Never Again: Lost Boys of Neverly Prep: Academy Romance

by L. E. Bross

  I drop my forehead against the steering wheel.

  The information on that chip will implicate Peter in the kind of crimes that could put him away for a hundred lifetimes. It will save thousands of lives. But if I turn it over to the FBI, Peter will seek retribution—in the form of hurting Ever. I have no doubt about that.

  Ever will become a target and he won’t stop until he destroys her and us.

  My phone buzzes.

  Are you coming home soon?

  I can’t text her back.

  Not when I have to decide if I can put the girl we love above the safety of the world.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Ry

  Two hours of punching a bag and it barely took the edge off my anger.

  It did help a little that I pictured Peter’s face as I pummeled it. It made the ache in my knuckles worth it.

  I yank my gloves off and toss them onto the weight bench. Thank fuck we’re done with that piece of shit. All we need to do is figure out a way to keep Baz from having to work for him.

  I’m still not opposed to paying a fucking hit man.

  I’m sure they’re a dime a dozen in prison.

  I scrub the towel over my face, then hang it around the back of my neck as I walk down the hall. I need to shower, but I also need to put eyes on Ever, make sure she’s okay. I’m not sure that urge will ever go away, not after what happened.

  I pause at the doorway to the living room and see X and Ever tangled up in one of the big chairs, watching HGTV. He catches my eyes and mouths sleeping and I nod.

  I’m not sure how we all got so disconnected from her without realizing it. She’s the air that we all breathe, so you’d think one of us would notice we were fucking suffocating.

  With Ever tucked safely in X’s arms, I head to my room to shower.

  It’s easier now, seeing her wrapped up in one of my brothers. I’m not sure I’ll ever get to the point where I’m comfortable with all of us getting it on together, but I know how much they love her and somehow, she loves us too, faults and all.

  They are my life. The most important people in the world to me.

  As long as they’re happy, I’m happy.

  I strip off my shorts and toss them into the hamper, then step into the shower. A hiss escapes when the cold water hits me, but it warms up fast. I exhale, letting the heat soothe my shoulders. I’m going to feel that workout tomorrow for sure.

  But I like the physical reminder that I worked hard.

  It’s why I like racing so much, it challenges me to keep pushing harder. Further. Coming off a hill with nothing but air between you and the ground is a huge fucking high. But once you reach it, you want more. I want to do shit that no one’s ever seen before.

  I finish washing up, then throw on jeans and a t-shirt and head to the kitchen to make something to eat. X is there already and he slides a plate with a sandwich across to me. He has one too, but it’s half gone.

  A quick glance shows that Ever is tucked under a blanket, still sound asleep in the chair.

  “Said she wasn’t tired,” X says with a chuckle. “She didn’t even last long enough to see if they listed it or loved it.”

  I slide onto the stool and grab the bottle of water X set out, chugging half of it before I set it back down.

  “We’re not letting Baz work for that bastard.”

  Anger flashes in X’s eyes. “Fuck no, we’re not.”

  “We need to figure out a way to keep Ever safe. Maybe if we can find her piece-of-shit ex, we can convince him to tell the cops what Peter paid him to do. Pretty sure hiring a hit man is a federal offense.”

  “I’d rather lock him in a room and leave him there to rot,” X growls.

  Yeah, I’m not sure I could let that asshole live either if I saw him in person.

  “We could go the private security route. Bodyguards.”

  X snorts. “First, Ever would never go for that and second, Ever would never go for that. If you put security on her, she’d do something drastic, like withhold sex or something.”

  I stuff half the sandwich into my mouth. I know he’s right. Ever would have my balls on a platter if I tried to hire a bodyguard for her. What we need is to find something to blackmail Peter with. Something big that would keep him away from our girl.

  There has to be some incriminating files at Panchard somewhere. The guy was a sellout. He had to have hidden shit all over the place, and Panchard is where he spent all his time. Baz would know where to look.

  “Where’s Baz anyway?”

