Thank God. I’m not sure if I would dare to sit beside any of them after what happened in the library. My chest goes tight just thinking about what Cass had tried to do.
Suddenly the coffee doesn’t taste as nice.
I sit on the fabric couch and hurriedly tug down my dress when it inches up my leg.
“Cold?” Reuben asks, already standing before I can answer. He disappears into his room and comes back with a wool blanket that he hands to me without a word.
I throw it over my lap and give him a grateful nod.
“Zach wants to get rid of you,” Apollo says.
My sip of coffee goes down the wrong way. I cough and almost tip the entire cup over me. Thankfully it only spills on the blanket, else it would have burned me through my dress. I quickly put the mug down on the coffee table. “Excuse me?”
“You’re causing disruption,” Reuben says.
“Disruption?” Great, now I’ve turned into a parrot.
Apollo waves a hand. “Don’t worry, we talked him out of it. But shit’s still a bit tense right now.”
Really? I thought Cass trying to fuck me on the armchair was a normal day for these guys.
I pick up my coffee again. It’s instant, but it’s warm and sweet and I need all of that right now.
“You should keep out of his way until you’ve cloned that hard drive,” Apollo says before taking a noisy slurp from his cup.
“Zachary’s my Psych teacher,” I say dryly. “I have a class with him.”
“Then get it done tomorrow.”
I sit forward, frowning hard at Apollo. “How the hell—?”
“It’s for your own safety, Trinity,” Reuben says. “If Zachary says you have to disappear then—”
“Then the three of you will do what he says like the good little soldiers you are, right?” Of course I regret the words the moment they leave my lips, but I blame the headache and the lingering taste of bile in my mouth.
Oh, and don’t forget the scratch marks Cass left on my inner thighs. I don’t have to peek under my skirt to know they’re there. I can feel them throbbing in time to my headache.
Reuben drops his head and lets out a heavy sigh. A humorless laugh huffs from Apollo, disturbing the surface of his coffee as he brings it up for another sip.
“How will you do it, huh? Mince me up into burger meat? Hit me over the head and bury me in a shallow grave there in the cemetery?”
Apollo purses his lips. “Hadn’t thought of that.” He shakes a finger at me. “That’s a good one.”
I glare at him. “You can’t get rid of me. Gabriel will find out, and he’ll start looking around. He’ll find you—all of you—and then…”
I don’t know what happens then, but I know they’ve been trying to avoid it for years so it’s as good a threat as any.
Apollo stands and heads for the kitchenette. There’re a microwave and a kettle and a few odds and ends on the counter. He brings back the device Zachary had been toying with earlier and holds it out to me.
“Do it tomorrow, soon as Gabriel’s back.”
“Yeah, I’ll just invite myself to his room, ask him where his super-secret computer is, and copy everything while he pours me a drink or something,” I mutter sourly as I snatch the box from Apollo. “Great plan, guys.”
“It’ll take like five minutes to copy. This shit’s high tech,” Apollo says as he sinks back into the seat beside Reuben. “And we’ll help you.”
“How?” I sip at my coffee as he and Reuben share a look.
“We’ll create a diversion,” Apollo says. “You get yourself into Gabriel’s room, we’ll do the rest.”
I open the box and take out the device before weighing it on my palm. “How am I supposed to sneak this in?”
Reuben lets out a long-suffering sigh and gets up, putting down his mug as he passes the coffee table en route to me. “Give,” he says, holding out his hand.
I pass over the device.
“Sit forward.”
I do as he says, but with a frown for Apollo. He just shrugs, quirking an eyebrow at me as if he has no idea what Reuben’s doing.
Reuben crouches in front of me, one of his knees clicking. He pulls down the bodice of my dress and slips the device between my breasts. Then he uses his thumb to smooth the fabric over my breastbone.
I look down. And then up at him.
“If he’s the saintly priest you say he is, then he won’t be staring hard enough at your tits to notice it,” Reuben says.
“I can’t wear this dress around Father Gabriel.” Just the thought makes my cheeks heat up. Which is weird, because Reuben’s touch hadn’t.
“He’s not going to find it.” Reuben stands, putting his crotch directly at eye level. I hurriedly sit back and bury my face in my mug as I take a sip.
“Why are you helping me?” I ask quietly, glancing between them. “Why not just get rid of me like Zachary wants?”
At this, they share another look. Apollo drops his head, avoiding eye contact. Reuben doesn’t say anything.
“Why?” I ask. “Tell me.”
“Because we’re all coming undone,” Reuben says.
“And as much as Zachary likes to think getting rid of you will help, it won’t,” Apollo adds.
“Only one thing will,” Reuben says.
“What?”
“Finding our Ghosts,” they chorus, faces deadpan.
Apollo leaves first to check if there’s anyone in the hallway. As I wait for Apollo to come back, I peek at Reuben standing in the doorway. He’s resting his shoulder against the jamb, arm barring my way as if he’s worried I’ll bolt out before the coast is clear.
“Thank you for helping me,” I say.
He glances at me and then does a double take. I stiffen when he reaches for me, but it’s only to slip the blanket off my shoulders. “They’d ask questions,” he says with an apologetic shrug. “Else I’d let you keep it.”
I don’t know what comes over me. Maybe it’s the alcohol that’s still flowing through my veins or surviving Cass’s attack with my virginity intact.
More likely it’s the simple fact that Reuben’s always been kind to me. Taking into account how his friends treat me, I’m starting to think it’s something I shouldn’t take for granted.
I step forward, go onto my tippy toes, and immediately realize my mistake when I pucker my lips a good two inches from his jaw.
I forgot how tall he was. Other than kissing the side of his neck, there’s no other way to express my gratitude.
My cheeks catch fire. I sink back to my heels, dropping my gaze as I pray for the earth to swallow me.
A hand slips around my waist. Before I have a chance to protest, Reuben presses me to the wall beside the door.
I lift my legs and wrap them around his waist, if only so I won’t hit the floor if he decides to let me go.
But he doesn’t drop me.
He pins me to the wall with his body and uses his hands to smooth my curls out of my eyes.
“I wish you weren’t part of this. You’re too innocent to be mixed up in this shit. But then I wouldn’t have met you,” he murmurs.