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"Or work here," Dane agreed. "But I'm not one of them. My loyalty is with Chloe. To the point where I’ve put myself off side with the rest of my family." He didn't look too worried about that. Of course not. He was more ambitious than he was sentimental.
"Asher wouldn't care," I said. "No one has seen Mina for years." That was the official story anyway. I'd find myself smothered by a pillow in the middle of the night, courtesy of Reuben, if I deviated from that.
"That leaves Rose. I can see why you'd be worried." Rose DiMarco was intelligent, tough and connected. If anyone wanted to cover their tracks, they went to her. If she couldn't deal with it, no one could. If she was pissed off enough at Dane, she could make him disappear without a trace, and never break a sweat.
Dane shrugged. "I can handle Rose. The point is, I'm not working with Zachary Sinclair." He turned his head to look at Slade.
"Don't look at me," Slade said. "I've never met the guy. He's lucky he's not studying business law, because I won't be teaching him. From what I've seen, he's studying chemistry."
"With a little bit of bomb making on the side," I added. "Useful skills to have, unless he's the enemy. In which case, not so much."
"Lucky for us, we have three computer nerds in our corner," Parker said. "Me, Hunter and Kennedy. Between us, there's nothing we can't hack."
"There's nothingKennedycan't hack," Chloe said. "Maybe she can make a virus like she did with Dad's computer."
"Can't hurt to ask." I shrugged.
"Unless her boyfriends get pissed off at us for asking," Parker remarked. "Then we can look forward to a couple of weeks chained to the ceiling and tortured by Ice Miller. Actually, from what I've heard of him, we wouldn't need to piss them off. He'd just do it for fun."
"He probably has a grudge against you two for turning Kennedy and him in to Dad," Lila said.
Parker grinned. "Nothing we can't handle. All of that turned out fine in the end."
"I doubt Ice sees it that way." She rubbed her eyes. She looked tired. Almost dying would do that to a person. So would almost dying twice. "I suspect he'd happily chain me up beside you two."
"If he tries, his life expectancy will be very short," Slade growled.
"Fuck yeah it will," I agreed. "Better if Lila stays away from Dusk Bay altogether. At least from Ice, Mannix and Ares. All three of them seem like the type to hold a grudge."
Me, I didn't bother, unless it was someone like Zachary. Even Chloe was all right when she wasn't trying to make life difficult for Lila. Dane wasn't so bad either, more or less. And it was easy to get a rise out of him. That was a bonus.
Of course, the minute Lila called an end to their ceasefire, all bets would be off again. We'd be right back to finding ways to make their lives hell, or shortening them.
"Let's see what this Zachary asshole has to say for himself when he gets here," I concluded. "Parker and I will do whatever we have to do, then we'll hit him hard. The prick won't see us coming."
"Dane and I will keep an eye out for any students we suspect might be acting with Zachary," Slade said. "In the meantime, it's probably a good idea for Lila and Chloe to pretend they're still at war with each other. If he sees they've joined forces, is much more likely to suspect they will come after him."
"Right," Dane agreed. "From what I know about this guy he's not stupid. He's probably desperate. We can use that against him."
I rubbed my hands together. I wasn't sure if killing Zachary immediately wasn't the right way to go, but if this was how Lila wanted to play it, then I might as well have some fun.
When we were done with him, Zachary would be lucky to recognise himself in the mirror. If he looked in it. Even his reflection was going to hate him when we were done with him.
CHAPTER18
HUNTER
"Hey." I flopped down on the grass beside Zachary. Parker on the other side of him. "Welcome to Brutal Academy."
Zachary didn't turn his eyes away from the rugby match until the big forward smashed the hooker into the ground in a bruising tackle. Only when they were staggering to their feet did he turn to look at me.
"Brantley," he said by way of greeting.
I held out my hand. "Hunter. That's Parker." My hand still out, I gestured to my twin.
Zachary looked at my hand for a while before shaking it. "Zachary Sinclair. But you knew that already."
"Yeah, I did." I crossed my legs at my ankles and leaned back on one hand. I turned my gaze to the rugby as the referee called a knock-on and stopped the play for a few moments.
