18. Olivia #3
The teacher eyes the silent class with a gleam in his eyes before saying, “Good! Now that you’ve all moved, this project will require after-class meetings.
The library has private study booths available.
The quad is available. Your bedrooms are available.
Work together. You’re all paired together for a reason.
Different majors offer different insights into the cases you’re trying to solve.
Get a good grade. But work together. Got it? ”
Oh, he enjoys the power he has over us.
“Wonderful. The remainder of the class will be for coordinating your schedules and collecting phone numbers. And looking over case files in your folders.”
With that, he comes to each group and hands out folders. Some are thin, but others are thick with evidence.
Mack grits his teeth when our folder lands on my desk with a thud. It’s so damn thick; there must be a million witness statements and pieces of evidence. I swear my mouth waters when I reach for it.
“You gonna come in your pants, Oli?” Mack quips, leaning back to look me over with a mocking glare.
My gaze whips to him. “Only in your dreams, asshole.”
A smirk pulls at the edge of his lips.
“Let’s just work together for fuck’s sake. No reason to make this difficult,” Wilder hisses. “We’re stuck doing this together. Might as well.”
“What?” Mack barks out. “I am not working with you two assholes. Give me the files. I actually need a good grade to graduate and then move on to med school.” He reaches for the papers, but I pull them away with a scowl.
“Fuck no,” I retort, holding the file from his grasp. “Group project. This depends on all of us. Besides, I don’t fucking trust you not to fuck us over.” I raise my chin defiantly.
“Oh, yeah? How would I fuck you two over? I need the grade as much as you two idiots do. And seeing as I’m the smartest—”
Wilder scoffs. “Yeah. You think you’re so damn smart because you’re going to be a doctor, but you’re a goddamn idiot. You always have been.”
Tension flares between the two of them, and I’m stuck in the fucking middle of their bloody brother battle.
Big guy in the sky, why do you hate me so much? It had to be him? And Wilder? This is going to be a bloodbath by the fucking time we’re done.
I wonder if Jonathan would be mad if I accidentally killed Mack? Probably. It would be heavily frowned upon. Don’t sleep with your mark and definitely don’t maim them with knives or other weapons.
Damn it.
“Shut up,” I grit out, setting the files down. Out of the corner of my eye, Wilder opens his mouth to retort. “Both of you. We all need a good grade. We all need to fucking graduate. Haven’t you ever heard the term sharing is caring? Teamwork makes the dream work?”
This is going to be like corralling toddlers into winter coats.
Impossible.
“Sharing is caring, baby. Now, take off your shirt and share your nipples with me.” Mack grins wildly, nearly salivating when I stare between him, JJ, and Hux.
“Yeah, sharing is caring,” Hux quips, throwing a glare in Mack’s direction.
“And them,” Mack chuckles when my cheeks heat.
Mack’s brows furrow slightly. “Whatever. How are we going to work together? No way in fuck are you two going to come to my place.”
“Yeah, well, there’s no way in fuck I’d allow a rat like you in mine, either,” Wilder retorts quickly, not missing a beat.
Oh my God. This is going to be impossible. They’re going to fight at every goddamn turn. This is another strike against Jonathan and his relentless ways.
I sigh. “We can book a study room in the library.” Although I’d rather be tied to a chair in a sketchy warehouse than situated between these two rival gang members.
“Yeah, whatever.” Mack waves a hand dismissively.
Huh. Who knew he could be agreeable so quickly?
“That’s fine,” Wilder sighs, putting his cigarette between his lips. It bobs around as he tongues the end, almost as if he’s desperate for a taste of the nicotine, but doesn’t light it up.
“Wonderful!” Mack mocks.
“What are your schedules like?” I ask, looking between the two of them.
“I’m unavailable in the morning and afternoons and most weekends.” Mack gives us a clenched smile.
“So busy, brother,” Wilder grumbles from beneath his cigarette. “Lots of jobs to run? What does Franco have you boys doing these days? Murdering innocent college students?”
A redness fills Mack’s cheeks. “None of your goddamn business. I have water polo morning and night. So if you insist, it’ll have to be on Wednesday afternoons. It’s all I fucking got. Unless you give me the files…” He trails off, cocking his head.
“Absolutely not. I don’t trust you as far as I can throw you. You’d fucking sabotage this shit in a heartbeat.”
Mack grins. “Oh, ye of little faith, brother,” he says, before leaning over my desk and glowering at Wilder.
I sit back, staring at the same blond hair I used to run my fingers through or grip onto when we kissed.
When we got so close, we breathed each other’s oxygen and inhaled each other’s scents.
I swallow the heavy lump sitting in my throat.
He says something vicious to Wilder. Something I can’t hear over the ringing in my ears, because the memories play on repeat constantly. Much to my dismay.
Before class, I had wondered if JJ kept his promise. I mean, he could have easily told them the second he got home. But staring at Mack as he sits back in his seat with a smirk, not looking at me with any intrigue or grief, I don’t think he knows.
Thank fuck.
“Let’s go over this shit, then,” Wilder grumbles, gesturing for me to open the files on my desk.
I flip it open with shaky fingers. My nerves are fried—from everything. Them. This place. I’m desperate to lock myself in my room again and become one with my bed.
But I can’t. I refuse. I’m here to do a job, and no matter how hard it hurts my soul to be this close to any of them, it’s all for the case.
Three separate briefing sheets with the same descriptions sit on top of the files.
“One briefing for each of us,” I say in a low voice, handing the brothers their sheets.
Can I survive this? The tension between these two has the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. If I’m not careful, I’ll be the only thing stopping them from murdering each other. Or me.
Case number: 2020-RA-1847
Decedent: Ezra Michael Thornton
Date of Examination: November 15
Time of Examination: 08:45 am
Examined by: Dr. Patrick Moore, Chief Medical Examiner.
“Ezra Thornton,” Wilder mumbles. “Why does that sound so familiar?” he says, more to himself, reading the name of the man we’re studying.