Chapter 70 Strike Team
Strike Team
Nico
“She texted to say Kenz is staying the night with her.” Jack slides his phone back in his pocket before focusing on his laptop.
When I came back to Sherman High School, I never imagined I’d be outside someone’s house, dressed head to toe in black, waiting for Jack to finish making sure the coast is clear. The guys crouch beside me. Everyone has on a black mask completely covering their features.
It’s late in the evening. But this needs to be done. We’re all in agreement about that.
“Okay, his parents are out, but we need to keep this contained.” Luke meets all our eyes. “He needs to know not to mess with us or our girl.”
Caden grunts in agreement. At practice, he was a beast. Unstoppable. They had to walk a sophomore off the field after a particularly rough tackle during a scrimmage. Ever since Harper dropped that little nugget about Tanner at lunch, the anger radiates off Caden.
The lights are off in the house, meaning the guy’s already asleep or maybe watching something in the dark.
Jack closes his laptop and slides his mask down over his face. “We’re good to go.”
We huddle together and look to our quarterback to lead us.
“You all know what your job is. Let’s put this asshole back in his place.” Luke holds out his hand, and we all pile on top of it before breaking with a low hooah.
Eli leads us across the lawn. We all stay low to make sure someone glancing out their windows won’t see us. His house is roughly the size of Harper’s. Not enormous, but not small.
Jack lowers to his knee in front of the keypad on the door. I glance back across the lawn to make sure no one saw us. The air is still, and the only sound is the pressing of buttons.
The lock clicks, and Jack turns the knob, gesturing for us to follow. The others go through, but I continue to watch our backs before slipping inside the house. We spread out.
Eli showed us the layout of the house. The bedrooms are on the second floor, and there are two sets of stairs leading up to it.
One is narrower and more winding, but definitely a way to escape if he hears us coming.
Jack and I head to the narrow one, while Caden, Eli, and Luke sweep the downstairs before going up the main staircase.
The stairs are creaky as we carefully climb them. Houses this age usually have pops and creaks, even when there aren’t football players converging on your location. We reach the upper hallway and check out a bathroom and a guest bedroom before waiting outside his bedroom.
After a few minutes, the others join us. Eli clears the primary bedroom before we all stand outside the door. Luke holds up three fingers as Caden puts his hand on the doorknob.
Luke lowers one finger, another, and then the last. Caden throws open the door, and we circle Grant Perkins on his bed.
“What the fuck!” He shoves his laptop away, and the headphones disconnect. The sounds of moans and grunts fill the room. I glance at the screen, and two guys are fucking a woman.
Caden grabs Grant’s arm and drags him from the bed. He’s naked with his hard cock jutting out from his hips.
“I don’t have any money.”
Luke chuckles darkly. “We don’t want your money, Grant.”
“But we want to give you a message.” Eli steps forward.
I’m sure if Grant weren’t hard, he’d be wetting himself. Jack comes forward with rope to tie Grant’s hands.
“I didn’t do whatever you think I did. I’ve stayed away from your girl. Honest. I haven’t even talked to her.” Grant’s voice gets high pitched as Jack tightens the rope.
“Instead, you chose to bet on her.” I get a good look at his terror-filled eyes in the light of his computer.
“It’s just a pool. If you guys want in, I can give you a cut.”
“What we want is for you to learn a lesson about what can and can’t be wagered on.” Eli claps his hand against the side of Grant’s face, and Grant whimpers.
“We’re going to do a little friendly wagering of our own.” Luke steps back. “See, I’m confident you’re going to wet yourself or cry after an hour of being tied up outside the high school.”
“What?” Grant shrieks. This guy isn’t even a worthy opponent. He needs to be made aware of that fact apparently.
“I’ll bet a dollar he doesn’t make it until morning before he cries,” Jack adds as he claps Grant on the shoulder.
Grant’s erection goes down as fear gets the better of him.
“I’ll bet you a dollar he won’t cry until the first girls laugh at him tied up to the flagpole.” Eli gestures to Caden.
Caden grabs Grant’s arm and drags him to the door.
“Wait. Wait. You guys can have the money. It’s a lot.” He drags his feet on the ground. “This isn’t funny.”
