Ruthless Heart

by Eve L Mitchell

  “Earning an income while receiving a full ticket, tsk tsk.” I sat back down at my desk with a satisfied grin. “That’s just unacceptable behaviour for a student of Cardinal Saints. What will the dean say?”

  As I started to laugh, Gray grinned, and after a resigned groan, Ash joined in.

  I’d hang the little bitch out to dry. I didn’t give a fuck if she was the one responsible for giving me the water with the drug in it. Ava Bryant was responsible by default, and therefore she was not innocent. Which made her guilty, and that meant she would pay.

  Gray broke me out of my inner thoughts as he leaned forward intently. “We know more about the thing we found?”

  Ash also sobered as he leaned back into the couch, his body stiffening. “I think I have an idea of who the girl is. The men in the video, no.”

  “We keep going?” Gray asked as he looked between us.

  “We do,” I told him as I looked toward my closet where the memory stick was before I turned to Ash. “You took it?”

  “How else am I supposed to do anything with it?” he asked me with a roll of his eyes.

  “Should I care that you know the code already?” I asked him dryly as I walked over to the closet.

  “It was pathetically easy,” Ash boasted as Gray high-fived him.

  I snorted as I stared at the floorboards. “I’m changing it again.”

  “Why?” Gray asked me good-naturedly. “Should we have secrets?”

  Good point. “No.” I closed the doors and turned back to them. “You’re right.” Leaning against my desk, I considered them both. “Do you agree about her?” I asked Gray.

  “Fuck buddy from Friday?” he guessed, knowing me better than anyone.

  “Yeah.”

  Gray tilted his head to the side as he looked at me, and with a brief once over, he turned to look at Ash. “She fucked with a Devil. I don’t give a fuck who or what drugged him, she fucked him when he didn’t know better. She pays. We’ll figure out who else it was, and they will pay after.”

  “We get her kicked out of school?” Ash asked, trying hard not to frown. “Even though he would probably have fucked her anyway?”

  “She pays,” Gray repeated firmly.

  “But...” Ash once again leaned forward, his hands rubbing across his hair as he thought about it. “I dunno, from what we heard, I don’t think you came off too shabbily.” His head raised to look at me. “If anything, she put you more on the fucking map.”

  I saw Gray smirk, and he caught me looking. “Jamie did kick up a fuss about it. Even though the bastard’s jealous, it still interfered with his sleep…before a game.”

  “Humiliate her.” Gray and I both looked at Ash in surprise. “We don’t know how involved she is. I think and truly do believe this, she was tricked as much as you were. Whether that be someone told her you were into her and she fell for it, I dunno. You’ve spoken to her, does she really seem like this is what she gets her kicks from?”

  “No.” Crossing my arms over my chest, I looked at them both, my thoughts recalling easily how tense she was. “Fuck! No…she doesn’t. I would actually encourage her to get laid, she’s so fucking uptight.”

  “See?” Ash looked at me with something akin to hope. “I think you should be willing to listen to what she has to say, and if you don’t like it, then make her life hell.”

  Looking at my cousin, I gave a bitter laugh. “You were the one who chased her off,” I reminded him.

  “Yeah, because I needed a chance to talk to you.”

  All three of us turned to my door when we heard the light tap on it. “Yeah?” I called.

  Derrick opened the door, and seeing the three of us, he hesitated. “Hey.”

  “What?” Gray growled from his seat. He wasn’t a fan of our corner. Derrick paid too much attention to Quinn, and Gray was protective.

  “Um, Jett?”

  “Um, what?” I asked as I took my seat at my desk.

  “So, I, uh...”

  “Of for the love of fuck, spit it out,” Ash snapped.

  “Heard you had Ava here on Friday,” Derrick rushed out. “I didn’t realise that was who I was hearing.” He gave us all a meaningful look, and a tight knot formed in my stomach.

  “Who’s Ava?” I asked. Her name didn’t roll off my tongue, I liked bitch or uptight better, so the natural sounding hesitation worked.

