This Fearless Girl (St. Clary's University #2) - E. M. Moore Page 0,105

myself and stay there.

35

Wyatt commandeers my bed before Lucas can. I assume the position so I can run my fingers through his hair, but he just shakes his head at me until settling into bed, pulling me close to him while he runs his hands over my curls.

I fall asleep like that and wake up to a warm but empty bed. Yawning, I peek out the glass window to see the sun barely grazing over the mountains in the distance. It’s a beautiful orange color. Despite the fact that Stone won’t be joining us this weekend on account of his wedding and all, Wyatt, Lucas, and I are still going up there. We have a mission. Something I’ve been trying to do my whole life, and if Stone is stubborn enough to do what he wants, so am I.

I don’t bother washing my hair but throw it up on the top of my head, quickly gathering several changes of clothes. We left our packs in the garage, not bothering to take anything out since we knew we would be heading back up into the Superstitions at some point.

Unlike the last morning we left to go treasure hunting, Wyatt decides to cook. I throw my clothes on top of my pack that one of them brought into the main room for me, then make my way over to the kitchen island to sit.

He shrugs. “We haven’t been eating all that well, and I know we’re going to need our fuel.”

Lucas comes through the garage, kicking the door shut, hands full of the maps we need. Stone held onto them last time, but it appears Lucas has already been divvying up what we need between the three packs. “I figure we can leave one of the metal detectors here. There’s no sense in weighing us down since we won’t want to split up anyway.”

He does a double take when he sees me and immediately comes over. “Hey, Wild Girl.” His soft eyes stare into my own, and I know he’s trying to digest how I’m doing with the whole Stone news.

Honestly, Wyatt holding me all night helped. It made me focus on him and not that. “Hey,” I smile.

“You ready for another trip into the Superstitions?”

“Always.”

Wyatt dishes out French toast, nodding toward a plate. “That’s yours, man.”

Lucas sits, and we all dig in. Wyatt stays in the kitchen, leaning against the counter with his plate in his hands. Lucas unfurls two maps. My family’s, and the one we started marking off last weekend. “This area still look good to you?”

I nod. “I think if that lantern is anywhere, it’s there. We just need to find it.”

“Stone will have a coronary if we find the lantern without him,” Wyatt says, smiling into his plate.

“Serves him right,” I mutter.

“Stone has a hero complex,” Wyatt says. “He’s only doing what he thinks is right.”

My stomach twists. “Kind of like how he’s been treating me like a princess since he showed back up in Clary. He thinks buying me stuff will make up for how I was raised.”

Lucas runs his hands through his hair. “He doesn’t realize that past hurts don’t go away so easily, but it’s not his fault. We’re like his strays. Guys he took in because he thought he could help.”

I see can that—Stone making friends with Lucas because he had no one. Then Wyatt when it turned out he didn’t have anyone either. Then....

Well, shit. Then me. When he dropkicked his way back into my life, I didn’t have anyone either.

“He needs to stop worrying about everyone else but him,” I say. “He already said he thinks his father is capable of hurting him.”

Wyatt shoves his plate away. “Lance Jacobs is capable of most anything. He might not get his hands dirty directly, but he’ll be the puppet master behind the scenes.”

“Sometimes it’s better not to tip the boat,” Lucas offers. I glance over at him to find him staring back at me. He shrugs. “I saw the look on your face. The one where you’re asking why the fuck we would align ourselves with him? First, because we love Stone like a brother. Second, because when people stop listening to Lance, he makes a move on a chessboard, and trust me, you don’t want to be on the receiving end of it.”

“Sounds like he’s met his match in Cole though.”

The guys don’t answer. Well, I think he is, and I think that he’s on our side. Where I’m standing, that’s a