See No Evil (Brotherhood Trilogy #1)(5)

“Afternoon, Mr. Blair.” Dean Hancock nods.

“Sir,” the guy mumbles and lumbers past us, scratching his ass cheek.

Bile surges up my throat. Yes, an extreme reaction to a belch and butt scratch, but those two little things seem to crash in on me from both sides, reminding me of what I’m really doing. I’ve been thrown into a cold lake with weights around my ankles, dragged into the pitch-black depths.

“Excuse me,” I murmur, rushing into the bathroom.

“See you at dinner, Mr. Lorden,” the dean clips.

Lorden. Chris Lorden. That’s not my name. And it never will be.

I rush past the urinals.

Ew. Smelly urinals where boys stand to pee.

Yellow spots stain the white porcelain, making me gag. Stumbling into the end stall, I slam it shut behind me and drop to my knees. Leaning forward, I wretch into the bowl, the smell fueling my nausea and emptying my aching stomach.

There’s not much.

Eating has been damn near impossible since the night I turned back.

How do I chew and swallow after what I’ve seen?

Closing my eyes, I lean my head against my forearm and fight the burning tears.

I want to slide to the floor and crumple into a feeble ball.

But I have to stay strong.

Can’t be late for dinner, right?

I smash my teeth together and squeeze my eyes shut.

A gunshot rings in the back of my mind. So loud. So final.

Rage surges through me again, snapping my body up.

That’s why I’m here.

That’s why I have to pull my ass off this floor and pretend I’m a boy.

I can’t show my true self until pre-trial when I walk into the courtroom and scare the shit out of the accused…bury him with my eyewitness testimony.

I wonder what his eyes will look like when he’s staring at me.

I already know. They’ll be cold and hard, warning me of my impending death. It doesn’t matter that we’re related, that he watched me grow since I was a newborn. It doesn’t matter that I used to call him Uncle.

We’re enemies now, because he killed Robbie and he has to pay for it.

This is why I have to stay hidden.

Until I step foot in the courtroom, flanked by bodyguards, I have to be Chris Lorden. The rich kid who transferred from Wesley Academy in Maine because I want to graduate with honors from the more prestigious Eton Preparatory School for Boys.

It’s a lame backstory if you ask me, but it’ll have to do.

Rybeck promises it’ll keep me safe. Alive. Unlike Robbie.

I fight a whimper and push myself up. The door creaks, followed by a shuffling of feet and then the lowering of a zipper. I press my shoulders against the wall and cover my ears when the stream of pee hits the porcelain.

As soon as he’s gone, I flush the toilet and slip out of the stall, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand and wondering how many days I’ll be scratching off on the wall before I get my life back.





#4:

A Turf Takeover



Trey



I dump my hockey bag at the base of my bed, my sticks rattling together. Shoving it with my foot, I push it under the metal frame and pull off my hoodie.

“So, who wants a little contraband?”

“Me.” Riley raises his hand.

Kade nods. “Definitely me.”

I grin and head for the wall. We discovered a chink in the room’s armor a while back. We were bored, lying on our beds and tossing a football between us. Kade said something insulting, can’t even remember what, and I hurled the ball at his head. He deflected it with his elbow and it smashed into the wall behind his desk.

Turns out the prestigious Eton isn’t as high class as everyone thinks it is. That wall was an obvious patch-up job, and we took advantage. Ripping the wood away, we unearthed a short passage between our room and the one at the end of the hall. Don’t know who put it there, but we’re all grateful.

Sliding Kade’s desk to the side, I shift the poster-covered plywood and get down on my knees. Room inspections happen every Saturday morning, which includes a search for items we aren’t supposed to have. Thanks to the empty room next door and our secret passageway, we never have to worry. All contraband is stored in our spare room, which we also use as a lounge for late-night TV and any holiday weekend we decide not to go home.

We’ve yet to be caught and are confident we’ll make it to graduation with our secret firmly intact, especially since Riley went the extra mile and improved the design. I don’t know how the guy smuggled the materials in, or if he just stole them from the caretaker’s shed or what. He’s taking it to the grave just in case we ever get busted. He doesn’t want Kade or me getting any blame.

The idiot still doesn’t get that we’ll stand beside him no matter what. He’ll figure it out eventually.

Anyway, thanks to his genius, the hidden doorway into our contraband storage closet now has these smooth rail sliders which means it opens without a sound and can be closed from either side.

Sliding the door open, I crawl through the space and close it behind me. Riley gets pissy if I don’t.

“What if you get busted in there?” he asked the first time I didn’t close it.

“By who?” I argued back.

Riley rolled his eyes. “Dean Cockhead’s a sneaky bastard. He’s like a panther waiting to pounce. Just close the door behind you every time and cover our bases, okay?”