by E. M. Moore
He turns to the couch that he slumped against earlier and falls back on the cushions like he owns the place. Wyatt pats him on the back as he eyes Lucas and I. Lucas guides me over to the opposite couch, and we sit.
“How are you?” Stone asks, the gravelly texture in his voice gone. In its place is the even tone I’m used to hearing from him.
“I’m better,” I say.
“You probably have a lot of questions.”
“You could say that.”
Stone leans forward, draping his hands over his thighs so his fingers dangle over his knees. “We were given a dose of Rohypnol that was ground up and put on our food. It was a high dosage which caused us all to pass out. The drug is most commonly referred to as the date-rape drug.”
“Wait.” I cock my head. “How the fuck do you know all this?”
“I called a scientist I’m friendly with as soon as I woke up. I had one of his lab assistants pick up a piece of the pizza and rush it to his lab. He tested it and told me, confirming my suspicions.” He takes a breath. “We don’t believe you were raped, but I will send you for a rape kit if you so desire.”
“Wait. What?”
“Jesus Christ, Stone,” Lucas snaps. He pulls on my arm to make me look at him. He sears me with his brown gaze. “You weren’t disturbed at all. When Wyatt woke up, we were all in the same positions. You were fully clothed. Nothing out of place. There is absolutely no evidence that anything happened to you, even from the video feed.” He motions toward the cameras in the room. “Stone just likes to be thorough, that’s all. You weren’t raped,” Lucas promises.
My heart beats like crazy in my chest.
“Pretty sure I just said that,” Stone argues. He takes another deep breath and lets it out. “Continuing,” he says, agitation lacing his voice. “While we were out, whoever did this to us took pictures and sent them to my father. That seems to be their whole aim, just letting us know how easily they can get to us.” He pauses for a moment, then with a straight face and little emotion says, “I’m very sorry.”
I close my eyes. Is he a robot? Like, what is wrong with him? I was given roofies and photographed while I was incoherent. “Just tell me what’s going on,” I grind out. “All of it.” As much as I want to be mad at them, some of this is my fault. I have a sneaking suspicion this is a lot more dangerous than I originally thought. They tried to warn me, and I dismissed it.
“I’ve been waiting for you to be ready to hear this,” Stone says.
Lucas grips my fingers tighter. I lean forward, eyeing his friend and my family’s natural enemy. “I’m ready.”
“There is someone else after the treasure,” Stone says, lifting a brow to stare at me. “And it’s not a normal outfit. They’re not tracking off our leads. They’re not looking for what we know, so they can make inferences and go search for themselves.” His Adam’s apple bobs up and down. “They’re exploiting my family. If we don’t get them the treasure, they’re going to kill us.”
23
I eye Stone on the way to school from the backseat. All of us are functioning on very little sleep, yet he looks the most put together. There’s just the tightening around his eyes that’s proof of us staying up late into the night after being drugged so he could tell me the story of his family being threatened.
I wrestle with the idea of feeling sorry for him. Not his dad. He can go fuck himself. But Stone, who tries to be perfect at everything, yet has had this thing hanging over his head. He manipulated me. He blackmailed me. But what they’ve done to me is nothing like what’s being done to them.
His mother is missing.
The last time he saw her was when they met up briefly after my father hiked up into the mountains never to be seen again. She left my house that day and hasn’t been heard from since. He doesn’t even know if she left on her own volition, or if she was abducted. It doesn’t surprise me that I hadn’t heard from her, but it does surprise me that Stone hasn’t. Honestly, I don’t know what to think. The only thing that’s clear is that something happened to her after she left Clary.
So, yeah, this morning, I didn’t fight any of them when they said we should all ride to school together. I may not have had the best childhood but at least I never had to worry about violence. About losing a family member.
