Everest is who she remembers, who’s making her body scream. That’s the name she should be muttering.
Her eyes are blinking slowly, nearly under a fog of sleep. I reach for the throw blanket to cover her up. Sam’s still out, her back rising and falling with each intake of breath. But the moment I uncover her things, it’s like the sex haze is lifted and she hurries to yank it back.
My eyes land on one of the printouts, and everything in me goes cold. I reach over her, snatching it up, dodging Sam’s attempt to keep me from it.
My mother’s face stares back at me, and next to her are Sam’s and Alex’s moms along with two other women.
“What the fuck is this?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
SAM
“Whatever you’re up to,” Kane seethes, his fist balled tight around the photo of our mothers, “it ends now. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.” With that, he slams the door without so much as afuck you.
One moment, we’re coming off a sex-induced high, and the next all that hatred returns as if he didn’t just have my pussy in his mouth. It figures. Kane’s picture has to be listed underassholein the dictionary.
Before he showed up out of the blue, I’d spent the last three hours combing through articles and other resources to piece together any details about my mother and the Aurelian Circle.
But nothing.
It’s like it never existed—all traces of the club completely wiped from the school archives. We weren’t supposed to find that photo. Whoever deleted the records probably never realized that they missed it. But it’s quickly become my Roman Empire.
And now Kane knows it exists, too.
“Uggh,” I groan, opening my laptop again.
No sooner than the sound leaves my throat, the door to my dorm flies open and Gracie enters. It’s late, and I mentally notethat she’s been doing that a lot recently. Coming home well into the night, always appearing more tired than when she left.
I never ask what that’s about since it’s not my business. My world is spiraling enough on its own to keep tabs on anyone else. Besides, I know that her kinesiology class has been kicking her butt.
“Uh-oh,” she says. “What’s that face for?”
I peer up at her, letting out an aggravated breath. “It’s—” I toss my hand in defeat, knowing I can’t tell her about my recent interaction with Kane. “I’ve been looking into the club, the one mentioned in that picture we found of our moms.”
Gracie hangs her keys on the hook near the door, and they rattle softly against the wall. “Yeah. Find anything?”
I shake my head. “No.”
She removes her jacket, tossing it on the back of her desk chair.
“I’ve searched every possible source on the school’s website but there’s nothing.”
Gracie removes her shoes and throws her socks in the hamper before slipping on her fuzzy slippers and sauntering toward me.
Gracie pushes my throw blanket to the side and settles in cross-legged at the foot of my bed. “Let me see.”
I hand her the laptop, then fall back against the cubby that serves as a headboard. Gracie studies the screen, her fingers moving along the trackpad.
“I’m telling you, Gracie.” I scooch farther into my bed, my hand finding its way to my hair, raking it out of my face. “Somebody’s gone through a lot to make sure there isn’t anything tangible.”
I pause as Gracie keeps her focus on her search.
“How can it be there one day, and gone with barely a trace the next?” I ramble, shaking my head while trying to make sense of it all.
Gracie stills, her brows furrowing, but I’m too busy ranting to truly notice.
“Wait,” she blurts, hovering closer to the computer.
