I can tell his eyes are on me, so I pull my gaze from her door, and nod. My jaw twitches with indecision.
“Come on. You’re not solving the brotherhood’s problems standing in the middle of the hallway at”—he glances down at the watch he wears—“two in the fucking morning.”
He turns and opens his door, waiting for me to enter his room, then follows behind and shuts it. I go directly to his bed and perch on the edge, dropping my head into my hands. When he sits close beside me, I can’t hold in my exasperation at the tangled web we’ve unwittingly found ourselves in and groan out, “Everything has gone to shit. How the fuck is this happening? How could she not tell us?”
NINETEEN
CANNON
Sometime early Thursday morning,I roll over in bed onto my back and stretch my arms and legs out. For several blissful seconds, I’m not awake enough to remember what went down last night, but then it crashes over me, and I know today is probably going to suck pretty hard. Elliot kept important information from us. Purposefully. Intentionally. From the moment she walked in the door, she’s been playing a long game, trying to hunt down information about what happened to Will Whitlock last year.
Looking back, she’s been amazingly patient and has withstood a lot of BS to reach her end goal. More than I can imagine most people would bother with. Then again, the police investigation has all but dried up… he’s just gone, and they’ve stopped looking. The fact that Elliot hasn’t given up and has gone to extremes to come here to see what she can learn tells me a lot about how important her relationship with Will is to her.
I groan aloud. We definitely can’t wait to address things with Elliot. I don’t care if we all stay home from classes today, we need answers. I thought through things as I was falling asleep, and there’s just so much that needs discussion. I draw in a deep cleansing breath and decide to see if she’s awake yet. Rolling over, I pull my phone off the charger. The first thing I see once I blink the sleep out of my eyes are a bunch of texts from Kingston and Archer
Kingston
Hey, man.
Discussion tomorrow.
You, me, A, and E.
After classes.
Do you mind not hitting the gym until later?
Archer
I think it’s important we not put it off.
My mind flashes back to last night and Kingston’s reaction to Elliot’s deception. I wonder if he got any sleep at all because he’d been livid when he walked out. The text actually seems calm, though, and I have to wonder if that’s not Archer’s doing. I assume so. Because man, Kingston hadn’t liked for a fuckin’ second the idea that Elliot thought he could have had something to do with our missing initiate.
I’d been more on the confused side, hurt that she hadn’t told us what she was doing or what she’d uncovered. I sort of get her reasoning, being nervous about the circumstances in which she’d found the phone and all. But still. I let her see parts of me no one else gets to see. The reality is I’m so attached to her that walking away hadn’t been easy for me, but I’d had to do it for my own sanity so I could think.
Then, there’s Archer. I grit my teeth, realizing I have no clue what was said between them after I left. But if I know Archer, I’m sure he spent most of the night blaming himself for not discovering the connection between Will and Elliot. He can’t be happy about that. I let out a sigh. I hope he was able to sort through things if he ended up not being able to sleep. Maybe he even had a chance to do a little sleuthing of his own.
I shake my head. It is what it is, honestly. We can only forge forward from here, rebuilding trust and trying to figure out together what the fuck is going on in this brotherhood. Is she up for that, though? More importantly—will Kingston allow it? I’ve seen the way he looks at her. I’m positive he’s more upset that he’s gone and fallen for a girl who he now sees as betraying us than anything else—though I think that’s a strong word for what’s actually transpired.
Like she’d said last night, in her heart she believed in us… it was just hard when she had evidence in her hand, staring her in the face. I suppose it makes sense, what with someone leaving Elliot awful notes, that there could be someone trying to sabotage her trust in us as well. But who? Something’s not adding up, so it’s a good thing we’re going to talk today. Maybe if we put our four heads together, we can come up with some answers.
Speaking of, I shoot Elliot a couple quick messages.
Hey.
I just woke up.
I wanted to check on you.
I wait a few beats, wanting to assume she’s sleeping and fine. But something prickles along my spine, and I can’t help myself, fingers flying faster now.
Are you okay?
I was going to go for a run, but I could skip it.
If you want me to come over there, I will.
K and A want to talk later.