They don’t think my father’s disappearance has anything to do with this asshole who’s threatening the Jacobs. I came clean about the note that was left for me at school. The guys all looked at each other and agreed it was a good thing they made the registrar put at least one of them in every single one of my classes. Dampening my outrage at that deceit was hard, considering I’d just woken up from being drugged, but I did manage to get a few barbs in which were totally justified.
If we don’t find the treasure—the treasure that’s been missing for over a hundred years—these people, this insane asshole, is going to start killing the Jacobs and their known associates. That includes Lucas, Wyatt, and now, me. Since Marilyn is missing, it only makes sense that they started with her, which is why I keep finding myself staring at Stone. I would never know his mother is missing just by looking at him. He wears his shields like armor, and I can give him props for that. I never mastered that level of indifference.
Wyatt is giving me a list of things to do as we turn into the school parking lot. “Don’t act weird. Just act natural. We have no reason to believe anyone at the school is in on it. We’re keeping appearances normal,” he says, just like they told me last night. Apparently, Wyatt is their enforcer type guy. He secured the perimeter while the rest of us were still passed out, and then he finally pulled the security footage of the intruders entering the house dressed in all black with homemade ski masks who snapped pictures of us and left. Now, if only Stone had led with that instead of saying he didn’t think I was raped. That would’ve been helpful.
“I got it,” I say to Wyatt with more force than necessary. He’s got me paranoid now. I keep looking at everyone heading toward campus wondering if they’re out to get us.
“We’ll always be around. After school, we’re going to Leedsville to get you a cell phone and hiking boots and whatever else we need to plan our first big trek into the Superstitions.”
“A cell phone? I don’t—”
“You need a cell phone,” Stone says, finalizing the argument with that no-fucks-given tone of voice.
My father hated cell phones. He hated phones all together. We never had one. If anyone wanted to talk to us, they could just stop by or send us a letter. Those same denials buzz at my lips. At the same time, though, I always envied everyone in school who had phones. With their pretty cases and fancy apps that played music or took pictures. In the end, I ended up despising them because I knew I was never going to get one unless I bought it myself. And even then, I’d have to hide it from Dad.
Lucas’s discerning eyes are on me. It’s hard to keep things from him. I swear he can read my mind, and I’m wondering if he’s already putting things together, realizing just how odd my father really was. I’ve always defended him. Always. But I have to admit, this is one rule I never quite understood. It wasn’t just the fact that we couldn’t afford the phones or the service, it was more than that to him.
“It’s for safety,” Stone says, softening his tone. He’s really making an effort to stifle his dickish ways this morning. Or maybe it’s just that his facade has crumbled a bit, and I know what’s going on now so there’s no sense in keeping up the pretenses anyway. “We’ll save our numbers inside it, so you can get a hold of us whenever you need to.”
“Feel free to send me nudes, Tits,” Wyatt says as he rakes his gaze over the crowd. His voice lacks all the normal teasing as he scopes out our surroundings.
Stone pulls into the only available front parking space left. Despite the parking lot being full, everyone seems to have reserved Stone’s silver Audi a place of honor amongst the other cars. Students pass us, making their way up the stairs and in through the main doors. Some fiddle
with their bags, some talk on their phones, and as much as I’d like to say I feel so apart from them because of what I’ve just found out, the truth is, I’ve always felt apart from them. I’ve been on the outside looking in my whole life, wondering what it’s like for people to live normal lives. I’ve never had a normal life, and that still continues. It’s just that now, there’s danger added in. Real danger.
A cold chill shivers up my spine. Fear threatens to overtake me, something I’ve been struggling with since everything was explained to me last night. These people aren’t just messing around. They drugged us just to prove a point. They’ve been able to get to me at school. They got into my dorm and my father’s house. Hell, they probably even took Marilyn. I don’t think there’s much they won’t do.
Stone warned me last night that we weren’t dealing with just run-of-the-mill criminals. These people aren’t to be taken lightly. They have power. What they’ve done so far is just child’s play.