  “Said he had to finish something up and he’d be home later. I think he’s got something up his sleeve. He’s been cryptic as fuck since we left Peter this morning.”

  “If it keeps Ever safe, I’m all for whatever the hell he wants to do.” I finish my sandwich and rinse the plate off, then grab a second water from the fridge.

  “Until he does, I’m not sure any of us are going to be able to leave her alone.” X scrubs his hand over his face. “I let Luc know that I’m staying here this week, but I’m also going to talk to the powers that be and see if I can live off-campus. Luc will love having the place all to his and Aria’s selves. Plus side, I wouldn’t have to listen to them fucking all the time. She’s a screamer, FYI.”

  I shake my head. “Didn’t need to know that.”

  “Neither did I. And did I tell you I walked in on Luc wearing her fucking mermaid tail last week?” He shakes his head. “If I live there much longer I’m going to need therapy.”

  We sit in silence for a few minutes as X finishes eating. When he’s done, he leans back.

  “You really serious about not racing? If you’re worried about Ever, Baz and I will be around a lot more.”

  “Nah man, it’s too much corporate bullshit. Everything’s about the money and appearances that have nothing to do with racing. They’d control me. I just want to ride, you know that. I can do that on any dirt track nearby. Besides, when we start our own thing, I want to have time for that. That’s the future I want to build and the last few days have proven how much more important it is.”

  “No shit.” His glance slides to where Ever is still sleeping and his eyes grow soft.

  “It fucking kills me that she felt alone. That she was sad and I didn’t see it.”

  A sharp stab of pain in my chest takes my breath away. “You? I was right here every night and missed it. Got a lot to make up for.”

  “We all do, man. It’s not all on you.”

  “We were so fucking close to missing her, X.”

  No matter how many times I say it, it still feels like I’m being stabbed with a knife right in my heart every time the words leave my lips.

  I drop my head and fist my hands at my side. I’m not sure I’ll ever get over the knowledge that we might have walked out of the warehouse none the wiser. Might never have found her at all.

  His hand comes down on my shoulder and he squeezes.

  “But we did, and that’s all that matters. There has been a fuckton of what-ifs in our life, Ry. If you sit on every one of them, you’ll never be able to move again. She’s here. We have the chance to make it all up to her. That’s what we need to focus on.”

  The air frozen in my lungs comes out on a harsh exhale. He’s right. What’s most important is snoring softly in the chair.

  Tension eases from my shoulders and I move across the room and sink down onto the couch. My stare never falters away from her. I’m mesmerized by the way her lips part slightly with every exhale.

  “Stalker,” X mutters, dropping down on the other end. His gaze settles on her too.

  “Creeper,” I shoot back.

  Neither one of us moves, though. I don’t plan on going anywhere for a very long time.

  ∞∞∞

  It’s an hour later when I hear the door open.

  X is slumped over the arm of the couch, snoring a lot louder than Ever. I fight the urge to kick him awake to tell him I won; I watched her the longest. Yeah, I’ve got gold-lev
el creeper status now.

  I look over my shoulder and see Baz walk into the kitchen.

  His face is ashen and when he sets his phone on the island, I can see his hands shaking even from here. Something is really fucking wrong. I push off the couch and nudge X as I pass. He starts awake, his gaze unfocused, but he stumbles to his feet and follows me.

  Behind me, I hear Ever rouse from her sleep as well.

  “What’s going on?” she asks sleepily.

  That’s what I want to know.

  Baz sinks onto a stool and drops his face into his hands. Chills slither up my spine. The hell is going on? I meet X’s wide-awake stare and he frowns. I shake my head. Baz is the level-headed one. The practical one who is unshakable. Hell, he walked away from Peter this morning after that bombshell was dropped with barely a blink.

  He’s the one who told us it would be okay.

  He is definitely not okay.

  Ever moves around me and goes to him.

  “Baz?” she whispers softly.

  He lifts his face and the agony etched over his features as he looks at Ever kicks me in the gut.

