He’s shoving his belt that was around Nicholas’s neck back through the loops in his jeans. He nods. “Yeah.”
“Take her to the restroom first. She needs to clean up.” He grabs her upper arm, and Monroe steps out of the way to allow them to exit.
“Was that really the best idea?” I hear Dax ask.
“I thought it was a fantastic idea.” I smile.
He shakes his head. “That fucker got hard from watching that. Even if Scout did manage to break his jaw, he’ll still talk.”
“We wouldn’t be in this situation if you had taken care of the problem,” Scout growls, finally speaking. He’s been extra quiet since we found out about Nicholas.
Monroe’s jaw clenches. “I thought I had.”
“Obviously not,” Scout snaps, walking over to him. “You have tonight to fix it, Dax. Then I’m going to take care of our problem, and it will get messy.” With that, he yanks open the door and exits the locker room.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
DAX MONROE
I PULL MY cell out of my back pocket and send a text, then return it without waiting for a reply. Looking up, I see Law staring down at Nicholas’s unconscious body.
“Wanna help me tonight?” I ask him.
He looks up at me, a smirk on his face. “Sure. What are we doing?”
“Taking care of business.” I keep it vague, but he already knows what I’m talking about. They all know what I’ve been up to since this summer.
I may hate Henley, but I agree with the others—she is ours. I may not physically touch her like Scout and Law, but I will surely help them beat the fuck out of anyone who tries to. This is part of her punishment. No other guy at this school or in this town will want her. We are lowering her options of happiness. Tarnishing what little reputation she might have had left after the shit she pulled last school year. She shit all over mine, so I might as well return the favor.
“Come on, let’s get this mess cleaned up.”
“What are we going to do with him?” He looks down at a bloody Nicholas.
“Let’s dump his ass out back. Someone will find him, or he’ll wake up and find his way home.”
_______________
I take a hit from the joint that Law passes me while he drives down the two-lane road in his flat black Aston Martin One-77. “She still there?” he asks.
“Oh, yeah,” I answer, watching the live feed on my phone. The woman lies facedown on the concrete floor in the middle of the room. Her wrists tied behind her back, she’s dressed in a black blouse and black slacks.
He chuckles, throwing me a quick look, “Sure you want to do this?”
I nod. “Yep.” Locking the cell, I place it in my lap and open the backpack I brought with everything we need in it. “She’s going to fight.”
“Isn’t that the point?” He smirks.
“She’ll try to run,” I add.
“Even better.” He throws me a smile, and I shake my head.
“You’re fucked up, man.”
“Hey.” He reaches over and slaps my shoulder. “This is your rodeo. I’m just an extra.”
We come to Death Valley and pass the wrought-iron gate. We drive a couple hundred more yards, and he turns off the road onto a single-lane gravel road. His headlights shine on the two-story Victorian structure up ahead. “What is this place?” he asks.
“They say it housed the campus police.” I shrug. “Not sure how accurate that is, though.”
“How in the hell did you find it?” he wonders.
“I didn’t.”
He just laughs and shakes his head, coming to a stop and killing the lights.
“Here.” I hand him the black ski mask, and he slides it over his head, then stuffs it into the collar of his hoodie. We don’t want this fucker to fall off.
“Don’t forget this.” He hands me a knife.
“Thanks,” I mumble, flipping it open and closed to get a feel of it. “Here.” I remove my cell from my pocket and hand it over as well. “Ready?”
“Let’s go.”
We get out of the car and walk up the five stone steps into the old house. It’s been gutted since it was abandoned all those years ago. It wasn’t affected by the fire, but when Spring Valley was not re-opened, it suffered as well.
The house smells musty, and it’s cold. It doesn’t get any human interaction that I know of. Death Valley is crawling with people every weekend, so it can get hot quickly from the body heat and lights, but this house is deserted.
We walk down a hallway and come to an open room. There’s a staircase to the right to take you upstairs, but I walk past it to the door next to it. Opening it up, Law turns on the flashlight, and we make our way down the old stairs, and they creak, informing our guest we’re here.