I didn’t think Austin’s eyes could have gotten any bigger when she looks at him. “You can’t be serious.”
“You have a better option?” he asks.
She turns and looks at Cole. He’s running his hand absentmindedly through her hair. “Please tell me you don’t want to kill Demi?” I haven’t heard that kind of fear in her voice in a long time.
His hand pauses, and he looks up at her. His eyes give nothing away, but his brows crease. “No.”
She looks back down at the paper in her hands.
This would be a good time to tell them she threatened me the last time I saw her, but I keep my mouth shut. For some reason, I feel like I need to protect her from Shane. He’s on a mission to kill someone, and Demi is his target. Do I think she’s capable of this? Not really. But am I suspicious? Yes. If she’s behind it, I’ll handle her myself. It’s not going to require all the GWS to take her down.
“We don’t have a lot of options here.” Shane growls. “She comes out of nowhere, and all of a sudden, she’s on a piece of paper that has some cryptic riddle on it. And we’ve checked Kellan’s phone. Of course, there was nothing on there. He must have deleted everything.”
Yeah, that was a dead end. “What do you suggest we do?” I ask her.
Shane snorts as if asking Austin for advice is beneath him. I don’t give a shit what he thinks.
She doesn’t answer right away. Folding up the letter, she stares out the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook their pool in the backyard. Regret and sadness flashes across her face, and I wonder what she’s thinking about. I’m not sure how well she knows Demi. Becky never hung out with her much. Demi came to a few bonfires on the beach with Becky, David, and his friend, but that was the last time I knew of them ever hanging out together.
Finally, after what seems like forever, she looks at me. “How do you push a girl to think irrationally?”
None of us answer.
She chuckles at our clueless minds. “You make her jealous.”
I frown. “Jealous?”
She nods. “A jealous woman is a scary one.”
I think back to the time I saw Austin jealous over Cole.
I lean my shoulder up against the lockers as Cole digs through his. Austin walks down the senior hallway, not bothering to look his way, but he sees her, grabs her, and pulls her back to his front before she can pass him. “Miss me, sweetheart?”
She spins around in his arms, reaches up, and slaps him across the face. The sound bounces off the walls.
I take a step back from them. What the fuck …?
“What the hell was that for?” Cole demands, now glaring down at her.
She throws me a look of disgust, and my brows rise. What did I do? She turns her attention back on Cole. “I’m sure you can figure it out.” She turns around and walks toward the door, but he grabs her arm and yanks her back. “Cole!” she snaps.
“What the fuck was that for, Austin?” he demands. “Because I didn’t tell you where I went? It was none of your fucking business!”
He spent the day in Texas meeting with his counselor at the University of Texas. He plans on taking Lilly with him, and he can’t live in the dorm with a child. He needed to discuss housing, and he already had a few lined up to look at while he was there. He told me this morning before he boarded his plane that he’s gonna ask Austin to go with him. He tried to make it sound like it was no big deal, but Cole wanting any woman to move in with him is huge. He loves her. I know it. He knows it. He just refuses to admit it. She had no clue where he went or what he has planned. I don’t know why he won’t just tell her.
Tears fill her green eyes. She tries to pull away from him, but she gets nowhere. “Just forget it.” Her voice cracks.
And I watch in fascination at the way he melts for her. How can he not see it? Feel what she does to him? His eyes soften as he steps into her. “What’s wrong?” he asks, cupping her face.
Her first tear falls. “I know where you went.”
My eyes widen. How the fuck does she know? I’m the only one he told.
Cole’s jaw sharpens. “How do you—”
“I heard it,” she interrupts him.
He looks at me, and I throw my hands up, shaking my head. “I haven’t said anything.”
“What do you mean? You heard it? Who did you hear it from?” He turns his attention back to her.
“I’m not gonna spell it out for you, Cole.”