my spine, that nickname souring my gut. I glance over my shoulder at Meghan only to find her staring out the windows to our left. I track her gaze, clenching the side of my desk. Cole leans against a black car in the side parking area with a sign that reads “Baby girl, we need to talk”.
Stone curses.
Cole crooks his finger at me, and I have to blink a few times to make sure this isn’t some sleep-deprived illusion. How can he even see me in here?
I stand from my chair, lower my chin to avoid Mr. Burns’ nasty glare, and walk right out.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
The door opens behind me, and I turn to find Stone following. “What are you doing?” I hiss.
“Are you kidding?” He pulls his phone from his pocket and taps the screen a few times. “Like I’m going to let you meet him alone?”
I slip through the halls as fast as I can. When I open the front entrance, Cole has thankfully moved away from my classroom windows. Meghan would love to see this, I’m sure.
“Baby girl,” Cole coos, “I missed you.”
My stomach clenches. “What are you doing here?”
“Now that you mention it, I’m kind of sad you didn’t contact me when you got back into town. I have it on good authority you were treasure hunting this weekend.”
“You followed us?”
“I like to keep track of my assets,” Cole clarifies. “I gave you space. Like you wanted.”
“We’re kind of in the middle of—”
“School?” Cole guesses, interrupting Stone. “How quaint. You kept staring at her, and she didn’t even notice.”
“That’s not really space,” I interject, peeking at Stone whose jaw is as hard as granite.
“Well, I was supposed to get updates, so neither one of us followed through on our agreement.”
“I was following through. We just got back.”
The college doors open behind us, and I already know it’s Lucas and Wyatt. “Oh good,” Cole sneers, sarcasm laced on thick. “The gang’s here.”
“What’s going on?” Lucas asks, stepping in front of me as if he’s my shield.
Cole laughs. “It’s too cute how they’re all into you. Oddly not the first time I’ve seen that before.” He glances at the four of us with a jarring soft expression. “I just want an update, okay? Then you can run back into class.”
“We didn’t find anything,” Stone and I say at the same time. I move around Lucas and glare at Stone. Cole and I already have a thing going on here, so I should be doing the talking. “We didn’t,” I clarify. “Well, we found an old piece of a carbide lamp. It was made in the 1900s though, so it’s significant. You can have it if you want.”
Cole levels me with a glare. “I don’t want a stupid lamp.”
“Neither do we, but you asked for an update and you’re getting one. That’s it. But we covered a lot of ground and made a lot of good progress.”
Cole’s eyebrows furrow. “This is supposed to be the dream team, right? The Wilders and the Jacobses working together, yet all you found was some old lamp? You’re not trying to bullshit me, are you, baby girl?”
“No. Trust me. I understand the gravity of the situation, but these things take time. There’s a reason why the treasure has been lost for over a century.”
Cole shrugs. “I don’t know. I don’t think you’re taking this as seriously as you should. First, you don’t kill Lance for me. Now, I’m not getting updates.” He shakes his head. “This is not how I run the show.”
“We can’t just pull the treasure out of our asses,” I snap.
Cole chuckles. “Oh, I understand that. You asked for space, I agreed since you promised updates. Updates never came, so here we are.”
Jesus, I loathe the sight of this guy.
“Stone?” a feminine voice calls out. “Hey, what’s going on?” We all turn to find Rissa making her way up the steps toward us
“What are you doing here?”
She gives him a funny look. “What am I doing here? I got your text, silly.”
“Marissa,” Cole greets her, oozing charm. He grabs her hand and kisses it. She blushes under his attention. “It’s nice to meet you. I have something you need to see.”
He pulls out his phone and presses the screen. In an instant, I don’t need to wonder what he’s doing anymore. My passionate cries as Stone makes me come ring out loud and clear.
Marissa gasps, her eyes welling with tears. She turns wide eyes toward Stone. She must not like