“I won’t argue that she probably deserves better, but you’re who she chose,” he pointed out.
A snort breezed through my nose. “Makes me question her taste in men. After all, she slept with Sterling, who’s currently stalking, blackmailing, and drugging her.” But even after the accusation left my lips, I didn’t really believe Sterling had been anything to Mads but a rebound one-night stand. I’d had more than my share. She’d been pissed off at me and hurt… much like now.
A burst of panic exploded in my chest. “Shit,” I muttered, scrubbing a hand over my face and staring at my reflection in the mirror. “What the fuck have I done?” Last night it seemed to all make sense.
Brock placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. I hadn’t heard him move into the room. “What we all do. Fuck up from time to time. Own your mistake and fix it. That makes you more of a man. Besides, if you don’t, Grayson’s waiting downstairs to lay into you.”
I turned and leaned my back against the window, shaking my head. “How the fuck did we both end up falling for the girls in his family?”
His lips curved in a wicked way that said he wasn’t sorry at all for falling for his best friend’s sister. “It drives him crazy.”
My chest lifted and lowered as I took a deep breath. “We still on for tonight?” I asked.
Brock’s eyes brightened with a speck of anticipation. “Fuck yes. Nothing’s changed.”
“Thanks, man. I couldn’t do this without you, without them,” I added, nodding toward the open door where the rest of mytruefamily waited. The guys who’d always been there and never let me down.
He held my gaze and said, “You’ve always done the same for me.”
I stared at my phone countless times throughout the day and into the night, debating whether to text or call Mads, but each time I came close, I chickened out. I couldn’t do it. Not yet. Sterling had to be dealt with. I needed to break him. I needed just one night.
The problem was that night of opportunity wasn’t until next weekend—rush week.
Brock and the others might not agree with my decision to keep Mads away, but it was better than her getting caught in the crossfire.
If anything, Brock should understand considering everything that happened last year with Josie and Carter. He’d wanted to throttle Josie for putting herself in danger, regardless that she handled herself like a damn Elite. Secretly, we’d all been a little proud, once the anger evaporated.
But that didn’t mean I wanted Mads going off on some sort of vigilante mission. It would be better if she went home for the weekend and visited her parents, but the suggestion couldn’t come from me. That would only have the opposite effect. Maybe I could get Josie to help, but that also had a chance to backfire. The girls in our lives were so damn willful. It was maddening.
Waiting was always the worst part when it came to taking down a target. Time tortured me when I was rearing to go. But until all the pieces were in place, I was at a standstill.
Brock had Fynn and Grayson working on something. I received an email from our PI containing all he’d uncovered about Sterling and his family a few days ago. To keep my mind off Mads and the colossal fuckup I’d made of the one good thing in my life, I flipped through the information again on my phone as I sat in my car, making sure I hadn’t missed anything.
It was all crap. Nothing of real importance, and that in itself was fishy. Everyone had something to hide, a secret they wanted to keep buried, and the fact that our PI uncovered nothing told me the Westons worked hard to keep their secrets just that—secret. But I was like a fucking dog with a bone. I wouldn’t stop until I found what it was they had scrubbed squeaky clean from their lives.
For years, Brock, Grayson, Fynn, and I collected those little dirty secrets people desperately worked to keep from seeing the light of day. Some had the power to destroy lives, others to break up marriages, crush careers, or crumble futures. Politicians, teachers, friends, parents, school boards, police officers—no one was safe from thekill book. That was what we called it, but it really wasn’t a tangible book. We weren’t stupid. Fynn had a system that was too complex for my brain. The dude was a certifiable genius when it came to computers and techy shit. Our little brain. All I knew was it was secure, undetectable in how to access the information. That was enough for me.
I did learn one piece of information that was worth testing out. Sterling had a younger sister, and I was curious how close the two were. Would he care if something happened to her? He wasn’t the only one who could play games. If anything, he’d been playing in the minor leagues, and I was about to show him what happened when you messed with the big dogs.
Stifling a yawn, I let my car slowly roll to a stop at the light and rubbed my eyes. Exhaustion had been plaguing me for the last few hours. It didn’t help that I hadn’t slept in over a day, and although my body wanted to give in to the dark recesses of sleep, my mind had other plans. Not that it mattered, because the moment I closed my eyes, I saw Mads and Sterling. Unpleasant images that made my skin crawl, that boiled my blood, churned my stomach, and haunted me. The idea that one day the Elite or I might not be there to stop one of Sterling’s twisted plots made my blood run cold. I’d be damned before I let him do anything to Mads.
He’d already done enough.
The light turned green, and I slammed my foot on the gas, lurching the Hummer forward with a rumble of the engine. A Hummer at college wasn’t all that practical, but it was my favorite car and made a statement.
Get the fuck out of my way.
A few blocks down the road, I swung my car into a parking spot and hopped out to meet up with the guys. I hoped Fynn had better information for me than the PI did.
The neon sign in the window flickered as I walked by Mad Dog’s Tap to the entrance. An annoying bell rang over the door as I pulled it open and stepped inside the seedy bar that reminded me an awful lot of Lazy Ray’s. The scene was low-key for a Sunday night, exactly what we were looking for, to not draw attention, and the dim booth in the back was made for developing nefarious plans.
I nodded to the bartender, making my down the row of empty booths. “Did you get it?” I asked, slipping into the worn leather seat across from Brock and Fynn. Grayson sat to my left.
Fynn eyed me, a twinkle of victory in his green eyes as he lifted a pierced brow. “Have I ever let you down?”
“I fucking love you, man,” I said, our hands clasping over the table.
He slid a slim SD card over the sticky table. “Just download the file onto your phone and hit Play. Should do the trick.”