I nod my confirmation. “Last summer.”
Her eyes turn sad out of empathy, and she squeezes my hand, thankfully not asking any more questions.
“Interesting.” Jake points to Ian. The freshman is still pacing, but stops when he sees my friend. Simmons rolls his eyes and tells Jake Ian’s story in a whisper. This time, his eyes widen, and he lets out a whistle. “And he’s only eighteen?”
“Yup.” Simmons shakes his head.
“You could’ve gotten someone seriously hurt, kid,” Jake says to Ian.
Ian rubs a hand over his face and goes back to pacing.
Jake looks down and taps his foot. “Very interesting.” He walks to the cell door and looks at both men for a moment with his back to us. “What to do, what to do.”
“Get to the point, Jake.” I grit my teeth. I want him to get Ray out so we can leave.
He turns back around and smiles at Ray and then Simmons. “Let the freshman go.”
All of us whip our heads to him.
“What?” Simmons, Ian, and Ray say at the same time.
Jake pulls up his dad’s contact. “Your choice, Norman.”
Simmons looks at all of us before moving to the door and unlocking it. “I hate my job.”
Ian walks out slowly, looking at us with red-rimmed eyes. Jake puts an arm around him and looks at Ray as the door locks.
His mouth goes straight, and his eyes are cold. “I hope the pool boy was worth it, dickhead.” He turns and walks out with Ian.
Stevie’s jaw is practically on the floor, and I would be in the same state if Jake weren’t ten steps ahead of us. Grabbing Stevie’s hand, I look at Ray long enough to see his face drained of color. I roll my lips inward, halting my smile.
It shouldn’t surprise me that Jake did that because he’s Jake. He’ll go the extra mile for all of us, and fuck was that satisfying.
The second we step outside the station, Jake lectures Ian to stop being so reckless, and gives him enough money to get food and go home.
After Ian leaves, Jake walks over and gives me a knowing look.
“What did he do? And what did Ray do?” Stevie asks, still stunned by what happened. I’m used to the drama that seems to follow our gang everywhere, but she isn’t at that level yet.
“This stays between the three of us,” I repeat what I told him on the call. “The girls do not need to know about this.”
Stevie hums her agreement.
Jake nods, smirks, and points. “There’s one small problem with that.”
My stomach sinks when I see Em standing by Jake’s car, shaking her head.
“We were having our bi-monthly friendly ‘let’s complain about our families’ dinner. Not much I could do about it.” He adjusts his jacket. “Don’t worry,” Jake whispers, “she only knows about the drinking. Talk about Ray and Ian. She’ll be too focused on that to be interested in what you guys did.”
And with that, he skips back to the BMW.
Chapter Twenty
STEVIE
Prying my eyes open, I find a petite blonde occupying the spot next to me in my bed. The sun is reflecting off her bright golden strands, almost blinding me. I turn over to check the time.
Six and a half hours of sleep. I have no choice but to survive with that much for the day, because Brad is meeting me in an hour to rehearse. The audition is only a couple of days away, and callbacks will be a week later.
