He opens the door and looks around. “What the hell?”
“Jackson!” I whisper.
He looks over and sees me. “What are you doing?”
“Hiding. I didn’t want anyone driving by to see me.”
He chuckles. “Get in the house.”
I hurry inside, and he shuts the door.
“Did you just get back from practice?” I ask, noticing his black workout pants and tight gray workout shirt.
“The gym.”
“Which gym? The one Braden goes to?”
“Legion people don’t go to that gym. They use the one at school. It’s small and gets crowded so I go to one in San Diego.” He smiles. “Thanks for the tip last night.”
“Yeah, about that. I didn’t feel right doing it.”
“Did you hear what happened?”
“With the knife? Yeah. Braden was pissed. You should’ve heard him.”
“Pissed that Kade brought a knife or pissed that I stopped him?”
“Both. He thought you might call the cops.”
“I almost did, but I didn’t think they’d do anything. They go easy on people from Twisted Pine. They don’t want their rich parents filing a lawsuit.”
“Braden was trying to figure out who told you guys Barron and Kade would be there.”
“Did he have any guesses?”
“No, but Trystan said Alyssa, Kade’s girlfriend.”
He nods. “Good guess. He cheated on her with a girl from Legion.”
“Jackson, I don’t know if I can do this. I was so nervous. I thought they’d find out.”
“But they didn’t. You did great. Just remember the end goal. Knock Braden off his pedestal and keep Twisted Pine from expanding.”
“I’m starting to question the Braden thing. He was being really nice to me last night. Opening up to me. Telling me stuff.”
“What stuff?”
“Stuff about his mom. It was actually really sad.”
“Fuck.” Jackson laughs, shaking his head.
“What?”
“He’s playing you, Rumor. You seriously couldn’t tell?”
“That’s not what he was doing. He told me stuff I don’t think he tells many people.”
“You mean about his mom? How she killed that kid and had Brock cover it up?”
