I insist on staying the night, and the boys won’t leave my side. “Would you stay with me tonight?” I ask Beck, expecting to be knocked back. We haven’t shared a bed yet, and I’m not sure if he’s ready to take that step, but he surprises me by agreeing. Maddox sleeps downstairs on the couch. I tuck him in, swaddling him under numerous blankets. I kiss him goodnight, leaving him all warm and cozy in front of the fire.
Beck and I get changed for bed in silence, and when I crawl in beside him, he readily opens his arms for me. I rest my head on his warm chest, and we fall asleep like that.
Slivers of faint sunshine trickle through the curtains the next morning as the alarm shrills, waking us up. I snuggle in closer to Beck, relishing the heat from his body. “Morning.” His voice is laced with sleep.
“Morning.” I yawn.
There’s a light knock on the door. “It’s Maddox,” Beck confirms with a smile. “He’s bearing gifts.”
“Let the man in.” I brush matted strands of hair back off my face, yawning again as I sit up in the bed. Maddox enters the room carrying two steaming mugs. “You’re my hero,” I sing, gratefully accepting the caffeine offering.
“Yessss!!!” He fist punches the air, and I giggle. He perches on the edge of the bed, looking sexy with his smoldering eyes and five o’clock shadow.
“Did you sleep okay?” I take a tentative sip of my coffee.
“Like a baby.” He nudges the cup to my lips. “Drink up. We have to get moving if we’re going to make it to school on time.”
I check in on Mom before leaving, promising to drop by over the weekend to see if there’s any improvement. Maddox drives like a maniac, and we get to the house just in time to quickly shower and change. Breakfast is a granola bar in the car on the way to school. “Is your mom okay?” Coop asks, glancing back at me from the passenger seat.
“She’s got that horrible flu bug that’s been going around, but she should be fine in a week or so.”
He sends me a cheeky grin, and there’s a devilish glint in his eye. I narrow my eyes. Weird. He was pissed at me last night at the pen.
And they say teenage girls are known for their mood swings.
If my experience with the Roths is any indication, I’d say teenage boys are way worse.
The morning plods along, uneventfully, until the free period before lunch. I’ve another project to do for world history, and I’m studying a couple of books on the ancient Egyptians when something snags the corner of my eye. I flick back to the previous page, leaning in to examine the drawing.
No fucking way.
I peer in closer, and butterflies swarm to life in my chest. Excited adrenaline courses through my veins. “Beck,” I hiss. “Come look at this.” He lifts his head from whatever book he has his nose buried in, looking curiously at me over the rim of his glasses. Impatient, I get up and go to his side, lugging the thick book with me. “Look at this picture. Tell me what you see.” I point at the etching of carvings on a wall in one of the tombs.
He crouches over the book, examining it in minute detail. “Holy shit.” The same excitement that bubbles in my veins radiates from his eyes. “We need to check this book out.”
We hurry to the desk, handing the book to the clerk and talking in hushed whispers while she processes it. “Why is the symbol we found etched on the knife and in the wall in the cave under Zorc’s house also on the wall of that tomb in Egypt? What the hell is going on, Beck?”
“I don’t have a clue, but I can’t help thinking we’ve just made a major breakthrough.”
CHAPTER 25
The bell tolls and we join the mad rush to the cafeteria. Beck clutches the book to his chest, while we trade exhilarated expressions. I can’t comprehend the connection between aliens and ancient Egyptians, but it feels like we’re moving a step closer to figuring out one of the puzzle pieces.
We burst through the doors of the cafeteria, and I spy Dane and Cooper in the line. I tug on Beck’s elbow. “This way,” I say, dragging Beck in the guy’s direction. Before I can reach them, Jensen steps out in front of me.
“Hey, babe.” He grins at me like I hung the moon in the sky.
“I can’t ta—” My words are cut off when he hauls me into this body, slamming his mouth down on mine. I’m dazed and disorientated, so I don’t push him away at first. Just as it sinks in that he’s kissing me, he’s ripped away with force. I stand there shell-shocked as Cooper punches him in the face. Jensen goes down like a sack of potatoes, sprawled across the linoleum floor.
