The tiniest growl left my lips when Isaiah dismissed me. Both boys snapped their attention to me as my hands flung to my waist. “I’ve been lied to my entire fucking life.” I paused for a split second at my choice of words before continuing. “I’ve only been told certain things because…” I trailed off, pushing away the past, gripping onto my rising anger. “It doesn’t matter why. What matters is that something is going on that pertains to me, and I deserve to be brought up to speed. I am so tired of being dismissed because I’m a good girl.”
One second passed as my heart whacked against my chest. Blood rushed to my fingertips, and I wasn’t sure what it was, but I was mad. Was I finally just at my threshold for all the bullshit in my life and taking it out on Cade and Isaiah? Maybe.
My fists tightened even more as Isaiah’s mouth split wide, and he let out a laugh that only fed my rising temper. “How often do you curse, Gemma?” Cade chuckled under his breath, and I pursed my lips. “You’re seriously adorable when you’re angry. I might just start pissing you off to see your reaction.” Then, he grinned at me and turned around, leaving me standing there with fumes coming out my ears.
I stomped my foot like a five-year-old would, but to be honest, I don’t think I’d even done that as a child, let alone at seventeen. “Isaiah!” I barked. “You will tell me what’s going on, or else I won’t be your alibi if the SMC comes knocking.” An evil grin slid onto my face, and I loved the fact that I had power. I loved it too much. “How easy would it be for me to tell them that you leave during our tutoring sessions to sneak out and go do God knows what.”
Isaiah threw his head back and laughed without even looking at me over his shoulders. “You’ll continue covering for me, Good Girl.” I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling that surge of power dissipate. He continued walking to the door as he talked. “Or did you forget about our deal? Didn’t you need something in return? A fake ID or something?”
The door shut seconds later, and my arms slowly fell in defeat. Isaiah was right. How could I forget that he was my ticket out of here? That he was the one carving my path to freedom? That he was paving a way for me to hopefully find my brother? It was scary that Isaiah could take my worries and turn them to dust within seconds, making me forget all that had weighed me down in the first place.
When I turned toward Cade, he was standing there with his arms still crossed and his gaze pointed to the ceiling like he was trying his hardest not to look at me.
“Will you tell me what’s going on?” I asked.
He laughed sarcastically, bringing his gaze back down. “Not a chance in hell. Isaiah brought you into this; he can be the one to deal with the repercussions.”
“Rude,” I whispered under my breath, plopping myself back down into the chair. I pulled the laptop over and began typing furiously into the search engine, pretending that Cade wasn’t standing just a few feet away and that Isaiah didn’t just leave me in the library, totally empty-handed and restless. He wanted me to cover for him, but he wouldn’t tell me why? Whatever. Fine. It wasn’t like I was willing to tell him my secrets either. But it seemed that both of our secrets affected the other in ways we didn’t want to admit. He said he was protecting me, but how was I protecting him when it came to Richard and my secrets? After it was all said and done, if Richard somehow learned that Isaiah was the one who gave me the necessities to get away from him, would he go after him?
I sighed, easing the stress from my shoulders as I tried to be proactive with my time. I typed the words Judge Stallard rather aggressively into the search engine and hit enter, waiting to dig into every last thing that Richard was related to. Knowledge was power, and maybe something would pop up that would lead me to Tobias. Maybe the smallest of clues would appear, and I’d know where to start once I got out of this school with my wad of cash and new ID. Nothing like distracting myself with a little search that Richard would nearly kill me for. It was all part of his control: him knowing everything about me, and me knowing nothing about him.
“Judge Stallard?” Cade startled me, and I had no idea that he’d even moved from the other side of the table.
I slammed the laptop shut. “Stop snooping,” I snapped.
Cade’s brown eyes widened. “What? You can trust me. Maybe I can help with your little search there.”
“I do not trust you,” I said, even though there was a really small voice inside of me that told me I could.
Cade’s lips twitched. “I’m bothered that you don’t think I look trustworthy.”
I raised my chin. “You do look trustworthy, and that’s exactly why I don’t trust you.” I began pushing the laptop open again with my fingers. “Plus, you were the one who tricked me the first day in art when Isaiah pulled me into the closet.”
Cade’s shoulders slumped for a second, his light hair falling into his eyes. “Well, shit. I did, didn’t I?” He batted his thick eyelashes at me. “I’m sorry. Do you forgive me?”
A smile tickled my lips as I fought to keep them even. “Does batting your eyelashes like that really work on girls?” I knew for fact that it did. I’d seen him in action a couple of times this week. His target always seemed to fall into his lap like he was some type of female magnet.
A huge grin covered Cade’s face. “Of course it does.” He pulled out the chair beside me and rested his hands behind his head. “But for the record…” He glanced away. “I won’t betray your trust. I promise. I won’t look at your computer anymore.”
I wanted to believe that. I really did. A warmth settled into my bones, and it seemed to spread over my skin. I pushed my laptop the rest of the way open, only peeking at Cade a few times before I typed enter on the search engine again and began reading all there was to know about Richard. For some reason, the bitter taste I’d always had didn’t surface like usual when his round face appeared in front of my eyes. Instead of feeling that rising panic, I felt powerful. Like digging up all this information was giving me a sense of strength against him. The last time I’d started to dig, he caught me red-handed, and it did not end well. Even when I groveled at his feet and acted like the devoted and loyal girl that he wanted me to be, he still punished me.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cade shift with his phone in his hand, but he didn’t look at my computer screen again. I wasn’t sure if he was making a point not to look because he said I could trust him, or maybe he just didn’t really care. Either way, I was relieved. My chest untightened as each second passed with his head down, and my breaths eventually resumed to their lazy rhythm as I scrolled over articles and newspaper headlines.
That was, until I felt a vaguely familiar feeling creeping up behind me, causing my fingers to pause over the keyboard. I glanced at the little time icon in the corner and saw that it was well past curfew—something the rest of the Rebels didn’t seem to care about.
I peered over my shoulder slowly, prepared to see something or someone standing there, but all I saw were sky-high bookshelves and an empty, dark aisle that led to the back of the library.
“What’s wrong?” Cade asked, putting all four of his chair legs back onto the floor.
“I…don’t know.” I bristled at my rising anxiety. I was probably feeling uneasy because of all the searching I’d done. My subconscious was poking at me to tread lightly. “It’s probably nothing. I just feel like we’re not—” My sentence came up short when something thudded in the back of the library. There was a flash of movement, and within seconds, Cade was up out of his seat, and he was pulling me up and pushing me behind him. I stumbled onto the edge of the table with the phone Isaiah gave me clutch
ed in my hand and my face pressed to Cade’s back.
“Text Isaiah and tell him we’re going back to your room right now.” His grip on my arm tightened, and within seconds, we were heading for the door.
“Wait!” I shouted. “I need my sketchbook.” I had no idea what was going on, but there was a feeling of urgency in my blood that was instinctual. If someone found my sketches, things would get bad—fast.
“What?” Cade’s face was a mix of pressing caution.