barest moment they could look away from the toned physique his leather jacket and designer jeans accentuated.
And then there was my Jaxson, who did not let wealth, side-eye, or veiled comments sway him from baggy pants hung low on his waist, band shirts, or the collection of piercings he’d been adding to his ears since eighteen. He was up to five altogether.
I hummed. “Go outside and walk in backward. Let me see those asses shake.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Jaxson spun around, making me laugh.
The other boys collectively rolled their eyes.
“Be serious, Val,” said Ryder. He swiveled my desk chair. “Up.”
Grumbling, I did as ordered, only for him to take my place and drag me onto his lap. “What did they say?”
“They’re stepping up security on me and redoubling efforts to find my attacker,” I replied. “Everyone is doing the best they can do. We just have to wait for them to turn something up.”
“I’m sick of waiting,” said Maverick. “We know who it was. Leighton Lewis.”
I cut eyes to Ezra. He spilled everything I told him about Leighton, the Sallys, and Logan after the car crash. I didn’t blame him. I walked away from the crash sore, but unharmed. Nonetheless, the stretch of time I was too disoriented to pick up the phone and call Jaxson back, was enough for a terrified Ezra to let them know what I’d truly gone out to the beach house to do. The five of us were now strictly on a no-secrets rule.
“If she’s alive, I can find her.” Maverick bore over the desk. “I will find her.”
I shook my head. “We’ve been over this, Maverick. Somehow Aiden found out you were digging into him. I’m assuming that’s how he was able to cover his tracks because there’s no way that boy doesn’t have skeletons in his closet. If Leighton and her friends can fake her death, make Reagan and Pat disappear into thin air, and... Logan, then tipping our hand that we don’t believe the official story is the worst thing we can do.”
“I messed up before,” he said. “If I’d known who I was dealing with, I’d have hidden my tracks better. I do now—”
“We don’t.” I placed my hand on his balled fist. “We don’t know anything about this cult or whatever it is. But I do know Leighton liked me,” I admitted. “She wanted me as a Sally so badly she broke rules and laws for me.” I lowered my voice though we were the only ones in the room. “She returned the one thing she could have used against me. Why do that only to kill me?”
Ezra adopted Maverick’s position. “I thought Aiden liked Sawyer too. The president went on about him being the one we should look up to. What if the person in the car wasn’t trying to kill you?” His dark eyes pierced me. “What if that day you weren’t supposed to die? You were supposed to disappear.”
I rocked back on Ryder’s lap like I’d been smacked over the head.
“Because I want you, Valentina,” Leighton whispered. “I wanted you from day one.”
“Could that be true?”
“You shook your guards loose,” said Ezra.
I hadn’t realized I said that out loud.
“You were alone with no one around for miles,” he continued. “The driver might not have noticed you were on the phone until the last second. Then they had to hit you again and run you off so they could get away.”
“I don’t— Ugh,” I cried. “All we have are theories and guesses. We don’t know anything because we still don’t know what’s going on with the Sallys and Sams.”
“Someone else can figure it out,” said Jaxson. All joking was aside. “You changed your mind about dropping out. Change it back, Val.”
“We’re not having this argument again,” I said. “Teagan is gone. Sawyer is gone. And although I’m not shedding any tears over Logan, he was killed and a person or people connected to Leighton covered it up. Any situation where people go missing and a dead body can be hidden on speed dial, is not a good one. Someone has to do something or this won’t stop. Who knows how many people they’ve done this to over the years?”
Ryder had been silent up to that point. “How do we know this has been going on longer than Leighton and her friends have been there?”
“Something Brian said,” I replied. “Ezra, Brian told you he didn’t rush the Sams because they were too intense. Guys who washed out of Nu Alpha Theta