Page 42 of Violent Skies

“Hey,” I whisper and she cracks an eye. “I hate to ruin your morning, but we have a problem.”

She tenses and sits up in bed.

“Where’s your phone?”

“I left it in the kitchen last night,” she says and I nod, standing up and moving toward the door. Rafe is already there with toast in between his lips, staring at something on the counter. I look around and spot her phone, palming it, and my stomach drops when the screen lights up to reveal the photo of her and Koa from their wedding.

I hear her coming down the stairs as I’m collecting my thoughts and I open the phone to check her only message.

Unknown

That was quick.

It’s a photo taken before we got out of the car, from a different angle. My hands tangled up into the back of her shirt, our faces together, cheeks red, our teenage make-out session backlit by only the light from the house. Shit.

“Someone was watching us?” Cress leans around me, her face turning to look at mine with worry and fear.

“Yeah, seems that way,” Rafe mutters, tossing his phone to me before he buttons up the thin short-sleeve shirt he’s wearing and runs his fingers through his hair as I look through everything. “Got me doing pick ups at Bobby’s. With an ominous: keep your family close.”

Birdie stomps down the stairs in a cloud of rage from being woken up. She’s in a shirt that’s twice her size and a pair of jeans. She turns to the stairs and snaps at the empty space. “Murphy?”

He follows with his laptop and lets out an exasperated sigh when he sees Cress’s text. “It’s all scrubbed. There’s zero identifying markers to who could have sent this. Every time I find a lead, it scrambles and disappears. This is hardcore shit.” He sounds unsure.

Murphy never sounds unsure.

“I need help,” he admits and Birdie snorts. “No, actually. This is above me.”

“Nothing is above you.” She scowls as Rafe hands her a box of fruit loops.

“This is.” Murphy is dead serious as he fixes the glasses on his face. “Yeah…” His thoughts are loud as he tips his head up to our brother. “Email me yours,” he says to Rafe.

“You too,” I tell Birdie.

“I didn’t get one.” She shrugs.

“What do you mean you didn’t get one?” I step away from Cress and lean over the counter at her.

“I didn’t get a text, or an email. Nothing.” She shoves her phone toward me like it pisses her off that she was left out of the blackmail. She finishes dumping the cereal in her bowl completely unfazed by my expression.

I check her phone and she’s right, there’s nothing. Everything inside looks normal. I set it down and Murphy picks it up, just as confused as me. What the hell could it mean? We all stand, staring at each other, scared, pissed off and confused.

“This is messed up,” Rafe sighs, sliding onto one of the island stools.

It’s more than that. It’s the worst-case scenario. It means this whole time we thought we were ahead, we’ve been behind. I look over at Cress, tucked down into her sweater, her hair still messy from sleep… her lips are still red from kissing. She’s in even more danger now than before, and it’s my fault because I can’t control myself.

“Maybe they forgot about you?” Murphy’s optimism is laced with doubt.

“Nobody just forgets about Bird.” Rafe glares at him and Murphy swallows tightly.

“She’s basically Koa’s daughter.” Cress stares at her in complete and utter worry.

I look over at Birdie and can see her coming to a hundred conclusions without ever saying a word. It doesn’t make any sense—unless…

“It’s a threat.” Birdie is the first to say what we’re all thinking.

Music thrums through the street, and it’s packed with people bent over the hoods of cars and hanging off each other with their tongues down their throats. Riggs would kill me if he knew I came tonight with everything going on but I couldn’t help myself, and we needed the money. Even in a pair of cargo pants and a tank top I’ve got eyes on me. I can feel them burning holes between my shoulder blades.

“Get your hands off that,” I snap to some idiot who’s leaning through the window of my car. He stands to his full height, looks me over and laughs. He opens his mouth to say something and I stop him. “Before you insult me by saying something stupid and following it up with a pickup line, save your breath and fuck off.”