Zorro (Reapers MC #16) - Elizabeth Knox Page 0,42

get my studying done,” she says with a bright smile. Man, she’s layering this shit on.

“Cool. We’re actually a little bit away from the library. I can take you there if you’d like?”

“For sure, I’d freaking love that!” Frost plasters on the enthusiasm and I have to fight the urge to laugh quite a bit.

Ian motions with his hand for us to follow him, so we do. We follow the walkway and go around a circular building, up a set of stairs and then we’re walking inside. As we go inside there’s a water feature that shows you just how much money flows through this place. The elite and everyone associated with them must go here.

“Hey, Ian. Who do you have here with you?” the woman behind the counter asks as we come into view. She must be in her early twenties, has long, blonde hair and hazelnut colored eyes.

“Hey, Carly. This is Frankie, and her brother Vinny. They’re friends of Portia’s and they’re thinking about doing their graduate programs here. But, they wanted to see campus, the atmosphere, people, all that,” Ian explains to her.

“Oh, sweet. Well, welcome. For the most part we’re all nice, but there are a specific few . . .” Bingo. Everything I’m looking for.

Frost’s smile immediately drops from her face. “I . . . I think I need to go check out, um, over here.” She rushes off and Ian looks to me. His friend Carly does too.

“I’ll be totally honest with you both. Frankie was raped at our alma mater. That’s why we’re looking for a safe place . . . so she can feel safe. You get what I mean?”

“Fuck, I’m so sorry,” Ian immediately replies.

Carly gnaws on her bottom lip, looking a bit torn. “For the most part we go to a safe school, but like I said, there are always exceptions to that.”

“Carly, don’t go into that crap,” Ian warns her.

I hold up my hand. “Please do, I’m very interested. This will help us determine if Stonewall is the right place for us.”

“I mean, Ian, seriously . . . they smacked that one friend of yours ass at the party. I saw it go down. They’re fucking dogs,” Carly tells him.

Ian nods. “Yeah, but it doesn’t mean we have to go around talking about the sour apples in our orchard, you know what I mean?”

“All due respect, but it’s your honesty that’ll help us make our decision. If I know who we need to steer clear of, I’ll make sure we do. I think you both know your graduate programs are amongst the best in the country, so, please, tell me who we should stay away from. If there’s anyone we should be avoiding, I’d like to know. I only want to keep my sister safe.”

Ian glares at Carly, but the woman doesn’t care, she opens her mouth and tells me everything I want to know.

Chapter Twenty-Three

You didn’t go through all that for nothing

~ Unknown

Ruby

“Why did you invite her again?” Portia whispers while she’s peering through the racks at the boutique we’re in.

Rosa’s a few racks away, scanning through the jeans because she busted her ass earlier today and ripped her favorite pair. We were heading into town and she mentioned needing to go in too, plus she had the car. I for one don’t have a car and Portia didn’t bring one with her. The option was to either get one of my brothers to take us out here and for them to be annoyed the entire time, or for us to have another chick with us to go shopping.

“Do you have a problem with her or something?”

Portia rolls her eyes. “No, I don’t have to have an issue with her to ask a question.”

“But obviously there’s a reason you’re asking the question,” I say, cocking a brow.

“I don’t need to hate everyone I’ve come into contact with. C’mon, Rub’, I’m not that bitchy.”

“Yeah, but you are a bitch.”

“Loud and proud!” Portia giggles, grabbing a hot pink tube top with a lace style fringe.

“Just like that shirt, huh?”

“Don’t hate on my shirt. It’s fuckin’ cute and I want it. Plus, it’ll be something hot for me to wear the next time I come out here. Maybe in the summer or something.”

Her words hit me in the gut in a positive way. It might not seem like a lot, but she’s essentially just confirmed she realizes I’m staying here fulltime, which makes me so happy. It takes the world’s heaviest