“Do you hear us laughing, Grant?” I stop in front of him. “She’s ours. Not yours. Not even for your betting pool.” I step to the side so Caden can escort Grant out. I add, “I bet a dollar he pisses himself before we even tie him to the flagpole.”
“Dude, that’s my car.” Eli winces.
“Put him in the trunk on a plastic sheet,” Jack says. “There’s an extra one in the trunk.”
“Grab a towel from the bathroom.” Luke gestures to me. “If he struggles, I’m not getting piss on me.”
I grab a towel as we pass.
“Guys, I didn’t mean to do it. Fuck, at least let me put on boxers.”
“That was your decision, Grant.” Luke leads the way. “You couldn’t control yourself, and now you have to face the consequences.”
Jack lets out a whoop before he rushes ahead, probably to get the trunk ready.
“Come on, guys. It was just a little extra money, and no one’s won it. There’s speculation, but no one’s offered any proof you’ve done the deed yet.” Grant’s tone turns pleading. “I’ll return everyone’s money in the morning. I swear. I’ll say there’s no way to know who won.”
“Not good enough,” Luke says, opening the back door. “You need to be made an example of for those who might try to follow your lead.”
“Can’t you just rough me up a bit?” The whine in his tone almost makes me want to rough him up. I hate guys who can’t own up to the shit they do.
“Don’t worry. We’ll get the message across.” Caden lifts him and puts him into the open trunk. I toss the towel over his flaccid dick.
“Watch your head.” Jack sounds almost giddy. “And remember, we could do a lot worse if you make trouble for us.”
“Fuck.” The trunk closes on Grant, and he doesn’t make a sound.
We get into the car, and Eli drives us to the school. No one says anything. We can’t be sure if he can hear us and we don’t need him to know anything about our situation.
He doesn’t live far from the high school. We park and file out of the car. Jack works his magic on his laptop, making sure the cameras won’t have any evidence to point our direction.
Sure, they might get Grant to talk, but probably not. If he thinks this is bad, he should have heard the other options. Caden opens the trunk.
“Fuck,” Caden mutters and glances at me. “Looks like I owe you a dollar.”
The towel is wet, and the smell of piss fills the air.
“Good thing we put him in the trunk.” I help Caden get him out, and we all head to the flagpole.
“What else should we bet on, Grant?” Luke stands in front of him while Caden and Jack tie him to the pole. “Should we bet on when someone will let you down? Maybe you’ll get lucky, and the janitor will untie you. Do you have any friends, Grant? Because maybe they’ll release you.”
Eli steps back and pulls out his phone.
“Guys, be reasonable. It’s cold.”
“It’s sixty-five out. Grow a pair.” I shake my head.
When Caden and Jack step away, Eli’s camera light comes on, alerting us he’s recording.
“Seriously?” Grant struggles against the ropes. “I’m sorry. Okay? You’ve had your fun. Now untie me.”
Eli stops recording. “It’s not okay. Most likely someone will help you out before the whole school gets here in the morning. But don’t worry, at eight a.m., everyone in school will have seen you tied up naked to the flagpole. One way or the other.”
We all turn and head toward the car.
“Guys, come on. Fuck. I said I’m sorry. You don’t have to do this. Fuck.”
We get in the car, and Luke turns to us from the passenger seat.
“We’ll take turns watching him to make sure nothing bad actually happens. Caden and Jack, you’re on first watch. You two good to sneak out?”
Eli nods. When Luke’s gaze falls on me, I nod.
“Good. I’ll relieve you after an hour. Then I’ve got some guys on the team lined up to take shifts until morning.” Luke glances out the window at Grant.
He knows who did this to him. I can’t help but ask, “Will he talk?”
“Not if he doesn’t want my fist in his face.” Caden practically growls.
“What about the game tomorrow night? Coach will be upset if we don’t get sleep.” Jack leans back.
“We’ll each get plenty of sleep.” Luke blows out a breath. “We need to talk about Harper and Tanner.”
“She’s not happy with us currently.” I know my sunshine. She’s off and definitely mad at me, if not all of us. In this case, I disagreed with her trying to handle Tanner on her own.
