It’s not easy being full-time college students and also part of the mob, so everyone is always coming and going.
Like we so often do, everyone is congregating in the kitchen, Rory with a box of cereal in front of him.
Dean looks tired, with creases around his red eyes. I go over and sit beside him, hand on his nape. It’s hard to miss the hickeys all over him from my brother. “Were you up all night?”
He rubs his face. “Most of it. I saw some video of a guy in all black and a cap low on his head. He was smart, though, and never looked toward the cameras, walked with his head down, and shit like that. There’s not even a glimpse of his face.”
“Hey, Shai wore all black when he robbed me.” We all look at Rory before he continues. “Not that he did this.”
“Yeah, thanks for that, Cherry,” Shai replies.
“Wait. Shai robbed him?” Zuri asks, and honestly, I can see why. We’re a fucking mess, all of us, but I love everyone in this room.
“It would take someone special like that to capture our Rory,” I tell her, because honestly, it’s true. Getting robbed by Shai made Rory want him before he even realized the guy who stole from him was the same guy he was following for Cil because of his friendship with Ollie.
“Aww, thanks, Ash.” Rory grins.
“I mean, that was a compliment to me, too,” Shai adds.
“Of course. You’re my pet.”
“Anyway,” I say, getting back to the important topic. “So, nothing?”
Dean pulls out his phone and heads over to Zuri, who is standing by Cillian and Ollie. “I know it’s not much, but do you recognize him?”
I watch her look at the phone before she shakes her head. “It looks like any other early twentysomething guy on campus. I can’t see his face. He’s just a white guy in all black.”
“Yeah, just thought I’d try.” Dean comes back over and sits beside me.
“You’re tired. You don’t have to hang with me all day.”
“Not a chance you’ll be alone,” he says.
“Exactly,” Tiernan adds.
“Plus, if I weren’t with you, I’d be in class,” Dean reminds me. He and Tiernan are the ones who like and care about school the most. Cil is here because T is here. He’ll always be by Tiernan’s side, and Rory and Cillian are a package deal. “I need to do this, Ash.”
“I know.” I squeeze his thigh, then stand and head over to Zuri.
“We’re going to keep seeing what we can figure out. Other than that, Dean will follow you, Ash.” Tiernan turns to Zuri. “Rory will follow you. We don’t want him to know someone is on you. Even though you won’t see him, he’s always there, and if he sees anyone else following you…”
“Then I get to kill them?” Rory asks.
“Stop it,” I scold him playfully. “Let’s have breakfast.”
We sit down and eat together, then head to campus. We know Dean and Rory are out there somewhere while Zuri and I walk together, as far as we can before we have to head in separate directions for our classes.
Her hand is tight in mine.
“Love you,” I say, when we get to where the concrete path branches off in two different directions.
“Love you, too. I like saying that.”
“I like it more.” I kiss her, then watch her for a moment as she walks away.
I’m ridiculously fucking dreamy as I continue on my way to one of my communications classes. It feels silly that Dean is following me around, but I know how things like this work. There’s no changing it, so at this point in my life, I just deal with it…today, Wednesday, and Thursday, too. Dean follows me around by day, Rory with Zuri, and then we spend every evening at the house with the guys.
Zuri and I put up more flyers on Wednesday, and nothing happens to them. When we stop by her dorm, there are no more weird notes either. Maybe thiswasjust some asshole guys, trying to get her to cancel the rally so they can continue terrorizing women.
