39. The Trojan Horse
The Trojan Horse
Harper
I meet Ashley’s eyes and she jerks her head toward the desk.
I assume she means to move it in front of the door.
Adrenaline pumps through my veins. The problem is, if we move something that heavy, they’ll definitely know we’re in here.
They’ll see us through the glass. But if we don’t, we won’t be able to hold the door closed against the guys pushing on it.
Maybe they’ll give up? That sounded like a lot of keys.
“Do you even know which key it is?” The guy who spoke first seems impatient.
Sidney jingles the keys again. “It’s not like these keys are marked. Besides, they’re not going anywhere if anyone is in there.”
Fuck it. We have time and need to delay them as long as possible. I nod. Ashley and I scramble to our feet and go to either side of the desk.
“I knew it.” Sidney’s eyes meet mine as we shove at the desk. This fucker is heavy though, and I’m pushing with all my might to budge it inches.
“Find the fucking key, babe.” Zach smirks.
We struggle with the weight, using our legs, as Sidney sorts through the keys trying to insert each one into the lock. The desk makes this awful screeching noise as we shove it across the linoleum toward the door.
“Give them to me. I’ll do it.” Zach snatches them from her. He studies them and tries one. When it doesn’t work, he looks at the keys again.
I push harder. Whatever plans they have, I don’t want to be part of. Ashley must feel the same way as we ram the desk against the door and prepare to hold it.
Zach tries another key, and the lock clicks. My heart is already beating its way out of my chest. His eyes seem to glow as he looks at me. He’s fucking gloating. Fuck him. When he turns the knob, the desk holds it shut.
“We need some help over here. All of you. Leave the others. They don’t matter,” he calls out. The sound of multiple boots head toward us. His eyes meet mine. “I want this one. You’re going to wish you’d just come out of that closet and let me fuck you, darling.”
Ice flows through my blood. I lean all my weight on the desk and so does Ashley. We won’t be able to hold them off forever.
“Don’t worry, Ashley.” Sidney smirks. “We’ll make sure you’re taken care of too. Disloyal bitch. I know how much you love pain. I’ll make sure it hurts.”
“Fuck you, Sidney.” Ashley glares at her. “You don’t think they’ll know it’s you. I hope you love your time in county lockup. You aren’t the only one with relatives in high places.”
“No cameras. My word against yours.” Sidney gloats as the guys discuss how to push the door effectively. “Also, I might have kept those snapchat messages that prove you have a vendetta against me.”
“Like we both don’t have shit on each other.” Ashley rolls her eyes. Her gaze goes to me.
“They’ll be here.” Her words are soft and for me only.
My guys. They definitely have to know something’s wrong if the lights are out in the building. But even if they don’t, it was so close to halftime. They’ll be on their way to the locker room.
Never in a million years would I believe Ashley was trying to reassure me, but in this moment, we’re in this together. We have a common enemy and a common goal. It won’t last and I don’t believe for a second that we’ll come out of this friends.
But right now, I’m glad it’s her I’m stuck with.
My mind swims with the possibilities. If they get in. If they hurt Nico. If my guys get here. If they fight and get hurt.
Clearing my mind, I draw in a breath. I don’t have to hold this desk forever. Just long enough.
Caden
I’m right behind Luke as we get to the doors at the school. When we try to wrench them open they barely move. But there’s a metallic rattle.
“Chains.” Eli jerks his head toward the right and leads the charge around the school.
Jack went to get the police. While everyone at the game and the fair is in a state of panic, this is an emergency. We’ve never underestimated Zach, but we didn’t think he’d pull off something this big. The bonfire can be overlooked. Fucking up the fairgrounds and the game? That won’t be overlooked.
It’s possible he isn’t going after Harper and this is just another see-what-we-do move, but there are too many coincidences to be ignored.
What’s his exit strategy? Sidney’s connections? I don’t think they’ll get him out of this one. But then again, Zach has rich parents to bail him out. It probably depends on how far he gets with his plan. At what point does it move from a harmless prank to a felony?
We get to the next set of doors that are supposed to be locked. But the janitor likes to take smoke breaks and puts tape over the lock, so they can’t track how often he goes out.