  Derrick looked genuinely confused for a moment before he gave me a sly smile. “Oh yeah, I get it, love ’em and leave ’em. Good one.”

  I saw Gray look at Ash, who looked equally annoyed. “Hurry this up,” I snapped.

  “The girl on Friday was Ava. Yes?” He looked unsure now, and I needed that set in stone.

  “What makes you think that?” Gray asked. “You see her?”

  “What? No, I heard her but didn’t see anyone. Actually…” Derrick rubbed the back of his neck. “No one saw her. How’d you get her out?”

  “Why are you here?” I asked him again. I was already tired of this.

  “Well, you know how Ava is,” he started. No, I really didn’t. “She’s like football mad.”

  “She is?” Ash asked quietly.

  “Yeah!” Derrick came into the room more, his eagerness at telling us something we didn’t know overriding his good sense. “You know, I heard that even the sports editor on the paper checks the stats with Ava after the game.”

  My attention was fully on Derrick, but I knew both my brother and my cousin were exchanging looks. “She seems great,” I said to Derrick. “A true fan.”

  “Oh no, she is really shy. Or you know...so I thought.” He was looking both excited and resentful at the same time, his feelings for Uptight not exactly hidden.

  “You want a pass at the girl from Friday,” Gray said from his corner of the couch. “That’s why you’re here?” His contempt was easy to pick up on, and even though Derrick didn’t know him that well, it was plain Gray wasn’t impressed.

  “Yeah, she’s like my dream girl.”

  “Your dream girl is the girl from Friday being fucked senseless and screaming to let the whole house know whose dick she was on the end of?” I asked him as I stood. Why was this even bothering me? I couldn’t explain it, but I wanted to punch him for knowing what Ava sounded like when she came on my dick.

  “Yeah,” Derrick nodded eagerly.

  “I don’t know who Ava is.”

  “You chased her across the campus today,” Derrick told me with a little more firmness in his voice than I liked, the hard glint in his eye pissing me off even more.

  “Her?” I asked him. “The blonde?”

  “Yes,” he stressed.

  “So? You think she’s from Friday?” I looked back at Gray and Ash and smirked. “Why the fuck would I chase someone I already had in my bed?”

  “What? But…everyone’s saying that it was,” Derrick’s eyes were flicking between the three of us in confusion.

  “What am I saying?” My flat stare wouldn’t encourage any further questions.

  “But—”

  “If no one saw her, how do you know it was her?” Gray asked quietly. Too quietly for my brother.

  Derrick looked completely confused now. “But everyone’s saying that it was her,” he repeated.

  “Are you saying that Jett’s lying?” Ash asked with seemingly casual curiosity.

  “Yeah, Derrick, you calling me a liar?” I raised an eyebrow as I looked down on him.

  “No!”

  “Sounds like it to me,” Gray said as he stood. “Weren’t you talking with Jett at the party?” he asked him. “Was your Ava there?”

  “No. Just one of the band guys she hangs out with.” Derrick looked genuinely agitated about that, and I made a mental note to look into this further.

  “So you didn’t see her with me, you didn’t see her here, and you didn’t see her leave...” I trailed off as I took a step closer. “Tell me again how she’s your screamer?”

  “You chased her,” Derrick mumble
d almost inaudibly.

  “So?”

  “Man!” He scratched his ear as he looked at me. “I was so eager for it to be her, know what I mean?”

  No. I didn’t.

  “I’d love to tap that,” he said with an unhappy shrug. “She’s smokin’.”

  She was? Yes, she was, but again I didn’t like this little fuck noticing.

  “So…” He looked at me expectantly. “Who was it then?”

  “Get the fuck out of my room.”

  Derrick started to laugh before he registered the scorn on my face and the fact Ash and Gray were on their feet behind me. With a sound that reminded me very much of a squeak of a mouse, he turned and practically ran out of the door.

  When I had closed it firmly behind him, I turned to the other two. “Bobby checks with her on football stats?” I looked at Ash. “Still think she’s innocent?”

  “Another piece of the puzzle,” he answered thoughtfully.