  “I’m so fucking sorry, baby,” he croaks out, then buries his face in her neck.

  He wraps his arms around her small frame as his shoulders start to shake. Alarm bells go off in my head and dread sits heavy in my gut. I’ve never seen Baz fall apart—not like this. He clings to Ever and she holds him just as tightly.

  I meet her wide-eyed stare over his head.

  “What the fuck happened?” X finally asks. “What did you do?”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Ever

  I have no idea what’s wrong with Baz.

  When X asked him what he had done, he went stiff in my arms, then pulled away and disappeared into his room. The shower kicked on soon after.

  “What was that?” I ask Ry and X.

  They both shake their heads, exchanging a mystified look.

  “Never seen him break like that before.”

  Our glances move to the hall. I want to barge into the shower and demand that he tell me what happened. The alarm just keeps spreading, crawling through my veins like an infection, and my heart keeps beating harder. Faster. I need to know what’s wrong.

  “The fuck was he doing today?” Ry growls.

  “Said he had to wrap up a few things and that he was coming home right after.”

  The door opens and we all freeze. Baz comes out wearing his glasses, a dark charcoal sweatshirt, and loose jeans. He doesn’t say a word, just walks up to me, pulls me into his arms, and leans his forehead against mine. Behind the lenses, his eyes are dark with something I can’t read.

  And pain. So much pain.

  “You're scaring me,” I whisper, stroking my fingers along his spine. “Please tell me what’s wrong.”

  He laces his fingers with mine, then turns and leads me to the couch.

  “You two come sit as well,” he says over his shoulder.

  The guys sit on the couch and Baz guides me between them. My gut clenches when he moves to sit in the chair across from me. Away from us.

  “I fucked up,” he starts, dragging his fingers through his hair. He looks up, meets my eyes, and his knuckles turn white. “I found something. Fuck. I should start from the beginning...there was something else on that chip from Wendi’s watch; something I never told you about. A backdoor that led to one of the old servers at Panchard.”

  X leans forward, elbows on his knees.

  “At first, I wasn’t sure what I was looking at. I ran a few programs but couldn't break through and didn’t think much of it. Then, a couple months ago, the Feds came knocking at Panchard. They found the same backdoor access on a chip on one of the terrorists Peter sold out in his plea deal. I shut down remote access to the server, then ran every program I could create trying to decrypt the chip’s contents.”

  Ry jumps to his feet and starts to pace, driving his fingers through his hair. “The fuck, man?” He growls. “You didn’t think to tell us about it?”

  Baz squares his shoulders and looks up at Ry. “I couldn’t. Those asshole Feds told me to stay quiet. So I worked my ass off trying to figure out what the hell Peter was doing so I could give them the information and break free from Panchard. Get away from all that fucking bullshit.”

  “That’s why you’ve been working eighteen-hour days?” X asks. “Sleeping there?”

  “Yeah. I just needed it to be over so we could all be done with him. Then…” His gaze flickers to me. “Then you were taken and I made a call. Told the Feds if they wanted what I found, they needed to catch the asshole who took you.”

  “Baz.” God, he can’t blackmail the government like that. I slide off the couch, move toward him, but he holds up his hand, palm out.

  “There’s more.” He lifts his tortured gaze and it moves over each of us. “I found out what was on the server today. It’s bad. Really fucking bad. I...” His head dips down and he fists his hands against his thighs until his knuckles turn white again. “I went back to the prison. Told Peter I’d keep quiet about it if he left Ever alone. He… he fucking laughed. Said I was the same as him. Selfish. Greedy.”

  My skin starts to feel too tight. My hands shake when I push my hair off my sweaty forehead.

  “Please tell me you didn’t make a deal with Peter for me. Baz, tell me you didn’t give him what you found on that server.”

  “What exactly did you find?” X asks.