Eli jerks it open, and we’re in. It’s a lower-level entrance that the students don’t typically know about. No one besides maintenance uses this door, so Zach didn’t think to lock it or reinforce it.
Down here is a maze of hallways but only some lead upstairs. We mapped this place freshman year. We needed to know this school inside out just for our own curiosity. And finding the best places to not be found.
I’m fucking glad we did. We get to the access door and burst through it into the hallway closest to the locker rooms. We’re still fully suited from the game, including our helmets.
The lights haven’t come back on, but the emergency lights are on everywhere, lighting our way. As we get close, Nico’s crutches are on the ground and Nico is slumped against the wall.
Eli breaks off and checks him. “Hey, you okay?”
Nico doesn’t respond. His head hangs forward. Eli checks his pulse as Luke yanks at the door.
“Fuck!” Luke whisper yells when the door doesn’t budge. He can’t be loud. They can’t know we’re here. Not yet. Though this is their only way out. We could wait for the police, but that might be too late.
“He’s breathing.” Eli checks Nico for injuries. His fingers come away from his hair tinged with blood. “They hit his head.”
The door creaks open. Luke grabs it from whoever has it.
Emma squeaks and lifts her fists like she’s ready to tussle. When she recognizes that it’s us, she relaxes. “Thank fuck.”
Penny and Kenz are behind her. They hurry out into the hall.
“They’ve got her and Ashley trapped.” Kenz doesn’t waste any time. She takes the door from Luke. “There’s quite a few of them. We didn’t count, but at least three or four.”
“We’ve got Nico.” Penny crouches next to him and checks him over as Eli stands.
I nod at Luke and Eli before we rush into the locker room. When we round the corner, a pack of guys are working on shoving an office door open. Two of them striking it with their shoulders.
We charge them. No thought except that Harper is in there.
Eli and I go for the guys hitting the door.
As soon as my guy is down, I grab the other guy standing there and drag him down as I get up, stepping on his back to keep him down.
We take the wind out of the guys we hit. They struggle to catch their breaths.
Zach and Sidney are already running away, but Luke is on their heels.
Sidney squeaks, and I glance to see her on her ass, slumped against the wall. If that doesn’t prove what Luke thinks of her, I’m not sure what will.
Zach and Luke round a corner into where the showers are. I lift my gaze to Harper’s through the glass. She has tears running down her cheeks, but she smiles at me. My heart jerks. That fucker trapped her again.
This will be the last time he traps her. But I can’t beat him down here. Not on school grounds.
Eli is already working on binding the hands of the guys on the ground. He takes off their masks to use as ties.
My girl is safe. I just need to make sure Luke doesn’t let that asshole push him too far. Because I know if I had Zach alone, I’d destroy him.
Luke
Zach has nowhere to go once he hits the showers. He stops like he’s making a decision, but I don’t. I take him down to the ground. All the rage and anger that’s been bubbling inside me rips out. He wanted to take away what’s mine.
We struggle on the ground for a second.
He shoves up and pushes me off his back. When I stand, his eyes meet mine as he straightens. He rubs the back of his hand across his lips, but he’s not injured.
He chuckles. “What? Don’t like to share?”
He’s fucking happy this happened. Like he wanted to get caught.
That throws me off guard. Part of me holds back even though I want to pummel this asshole. The power is out. There are no school cameras in the shower room. I could take him out right here and now.
But something inside me knows Harper is safe for now, and that gives me a moment to assess this situation. If he’d touched her, he’d be dead. I wouldn’t care about the consequences. She’s mine.
But he’s cornered. Alone. He has nowhere left to go. No way to escape except through me. He had to know that coming back here. He’s still fucking cocky. Zach is a lot of things, but stupid isn’t one of them.
My eyes narrow. “What’s the plan, Zach?”
He laughs. “Well, I was going to let my friends have a go at your girl, but I was worried she’d be into that.”
Rage boils within me. But they’re just words. He’s fucking with me. Why? What’s his plan? He’s not being aggressive here. Not searching for a way out. He’s waiting for something.
I clench my fists. “What’s wrong? Sidney not enough for you?”
Zach chuckles and brushes his hands on his black pants. He was the only one with his mask off. He wanted Harper to know it was him, to frighten her. Even though she’d figure out it was him, he wanted to make sure.
