Page 11 of Forever Relentless

Briar was tiny compared to her brother or me. If she were five-five, I was being generous. I was almost a foot taller than she was. She’d been talkative but timid when I first met her, keeping her eyes down and her hair over her face, hiding her resemblance to her brother. Their eyes were the same, but unless they were side by side, I wasn’t sure you’d immediately put them together as siblings.

Her dark hair had that burgundy undertone. Pale skin, freckles across her nose, dark green eyes that move around the room the way mine do — never quite resting. Her mouth was soft but unsmiling. She’d stood between her brother and a room full of people who wanted something from him. Protecting him without being asked. And vice versa.

She’d caught me looking, and irritation had flashed behind those restless green eyes before she’d looked away, as if she were pissed I’d been watching her.

And I had been watching her. Because I didn’t have thoughts about what his hair would feel like in my hands as I fucked him.

Nope. Reel it in.

Why was she back at Wrighton? Was it to uncover the truth? Or was she simply looking for a job? Either way, it made sense that she’d lie about her name. Unless Holmes really is her last name. Maybe she got married?

“Did she have a wedding ring on?”

The silence that met my question made my ears burn.

“What? Her name is Holmes; she may be good at hiding behind her hair, but did either of them look like they knew anyone who could give them a new identity?”

Dante’s lips twitched. “Good point. Sav? How good is the employment vetting?”

I twisted in my seat to look at her. She seemed confused by the question. “Why would I know? Dad doesn’t exactly hire the admin staff.”

“Who does?” I asked her. “Your dad does what? Professors? That kind of thing?”

She nodded. “I don’t know who would handle the other sections. I mean, there are heads of each department—”

“Do they have to go through your dad for final approval?” Dustin asked.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I could ask.”

At least three of us said ‘no’ at the same time.

“Let’s keep her identity between us,” I told them. “If she comes back, it’s leverage if nothing else.” I heard Dante murmur his approval. “Hey, Dust, you said the Santos family owned the college?”

“I said that,” Savvy corrected me. “They sit on the board, yes.”

“So would they know how the system works?” I pressed. “Is it something we can find out?”

“From them?” Dante asked, his mouth twisting with displeasure.

“I think this is more than your weird rivalry with Jett Santo,” I snapped. I met his stare and didn’t back down.

“A simple Google search can be less painful,” Hadley told us from the back seat, her head down, focused on her phone. She read quickly, mostly under her breath, but I caught a few words. “Okay, so, the heads of each department hire, and the dean gives the final rubber stamp. The less your role in the institution, the less you need to provide.” She kept reading. “Pretty standard for all positions is a birth certificate, proof of address, bank details, blah blah blah.”

“So she’s either got fake ID, or she’s married?” I said, which was my original question.

“She’s not married,” Dustin scoffed. “She’s like twenty-one or something.”

Dante was shaking his head. “I think she’s the older sibling.”

“Agreed.” I could feel their stares on the back of my head, and Dante’s beside me. “She’s older than him. It was four years ago. He’s what, twenty-two, twenty-three? She’s already got a job, so, say she left school at twenty-one, is social media manager a job you get straight off the bat? I’d say a year, two at most between them. Plus, she’s protective.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Dust said.

“You can only be protective if you’re older?” Hadley asked skeptically.

Dante grinned. “Jianna is older than I am, but I’m protective of her not because I’m younger but because she’s my sister. He was ready to throw down with us for touching her. She was ready to stand in front of him to stop him.” He glanced at me. “She’s the older of the two.”

“So she could’ve been married, and her name wouldn’t be fake,” Hadley contemplated.