Voices froze me in place.
Nothing. The house was quiet. Maybe I was hearing things.
The voices drifted in the air again.
“…told you this was a stupid idea.”
My blood turned to ice. Because I knew that voice. I’d heard it countless times in workouts. In class. On the football field. Nathan Brooks was somewhere outside.
Cursing, I raced down the stairs and crossed the living room on bare feet. I hit the kitchen at a sprint, then stopped so abruptly that my feet squeaked on the hardwood.
Through the sliding glass doors, amber light washed over Jesse’s patio. The pavers were clean, the fire pit cold and dark. And there, exactly the way I’d seen them thirty seconds ago, were Nathan Brooks and Aiden Cross.
Nathan turned in a slow circle, his expression curious as he surveyed the back of the house. Cross stood with his arms folded and his jaw set, his red hair catching the light. Black circles made half-moons under his eyes. A thick piece of medical tape covered the bridge of his nose.
What thefuckwere they doing here?
I pressed myself flat against the kitchen wall beside the sliders, my back to the cabinets, and made myself breathe. The kitchen was dark. They hadn’t seen me.
“This is stupid,” Cross said. “Let’s get out of here.”
Nathan faced him, indecision in his blue eyes. “Maybe we just leave it on the porch and go.”
It?My heart thumped harder.
A scowl twisted Cross’s features. “Why are you so obsessed with giving Lawson his phone?” He glanced up at the house. “You don’t even know who lives here.”
Relief blasted me. They didn’t know about Jesse. And they had my phone.
I needed it—but Ireallyneeded to get rid of them before anyone saw them standing in Jesse’s backyard.
I pushed off the wall, opened the slider, and stepped outside.
They both startled. Nathan took a swift step backward, confusion stamped on his features as he looked between me and the open slider. Aiden stood his ground, his ugly face even more swollen up close.
Good.
“Hey,” I said, my greeting aimed directly at Nathan. Because fuck Aiden Cross.
Nathan recovered quickly. “Hey, man.” He crossed the patio and pulled my phone from his pocket. “We found this on the jogging trail behind campus.”
“How?” I asked, taking it. The screen lit up, displaying my bland-ass factory setting wallpaper. I’d never liked a photo enough to want to stare at it multiple times a day.
Nathan cleared his throat. “Once we figured out it was yours, we pulled up the Find My app. You must have an AirTag on you or something. It led us here.”
My heart rate scaled a new peak. He was right. I’d stuffed an AirTag in one of my duffel bag’s inner pockets at the start of the semester after I left it in my football locker one too many times. The same duffel I’d taken from my parents’ house the night my mom hit me with the frying pan. I’d forgotten about the AirTag.
I’d been carrying a tracker ever since. Anyone who picked up my phone could have pulled up that app and watched a little blue dot travel from Hale Valley to Albany. They could have tailed me and Jesse to the restaurant. To his townhouse. They could have watched me come back here.
My parents could have done it.
“You okay?” Nathan asked, watching me stare at my phone. I looked at him, and he nodded toward the screen. “You should probably put a password on that or something.” He threw a glance at the house behind me. “You’re lucky it doesn’t have any water damage.”
“Thanks,” I said, pocketing the phone. I waited for them to leave. When they didn’t, I squared my shoulders. “You can go.”
Cross stepped forward. “Are you fucking serious?”
Nathan cut him a look. “Aiden?—”