“She is not yours to kiss anymore,” he hisses while Jensen clambers to his feet. Dane yanks on Cooper’s arm, trying to pull him away, but he’s resisting. A crowd has already formed around us, and a deathly hush has descended on the entire room. Everyone is watching the drama unfold with bated breath.
Jensen straightens up, shooting a venomous look at Cooper. He swipes at a trickle of blood seeping out of his nose, and his expression transforms. “You sure about that, asshole?” Jensen swings his gaze to mine. “Tell him, Tori.”
My brows knit together, and I step closer. “Tell him what, Jensen?”
He extends an arm to pull me into his side, but I step out of reach. His eyes flare in anger. “Oh, no, Tori. You don’t get to change your mind. Not after last night.”
Last night? WTF? Bile starts rising in my throat. “Jensen, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Did you fall and knock your head or something?”
His nostrils flare, and he steps toward me, but Dane intervenes, putting himself in between us. “I don’t know what your problem is, but you need to stay back.”
Jensen glares at me over Dane’s shoulder. “So this is how you’re playing it? If you think I’m going to be your dirty side piece, you can think again. That’s not what we agreed last night.”
“Tori,” Cooper says through gritted teeth, staring at me in confusion. “What the fuck is he talking about?”
“I honestly have no idea, Coop.” I throw my hands into the air, shaking my head.
“What the hell has happened to you, Tor?” Jensen stares at me like I’ve just sprouted horns or something. “You used to be such a sweet girl until they came along and corrupted you. I thought you meant what you said last night, but now I’m beginning to think you were just using me for sex.”
I almost choke on my saliva. I stare at him with wide eyes. “Jensen, what the hell has happened to you? Why are you making up all these lies? If this is some ploy to break me and Coop up, it’s not going to work.”
Coop takes hold of my wrist, spinning me around to face him. “Is this about me refusing you last night?”
Nausea churns in my gut as my gaze flicks wildly around. I don’t have a frigging clue what is going on here. It’s one thing for Jensen to level shit at me, but now Coop’s doing it too?
“What’s going on?” Maddox says, materializing alongside us.
“I’d fucking like to know the answer to that question too.” Dane glares at me as if this is somehow my fault.
“Don’t freaking look at me like that!” I yell at him. “I’m not the one who’s spouting crazy crap.”
“No,” he snaps. “You’re just the one lying to us.”
“Screw you, Dane.”
Jensen shoves Dane out of the way, forcing himself in front of me. “Baby, it’s okay. I forgive you for this … whatever this is … just come back to me like we agreed, and I’ll forget this conversation ever happened.”
“The hell she will!” Coop grabs a fistful of Jensen’s shirt, yanking him back. Jensen twists around, thrusting his fist in Coop’s face, glancing the side of his jaw. Coop is about two seconds away from flattening Jensen when the vice principal injects herself into the conversation.
“You three,” she barks. “To the principal’s office right now.”
The vice principal has disappeared, leaving me, Jensen, and Cooper sulking on seats in the waiting area of the office. The secretary taps away on her keyboard, sending a reproachful l
ook our way every few minutes. This wasn’t the way I wanted to be introduced to the new principal. He’s only been in the school three days, and I didn’t imagine I’d be one of the first hauled in for disciplining.
“This is all your fault,” Coop says in a low voice, shooting daggers at Jensen.
“You would think that,” Jensen retorts.
“Shut. Up. This is both your faults. I don’t even know why I’m here. I wasn’t the one throwing punches.” A muscle ticks in Coop’s jaw as he pins me with hurtful eyes. I grace him with a solemn expression. “I don’t know what you think I’ve done, but you’re wrong. I haven’t touched Jensen since I broke up with him. He was scarcely speaking to me until recently.”
Jensen sits up straighter in his chair. His face is red with indignation. “Cut this shit out now, Tori, and just tell him the truth.”
“I am telling the fucking truth!” I yell, forgetting where we are.
