Page 184 of Forever Relentless

When they’d gone, he pointed at the surplus soda. “That’s the workaround.”

It was a stupid one. The two guys didn’t hide that they were drinking from the bottles of beer. Yet they’d technically not been served alcohol. Everyone involved knew the truth, and all chose to look away.

Is that what Noah had done? Chosen to give us a workaround that suited the situation?

I didn’t like it.

“Are you quitting?” Hadley asked me quietly.

I nodded. “Yeah. He gave me an out. I’d be foolish not to take it. Not when Sutherland’s you know . . .”

“The antichrist?”

I smiled. “Yeah.”

She slapped her hand on the table. “It sucks so bad.” She shook her head. “I’m glad for Mason,” Hadley said, but her voice cracked around it. “I am. I just hate that this is all anyone gets.”

We all nodded in agreement.

“Do you have another job?” Dante asked, trying to be his usual charming self.

“No. I . . .” Shit. I hadn’t given that any thought either. “I really don’t.”

“Maybe you can work to the end of the term?” Savannah offered quietly.

“No. I think his leniency is a short-term offer.” Again, four heads bobbed in agreement. “Where is he?” I looked at each of them. “Noah?”

Dante was looking over my head toward the door. “I thought he was still with you.”

“So he hasn’t come home?”

Where would he go? I pulled my phone out of my pocket.

Me: With your friends. Where are you?

He didn’t answer. I think I knew where he was; I just couldn’t get there, and I wasn’t sure what to say to him if I saw him.

‘Thank you’ wasn’t the answer.

But neither was ‘fuck you.’

“Do any of you want to talk about it?” I asked softly.

“All of us do,” Dustin said, tipping his bottle back and draining it. “But what do we say?”

“We could say no,” Hadley grumbled.

“Why are you so upset?” I asked her outright. “What are you rallying against? The fact you didn’t get to see it burn down?”

She thought about it. “Yeah.”

“It would never have worked like that,” I told her. “They’d get a fine. A warning. Some penalties and stipulations. But they know how to maneuver.”

“You don’t know that,” Hadley argued quietly. “If you did, you wouldn’t have risked everything to come here.”

“I risked it because I wanted my brother’s name cleared.” I finished my wine. “Noah has arranged that. I just need you to write the story.”

She looked like she was ready to argue, but Dante cut in. “You suspected the coach?”