“Sidney wasn’t enough for you. Was she?” Zach smirks like he has all the time in the world.
It puts me on edge. What did I miss? “What is it about Harper Davidson? Is it that spark of innocence? Or that little hint of defiance? I bet she gives in real sweet when you fuck her. Probably cries when you fuck her holes and begs you to stop.”
Fuck this guy. Is he all talk?
“What are you really after?” I spit out and look around. Is this a trap? Are they trying to trick me into doing something? He must have known we’d come after him. He had to know we’d get in.
Maybe too late.
Fuck. I can’t think about that or I’ll do something I regret.
The administration might be able to look the other way usually, but not if I beat Zach Gray to a pulp on school property, which is what I want to do. I want him to feel the pain he’s causing my girl. To make it impossible for him to go through with his plan.
But he’s not attacking me here. He’s not defending himself.
I lift my helmet off and narrow my eyes at him. What does he want? Caden comes in and stands next to me. Silent, but his anger radiates off him in waves.
“I figured you wouldn’t do anything without a buddy.” Zach smiles at us like he’s lost his fucking mind and rubs a hand over his hair. “Is that what it takes to get her off? All of you fucking her at the same time? Can she even come with just one of you?”
Caden doesn’t move forward, but he’s primed. He wants to beat this asshole. So do I, but something keeps me immobile. It’s too easy.
Zach shakes his head and glares at me. His mask that he wears around us is down and I see the hate in his eyes. “You don’t even know why I’m coming after your girl, do you?”
Caden growls low in his throat.
“Does it matter?” I ask. Is that what he wants? For us to know how we wronged him? We’ve had this conversation. As far as any of us know we’ve done nothing to Zach or anyone he might care about. Not even his older brother.
He chuckles. Footsteps approach from behind us. “Think about it, Death. One of you or all of you did something that made me come after your weakness. Surely your list of sins isn’t so long that you can’t figure it out.”
“What’s going on in here?” a voice barks out.
I step back and face my coach. A police officer stands beside him.
“This is the guy who caused the blackout.” I move out of the way as the police officer comes forward and pats Zach down. “He was trying to attack some of the girls. We stopped him and his friends from getting into the room where the girls were hiding.”
The police officer nods and grabs Zach’s arm and leads him out.
“I’m not finished,” Zach says quietly as he passes me. His eyes burn into mine.
I don’t flinch or give him anything, but I need to figure out what he means. What sin he believes we’ve committed or what we actually did that affected him?
“Game’s cancelled.” Coach looks us over like he’s checking to see if we’ve been fighting. “Change in the locker room and head out. We’ll meet tomorrow morning after you help Coach Turner with his peewee league. Make sure everyone knows.”
I nod.
Coach claps me on the shoulder pad. “Good game tonight. Bring that energy to next week’s game when the scouts are out and you’ll have your choice of schools.”
“Thanks, Coach.” Pride chases through me at his words. That’s the dream. That’s the way out.
“Ross, they’re going to be watching you next week.”
Caden nods. “I’ll bring it.”
His fingers twitch, and I’m sure he wants to get back to Harper. I didn’t take time to make sure she was all right, but I know if Caden is here, she’s good. He wouldn’t leave her if she wasn’t.
“This is a fucking mess.” Coach shakes his head and turns to walk away. He doesn’t swear often, but this situation warrants it. It’s a mess, and I want this over with. I want whatever vendetta Zach has against us over with.
When Coach is gone, Caden turns to me.
“Think there’s a camera stashed?” His words are quiet.
I glance around the shower room. The girls wouldn’t have used the showers tonight. They barely use them in gym class, but the way Zach acted...
“He wanted me to hit him.” And fuck did I want to. I could have made sure he never thought about coming after Harper again.
“Makes sense. You would have been suspended, but your dad wouldn’t have let them expel you.” Caden takes off his helmet. “You would have been barred from the Homecoming dance.”
I nod but then release a breath I’ve been holding for a while. “This means Zach won’t be there.”
“Or Sidney.” Caden smirks.
Which means they’ll have to pair up me and Harper instead. Suddenly, I’m looking forward to Homecoming.
“Fuck,” I say. “Let’s go find our girl and get the fuck out of here.”