“I’ll have none of that language or shouting in here, Ms. King,” the secretary chastises, peering at me over the rim of her glasses.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Murray. It won’t happen again.” That seems to appease her, and she goes back to her typing.
“I’ll tell you the truth since Tori seems hellbent on keeping up this charade.” Jensen pins Cooper with a smug look. “She was with me last night and we had sex. Multiple times.” He licks his lips and a wicked smile hovers over his mouth. “In multiple positions.”
I grip the arms of my chair so tight my knuckles blanch white. “That’s a downright lie! Take it back.”
“You’re a piece of work, Tori.” Jensen shakes his head. “You think you know someone …” He shoots me a look that’s part disgust, part disappointment.
When I broke up with him, Jensen said he’d do anything to get me back, but never in a million years did I expect him to play so dirty, and if he thinks I’ll fall into his arms after this, he’s sorely mistaken. I’m totally disgusted with him right now.
“Ms. King!” a deep voice says, and I lift my head up, meeting our new principal’s light blue eyes for the first time. He’s a lot younger than our previous principal and way more good-looking. He pins me with a penetrating stare that I feel all the way to my toes. With his impressive height, tightly shorn brown hair, defined jawline, and light stubble, he could easily pass for an actor or model. “If you would all step into my office, please,” he adds, pointing at the boys and moving aside to let us in.
We emerge twenty minutes later with two weeks of detention and a warning on our files. Not that I give a monkey’s butt about that. I’m more concerned with Cooper’s reaction. The instant we leave the office, he tears off in the opposite direction. I move to go after him, but Jensen holds me back. “Let him go, Tor. It’s for the best.”
I spin around, jabbing Jensen in the chest, slanting my most venomous look at him. “Don’t tell me what to do, and stay away from me, Jensen. Coop too. I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but it’s cruel and sick, and I won’t ever be yours again. We’re finished. At this point, I don’t even want to be your friend.” A strangled sob rips from my throat. “I can’t believe you’ve done this. I know I hurt you, and I hate that I did, but does everything we shared in the past mean nothing to you? How could you lie like that?”
His face falls, and he scrubs a hand over his brow. “Tori. Why are you saying this? You know I’m not the one telling lies. Don’t pretend like you didn’t enjoy last night, because I know you fucking loved it.”
I hold up a hand. “Enough. I’ve heard enough. Stop spreading these filthy lies, Jensen, or I will not be responsible for my actions.” I stomp off in the direction Cooper went, completely confused.
I catch up to him outside in the parking lot. His head is pressed into the side of our SUV, and he’s staring at the ground. “Cooper, we need to talk.”
“I don’t want to talk to you right now.”
I lean against the car. “Tough, because I’m going nowhere until we straighten this out.”
“What’s to straighten out?” He raises his head, stabbing me with a scathing look. “I didn’t want to fuck you in the woods, so you went running to your ex?”
“What?” I shriek. “Has everyone gone fucking crazy today? What the hell are you talking about?”
“That act might work on the weak human, but it won’t work on me.” He grinds his jaw, and his fists clench into balls at his side. “You know how much I want you, and what we did in the woods was hot, and I wanted inside you so badly, but not like that! I didn’t want our first time to be a quick fuck against a tree! If I’d known you’d take it as a rejection, I would’ve just given in. Stars!” He grabs fistfuls of his hair. “Have you any idea how much self-control it took to say no to you last night? When I wanted it as much as you?”
My heart is fluttering wildly in my chest. What the eff is going on here? Did I lose time or something? Did I black out and do these things both Jensen and Cooper are telling me because I have no recollection of either scenario, but both boys seem insistent.
What if Jensen isn’t lying? What if I did everything he says I did and I just don’t remember?
I clamp a hand over my mouth, horrified.
Is this a side effect of the cure?
Or some new terror?
“Coop.” I look him directly in the eye. “I am being one hundred percent truthful when I say I don’t know what you’re talking about. Last night, after you left me and Maddox in the pen, I was going to go after you when Beck came to tell me about my mom. We left immediately, and I only came back this morning to get ready for school.”