  “Douche told us something else though,” Gray said, on his phone again. “Wade? He was definitely there. I’m thinking it’s time we get some alone time with this guy.”

  “Agreed,” Ash and I spoke together.

  “They play Thursday at the Bar One,” Gray told us as he stood and shoved his phone in his pocket. “Don’t know why you’re so adamant to deny it was her here, but if you aren’t sharing that, then”—he grinned widely—“you need one of the Elises to cover for you for Friday.”

  “Fuck.” He was right, I needed a cover story. Which meant I would have to pick one of them. Shit.

  “Sucks to be you.” Gray clasped my shoulder as he left my room, Ash chuckling behind him as he followed him out.

  Fuckers.

  Ash pushed the handle of the door down, and silently the three of us entered the house. We knew the residents of the house were on vacation, but that didn’t mean we should be careless.

  “What’s the point of alarms if no fucker sets them?” Gray hissed in a temper as we crossed the large living area, heading for the stairs.

  “I already disabled it,” Ash whispered back. “Did you not notice who makes their alarm system?” He gave us a cocky grin, and Gray let out a low chuckle.

  Ash’s dad had shares in an alarm security company despite knowing next to nothing about it. However, his childhood friend, Bill, our “uncle,” did know about it, and it was from him that Ash caught the coding bug. The fact we were breaking into a house with our family’s security company coverage was slightly ironic, and I saw Gray smirk at the paradox. Santo Security Systems didn’t just provide alarm systems, but anything you may need for security, whether that be a house intruder alarm system, a panic room, a simple wall-mounted safe or the more elaborate editions that only the truly paranoid needed.

  “Where’s the office?” Ash asked us quietly as we climbed the stairs. Suddenly, Gray held his hand up in a tight fist, indicating we stop.

  Frozen on the stairs, we listened. And then I heard it.

  A soft drawn-out moan.

  Gray looked back down the stairs at us as he pulled his hood low and covered the lower half of his face with the black bandana we all wore, his eyes narrowed in accusation on Ash, who had assured us that the house was empty.

  The moan came again, louder, and you wouldn’t need to be a genius to know exactly what was going on in the room halfway down the hall.

  “Fuck, baby, this ass is so fucking tight.” The male voice was loud in the silence.

  “Fuck my ass,” came the answering moan, and Ash turned to look at me with surprise before he too was covering his face with his bandana.

  Gray stealthily moved up the stairs, and I caught Ash from reaching forward and grabbing him. Shaking my head, I pointed ahead. Just because there were people here didn’t mean we wouldn’t go forward with the plan. I watched my cousin clench his jaw as he debated whether we were being reckless, and then he followed Gray.

  “Baby! Baby, I’m going to come, I’m going to fucking come up your ass on this bitch’s bed.”

  Tightening my jaw to stop the laugh from escaping, I realised at least we knew which half of the owners was on vacation, as her husband cheated on her with whoever the lucky recipient may be.

  At the top of the stairs, Gray waited, and when the headboard banging off the wall reached fever pitch, he pushed the study door open, the slight squeak covered by the rhythmic thumping.

  Gray stayed by the door, leaving it open a fraction. With them being in the house, we should really have had it more open, but none of us really wanted to listen to the sound of their fucking.

  “It’s under the desk.” Ash was barely audible, but the two of us headed to the desk and very quietly rolled the office chair back. “We need to lift it,” he told me, and we both hesitated.

  Was it worth being caught?

  “You got this?” I asked him as we considered the options.

  With a terse nod, we looked at Gray. He held up his hand and flashed his fingers. Ash and I glanced at each other, and then with a nod, we moved the desk, but then we followed Gray’s instructions and waited.

  The headboard banging stopped, we heard the shout of pleasure, we heard the answering groan, and still we waited. Gray stayed at the door, and all three of us dropped when we heard footsteps on the hall.

  “You want anything?” the guy called out.

  “Only you,” came the answering call from the other man.

  Ash pretended to put his fingers down his throat at the cliché reply. We waited as we heard him move downstairs, and we waited more when he came back up the stairs, never once coming near the study. That didn’t mean we weren’t anxious at the thought of it though.