“She still thinks we’re using her,” Jack says quietly. He glances toward the school. “It’s easy to see why she feels that way.”
Last night was something else. Watching her come over and over again, feeling her hot mouth and tight cunt wrapped around me… She was amazing.
“She can’t keep secrets from us,” Caden growls.
“At least she did it to protect you.” I yank the black mask off my face. She’s right. I’m supposed to be her friend, but I can’t be both. My loyalty will always be divided between them and her, and when push came to shove, I chose them.
“Why didn’t you tell us earlier?” Luke lifts his black mask. His eyes spear me, but I’m not afraid of him.
“Because she asked me not to.” This tug-of-war back and forth between the guys and Harper might be too much. “She was my friend before you guys.”
“I think that’s part of our problem.” Jack sits forward. “There shouldn’t be an us against her thing. If she’s ours, then she’s ours all the way. No more dicking around.”
Luke glares at Jack. “Of course she’s ours.”
He laughs. “No, she’s our pet. We claimed her. She has very little say in her relationship with us. Fuck, she doesn’t even think we have a relationship.”
Luke scowls but says nothing. Jack’s not wrong. Yes, she gave in to us willingly, but I wasn’t here to wear her down with the rest of them. She seemed eager to take whatever we could give her. Still does, but that doesn’t mean she feels like an equal.
“Fuck that. I’ve told her she’s mine.” Caden folds his arms over his chest.
“Exactly. We own her. She’s not a part of the group,” Jack says.
“He’s right.” Eli hits his hand on the steering wheel. “She’s willing, but that doesn’t make her part of us. She’s holding herself back.”
“Fuck. I’m done talking about feelings. She’s ours. She’ll deal with it.” Luke jerks his head toward the others. “Jack and Caden, stay here with Grant. We’ll bring one of your cars over. We need sleep so we can win tomorrow.”
Luke
The house is quiet. Harper’s asleep, but I couldn’t resist coming here. I lay in my bed for almost an hour before giving in to my compulsion. My bed was too big, too cold, too empty. Fuck, she’s already in my head.
I push her door open and see Kenz first. She and Harper share the bed, each curled away from the other. On silent feet, I round to Harper’s side and draw the covers away from her body.
She’s wearing shorts and a tank top. When I lift her into my arms, she barely wakes before rolling her head against my chest. Something settles inside me at having her in my arms.
I don’t mind sharing a bed with one of the guys on Harper’s other side, but I draw the line at her friend. There’s a guest bedroom right next to hers we can sleep in. Last night was a lot for her, but all I want tonight is sleep.
Pushing open the guest room door, I balance her against my shoulder to pull the covers down and chuck the decorative pillows on the floor. When I lay her on the cold bed, she shivers and curls into herself.
I tug off my shirt and ditch my jeans before sliding in behind her. As soon as I pull her into my arms, she sighs and settles. I draw in a deep breath of her and exhale.
Fuck. I shouldn’t need her in my arms to sleep, but my body instantly relaxes.
It doesn’t matter if she believes we’re using her. She’s mine and that’s not changing. I understand what Jack said. Nico is a prime example of why keeping a her versus us mentality will cause problems.
My arm traps her against me, but she doesn’t struggle to get free. Instead, she snuggles back into me. Her vanilla scent surrounds me. Her warmth draws me down into sleep.
A scream wakes me up, and I tighten my arms around Harper, but she’s not the one screaming.
“Let me go, Luke.” She pries at my hands. “Kenz.”
I release her and roll out of bed. “Stay here.”
Opening the door, I glance over and see Harper’s bedroom door open. Harper touches my back. Of course she followed me. Fuck.
“Get the fuck out of here!” Kenz yells. A dull thud follows, and someone grunts.
I don’t have time to force Harper to stay back. When I rush to her doorway, someone dressed all in black with a ski mask turns to me. He charges me.
I shift back and press Harper into the wall to keep the guy from accidentally running into her, and he tears down the stairs.
I turn, and Harper’s wide eyes meet mine. “Get in your room. Lock the door.”
She grabs my arm before I can take off. “What are you going to do?”
We need to know who this fucker is. I kiss her before pushing her toward her room. “I’m going after him.”