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And in rooms no one had checked. Windsor House had been searched, of course, but clearly, not as thoroughly as it should have. Maybe the police hadn’t felt the need. Only Court had access to the place and Court affiliation usually meant loyalty.
I couldn’t look at my friend, backing away. “You kept this shit from me, Wolf, his parents, and the families…”
“I had to, D. You didn’t see her that first day. She—” He wet his lips. “She looked fucking broken, and I care about her too.”
I blinked, and Thatcher’s fingers tightened over his head, dark hair gripped under his knuckles.
“Of course, I do, man. She’s one of us, and even outside of that, I’ve always been cool with her. She needed help, pleaded with me. She’s Wolf’s sister, bro, and it was better for one of us to know where she was and help her than to let her go off on her own and to who knew where. If I’d have blown the whistle on her, she would have gone running. Point blank. She already did.”
“Did Wells know?” I asked, and he grabbed his arms.
“He does, but only recently,” he stated, frowning. I stiffened, and he raised a hand. “We mixed up phones yesterday at practice. He saw my thread with her and freaked.” He shook his head. “Hasn’t talked to me since then.”
Because he was pissed, understandably so, and had I seen him after showers, I probably would have noticed.
“Don’t be mad at him. He told me I had to tell you guys by the end of the week, or he was doing it himself.” Thatcher cringed. “I was going to but gave Sloane an ultimatum first. She needed to stop with all the cloak and dagger shit because I wasn’t doing it anymore. I gave her the time she asked for, and she agreed. She seemed fucking receptive, and I thought she was going to say something and end this shit.”
But she didn’t. She hadn’t.
And she left anyway.
That was on him, and though I’d done a lot of things… fucked up pretty much everything in my world, one thing I wouldn’t have done was what he had. I tapped a name on my contacts, then pressed my phone to my ear.
Thatcher’s mouth parted. “Who are you calling?”
“Wolf,” I said, and he shouldn’t be surprised. “And doing what you should have done in the first place.”
Thatcher said nothing, the phone ringing in my ear. It went to voicemail, and I cursed. Wolf had been painting a lot and probably couldn’t even hear his phone with all that music he played.
I tried again and this time walked away from Thatch. I’d go to Wolf if he didn’t answer.
“I couldn’t rat her out, Dorian,” Thatcher said behind me, and when I turned, he cringed. “She couldn’t leave again, and you know that. We both know what it would have done to Wolf, yes, but…” His hands threaded above his head once more. “I know what it would have done to you too.”
I had no words for him because, in that moment, I heard Wolf’s voice on the line. He asked me what was up, saying my name, and after facing away from Thatcher, I answered him. I answered him and told him what I needed to say. I told him the truth and was somehow able to speak it.
Even after Thatcher spoke mine.
Chapter Fourteen
Sloane
I didn’t know how to make a fire, but I figured I should try.
It was going to get cold tonight.
It was already cold considering night had fallen, and this stupid hoodie wasn’t going to do much.
Get it together. You’re going to be fine. It’s going to be…
Swallowing, I continued to root around for tree branches, weeds, and anything I could possibly make a fire with, my sight guided by my burner phone’s light. If I didn’t have that, I had the lighter I always kept on me. I had one on my key chain for the times when I did have a little cash to cop some weed.
These days, I hadn’t really been smoking any at all, and I had a big bundle of leaves more than any branches I could find for a fire. There weren’t really any trees out here. The concrete channel Ares had brought me to that one time only had wet trash and other debris. I figured it’d be a good place to camp out with all the pipes and all that.
The graffiti wall did have a few trees down the hill, though, so after grabbing a bunch of what I could find, I headed back. I couldn’t start the fire on the hill. Someone might see, but I planned to stay as close to the wall as I could. I liked being there for some reason.
Sniffing through chilled nostrils, I hugged the leaves and shit and made my way. I kept my hood down, snuggling into the heat I had but it made seeing pretty shitty.
Had I been watching where I was going, I would have seen him.
