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So maybe we’ll have some peace for a while.

“Thank you, Emma.”

She smiles and draws her hand back to her lap. “You’re sure Ashley is okay?”

I glance at my phone and see a text from Wilder.

Wilder:

Mission accomplished

She’s headed home

I open up the tracker and see her phone and car moving toward our town. She’s about an hour out from her house. I’ll check in when she’s home if she hasn’t texted me by then.

I lift my phone and show Emma the moving dots. “That’s Ashley. She’s on her way back here now.”

Emma stands and smiles. “I know we’re all just friends because of cheerleading and popularity, but I really do care about them. Sidney always sucked and would stab me in the back if I tried to take over her spot, but I didn’t know she’d help attack the rest of us.”

I rise and follow Emma back to her table before changing directions.

Harper’s smile brightens when she sees me returning. My insides glow warm. I never thought I could care about someone else this much.

It’s a double-edged sword. I love her and need to protect her. It makes me want to bundle her up and hide her away from the rest of the world.

But I also need to make sure she has room to grow with me. To spread her wings and fly and never hold her back from everything she wants in life.

I won’t let her go, but I’ll hold her as she soars.

CHAPTER 37

The Development

Luke

“Angela Harris.” I grab an empty chair from a nearby table and turn it around to straddle it next to her where she sits with her friends.

Her cheeks pinken, and she pushes out her breasts like she has a hope with me. “Luke.”

My expression stays flat, and my focus remains on her face.

“Saturday night. We need you to fill in some gaps.” I rest my arms on the back of the chair and watch her closely for any tells. She could have been in on it or just a helpless pawn.

She looks at the other girls at her table with a knowing look like she expected this, before returning her attention to me and wetting her lips. Having my focus on her is exactly what she wants. “What do you want to know?”

“When were you taken?” I saw her and Tanner during the final dance before the first noise went off. But both Penny and Kenz were taken before the court.

“We were watching Sidney make an ass of herself when Tanner asked me to come with him.” She looks down, embarrassed.

“He asked you for a fuck?” I arch an eyebrow. I don’t really give a shit if she’s embarrassed. It’s not like she’s shy about sex.

Her eyes narrow on me. “Actually a blow job. But I was arguing with him about one more dance before we ruined my hair. He grabbed my arm and dragged me away from the dancing.”

“So you left the assembly area. Then what?” I glance at her arms, but she’s wearing a zippered sweatshirt over her low-cut tank top. The other girls all had bruises on their arms where they were injected.

Harper’s was a dark purple this morning while she slept. As much as I like my marks on her body, I hate that mark. I want it gone.

“I didn’t remember what happened at the court when I first woke up.” Angela presses her lips together. “But I woke up in a dungeon, chained to the floor like a dog. Not exactly an experience I want to relive.”