  Baz scrubs his hand over his face. “Coordinates. They look like military bases. Encoded names. Dates. I only looked at the tip of the iceberg, but there’s a hell of a lot more. Pretty sure someone could rule the world with that intel. Or destroy it.”

  “Holy fuck.” X whistles and then he drops his face into his hands. “Holy fucking fuck.”

  “Peter was going to sell that info to the highest bidder. He’s been planning it all along; it’s why he made the plea deal in the first place. It’s why he had backdoor access to the server—in case he never got back into Panchard headquarters. I played right into his hands when I made him that offer this morning. Before I knew what was going on. I could have given him the ability to destroy the world without knowing it.”

  All this time Peter’s been gaming the system, thinking he was going to win after all. Thank goodness Baz found out what he was doing before that happened.

  “There’s more,” Baz says. “He’s been keeping tabs on all of us this whole time, too.”

  “Tabs?” X asks.

  Baz nods.

  “Ry’s sponsorship offer? That was Peter. He called in a favor. That paper you wrote, X, he read it and plans to implement the strategies you laid out. He’s going to use them to expand Panchard globally. He’s been meddling in our fucking lives this whole time. Pulling the strings. We thought we were free of him, but we weren’t.”

  Riot explodes and a lamp goes flying across the room, smashing against the wall. “How? How the fuck is he doing all this from a fucking prison cell? Why aren’t the Feds watching him more closely? This needs to end right the fuck now. No more. We are going to end it.”

  “I already have,” Baz says quietly.

  His face is ashen and he won’t look at me now.

  The room goes eerily quiet. I can hear Ry panting, his teeth grinding together. Even the sound of my own heartbeat thuds loudly in my ears.

  “I gave the chip to the Feds an hour ago.”

  A few seconds go by, then Ry launches himself at Baz. X flies off the couch to intercept him, but not before Ry swings a fist and hits Baz in the jaw. Baz doesn’t even try to defend himself.

  Ry draws back again and I jump up. X grabs his fist and yanks it behind his back.

  “Enough,” he shouts at Ry.

  “You fucker! You put Ever in danger!” Ry twists but X holds firm, pulling him away from Baz.

  I slip between them and drop to my knees at Baz’s feet, trying to see how badly Ry hit him. With my hand on his jaw, I guide his head up. A bruise is alrea
dy forming on his jaw and there’s blood at the corner of his mouth.

  I swing my head around and glare at Riot. “If you touch him again, I swear I’ll rip your balls off.”

  His face twists with rage. “He put a fucking target on your back. Peter is going to flip his shit and come after you now.”

  I push to my feet and stalk over to Riot, shoving my finger against his chest.

  “He did the only thing he could do. I’d never be able to live with myself knowing hundreds, probably thousands and thousands of people could have been hurt because of me. I’m just one person.”

  “You’re the only one who matters,” he grits out.

  His eyes are wild, the storm raging within them fiercer than any I’ve seen before.

  “Ry,” Baz says, but Riot swings his furious gaze to his brother.

  “Not. Another. Word. I can’t even look at you right now.”

  Ry finally yanks free of X’s grasp and storms out of the room. The front door slams seconds later.

  X sighs. “I’ll go with him, make sure he stays out of trouble.” His troubled gaze meets mine, then slides to Baz. “I get it. You were in an impossible situation. He’ll figure that out too, just give him time to process.”

  He presses a quick kiss to my temple, then heads out to follow Ry.

  I move to the fridge, pulling out some ice to tuck inside a towel. Baz sits, staring into space. I drop back down, kneeling at his feet, and gently press the wrapped-up ice to his jaw. His hand covers mine, holding us connected. There is such torment in his eyes; it’s killing me.

  I lean forward and carefully brush my lips over his.

  “He’s wrong,” I whisper, sitting back on my heels. “I’m not the only one who matters. You made the right choice, Baz—he’ll see it. He’s scared, that’s all.”

  “I don’t know.” He shakes his head and pulls away from my touch. His jaw is already turning a dark purple. “In his place, I don’t know if I could ever forgive me either.”