
“What do we do this week?” I look at them. “I never really did anything outside of the Homecoming game when you guys were occupied.”
Caden smiles. “There’s the themed days at school, which we ignore. The bonfire. The carnival. A few pics and the parade. But for all those things, the whole court will be together.”
“And if not, I’ll be close by, in case he tries something.” Jack squeezes me into his side. “The game and the announcement of the court, you’ll be on the field with us. And then the dance.”
I smile, thinking about the dress Kenz gave me for the dance. “How are we going to work out the logistics? With everyone’s parents?”
Luke leans forward. “If they all already know we’re all dating you, I don’t think we should hide that fact.”
“My dad doesn’t seem to know.” Jack raises a hand. “Nico’s mother might not know either.”
“I’m not sure my mom knows.” Eli shakes his head. “But it’s likely she does. If we’re going to keep this going through college, it’s probably best just to get it over with. Tell them and let the pieces fall.”
“I don’t think your parents are going to be happy about me.” I glance at Eli, Jack, and Caden.
“They aren’t the ones in our relationship.” Caden walks over to me and kneels at my feet. “What they want for us has never been an option, little nympho. I don’t give a fuck what they think. You’re ours and that’s the end of it. They don’t get a say in this. They don’t get a say in us.”
I cup his jaw and try to ease the anxiety racing through my system. The guys are set on this, but I’m not sure what their parents will see when I show up with all five of them. What they’ll think of me being with five guys.
Maybe I’m overthinking this. Maybe everything will be fine.
Caden’s green eyes sparkle up at me. I want to sink into them and let him protect me from everything. I don’t want to hide what I feel for all of them. And that’s what I’d have to do if we don’t tell their parents we’re together.
“Okay.”
Caden leans forward and kisses me. “It’s going to be great.”
I smile, but I’m not sure how we’re going to make it through Homecoming.