“We knew she was going on a date.” Archer cuts the engine and twists around in his seat to glare at Torin. “None of us were happy about it, but there was no need to drag the guy into the street and lay him out. Andespeciallynot right in front of her.Shit.”
“We hadonechance to get this right, Torin,” I say. “What the fuck were you thinking?”
“And she ran off, probably terrified we were there to hurt her,” Archer bites out.
That’s why going after her now is out of the question. Maybe tomorrow we can try to speak to her. Right now? She’ll take one look at us and climb out of the nearest window to escape us.
“Thatwas Wilkes,” Torin says quietly, eyes on his bloodied knuckles.
“Who?” Archer frowns.
I work it out before Archer, since Torin and I went to the same school. Archer came into our lives later, when we’d just graduated high school and my dad was trying to assert control over me.
“Wilkes was Torin’s best friend,” I tell Archer.
Torin releases a sigh and rests his head on the backseat, eyes closed. “A long fucking time ago.”
Archer is silent for a beat, his forehead furrowed. “Didn’t you have a best friend who?—”
“Yeah.” Torin sounds exhausted now.
I look at Archer, and he drags his gaze from Torin to focus on me. A tiny line forms between his brows. Torin told us his mom sent a gardener into our house, probably intending to seduceJuniper. It’s not the first time his mom has played a trick like that. She did it so successfully before that it’s no wonder she’s trying it again.
“Do you think Juniper knows?” Archer asks quietly.
Torin looks at Archer. “What do you think?”
“She doesn’t know,” Archer says. “That’s the point, right? She won’t know until Wilkes has made her fall for him and he’s finished proving he can steal any woman away from you.”
“Sounds about right.” Torin twists around in his seat as if looking for Wilkes, then turns back around to say to Archer. “This was my mother’s work. Wilkes is greedy, and my mom has deep pockets.”
She hates him for tipping off the cops that his dad was involved in abusing omegas. He’s in jail for the rest of his life, and Torin’s mom is determined to make him pay for it any way she can.
“Do you think she’ll hurt Juniper?” I ask Torin.
Torin shrugs. “My mother wants to take everything away from me. Everything that matters. She tried to take my trust fund, but couldn’t. Tried to turn you guys against me, and failed. But Juniper is our scent match. There is no better way to hurt me than to use her to do it.”
Wilkes was Torin’s parents’ last attempt to get him involved in Asylum. His dad thought he was refusing to join their sick private club because of the girl he was dating. His mom turned his best friend against him, and Wilkes fucked the girl he fell for so he wouldn’t have a girlfriend to run to. Now Wilkes is here, taking Juniper out on coffee dates.
“Whatever happened to the girl you were dating?” Archer asks Torin, a sign that his thoughts are mirroring mine, and my thoughts are going to dark places.
“What do you think happens to anyone who gets mixed up in this shit?” Torin says. “Wilkes ruined her life and tossed heraside after she served her purpose. Now he has his eyes set on Juniper.”
Chapter 25
June
Afloral arrangement big enough to adorn the front of a Thanksgiving Parade stops me dead.
It’s creating a stir among my neighbors, who have gathered in front of it, whispering about how much it must have cost and whether there’s a street party or parade they didn’t hear about.
Me? I’m bone tired.
Sleep last night was nonexistent, but I dragged myself out of my bed, pulled on my uniform, and went to work. For the last eight hours, I’ve been daydreaming about crawling under my sheets, pulling said sheet over my head, and going to sleep.
Now this.
They know where I live, convinced someone to let them into the building, and they left this… thismonstrosityin the entrance in some misguided attempt to win me over.