When I asked who it was that was threatening them, Stone told me his father had gotten into a bad business deal with the wrong people.
That’s the understatement of the century. Maybe I don’t want a normal job if this is what happens.
The crazy part is, my father always knew the Jacobs were going to be the Wilders’ downfall.
When we walk into school this morning, everything’s changed. I’m flanked on either side by Wyatt and Lucas. Stone leading us like the king he thinks he is. People take notice, too, just like they’ve been taking notice of the new guys at school, but this time, they’re taking notice of me too. Whispers rise. People talk with their friends behind palms, hiding their lips from us.
It’s not the reception into school that I need. I’m already worried about monsters hiding behind corners, and now this is making me second-guess everyone. I liked it when everyone was so apparent in their hatred of me. At least it wasn’t being hidden behind closed doors. It was out there for everyone to see. It certainly made it easier to see what you were up against.
Then again, I’m probably just being paranoid. Paranoia runs in my family, but also, that kind of happens when you’re told you’re involved in a plot that consists of a maniac who’s vowed to start killing people if he doesn’t get his way.
We walk past the school office, and the doors open right into Wyatt. We all stop as the secretary peeks her head out. “Oh dear. I’m so sorry, Mr. Longhorn. I was looking for Dakota, and I could’ve sworn...” She trails off, flushing at the mere sight of Wyatt. Not that I can blame her. Despite the shadows under his eyes, he’s looking like quite the specimen this morning. It might be because I saw him pack a knife in a concealed holder in his jeans, but he’s giving off an aura of dangerous cowboy that I’m not even going to pretend doesn’t make him ten times hotter than normal.
“I’m right here,” I say.
“Oh, yes,” the secretary says, clearing her throat. “I knew I saw you.” She smiles at me, and it’s pleasant. “Another letter came for you.” Her face pinches like she wants to ask me if I’m sure they have nothing to do with my dad’s disappearance like she did the first time, but she wisely keeps the question to herself.
She holds the letter out, and Stone plucks it from her fingers. “Thank you.”
“That’s for, Miss—” she starts to say.
“Oh, I know,” Stone states, using that level tone of his. “It’s okay. Dakota and I are good friends. Aren’t we Dakota?”
I glower at him. “The best of friends.”
“Oh,” the secretary says, her eyes widening along with her smile. She gives me an enthusiastic grin which makes me wonder how much she watches. She’s probably seen my outcast status like many people here have. She seems like the type that would root for the underdog.
“Thank you for giving it to me,” I say, tearing the letter from Stone’s grip.
“Do you know who sent it?” Stone asks the secretary, ignoring me.
The secretary shrugs. “It came through the mail room, so I’m assuming the regular mail.”
“Thank you,” he says, his good boy smile plastered all over his face. As a unit, we start to walk away. He lowers his voice as we all move toward mine and Stone’s first class. “Is this how the previous letter was sent to you?”
I nod, confirming his theory.
“Anyone else think it’s weird she’s getting it at the school and not at her dorm? You do have mailboxes at the dorm, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I say, rolling my eyes. The dorms aren’t much to look at or live in, but to act as if we don’t get the basic necessities is just so pompous on his part. Not that I should be surprised.
We stop as a group outside History, and Wyatt turns to address us. “Listen, either those bastards knew we were going to ask Dakota for help because they were spying on us, or they just guessed it.”
“Wait. You asked me for help?” I almost laugh. “That’s not how it all went down.”
Stone gives me his cold gaze. His blue-gray eyes are like steel, impenetrable and guarded. “I don’t need your help.”
“I mean, it sounds like you do. You kind of just said it.”
“Enough you two,” Wyatt scolds. “We’ll talk about this later. Just get into class and don’t kill each other.” He gives us both a look and then he and Lucas take off to get to their classes.
