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“Does that mean you’re going to help us?” Evangeline asks, her eyes narrowed on Vaughn’s face. “The only way I’m going to believe you gave a damn about my sister is if you help us find out who hurt her.”
“I’m in,” he agrees quickly. “I want to find out who did this as much as you do.”
“I doubt that,” Evangeline counters, but some of the suspicion has left her expression. “Just try to keep my real name out of your mouth from now on. I will hit you harder next time.”
Vaughn rises painfully to his feet. “We should get back downstairs before anyone comes looking for us. And she needs to get out of here.”
Evangeline looks like she wants to argue with that, but then just shakes her head. “Sorry, I hit you or whatever.”
His smile is rueful. “You sound like it.”
I grab her arm before she can slip from the room, but let go immediately when she stiffens. “We’re going to figure this out, I promise.”
Her gaze falls to my mouth before returning to my face. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
The rejection hurts when she turns away, but I’m expecting it. After everything I’ve done, I’m going to have to prove to her that my intentions are good. She’s smart not to believe that I’m willing to give up everything I’ve worked so hard to achieve for a girl that I didn’t even know until a few months ago.
But I will prove it to her before all of this is over.
I’m not going to stop until we have justice for Olivia.
We have our suspect. Now all we need is enough evidence to put him away.
* * *
When Vaughn and I get back down to the basement, we walk into the middle of a heated discussion.
Their voices carry through the door that is still cracked, and I slow down to listen before we open it.
From the sound of it, we haven’t missed much.
Nolan’s voice is the loudest. “The alumni are going to shit a brick when they find out about this.”
Brady seems unbothered when he responds. “You were told to take care of the girl and you failed. Now we’re handling things a different way. And you seem to forget that, as far as you’re concerned, I am the alumni. I represent them here, and Havoc House is not a democracy.”
“First, we get told that Olivia is this enormous threat to Havoc House and now you’re saying she gets to be one of us. I’m getting whiplash here, man.” Cole doesn’t sound angry, just confused.
“Playing nice didn’t work. Scaring her didn’t work. Humiliating her didn’t work.” Brady glances up at me as I come into the room and a smirk crosses his face. “I get you guys tried your best, but it sounds like this might be a job for men. Not boys.”
The insult is clearly not lost on any of us.
If I could get away with it, I’d like nothing more than to punch that smug smile off of Brady’s face. Instead, I stick to challenging him with words. “Seems to me like Olivia wouldn’t be a problem if last year’s seniors had handled their business like they were supposed to. If I recall, the guys in that sextape were wearing Havoc masks.”
Expression darkening, Brady surveys me coldly. “You mean the sextape that was Havoc property and never should have been shown to the entire school at a fucking party. That tape?”
Nolan has the grace to look abashed, but doesn’t say anything. He is probably hoping that Brady hasn’t figured out which one of us set up that little event.
But Brady seems equally disappointed in all of us.
“Unlike the rest of you, I do what I’m told. That’s why I am where I am and you are where you are. At this point, I’m not sure any of you are Initiation material. This might be the first time in Havoc House history that none of the graduating seniors make the cut for permanent membership. I know it’s been a fun four years, boys, but if you want to keep the party going after graduation then the needs of Havoc House have to come first, is that clear?”
“Crystal,” I say, while the other guys murmur in agreement. It makes me grit my teeth to even say it, but I have to keep Brady convinced that we’re on the same side. “Just tell us what we need to do.”
“Whatever the fuck I tell you.” Brady says. He looks behind me and glowers at Vaughn. “And how the hell are you still standing?”
Vaughn makes a shrugging movement by raising his crutches. “Good pain meds.”
“It looks like you got hit by a truck.”