He shakes his head sadly. “No, Tori. You followed me into the woods and gave me the best damn blowjob I’ve ever had. Then you begged me to fuck you, and when I said no and explained why, you were fine about it. You left then to go to your mom’s. That’s the way it went down. Don’t pretend otherwise.”
A tear leaks out of the corner of my eye. “That is not the way I remember it.”
“And it’s not the way Jensen remembers it either. So who’s the liar, Tori? You or Jensen?”
“Don’t do this. I’m telling you the truth. You’ve got to believe me!” I beg him with my eyes. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m determined to get to the bottom of it.
“I wish I could, Tori, but I’m beginning to wonder if Dane is onto something.” He rubs a hand over his chest. “I’m your biggest defender. You know that. And I would die for you, but right now, I’m questioning whether I actually know you at all. I don’t want to believe it of you, but it’s not like this is the only big thing you’re concealing, now is it?”
CHAPTER 26
Coop refuses to be drawn on that statement, so I leave him in the parking lot and go back to school, hugely troubled. After school ends, I ask Kylie for a lift to the farmhouse, because I don’t feel like going back to the house with the guys, and I want to go see my mom. Maddox, Dane, and Beck don’t try to stop me—they’re too busy fighting among themselves to really notice me leaving without them, and Coop is nowhere in sight.
I sit with Mom in front of the fire, wondering how the hell my life has turned into such a hot mess. I guess I must have nodded off because the next thing I know Maddox and Beck are shaking me awake.
“Where’s Mom?” I croak, noticing her empty chair.
“She’s upstairs in bed. Your aunt too. She left you some dinner in the microwave.”
I rub my tired eyes. “What time is it? And how long have you been here?”
“After ten, and a few hours,” Maddox confirms. “We didn’t want to wake you, but we need to talk about the latest developments.”
I notice Beck has the book from the library on his lap. “The book or the showdown with Jensen and Cooper?”
“Both,” Beck says.
Maddox sits in the chair Mom vacated. “Coop has taken off, and he’s shielding his mind so none of us can get through to him.”
My spine stiffens. “Taken off where?” Panic
undercuts my tone.
“Relax, princess. I’m sure he’s not gone far. I’d like to add that he hasn’t done anything stupid, but this is Coop we’re talking about.” Maddox gives me a half-grin.
“He thinks I cheated on him, on all of you, with Jensen, but I didn’t. I swear!”
“We know you didn’t,” Beck supplies. “We were both here with you all night last night, and there’s no way you could’ve slipped out to meet Jensen without one of us knowing. We know he’s lying. Dane figures it’s his way of trying to get you back.”
“If that blockhead Coop had stuck around, we could have cleared this up straightaway.”
I shake my head. “No, it’s more than just that.” I proceed to tell them what Coop said about what went down in the woods last night. Beck’s cheeks turn tomato red as I fill them in.
“That makes absolutely no sense,” Maddox agrees, smoothing a hand over his cropped hair. “I was with you, and you most definitely didn’t go into the woods after Coop although that had been your intention.”
I flop back in the chair. “Oh, thank fuck.” They both look at me strangely. “I thought I was losing my mind or something.”
“I don’t think you’re the one losing your mind. This reeks of trickery,” Maddox says.
“Do you have any ideas?”
“A few. None good.” He stands up. “Look, let me catch up with Dane. He’s out searching for Coop. I’ll update him, and maybe he’ll have a few ideas.” He rests his hands on the arms of my chair, reaching down to kiss me. “You sleeping here tonight or coming home?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. I’ll see how I feel later.”
“Okay.” He kisses me once more. “Beck’ll stay with you, and maybe you can figure out why the fucking Egyptians have a connection to that symbol.”
Beck and I spend the rest of the night poring over the history book, but we don’t find any other drawings with the symbol on it. All we’ve managed to find out is the name of the original drawing, and we’ve compiled a list of other reference material to check. I shut down the laptop after ordering all the books we need. Google may throw out some other related intel but it’s past one a.m. now, and we’re both beat so we go to bed.
The Secret Heir (Alinthia Series Book 2) Page 18
