This Fearless Girl (St. Clary's University #2) - E. M. Moore Page 0,76
he grew up differently than me, but the way he’s looking now fills me with apprehension. He’s really fucking serious.
“Why?” I ask, though my voice only ekes out in a whisper. He’s taken my breath away with the anger he holds inside. The intensely fierce gaze he holds me in that promises hurt to the guys I’ve come to like.
It’s broken in a moment when Cole shrugs. His muscles relax, but the look on his face tells me it’s taking great effort on his part to make it look like he’s not affected.
“How did you get to be the leader?” I ask. “You look so... young.”
Cole grins. “Hard work. Dedication. Resilience. I think you know a bit about those things.”
“Okay but is it like reality TV? Did you get voted in?”
“You seem awfully interested...”
“Merely curious,” I tell him, even though I am interested in what makes him tick. Why he seems to have such a hang-up on me out of all people.
“In this business, you take what you want. If you fail, it’s on you.”
I breathe out and lean forward to grab the water he got me. “Sounds cutthroat.”
“It is. Isn’t treasure hunting the same though? The Jacobs always trying to take your spotlight. Not to mention the other treasure seekers who ride your coattails.”
“I guess that’s the game, isn’t it?” I swallow a few swigs of the water, feeling the fresh, cool water satisfy the thirst in the back of my throat.
“That’s all life is,” Cole argues. “Just pieces on a chessboard, keeping them moving so you don’t get put in checkmate. And you know who the most important piece on the chessboard is, don’t you?”
I’ve played chess a few times. One of the few things my dad tried to teach me when I was younger that I never really enjoyed. I preferred reading. “The queen.”
“Exactly,” Cole says. He wipes his face and leans back. He keeps moving forward, leaning toward me before making himself relax again as we talk. “What happened to your mom, Dakota?”
“Dead,” I whisper. “I don’t remember her at all. I only remember bits and pieces of when I was young, but as far back as I can remember, it’s only been me and my dad.”
“You must have been heartbroken when he went missing.”
I swallow back the tightness in my throat. “Yeah. It crushed me.”
“What about you?” I ask because hell, if he’s going to ask questions, I can too. We need to know more information about him. “Do you have a family?”
“Had a family,” Cole clarifies. “We have that in common.”
“Is the gang like...your family then?”
“I don’t have family, Dakota. Having family only makes me vulnerable and susceptible to attack.”
“Well, that sounds lonely.”
His eyes flash with something deeper. “I had a family when it counted. Mom, Dad, and a sister.” He leans forward again as if he doesn’t even realize it. “Were you born in Clary?”
I shrug. “No idea. My dad never talked about that stuff. He was pretty preoccupied.”
His face falls, and his lips form a thin line as he regards me. It reminds me of the look Wyatt gave me right before he went off about my dad.
“What are you doing here in Rawley Heights?”
“Just making sure the transition goes smoothly.”
“Then where do you go?”
He tilts his head to the side. “Wherever I want.”
My heart beat kicks up a notch. He looks suspicious of my questions now. “Anything more you want to know about the treasure?” I ask, leaning forward to put the water bottle back on the coffee table in front of us.
“Just what your next plans are.”
“Well, we’re waiting to hear back from the jeweler and then we’re headed back up into the mountains this weekend. We gridded out and used metal detectors last weekend. We didn’t find anything. But we’ll keep looking. It’s important,” I start, looking into his eyes. “That you know this isn’t something that’s just going to happen next week. There’s a reason why it’s been missing for so long. If it was easy to find, someone would’ve already.”
“But I have faith in you, Dakota.”
“Faith doesn’t get you anywhere,” I tell him, echoing my father. “Hard work and research does.”
“Then I guess that’s even better.”
I bite the inside of my cheek as I look around again. It seems to me that we’re pretty much done here. It would’ve been a hell of a lot easier to have this conversation over the phone. “Am I going to have to come here every time I have an update