  “I got strawberries, cream and a…banana.”

  Gray choked on his laughter, pressing his hands to his mouth to stop the giggle. Ash was bent over, his body shaking, and I could only hope that my own fit of hysteria would stay silent as my shoulders shook with laughter.

  As we strained to hear the low murmuring of voices, I nudged Ash, and he uncovered the floor, pulling the rug back, which hid the safe underneath.

  Quietly, we lifted the hatch, and with a look to my brother, I saw he was fully focused on the door.

  “Does this beep?” I suddenly whispered to Ash.

  “No, it’s the latest model, only installed two weeks ago,” came his low reply.

  “Still default code?” I said with surprise.

  “Fucker deserves to be robbed,” Ash said quietly to me. “Actually robbed.” He sat back on his haunches as we heard another moan. “Was hoping they’d sleep,” he admitted.

  With a grin for my cousin, I opened the safe. Ash pointed his phone into the safe, and we both stared as he took a quick photo. Money was stacked neatly in one corner. A folder of documents, which Ash pulled out and quickly started to go through. A long jewellery box, which I opened and nudged Ash when I saw the black memory stick nestled between a gaudy diamond ring and diamond stud earrings.

  Gray jerked suddenly, knocking the seat by the door, and we all froze, waiting to see if the bedroom gymnasts had heard us. I saw the reason my brother reacted—a black and white cat moved slowly across the floor, looking as confused at our presence as we were by it.

  “Meow.” It looked straight at me as it stopped in the centre of the room.

  Gray glared at it and then me. He wasn’t fond of cats.

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Ash murmured as he handed me a piece of paper.

  Reading it, I looked up at him in alarm. He shook his head and carefully I folded the document, slipping it under my hoodie.

  With another shake of his head, he let me know there was nothing else of interest. Quickly we reassembled the safe, and as I closed the hatch, the cat brushed against me. It stood at my feet and then began to weave in and out of my legs. I thought they only did that in cat food commercials. It was hungry? It could fuck off.

  I stared at it. It stared back. Neither of us moved.

  “Meeeow.”


  Ash gave out a sigh as he bent down and picked the furball up and placed it to the side. Swiftly the desk was put back, and then the stupid cat meowed again.

  “It’s the bitch’s cat.”

  Gray was pressed against the door, ready to burst through it if he needed to.

  “Should we see where it is?”

  I think all three of us held our breaths for what seemed like eternity.

  “No.”

  “Maybe it’s hungry.”

  “I’m hungry.”

  I rolled my eyes at the dude as Ash and I crossed to Gray, and he slowly opened the door. The door creaked, again we froze, but when we heard a murmur about the stupid pussy, Gray looked over at me, and with a firm look, he slipped out into the hall.

  At the top of the stairs, he disappeared, and then Ash was following him. Pressing against the wall, he waited until Gray was at the bottom, and then he was gone too. With a deep breath, I followed their lead.

  “Meow.”

  I hesitated for a moment, and then I was moving across the hall and almost threw myself down the stairs just as the bedroom door opened.

  “Kitty! Shut up!” came the harsh voice of the owner.

  I was half crouched on the ground floor hall, completely exposed. If he looked over his bannister, he would see me.

  Gray and Ash were at the kitchen door, eyes wide as we all waited.

  “Meow.”

  I had never wished harm on an animal until that moment. All it needed to do was run down the stairs after me, and I was busted.

  I saw the guy clearly then as he walked towards the cat, and as he passed and his back was to me, I flew across the floor to the safety of the kitchen.

  “We have minutes if that,” Gray whispered as we raced to the door, and with a slow calm precision neither of us felt, Gray softly opened the back door to the yard, allowing Ash out. I could hear Kitty’s owner coming down the stairs, and as the lower lights went on, my brother and I exchanged a panicked look before we were both through the door, and then all three of us dropped to the grass outside.

  We crawled across the grass on our bellies, our heads low to the ground. At the side of the house, we raised ourselves to a crouch, and again one by one, each of us left the yard.