51. The Spymaster
The Spymaster
Eli
The party is far from winding down. I don’t think anyone wants to go home tonight. Not when this is slowly turning into the rager of the year. Good on Jason.
It’s easy to move through the people, but hard to find the small cluster of girls I know are around here somewhere. I check the couch where Penny and Kenz were with Harper and Nico, but it’s been taken over by some kids who barely qualify as freshmen. I swear they look younger every year.
With a shake of my head, I keep looking.
Back outside, I find the fights all but over and some teens messing around in the pool. Ashley and Hannah sit with a few of the football players on the patio. Ashley nods respectfully but doesn’t gesture me over or even get up to come talk to me.
For years, we worked together to banish the anger weighing on both of us. If she’d cut me off, I would have found another outlet, but I imagine it’s harder in her position. To trust someone to give them control of your pain is a big ask.
Especially at our age.
It’s too easy for someone to take things too far. To disregard the safety of play. To not stop when someone withdraws consent. We’ve talked. There’s something more than just her mother’s affair that drives her, but she’s about as open as I am. So I don’t know more than that.
I hope Wilder can give her what she’s looking for. Every girl I talked to who had been with him told me he respected their limits.
I make my way back into the house and finally find the girls in the kitchen, pouring more drinks and giggling. Penny’s eyes widen when she notices me. Her smile freezes and then sinks.
Making sure we’re relatively alone in here, I move to the edge of their circle. Izzy, Vicky, and Nat all stop laughing when they realize I’m here.
“Hey, Eli.” Nat swallows down her fear and gives me a tentative smile. “What can we do for you tonight? Do you need a drink?”
She starts to pick up a bottle.
“Nah, I think we’re heading out soon.” I wait and let that hang in the air.
“Cool,” Nat says. The awkwardness clings to them.
Izzy giggles nervously, and Nat nudges her with her elbow. Izzy stops abruptly.
“Is everything okay?” Penny steps in front of them, putting herself between me and them. Does she know that’s a protective move? That she’s already a leader like her brother. Yes, her following is small and not as powerful as ours, but she’s taken command here.
From what Luke’s said, William Foster may not see it, but Penny is definitely his daughter and, at the same time, Luke’s sister.
She’s helped us when we needed her to and put herself in harm’s way. Anyone’s loyalties can be swayed, but for now, I’m grateful Penny appears to be on our side.
“Are you going back to your dad’s tonight?” I know she isn’t, but we need to figure out something that Vicky will take to William that will come back to us.
Penny shakes her head and looks back at Nat. “I’m staying at Nat’s.”
Nat raises her hand and looks uncertain.
“Good. We don’t want you there alone.”
“Won’t her dad be there?” Vicky asks. She doesn’t lift her gaze to mine, but picks at her nail. “I mean, he’s her dad. Isn’t it safest with your parents?”
Penny meets my gaze, and I see the moment she realizes this is her opportunity. “I don’t feel comfortable around my dad. I’m going to talk to my mom about moving back with her.”
She drags in a breath and looks back over her shoulder at her girls. “I don’t know if I can tell my dad that though. I’m worried what he’ll think or do. I’m hoping my mom can smooth it over before I talk to him about it.”
It’s not the strongest test, but it leans into the truth, and also it’s not really something that if William knows, he could really use it against her. But it would test Vicky to see if it gets back to him.
“Remember to text if you need anything.” I lower my head to the girls, and Penny nods at me. We gave her the burner phone number earlier in case something happens and she needs us. If she’s desperate, she can call Luke, but our phones are assumed to be compromised for now.
“I will.” She releases her breath and smiles before turning back to her friends.
I meet up with Caden, Harper, Luke, and Nico in the hallway.
“Everything good?” Luke asks. His gaze lingers over my shoulder at his sister and her friends.
“Yeah.” I take in their grim looks. “What now?”
Caden holds up his phone for me to read the screen. Good.
“Let’s go.”
Jack
It’s different hanging out with Mike and Emma than my guys and Harper. First off, they keep flirting with each other. Which. while sweet, is still a little sickening after the first ten minutes.
“I can’t wait until the dance tomorrow.” Mike actually sounds excited about it.
“Hopefully they’ll get the king and queen thing out of the way early, so we can dance all night.” Emma leans forward in the backseat with her hands on Mike’s shoulders. She really seems into him and I’m happy for her. She deserves a nice guy, even if he isn’t the smartest. At least he’s loyal.
“Babe, you’re going to win.” Mike smiles. “How could you not?”
Emma giggles, and the sound is awesome to hear. I don’t think I’ll ever forget how broken she was after what Zach’s crew did to her. I’m sure some of that trauma is going to come back up, but hopefully Mike will help with that.
“The other girls are just as likely to win. Especially with Sidney out of the running.” Emma releases a breath.
“You could have beat Sidney.” Mike’s all in on this line of thinking. His smile is a little sloppy after all the beer he had tonight, but his reflexes are honed even when drunk. It’s why I brought him with us. In case anything goes sideways.
I don’t expect it to. I already tracked Will to his house. It’s not like he was at the party tonight for me to ask him while he was there. Hopefully he’s not watching porn like Grant had been.
