43. The Reinforcements
The Reinforcements
Eli
The party is crowded and boisterous. I find a group of football players downstairs at the pool table.
It feels like everyone is at this one party tonight, which is unusual.
Maybe it’s the only party. I’ve seen quite a few of Ava’s friends bouncing around and flirting. Even a few freshmen pass me by.
Before I can head over to the football guys and see if they want to do a sparring match later on, someone grabs my arm.
“Eli.”
When I turn, Ava looks up at me. I glance around but she’s alone.
“Where’s Caden?” Ava looks around me like I’m hiding him behind my back.
“Not here.” I raise an eyebrow at her touching my arm.
She yanks her hand away like she didn’t even realize it was there. “I need to speak with him.”
I glance around for the JV guys or Zoey. They’re supposed to be watching her even at parties. We’ll need to have a talk with them about this. Maybe even tell them not to bring her to parties anymore. When I look down at her, she rolls her eyes.
“I gave them the slip.” She straightens even though she’s still short. “It’s not that hard when they’re flirting with other girls.”
Is that a note of bitterness in her tone? Caden won’t be happy if one of those guys dates his sister. He’d be even less happy with them if one of them slept with her. But that’s not my problem right now.
“He’ll be here later.” I turn to step away as I see Zoey hurrying this way with a determined look. Good.
“Wait.” Ava looks over her shoulder and cringes as Zoey spots her. “Some girls were talking about Harper at the game.”
I glance around. No one is nearby that we consider a threat, but fuck, we can’t be sure about anyone. I grab Ava’s arm. “Come on.”
“What?” Ava says in shock.
“Found you.” Zoey lets out a huge breath. “Stop giving the guys the slip.”
I jerk my head toward the patio doors. “Talk outside.”
When I take Ava with me outside, Zoey follows like I figured she would. I close the glass door and some of the loudness of the party is muffled.
“What were you saying?” I release Ava and cross my arms.
“These girls at the game.” She glances at Zoey.
Zoey sighs and looks at me. “Rachel Hayes, Autumn Cook, and Heather Parson. All color guard.”
“They were talking about how Harper was in the locker room last game and they trapped her in the laundry room. They laughed about it and talked about doing it again after the Homecoming ceremony to teach her her place.” Ava glances at Zoey before returning her gaze to me. “I figured you’d want to know.”
I nod and narrow my eyes at Ava. “Stay close to your bodyguards. They can’t do their job if you run off. The last thing Caden needs to worry about is having to save your ass.”
Ava presses her lips into a thin line. She’s always been stubborn.
“It’s not forever.” I try for a softer approach. “Just until we get our house in order.”
Ava glances at the patio doors. The three younger football players are tearing the rec room apart looking for her. She turns to Zoey.
“Will you say I was with you?” Ava’s almost pleading.
Zoey sighs. “Yeah. Come on. I’ll cover for you but stop wandering off.”
They open the glass door, and the young guys look up to find them. The door shuts, muffling the rising voices inside. I shake my head and turn to look out over this part of the yard. The only light spills from the glass doors behind me though the back of the house is bright.
I can hear people up the hill and behind the house, but this is a side entrance, and no one is out here. It’s quiet and peaceful. I soak this in, like those quiet moments of the early morning with Harper soft and asleep in my arms.
This last year was supposed to be an easy one. One where we ruled the school and left it to the next generation when we went off to college. But then Harper happened.
I run my hand through my hair. Who knew a girl is what would draw us closer together? Sure, we all talked about going to the same school or in the same town at least, but would it have happened?
Could I have turned down Stanford if Luke got into Harvard?
Fuck if I know, but now I’m determined. Wherever my kitten goes, I’ll follow. I can get my degree anywhere and prove my worth to employers. But I won’t find someone like Harper again.
I blow out my breath and turn to the glass doors. Time to find some guys who want to fight and get it set up. So we can blow off some steam before we take Harper home.
Luke
Harper’s case saved her phone. The first phone must be the one Zach ditched. It took enough time to find Harper’s phone that the other guys were long gone as we made our way out of the high school. If we were up to mischief, tonight would be the perfect night to do something.
What, I don’t know. But without power, the security cameras are useless around the school. I’m surprised there aren’t at least patrol cars outside the school.
“We need to make sure we don’t get caught with Zach’s phone,” Caden says as soon as we’re in the car.
I take the phone out of my pocket and nod. Might have useful data on it, but likely not linked to anyone in particular, especially if Zach dumped it. “Probably his burner phone. Wish we’d known. I would have returned it to his pocket before he left for the police station.”
Caden chuckles as he drives around the school building without his lights on, just in case. “I’m sure it will come in handy. He’s not done with our girl.”
I look out the window. Fuck, he’s right. We all know it, but part of me is glad that Zach made his move tonight. Harper wasn’t looking forward to being in front of everyone on stage anyway. But she’s looking forward to the dance, and I don’t want him to ruin that for her.
I rest my head back against the seat and turn my head to look at Caden. Speaking of the dance, he said she loved two dresses but decided to only buy one. Given what happened to her first dress, maybe we should have bought more.
“You bought both dresses?” I confirm.
Caden smirks. “Yeah. Jennifer looked like she wanted to argue, but she saw Harper’s face in those dresses and they weren’t cheap. Harper needed a backup in case something happens to the one she likes.”
I release my breath. “I need to go by my house to pick up my suit.”
“We can buy you a new one tomorrow.” Caden turns toward Jason’s.
“When?” I tick off everything we have left to do tomorrow. “Pee wee football. Meeting with the coach. Making sure Harper has the best Homecoming dance ever.”
“She’s never been, so this will be the best one.” Caden chuckles.
