“Not yet,” I said. “But if he so much as breathes wrong near Mila?—”
“I’ll deal with it,” Jax cut in, jaw clenched. “He’s overdue for a reminder.”
Chase snorted. “You always think someone is.”
“But this one’s personal,” Jax said. “He doesn’t get to scare girls. Not without consequence.”
We all knew the reason, but none of us voiced it—Avery was too close to Mila, and the fallout could affect her. “Good. But nothing that lands us in the office. We’re ghosts until it counts.”
“Copy that.”
Theo dragged a towel over his head and tossed it aside. “So what about Mila?”
“She’s not involved,” I snapped, sharper than I meant it.
“She kissed you back,” Jax reminded me.
I stared out at the water. I’d told them, or I had when they’d guessed. “Doesn’t matter. Her mom’s tied to Dunn. That’s too close.”For now. “I don’t keep anyone close if there’s a chance they’re working both sides.”
“You think Elise knows?” Chase asked.
“She suspects.” I looked at him. “About Mila and what she means to me.” That was the game now—see how far she could push before I snapped.
Theo extended his legs. “And you? You’re good with walking away from Mila?”
I didn’t answer, just let the quiet speak for me. They didn’t push. They knew what silence meant in our group. Mila was a weak spot. They didn’t need the details to know the truth.
“I’ll protect her if it comes to that.” I met their gazes with a promise in my own. “But anything more? It ends with that kiss.”
“Hard lines,” Jax said. “I like it.”
“Hard lines keep us alive,” I reiterated. “And untouchable.”
The sun dipped lower, casting long shadows across the pool deck. I watched them stretch like cracks in the concrete.
None of us moved. Not yet.
We’d made a plan. Started the freeze by messaging a few select people—the kind who would spread the word fast. Now we just had to wait—because Elise wouldn’t go quietly. And when she struck back, that was when the real trap would spring.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
MILA
There wasn’t enough coffee in the universe to prepare me for a Monday at Blackwood Academy. But here I was, making the best of it. Speaking of the best of it, I needed to find Avery. I passed through the ornate wooden double doors of the entryway into academic hell then made my way through the corridor toward my locker, where I hoped I would find her.
The hallway felt lighter, charged with something I couldn’t claim. It was the oddest sensation. I studied faces as I went forward, noting that few observed me and instead, everyone was looking at whoever must’ve been behind me. I fought from turning. It wasn’t Luke or any of those guys. I would’ve seen an array of expressions from desperation to wanton lust painted across the female population, but that wasn’t what I saw.
When a ripple moved through the crowd, followed by quick glances over shoulders, heads subtly turning, I fell prey to curiosity and followed their gazes until mine found Elise.
She entered the same way she always did—spine rigid, flanked by Nina and Tori, decked head to toe in designer clothes, hair perfectly styled, and makeup on point. But this time, the current around them didn’t pull people in. It pushed them back.
A group near the vending machines scattered without a word. Two girls who normally smiled hopefully at Elise as she passed stared at their phones instead, mouths twitching with what looked suspiciously likesmirks. A guy from the soccer team brushed by without so much as a nod.
The orbit had shifted. Elise still walked as if she owned the place. But today, no one bowed. And I was so there for it.
She stopped at the center of a group of football players who normally fell at her feet salivating. Today, they parted like water, silent. One of them glanced at her, then at me, and turned away mid-smirk. Another crossed his arms. No greeting. No sly invitation. Just cold entry, closed off.
The smallest hitch in her step. Barely there. But I saw it.
