Page 41 of Their Wicked Secrets: Untouched, Vol 5 of 6

After making sure there wasn’t any damage, we put the box in a plastic baggie to keep it safe. Eli grabs the container of batteries to take with him. Luke kisses Harper’s hair before Caden leads Harper to his car.

We stand there in the dark and watch him drive off with her.

“Everything good at home?” Luke asks.

“Yeah.” I rub the back of my neck and turn to glance at Eli. “When are we doing our night?”

“Sidney’s tomorrow.” Luke scuffs his shoe on the driveway.

“Yeah, I’m not competing with that.” I smirk. “Are you going to have Harper over?”

“No.” Luke looks in the direction Caden left. “She’s got too much going on as it is. I’ll deal with Sidney like I should have from the start.”

“We could kick Caden out of his room since his parents will be gone.” Eli rubs his chin. “Would be easier than sneaking her into my house or yours.”

I nod. Caden told us about his mother and how she’s taking his father away.

“Fuck it.” Luke sighs. “I might need to crawl into bed with them just to get some fucking sleep.”

“If you’re not sleeping, I have a million things you could look over. Not to mention, however many pictures are on the card.” I didn’t want to pull up the files with Harper here, waiting, hoping. It’s going to crush her if it’s not her father’s.

It’s possible it’s someone else’s. The birthday could be a coincidence. I just don’t want her to be hurt by all this, but I don’t see how she won’t be. If there aren’t pictures, she’ll be disappointed. If there are, what’s on them might destroy her.

“The next few nights are going to be busy.” Eli brushes his hand through his hair. “Fucking Homecoming Court. I still say we all abdicate and leave it to Zach and let Ashley, Emma, and Sidney duke it out for queen.”

“I’d watch that fight.” I chuckle. “My bet would be on Ashley, but Emma can be vicious when she needs to.”

“We know what’s coming.” Luke squeezes the bridge of his nose. “If we change, he’ll change his plan. We’ll constantly be looking over our shoulders.”

“Like we aren’t now?” I ask.

“What if we can’t protect her?” Eli says the words none of us want to hear.

“We have to.” Luke claps me on the shoulder. “Send me the link when you have them up. I doubt I’ll sleep tonight.”

I doubt any of us will.

CHAPTER 14

The Insider

Harper

Caden is fast asleep beside me, but my brain won’t stop spinning. What happened to my dad? Where’s my mom? How do I just continue like nothing is happening outside of school?

The door opens. My heart jolts, but I lie still as I pinch Caden. His breathing shifts, and he’s awake. When the door shuts softly, Caden is up and out of the bed before I can even exhale.

He slams whoever stepped inside against the wall.

“Fuck, man.” Luke’s voice is quiet.

I hold my hand over my racing heart. All that tension unwinds inside me.

“What the fuck?” Caden steps back, and I turn on the bedside lamp. It’s nearly three in the morning.

“Couldn’t sleep. Sick of scrolling through pictures. Every time a leaf moves, the damn thing went off.” Luke brushes his hand through his hair. “Forty thousand images.”

I swallow. That’s a lot of images to go through. Plus all the other videos and documents. Jack’s never going to sleep. My chest aches. Caden grunts and heads into the bathroom. He doesn’t shut the door, and we can hear him peeing. Luke shakes his head and walks over to the bed.