“Come now Love, let’s go get you cleaned up. Owen will deal with that mess. Don’t you worry we’ll handle it.” His calm voice eases the growing panic from my body, but not from my head.
Who would do this and why are they singling me out? Why now? I’ve been in this town for three months and outside of some lame attempts at bullying once I started school, I’ve had no issues.
The prospect of having a driver who doubles as a bodyguard just became far more appealing.
24
WYATT
Somebody is going to die tonight. This is a direct threat against our girl. I was able to help Riri by taking her to get cleaned up and then to get some fresh air, hoping to erase the stench of rotting skin.
Luckily class hadn’t started and Mr. Jameson hadn’t arrived yet. Of all the teacher’s classrooms for that to have happened, this one was the worst. He’s on the council, not as one of the original bloodlines, but he has Wes’s father’s ear and the last thing we need is for our dads to hear.
We made Brian take the blame for setting off a stink bomb. What’re a few days of detention? He’ll be fine. It was a choice to take the blame or feel the pain. He was smart so he took the blame.
When Owen showed us the hand and the note, we knew immediately that it had something to do with the selection. The timing is too coincidental. Someone knows Ariah’s been selected, but how? Only the council knows our picks. We’ve all been tight lipped. After our talk about potential choices, we agreed not to share until the girls themselves find out, which isn’t until later this week.
I obviously lied about my potential choice, because I’m just that type of fucker. No way was I telling the guys, especially Wes, my pick. I can almost see the pandemonium when he finds out.
Fury is etched in the set of my auburn stubble covered jaw, the muscles on my face visible. Teeth bared, I snarl, “How the fuck does someone keep gaining access to Ariah’s locker?”
“That’s not the issue here. The issue is that this is the hand of the secretary that gave Ariah shit about someone accessing her locker. Making the question become, is this someone avenging her or someone out to get her?” Lev asks.
We’re all sitting around the table at The Tombs. We left school right after sixth period. I refused to leave Ariah until I knew she was okay and even then, I still didn’t want to leave her, but I knew Thomas was picking her up for the meeting with her lawyer.
I briefed him on my way in, just in case Riri didn’t tell him. I need him to be on high alert. I like him, but his life is on the line. If anything happens to her on his watch, he’s a dead man.
Thomas is the best the Fraternitas has to offer outside of the guards watching the council members themselves. All the wives have drivers who double as guards, so naturally, our potential wife will have one. I know Riri is a fighter, but this world is a different kind of fight and if you didn’t grow up in it, it can swallow you whole.
“Are you even listening, dickhead?” Owen gibes, something smacking into the side of my head. The asshole threw a green apple right at me.
“I’m sorry, I’m a little distracted, what did I miss?” I inquire, rubbing my stinging ear.
“I said the note and the hand don’t make sense. The note is telling her to leave but the hand is of someone who messed with her. Either way, someone is toying with her and it doesn’t make sense why, it’s not like she’s any of our choices.”
Fuck!My anger masks any potential tells, giving nothing away. If someone is targeting her because she’s a choice then I’ll just have to keep a closer eye on her. Doing that will never be a problem.
It’s a good thing she’s moving, at least she and her family will be better protected in their new home. She has no idea how easy it is to bypass her old home’s security system.
“I think we’re making a bigger deal about this being about her, when we should be focused on the blatant taunt being directed at us,” Wes adds. Of course, he would want to shift the focus off Ariah. His problem with her is getting old.
“How is it not about her, when the box was addressed to her?” Owen questions as he meticulously sharpens the blade of his hunting knife. He wants to hunt and I’m here for it.
“How do we know she didn’t send it to herself? I mean she’s the one who had the issue with Pamela,” Lev suggests, and Wes nods his head in agreement.
“Seriously Lev, not you too? I thought I only had to deal with Wes’s anti-Ariah bullshit. Did you see her reaction? You can’t fake that,” I declare, my tone unforgiving.
Owen doesn’t even look up from his knife when he speaks, “Wy, we have to analyze all possibilities, not that I agree with dumb and dumber over here, but we have to weigh all options.”
I need to hurry and get up from the damn table. I believe in weighing options that make sense. Ariah has fire, but she’s not sawing off a hand and mailing it to herself. This takes a different type of crazy, the kind that if left unchecked will escalate.
Sighing, I say, “Let’s just spend our energy on finding the culprit before they do something we can’t keep from our dads and the council.”
“Did we check the video yet?” Wes chimes in.
“Yes, the footage shows a delivery driver being buzzed in, but there was no white box in the packages that he brought. So, either the box was in another package or it was already at the school and it was snuck in by other means. But we have another problem. The camera by Ariah’s locker has been down and I’m not sure for how long, which means we have no video of who placed the ‘gift’ in her locker.”
“What about the printout of the thumb scanner? Does it show anything?” I’m not holding my breath, but I ask anyway.