Stone walks in first, looking every bit the part of college co-ed, if college co-eds wore nice, expensive clothes. He looks like he belongs in a yacht club, but in land-locked Arizona, that can’t be right. Maybe a better analogy is that he looks like he’s on a sports team when the team is told to dress up on game day, except, every day is game day in Stone’s world.
He stops in front of his seat—that should’ve been mine—as I make my way to the back. “Move, Meghan,” Stone says.
I stop in my tracks. I can’t believe my ears. No one has ever spoken to Meghan that way, and trust me, I would know. I had the unfortunate pleasure to be in almost all her classes all throughout high school.
She’s leaning toward him, smiling, but that quickly drops. “Excuse me.”
“I said,” he sighs, voice turning darker like he hates having to repeat himself, and she’s being so basic by asking him. “Switch seats with Dakota. I need to sit next to her.”
“Da-kota?” she says, breaking up my name like it’s the only time she’s ever dared say it, and she has to force her tongue to make the sounds. Funny how Blue’s Clues rolls off her tongue so easily though.
With a grin, I move back to them, standing next to Stone. I may not like Stone all that much, but he’s making my fantasies of pulling all these assholes down a couple of notches come to life.
“Looking good, Dakota,” Todd says, giving me a wink.
I stare down at my clothes. They’re just normal. A pair of jean shorts with a red top. My hair is down, too, lying in controlled waves over my shoulders. Having conditioner for my hair has been a lifesaver. I no longer look like I stuck my finger in a socket before coming to school.
Stone walks toward Todd, leaning over his desk. “Say that to her again, and you’ll be walking funny for a week.”
“What the fuck is this?” Meghan hisses, like the whole world has gone topsy turvy. Honestly, it seems like it has.
Todd glares at Stone but doesn’t say anything. Stone though, hovers over Meghan’s desk until she starts squirming in her chair. At first, I think she’s going to tough it out. Pretend like it doesn’t bother her that all eyes are on her. I know that feeling. The flushed face. The beating heart. The fact that you know people are looking at you right now and not in a good way.
Finally, she gives in. “I like it better in the back anyway. Have fun smelling Mr. Burns’ coffee breath, bitch,” she says as she gets up.
“Now that wasn’t very nice,” Stone says. “I can’t believe you would spread the rumor that Mr. Burns only has one testicle, Meghan.”
At that moment, Mr. Burns strides in, coffee in hand. His gaze darts to Meghan. “I�
��ll be seeing you after class, Miss Tanner. We can talk about appropriate topics of conversation at Saint Clary’s.”
She sits with a huff, and I turn back to the two desks. Todd’s eyes gleam at me, and he looks all too comfortable with the prospect of sitting behind me in class. Instead, Stone takes that seat, nodding toward the seat I wanted the first day.
Well, look at that. I take a seat. It looks like Stone Jacobs is good for something.
24
It turns out the letter I was handed is blank. Stone ends up taking it, and I let him. He has way more resources than I do on what to do with those types of things, so he can have at it.
On the way to Leedsville, the guys tell stories about Meghan and her friends. I can’t help but smile. She’s so fucking confused. She doesn’t even know what to do with herself. The fact that the new, hot guys are hanging around me is throwing her off bigtime. She’s so off her game that she even conceded to every attack they threw at her today.
I don’t know if the guys got together to talk about it ahead of time, but with every class, they made her move her seat for me. By the end of the day, other people were laughing at her, and I’m sure there was more than one person in the room who was thinking the same thing as me: Payback, bitch. Ahh, it feels so good.
I watch the scenery whiz by as Stone brings the Audi up to speed on the highway. For a moment, I glimpse the small knoll I’ve been known to watch the highway from. I know, I know. It doesn’t sound like a fun pastime, but it always was for me. I would make up stories for the different cars going by. I would follow their car for as far as the eye could see, telling myself that that car was on their way to the Grand Canyon. Or to California. Or to Vegas. It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip that the whole family decided to take because their father was diagnosed with cancer, and this trip was his last wish.