I park the car along the curb in front of his house. It’s decent-sized in a good neighborhood. His parents make good money, and he doesn’t really want for anything. Aside from maybe a girlfriend.
Others teased him in middle school. We heard about it, but we were still focused on football and dominating our sport of choice. We trained even in the off season. But it’s hard not to notice when it seems the class is targeting someone for no other reason than he’s different.
I do worry what Will’s real intentions with Penny are at the Homecoming dance. Is this a chance to humiliate her, or is he just looking for a chance to be with her more? Either way, she can handle herself, and they won’t be left alone. They’re going with her group and Kenz and Brandon.
I get out, and Mike and Emma follow behind me. Mike asks quietly if it’s all right if he puts his arm around Emma’s shoulders. She nods almost shyly. He drapes his arm over her shoulder, and Emma’s grin stretches from ear to ear. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her happier.
If all this shit hadn’t been happening around us, I’d never have been happier with someone either. Harper is definitely it for me. For us.
I walk around the side of the house. When I came over to give him the files and show him what I needed him to do, he showed me the back way to his room on the lower level.
When I knock on the door, a light flicks on beside it, blinding us momentarily. I wait, and the door opens. Will’s blue eyes widen as he takes in me with the others. He steps back to let us into the rec room.
Mike grins. “Sick crib, man.”
“Thanks for having us.” Emma’s smile is clear in her words.
Will runs a hand through his already tousled brown hair. He looks at them and then at me.
I smirk and explain, “We’re not going places alone right now.”
“We’re just here to hang out. Ignore us.” Mike sits on the couch and drags Emma down next to him before reaching for the TV remote. He turns it on and has the volume down low as he scrolls through the options.
Will still eyes them warily for a second, but when they settle in, he shakes his head.
“Come on.” He leads me through the room, down a hallway to his bedroom. Absently, he flicks his hand behind him at me. “Close the door.”
I shut the door and look at his bedroom. His bed looks like it’s never been made. Sheets and blankets are piled all over it with a pillow here and there. His desk is a haphazard wasteland of computer parts and papers. He has three screens. A keyboard is balanced on the piles.
He stops in front of the computer and shakes his head before looking at me. “What the fuck did you get me into?”
My brow furrows, and I step in to look at the documents up on his screens.
“Fuck, Jack. This is some toxic shit. I mean, some of the stuff Sidney asked me to do was fucked up, but this...” He gestures at the screen and shakes his head before sinking down into the computer chair. “This is the type of shit people are made to disappear for knowing.”
I step behind him and read over his shoulder. There are files of names, dates, and money. It’s a ledger for something.
I read a few of the lines, and it becomes pretty clear what the money is for. Or rather, who the money is for.
“Not just this fun little spreadsheet of horror, but there’s another, similar one filled with drugs and when they were taken and by who.” Will runs his hands through his hair and tugs on it. “Fuck.”
“These were the deleted files that I recovered.” I narrow my eyes on the last names of people who used to work at the hospital. There were a few names that are still working there. Are these the people stealing the drugs for William? The dates are old though.
Fuck. They’re old enough to be when my father was still part of whatever the fuck that generation of horsemen were doing.
“There’s more, Jack.” Will closes the files and puts a flash drive in before transferring a folder onto it. “I can’t do this anymore. Seriously. If he thinks I know this shit, I’m dead.”
I sink onto the edge of his bed and run a hand through my hair. This can’t be the same smoking gun that Sean found, or he would have had his out. Maybe William deleted this after Sean discovered the errors in accounting.
“No one knows you’re helping us, Will.” There’s no worry in my voice. “They’ll assume I uncovered it. Very few people realize you even have this skill set.”
I narrow my eyes at Will. “Why do you know this shit?”
Will shrugs and pulls out the flash drive to give to me.
“What else am I going to do? I’m not good at sports.
I get decent grades, but I can’t compete with Eli or Luke for top of the class.
I didn’t want to go into band and only took art so I could be guaranteed to have one class with Penny a year. ”
Will’s eyes flick up to mine when he realizes what he just told me. I chuckle.
“Fuck, Will, you want to stalk a girl in high school by being in the same class, I’m all for it. As long as you don’t show up in her room watching her in her sleep like a creeper, we’re cool.” I shake my head. “You can’t tell anyone about what you found.”
“I’m not an idiot.” He stands and paces. “This would take down some major players in this town. It wouldn’t be good for anyone if these were to get out.”
His eyes narrow on me. But I already know what he’s going to ask.
“No one will know what you did for us.” I run a hand through my hair and give him an earnest expression. “Wipe your drive, make sure it’s completely clean. I know you can do that.”
He nods. “I can do that.”
“I’ll make sure to have some files I’ve downloaded before marked by your machine if anyone knows we had you helping us and is good enough to get into my system.”
He smiles warily. “I almost did it.”
“No one’s gotten into my system.” I stand and pocket the files. “There’s protocol for a reason.”
“I was really impressed with your system security. It was a fucking challenge that I looked forward to.” He blows out a breath and looks over at a suit hanging on the door of his closet. He rubs his hands together. “Any advice on tomorrow night?”
I smirk. “Penny’s a girl. Treat her like a queen, and she’ll eat that shit up, but don’t just blow smoke up her ass. You’ve got to mean that shit or she’ll see right through you.”