Page 53 of Dark Tangled Truths
Hawk stops at his locker and takes my books from me. He grabs his spare helmet, but before I can take it, Damon holds mine out without a word. I take my helmet, but avoid looking at him.
“Come on, let’s get some lunch and talk.” Hawk takes my hand and leads me out to the bikes. Cam waits on his motorcycle for us.
I climb on behind Hawk and hold on. I close my eyes and try to remember last night. To hold on to that feeling because this morning sucked. Last night we were all together and it was fun and thrilling and everything I could ever want in a relationship. I didn’t know how fragile the thing we were building was. How fragile Damon and I were.
We ride for about ten minutes and then pull into an Indian restaurant. Cam helps me with my helmet and wraps his arm around my shoulders to lead me inside. He puts me in the booth before he slides in next to me.
“Chin up, goody.” Cam presses a kiss to my cheek. “I’ve got you.”
Hawk sits across from me. Damon is next to him, looking away from me. Hawk and Cam seem determined to hold this together. Good, because I can’t do it on my own.
Once our order is in, Hawk clears his throat. “We already know someone’s out to get Annie, but Heather’s getting texts too.”
He tells Cam about the reason we got caught, and how Mom said she’s getting anonymous texts.
Cam scrubs a hand over his face and shakes his head. “Jackson makes sense, but who does he know at our school who would deliver that rose? No one saw who put it there.”
“Unless it was just a coincidence and someone else planted it.” I fiddle with the straw in my water, trying to focus on the conversation and not the emotions swirling inside me. “Maybe someone knows about Jackson and wanted to prove a point. Maybe it’s a girl who wants one or all of you.”
It’s not a ridiculous theory. There can be more than one thing happening at a time. And the rose could just be throwing us off.Whoever gave it to me may not even know about Jackson and just used the termpretty girlfor whatever fucked up reason they thought of.
“Or he’s not working on his own.” Hawk studies me. “There might be a connection, and I just haven’t figured it out yet. There’s something we’re missing.”
“Evan can’t be left alone.” Damon’s gaze darts between them, but not me. “I’m not leaving unless I know you two have her.”
“For fuck’s sake, you aren’t the only one protecting me. You aren’t leaving me alone. You have to go,” I say. His gaze flicks to me, and for a moment our eyes lock and clash. “This is your opportunity. Don’t use me as an excuse to fuck this up.”
“Whoever is after you knows too much.” Damon leans back in the booth and looks out over the restaurant. “They found out about Evan sleeping in my bed. That can’t be common knowledge.”
“There are still cameras in Annie’s room?” Hawk asks. Of course there are.
“They’re secure.” Damon shakes his head. “No one else can access them.”
“Are we sure?” Cam looks at Damon. “You don’t think your nerd can be out-nerded? He build the wall around your server. Someone else could probably tear it down.”
Damon chews on that for a moment. Even though he isn’t paying attention to me, somehow I know he’s aware of my gaze. That muscle ticking in his jaw gives him away.
“Or maybe your nerd found a higher bidder.” Hawk drops it like a bomb ready to explode, because anyone can be bought. For the right price. That’s the problem with outsourcing.
“It would explain how they knew I wasn’t in bed last night,” I say. “Not that I’m ever in that bed.”
“What about your staff?” Cam asks.
“Someone could have noticed Annie’s bed is always made,” Hawk says. It would make sense. “I don’t know how else someone would know about you two sharing a bed. The only proof is inside the house. So it’s either your nerd or the staff.”
“Or someone could have been guessing.” Cam leans back and rubs his jaw. “It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to put together that if the two of you live together that you’re probably fucking in the house and might share a bed.”
“Lucky fucking guess,” I mutter.
“I shouldn’t leave.” Damon looks off in the distance. Something stirs in the broken pieces inside me at him wanting to protect me, but that’s not who we are. Maybe we aren’t as broken as he’s acting. We want to be more, and to do that, we have to make sacrifices.
“You’re going.” I have to say it. He’s not blowing this over me. “We don’t waste any opportunity.”
“There will be other opportunities.” Damon glares at me. But I’m not letting this go.
“We don’t settle.”
He looks at me with a fierceness that I love, but right now, it also hurts.
