“Sleep, sweetheart.” Jack curls up behind me. Apparently, I was already sleeping. The lights are off and Nico snores softly beside me.
I blow out a breath and relax between Jack and Nico.
The bed shifts beneath me and I wake to find Jack getting up. My brow furrows. How long have we slept? How long did he sleep?
He slips off the bed and leaves the room quietly. I sit up and see it’s just me and Nico in the bed now. Trying not to disrupt his sleep, I get up. A little shiver runs through me and there’s a discarded sweatshirt on a chair.
When I tug it on over my head, the scent of grass and sunshine floods my senses. Eli. I smile and head for the stairs. My bare feet don’t make any sound as I descend. I can hear voices, but not what they’re saying until I get closer.
“It’s too much of a risk.” Luke’s voice is low. “We should all just decline being on the court.”
“And then he’ll just plan something else to get to her.” Eli, my voice of logic and reason. “This way we can prepare.”
“I don’t like it,” Caden murmurs. “They’ve got us locked on stage with her. But why cut out Nico and Jack? What if they plan on making Jack immobile too?”
“Have we researched that player that took out Nico?” Luke asks.
“He got a nice new car recently.” Jack sighs. “Either he has rich parents or someone bought it for him. I haven’t had time to dig deeper.”
When I walk into the room, the guys stop talking. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Jack says. “Did I wake you?”
I shrug and sit beside him on the couch. I push my hand into his hair, brushing it away from his face. “Did you get enough sleep?”
“Define enough.” He gives me a smirk that warms my heart, but dark circles linger beneath his eyes. He wraps his arm around my shoulder and pulls me in close against his side. As I nestle into him, the smell of apples greets me.
“What are we talking about?” I glance at the others.
“What we should do about Homecoming.” Luke leans back and watches me with hooded eyes. “I know you want to go, but it might not be the safest plan.”
“We have a better opportunity to control the situation if we’re aware of what’s going to happen,” Eli lays out his argument. “If they miss this opportunity, who knows when they’ll strike next?”
“But do we know?” Caden stands and paces. “Are you willing to risk everything going awry and something happening to Harper because they’ve thought everything through and we’re left scrambling to catch up?”
“Do we know what Sidney has planned for Homecoming?” I ask. Because that’s a whole different nut to deal with. “And if she and Zach are planning something together?”
Luke shakes his head. I can tell he’s thinking about something that’s weighing on him.
“What are you afraid will happen, Luke?” I hold my hand out and he takes it automatically. “We’ll all be there. I’ll be coming and leaving with you guys, not Zach. The only access he’ll have is at the dance. But they announce king and queen at the game, so we won’t even be on stage together there. He won’t have any reason to be near me at the dance.”
Luke blows out a breath and stares at my hand. “We don’t know what kind of guy Zach is. How far he’s willing to take this. What he plans to do to you.”
“We already know he was willing to rape you.” Eli leans forward with his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped. His eyes capture mine.
A shiver runs through me. I still have nightmares about being trapped in that closet, but this time, no one saves me. I wake up when the door opens. My heart beating hard. A scream tight in my throat.
Eli continues, “It doesn’t instill confidence in us that he wouldn’t try to get you alone again. Not after what we heard outside the window.”
“I got to you in time when he tried it before.” Caden stops his pacing and his haunted green eyes search mine. “If I hadn’t?—”
His hands clench and his eyes squeeze shut like he’s imagining it. I don’t like to go there, even in my mind.
I stand and walk over to him, wrapping my arms around him and resting my cheek against his pounding heart. He wraps around me like he never wants to let me go and kisses my head.
“We don’t know what he has planned, but we know he hassomethingplanned.” I breathe in his cinnamon scent and remain in his arms. It’s easy to feel brave when they’re holding me. “We take precautions. We make sure I have a way out of whatever trap they have set for me.”
I pull away from Caden and look around the room. “That I have a weapon to use against him.”
