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“We both told you to run, but the drugs were already in your system.” Jack’s chest moves up with his indrawn breath. “You got to Luke. They got you to the car and the DEA arrived right before they went in.”

“The DEA?” I look up at Jack. “How are they part of this? And the FBI?”

Our local law enforcement is in the pockets of the wealthy around here. Though with social media, it would be hard to cover up something like this.

“Turns out Darius Turner is undercover.” He slides his hand into my hair.

“He seems so young.” I can’t imagine him being an agent. An assistant football coach, yes, but an agent, no.

“It’s not our secret to spill though, sweetheart.”

“I wouldn’t.”

“I know.” He lowers his forehead to mine. “It’s been a crazy couple of days. I wish I could say that we’re all dealing with it well, but...”

I nod. “It probably doesn’t help that I’ve been basically passed out for twenty-four hours.”

“You needed your rest.” He draws me into the water again and hands me some soap. “We should hurry up and join them before they wonder what we’re up to in here.”

I smile. “We could, you know.” My cheeks heat.

He shakes his head slightly. “We should join the others. I’m surprised they’ve given us this long alone. Maybe later, sweetheart.”

“I love you, Jack.” I meet his eyes. “Thank you for telling me what happened. I know that had to be hard.”

“Not as hard as living through it.” He rubs my arms with soap. “We’ll get through this, Harper.”

CHAPTER 36

The Coordination

Eli

Caden, Luke, and I worked out this morning. It’s like my body has been flooded with energy to do something, but instead all I can do is sit still. I’m not sure who got sleep last night, besides Harper and Jack. This need to do something, anything, consumes me. I can’t seem to let her out of my sight. If I thought holding her all night would make any of this go away, I would without any hesitation.

But she was held.

And as much as I need to hold my girl to reassure me she’s whole and here, Jack needed it more. He went through hell with her. He watched it all go down. And while it was happening, he couldn’t hold her.

So when the sun rose, Nico kept watch over the two of them while the rest of us worked out and burned off as much of this energy as we could before driving to the diner everyone goes to the morning after a party. I’m sure with the way Homecoming ended, not many people showed up Sunday morning.

But today? With no school? Yeah.

When we walk in, the restaurant is filled with students just like we suspected. We need information, and this is the best place to find it. What went down while we were chasing after Zach and how things were handled. It means mingling more than we have since we’ve added Harper to our group.

But she’ll never be out of our sights.

As Jack and Harper slide into the booth, I glance at Luke, knowing he’s going to slide in next to her. I could challenge him for it. Part of me wants to challenge him for it.

It might be a while before any of us have true alone time with Harper. But hopefully after a few weeks, things will settle. I move to the other side with Caden and Nico.

Harper takes a menu and looks it over, but her gaze keeps flicking nervously to the rest of the restaurant. To all of the students.

She may not remember the dance attack, but she still remembers the attack during the game.

A hush fell over the crowd as we walked in, but now, the voices return, filling the space. Fortunately, Rebecca goes to a different school, and they have classes. I don’t think I would handle her passive-aggressive bullshit well today.

My nerves are too close to the surface. We almost lost Harper, not just to Zach, but permanently. Those drugs would have killed her. Ice floods through me, chilling me so deep.