“He’s not getting any.”
“Not getting any what?”
I rolled my eyes.
“Oh, right, oh, I see. Well, he just has to be patient.”
“Yeah, but I fear his patience will run out and then he’ll run her out.”
The smile on William’s face dropped. “You don’t think he’s going to do that on purpose, do you?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know.” I was tired now. Stifling a yawn, I gave my body a stretch. “What do you think Mateo’s got?”
“Not a clue.”
There was no point in talking about that then. William wouldn’t even speculate.
“Do you want to tell me what you were doing in the library?” I asked.
“Reading.”
“I’ve never seen you read.”
William glared at me. “Just because you’ve never seen it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. You haven’t seen me masturbate, but I do it.”
“I have seen you masturbate,” I said. “You’re very vocal about it, and I walked into the bathroom while you were doing it.”
“Shit, man, I’m sorry.”
I snorted. “It’s fine. You masturbate. I paint.”
William lifted his arms above his head, bringing them down to rest at the back of his neck. “Do you think we can convince her to stay?”
“Do you want her to stay?” I asked.
“Yes. I do. Don’t you?”
Resting my hands on my stomach, I looked at William. “Yes, I do.”
“But?”
“There’s no but. I don’t want to think of a life without her. All of this shit with The Society. With the rules, it wears thin, you know?”
William nodded. “I want to give her a happy life.”
“And we will. Just give it time.”
Gideon and Sian entered the room, carrying plates filled with sandwiches. I was happy with the distraction. Thinking about the future used to be a fun pastime. Now it unnerved me.
****
Sian
I had Mateo pause the film after Heather’s confession. From the day I met her, she’d always been friendly, as if we’d known each other in a previous life.
“Are you okay?” Dante asked. He gripped my shoulder, and I appreciated his warmth at that moment.
“Yes, I will be. Just a lot to take in, you know.”
Heather wasn’t naturally my friend.
“I was a job to her. That’s kind of hard to digest right now.”
“She fell in love with you, Sian,” Gideon said. “That’s not a job. You don’t fall in love with a job.”
“Right, of course.” I wiped at my cheeks where the tears had started to fall. “It doesn’t make it hurt any less.” I’d been on cloud nine until Mateo got home with this news. Now I was just ready to drop again.
“Heather was your friend,” Mateo said. “Don’t let this take away from that.”
I knew what the guys were doing, and I appreciated it. They were trying to keep Heather’s goodness alive. Right now, I didn’t exactly appreciate them being on her side.
“At least we know The Society doesn’t get off on forcing young girls to submit to their form of initiation.” I took a deep breath.
It was odd. There would have been a time I felt I needed Drew and Heather. Both had always been there for me during the most trying of times. They were both gone. It was only me.
“Are you okay?” William asked.
“Yeah. I’m fine. Just … you know, play the thing.” I didn’t know if I was ready to see any more confessions.”
“We can wait,” Gideon said.
“No. I’m not waiting to know the truth. Let’s get it over with.” I had to be ready for all of this. If Heather could handle this and be the genius she was in high school, then I could handle this.
For the next thirty minutes, pain, anger that turned to rage, horror, and finally acceptance washed over me as I watched and heard everything. My father had known Heather was tracking him. She’d discovered the truth and now we had the evidence.
“Do your dads know about this?” I asked, wiping the tears from my eyes. I couldn’t believe Chloe did that, and yet at the same time, of course she did. She was a spiteful bitch only after what she could get for herself.
I felt sick.
Placing a hand on my stomach, I tried to calm my nerves, but nothing was happening. There was no way to calm this riot of emotions. They rushed through my body like a speeding train, hitting me left, right, and dead-on center.
This was all too much. I rubbed at my temples and let the tears fall.
“No. They don’t know this yet,” Mateo said. “I’m going to take it to them.”
“They’ll know what to do next, right?” William asked.
“My guess is this will go straight to The Society.” This came from Gideon.
Even with my eyes closed, I started to recognize the sound of their voices. Hearing them talk offered me a sense of comfort, which was so strange. How had this happened? How had I gone from fighting these four guys, not wanting to be part of their initiation, to finding safety between all four?
“She must have been so scared,” I said. Opening my eyes, I looked at each of them. “We can’t … there’s no way … they can’t get away with this. Not Chloe, not my dad, none of them.”
“This shows that your dad had help on the inside and I don’t think it was just Coach Bilson,” Dante said. “He got on the grounds and out again, undetected.”
“Do you think it’s someone who doesn’t know the location of all the cameras?” I asked.
“That rules out the principal and all the security guards, unless your dad was fucking stupid and took a chance.” Gideon shrugged. He’d thrust his hands into his pockets as he talked.
“Maybe he didn’t think he’d be recognized.” He’d tried to keep his identity a secret but he’d gotten too sloppy.
My dad had killed my best friend.
He’d killed Drew.
The monster had to go.
But my dad was gone at the moment. No one knew where he was. The slippery weasel had been able to stay hidden for so long. How? Why? He was a man who was dominated by his need for power. Why was he all of a sudden happy to stay in the shadows?
“Chloe,” I said. “She hasn’t gone missing. If my memory serves me well, she’s enjoying a long summer vacation and starting college.”
“She would have started college by now, but I heard she’d taken an extended break,” Gideon said. “To deal with the pain of losing a friend.”
“Do you think she’ll lead us to him?” I asked.
“Sian, whatever happens, we’re not going to be able to have any part in it. You know this,” Dante said.
I turned toward him and shrugged. “I … he has to be stopped. You all must see this.”
When I glanced back at Gideon, I didn’t know what kind of look he had on his face, but I didn’t like it.
“What?” I asked. “Why do you look like that?”
“Sian, there’s no guarantee The Society will make him pay.” He looked down at the floor.