“It means we need to make sure it’s unforgettable.” I look down at my hands. Do I feel bad that Harper didn’t attend things in the past? Only a little. She made her choice. She decided that it wasn’t worth attracting our attention. “We don’t have time to tailor a new suit.”
“Fine, but we go to your house before the pee wee football. That way we can be in and out.” Caden shakes his head like this is stupid.
It probably is, but my father hasn’t reached out since we left. Penny’s mom has been a no show too. But Penny says that’s not uncommon. We’re both unlucky byproducts of William Foster.
“She’s going to look beautiful.” Caden’s words are soft.
“She always looks beautiful.” There’s something about Harper that catches all my attention now. Usually with a girl, we fuck a few times, and I’m over it. It was easy to just go back to the same girl when I needed someone to fuck. I pick girls who are low drama.
With the exception of Sidney, that is.
But with Harper, she’s all I want.
“He’ll come for her tomorrow.” Caden pulls over on the street to park behind the long line of cars at the party. “Even if he’s banned from the dance.”
I run a hand through my hair. “I know. We can’t leave her alone.”
“We won’t.”
Caden and I get out of the car and head up the hill to Jason’s house. The place is practically bursting at the seams, it’s so full of teenagers. We make it to the front door after greeting some guys and talking for a few.
The purpose tonight is to be seen and figure out where things went wrong. Yes, our attention was focused on Harper, but something happened before then. Zach might have been stepping into our spot while we weren’t looking, but he had a reason.
A sin.
We just need to figure out what that was. We’ve never come at him directly that we know of. But there are a lot of girls he could have had a crush on who we took out from under him.
“We need a list of the virgins,” I say to Caden.
He arches his eyebrow at me.
“Not current, but the ones we took. Zach wanted to take Harper’s virginity before us. Maybe that’s the link we need.”
Caden chews on that for a moment and then nods.
Girls giggle as they pass us. One even drags her hand down my arm and gives me a look like she wouldn’t mind if I pinned her up against the wall. I ignore her. There’s only one girl I’m interested in.
The overflowing house is as packed as the yard. I could text Nico to find them, but he probably wouldn’t hear his phone. The house mix on the stereo blasts loud. I’m surprised no one’s called in a complaint to the police.
Caden taps my arm and changes direction. We head outside and find Jack and Emma in a group of football players.
“Hey!” the guys yell as they notice us. They come up and offer their fists to bump. These are our teammates.
Mike Cook moves to the front. “Eli says we’re fighting tonight.”
Caden smiles wickedly. “You think you can take me, Cook?”
Mike laughs. “Hell, no. But we need to make sure faces are off the menu. I got a hot date tomorrow and don’t want a shiner.”
He glances back at Emma, who smiles at him.
Caden grabs Mike’s jaw. “You afraid we’ll mess up this pretty face?”
The guys around us laugh.
“No messing up faces. Pictures are forever.” Emma puts her hands on her hips to scold Caden.
He smirks. “Yes, ma’am.”
Emma arches an eyebrow, but then she smiles and slides in next to Mike. I don’t see Hannah or Ashley. Ashley wanted to talk to us, and the party is our opportunity.
No one’s had time to bug this house to overhear our conversations.
Caden continues to rib Mike and the guys while I look around. Jack steps beside me.
“They’re in the living room.” His words are quiet.
I nod and look back at the house. The lights are dim, but the curtains are open. The lights flash when someone puts on a strobe light, and she’s there. Harper.
She’s smiling as she talks to Kenz and Nico. Penny sits on the other side of Nico and leans across him to be part of the conversation. It’s odd to think I might have actual family I don’t hate.
After a few minutes, Harper looks up and our eyes lock. Her smile brightens and she goes to stand, but Nico holds her back. She leans in to say something to him, but her eyes never leave me.
He shakes his head and says something. She sighs. There’s disappointment in her eyes as she looks at me now. I smirk at her, and her smile softens.
“Are we going to replay the Wild Cats?” Greg Johnson asks me.
“Coach will let us know tomorrow.” I tear my eyes away from Harper and focus on the guys. We need to get information.
“Is it true that Zach Gray did it?” Greg asks.
“Looks like he and his guys took advantage of the blackout, but we can’t know if they caused the blackout.” We know they did it, but it won’t do us any favors if we blame them and they come away scot-free. Do I think he’ll get charged? No, but one of those guys will.
“They still came after the girls. How are we going to get back at the basketball team?” Greg rubs his hands together. “They need to be taken down a notch.”
I pat Greg on the shoulder. “Let’s see what punishments they get before we decide on a counterattack. This one might have blown up in their faces.”
“Someone said it was a panty raid on the Homecoming girls.” Adam Rivera joins our conversation. “Did your girl get hurt?”
“No, she didn’t.” I smile at Emma. “Probably because Emma throat punched a guy.”
Emma laughs. “He deserved it. Fucker.”
“You should fight tonight, Emma.” Greg smiles at her.
She pats Mike’s chest. “Nah, I want to look good for my date.”
Mike beams at the others and squeezes Emma tighter against him. “I like that you stood up for yourself and the others.”
Eli joins us and claps me on the shoulder. “Are we doing this?”
I glance back at Harper. As if she knows I’m looking at her, she lifts her eyes to mine.
“I’ve got something I want to do first.” I look at Eli, Caden, and Jack. “Let me get a beer, and I need to have a conversation before we fight.”
The guys all shout above the party noise, talking smack about each other.
We’re still the kings of the school. I clap the other players on the shoulder as Eli, Caden, Jack, and I turn for the house.
As we cross the threshold, I lean into Eli. “Find Ashley. It’s time to talk.”