I said.
Griffin said.
Layla said.
Hunt said on a sigh that was loud enough to possibly draw our parents’ attention.
I spoke aloud. “Wow, okay. So I guess we’ve got our answer. If it takes you this long just to decide whether to do the right thing and actually help your supposedchildren, well then, we see you.”
“Oh, we see you, all right,” said Layla, violence riding her words.
Alexis uncrossed her arms and tutted. “Enough with the theatrics.”
I sucked in a gasp so loud I choked, while my friends universally went rigid around me. “Thetheatrics?” I asked. “Are you fucking kidding us right now, Alexis? Or wait,Marisa?”
Her shoulders jerked at hearing her true name and evidence that we did indeed know some things, if not theeverythingLayla kept claiming.
“I woke up in the middle of the night to that man”—I pointed at the cadaver—“trying to shove his dick inside me. How about we break into your supposedly safe bedroom while you’re sleeping and shove a rod up your ass, see how you like it?”
I discovered myself standing beside the bed, fists balled at my sides. “You just don’t get it, do you?” I looked from Alexis to the rest of them. “You don’t know what it feels like to watch the people you love most in the worlddie.”
“Of course we do,” my mom snapped. “You can’t actually believe we don’t love you. We—”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what we think,” I jumped in. “You don’t love us. How could you? How could it be such a difficult decision to help us not get killed? Not be trapped in this town without escape where every single fucking person’s in on theplan? Everyone is trying to kill us. Or to hurt us. Or to … whatever.”
I found Griffin and Layla on their feet beside me. I hadn’t even realized they’d stood. Brady and Hunt shored up next to them, and Bobo, bless my pup, was circling us to stand protectively in front of me.
Griffin’s hand wrapped around my fist until I relaxed it, then he wove his fingers through mine.
“You know what, forget it,” I said. “Just forget it. We’ll deal with it all on our own. Just stay out of our way.”
“Yeah,” Layla said, puffing out her chest, making her smaller frame appear larger. “Fuck y’all.”
Brady added, “And don’t mind the barbecue we’re gonna be doing out back. You can explain that prick’s bones away, assuming you even have to since the cops are bought and paid for.”
“Especially since Monica’s banging the sheriff,” Layla said.
“Enough,” Alexis barked with a slicing jerk of her hands.
My mouth dropped open to speak my mind while Layla’s head was already wagging with mega ’tude beside me.
“We’re going to help you,” Alexis said.
“I can’t believe—” Layla was already saying. “Wait, what?”
Alexis frowned at us for a long beat before turning to face her friends—or maybe they were just colleagues, dastardly scientists together at arms.
She looked at Orson. “Intercept the recordings before Tracy gets her hands on them.” She glanced at her watch. “You’ve got minutes, Tobias, mere minutes before she strolls into the lab to get an early jump on things.”
Orson didn’t answer. He yanked out his phone, lowered his head over it, and got frantically todoing.
Next, she looked at my dad. “Coordinate the disposal team. Make sure they don’t talk.”
My dad frowned. “They all talk. Magnum will know.”
“Magnum will already know. This one didn’t come here all on his own. Silence the team after, however you need to. Even if it just seeds a little confusion, it’ll buy us time.”
“Right,” my dad said, also drawing out his phone and getting to following orders.
