Page 68 of Barinov

“Wow, El,” I laugh as I dial.

Ring. Ring.

Ring. Ring.

“Hey, babe,” Lex answers.

“Hey.”

“How was it?”

“Brutal,” I admit, wincing from barely touching the side of my jaw. “I don’t know how you and Rez do this shit for fun.”

“Not sure about Rez, but I do it,” he says, the grin in his voice audible, “so you have to take care of me when I get home.”

“Sounds about right. What are you doing?”

“I was getting ready to drive up to The Pit to see how it was going.”

“Don’t bother,” I say, heading for the exit. “We’re all finished. Meet me at Ashmoor instead.”

“Why the fuck are we going there?” he asks, his voice tight.

“Because of something Sabine said the other day,” I answer, groaning a little as I stretch out my back.

“What’s that?”

“Remember when she was talking about the Black Books not being coerced into helping us find Bella?”

“Yeah,” he responds.

“She said that they’d all help us anyway, because that’s what family does for each other.”

“Your point, Cade?” he asks, not even trying to hide the annoyance in his voice.

“Lex,” I say softly, the sun hitting my face as I push open the door. “The Trifecta is our family too. We need to be there. For Ellie. Haley. Hell, even for Javi and Rico.”

There’s a long beat of silence before he sighs. “I’ll meet you there.”

Chapter 17

LEX

Ashmoor Hall - Wexley University

Listening to another Coach Javi meltdown.

14 days since Bella’s kidnapping.

“No! No! No!” Javi’s screeches blare through the hallway of Ashmoor, completely drowning out the Latin beats pumping through Knox’s speakers.

“Fuck.” I wince as we move closer to the door. “You still want to go in there?”

“It’ll be fine,” Cade says, but even his face looks scared as shit.

We throw open the door to the studio to find Javi perched on a folding chair, waving his infamous clipboard of doom. The guy’s barking orders left and right in Spanish at the very frightened, very exhausted, Legacy freshmen.

The wall-to-wall mirrors catch his reflection, making the room look like one of those kaleidoscopes Babushka Tatiana used to give Rez and I for our birthdays. Only this time, instead of rainbow glitter and golden stars, it’s full of panicked dancers and one very dramatic Barcelonan.