The room was quiet as we ate. Was it weird that the six of us were at a formal dinner table eating an evening meal? Probably. Did I think this would be how my day would end? No.
“What did Wade say when you called him?” Ava asked as she ate her meal.
The hand with my fork in it froze halfway to my mouth. I’d forgotten to call Wade. I would not look at Ash, I would not.
“Um, I didn’t get through.” Keeping my eyes on my food, I took a bite. “I’ll try him later.”
“Okay,” Ava agreed amicably.
“You’re looking a bit flustered, Mia,” Jett spoke up, amusement all over his face.
I was surrounded by immature children. “Your brother said something to me earlier that I can’t stop thinking about.”
“My brother?” Jett questioned with a glance at Gray.
“Yes, the scary one,” I answered with a pointed look at Gray. “Theactualscary one.”
Gray said nothing, but I saw him smile around his fork as he ate his food.
“What did Onyx say?” Jett asked me curiously as he ate. They were all eating like this was normal. Like me telling them that I found their older brother scary was nothing they hadn’t heard before.
“Well, he told me a lot about myself, which I already knew,” I scoffed. “Made a point of letting me know my star sign—”
“Seriously?” Ava butt in.
“Yes, he does like to play with people, doesn’t he?” My gaze took in all three of them. Both Jett and Ash were no longer eating. Gray was, which didn’t surprise me. After all, if it wasn’t involving Quinn, then there wasn’t anything that he would be interested in. However, Jett was very much paying attention to what I had to say, and Ash was also listening intently. “He seemed to tell me that he knew all about my mom, which meant that he would also know about my dad. Why would your brother want to know who my dad is? And more importantly, how do you get him to tellyouwho he is?” I fixed a hard stare on Jett. “You owe me.”
Gray snorted as he put his fork down. “We owe you nothing.”
“Red,” Ash began.
“No. Not you.” I didn’t take my eyes off Jett. “You. Tell me.”
Jett sat back in his chair, and the amused guy from before was suddenly gone. In his place sat the Devil who I had seen here on campus since my very first day. Here, at Cardinal Saints College, where the Devils ruled. Three guys who were untouchable. Who no one could challenge and who no one could get near to. I had been so close to being in their inner circle, but now they had something that I wanted, and I was not letting go.
The cold mask of a Devil stared back at me with light blue eyes hard like chips of ice. In my peripheral vision, I could see his twin adopt exactly the same pose, no doubt the same starewith the same glare. Ash was sitting to my right, and I couldn’t see him properly without taking my eyes off Jett, and I knew at this point, I could not look away first.
“What do you want me to tell you, Mia?” Jett asked casually. “I’m not a mind reader. I don’t know what my brother said to you when he was here.”
“Ask him.” I smiled sweetly. “Would that be an issue?”
“If he wanted you to know, he would have told you,” Gray spoke. “Ifhe knows at all. Why do you think you would be of any interest to my brother?”
I wet my bottom lip as I thought about it briefly. “Because he puts theCin control freak. Because there is nothing, I don’t think, that your brother doesn’t know about you and your cousin. And I think that would then mean he would make a point of knowing about who you were involved with.” I was still holding Jett’s stare. “He knows that my father is not named on my birth certificate and that I do not know who he is. He made a point of mentioningthat. He made a point of lettingmeknow that my mom knows and hasn’t told me. In the very, very short time that I have interacted with this man, I don’t think he says anything without knowing the answer before he’s even asked the question. Am I wrong?” I challenged Jett.
The slow cruel smirk I had seen so many times on campus appeared. “You have it all figured out, it seems.” He sat back and spread his arms out in front of him. “What do you need us for?”
“Because I’m not an idiot. I know if he tells anyone, it will be you. And I want you to ask, and when he tells you, then you tell me.”
“Or what?” Ash asked softly to my right. “When you’re finished challenging Jett and being a little bitch, then what? Look around the room at your friends, and if you don’t count any of us as that, that’s fine. But your girl Ava is sitting right here. So, tell us, Red. What are you going to do when we say no?”
I felt a stir of panic.Ava. Jett’s smirk grew, and what had been solid, firm ground beneath my feet was now turning rapidly into quicksand. “Ava supports my right to know.”
“I do,” Ava spoke up. “I don’t like the way you’re asking though.”
“You don’t understand, Ava.” I finally looked away from Jett and turned to her. “He knows and he won’t tell me, but he’ll tellthem.”
“Why don’t you ask your mom?” Quinn spoke for the first time.
