Broken Trust: A Dark High School Romance(38)

“No troubles?” Beck asked. The intensity he was throwing off had me all off balance.

I shook my head. “Nope. Except for a lot of staring, it was uneventful.”

Eddy leaned in closer. “Have you heard what happened to the guys? The ones who dragged you into that classroom.”

Jasper groaned. “For fuck’s sake, sister. Can you seriously not keep your mouth shut for five minutes?”

Eddy looked contrite, but she had piqued my curiosity. “Did any of them die?”

We were whispering, and I could sense the tables around us leaning closer, trying to hear our conversation. That was until Beck lifted his furious gaze, and they all backed right the hell up.

“All of them are still in the hospital,” Dylan said, his tone somber. “Most of them with serious injuries. Beck broke two jaws, four arms, twenty ribs, and about eighteen teeth between the six of them.”

Something hot and primal stirred in my gut, and I should have been scared that he was capable of that much carnage, but I really wasn’t.

“Will we be pressing charges?” Eddy asked, louder and more pissed off. “Those fuckers should be in jail. Or dead.”

She didn’t sound like she was kidding, and I remembered exactly why we were best friends.

“Delta is cleaning up the mess,” Beck said, sounding like he was over this conversation. “All six of them will be shipped out of the country, forced into the sort of reform school that makes the army look like an amusement park, and their parents are leaving Jefferson for good. In all the ways that counts, they’re dead to Delta. Dead to our companies.”

I shook my head. “And you’re not going to get into trouble at all?” I checked with him. I hadn’t really asked him last night, and I realized now that was kind of an asshole move on my part. I’d just been so overwhelmed with everything.

He shook his head, leaning back, relaxed. “Nah. The council asked for a favor from me, and for that, they’ll make sure that this all disappears.”

Unease twisted in my chest. “A favor? What sort of favor.”

Delta leaders were evil little snots. I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them. “I find out tomorrow,” Beck said shortly. “Actually, we will all find out. They’ve requested a full meeting again. In the New York offices. Apparently, this favor is going to require all of us.”

I paused. “Even me?”

He nodded. “Yep, it’s an all heirs request. Pack a bag, Butterfly, you’re going to New York.”





16





My official summons came later that night, when Beck had illegally entered my apartment, refused to leave, and was now watching me pace as he sat on the couch.

“Catherine is such a fucking bitch,” I snarled, trying to walk off my anger. “This is her message.”

I held the phone up and scrolled across to the text.

Debitch: You will be in our offices in New York tomorrow by 9am. Or I will burn your apartment to the ground.

Another angry sound left my mouth. “Who the fuck says things like that? And the worst part, she actually means it. Goddamn psychopath.”

Beck’s eyes were amused, even though he was smart enough not to actually laugh at me. “You should take that message as a positive sign.”

I stopped walking and narrowed my eyes on him. “Say what now?”

He shrugged. “She’s scared by how little she can control you. I mean, these are no small, idle threats. She has her work cut out for her trying to keep you in line.”

My head was starting to ache. “I just want her to leave me alone. But since that doesn’t appear to be an option, I’m hoping to talk to Richard and see if we can get her booted from Delta. Somehow. She’s not an heir. She’s nothing. He needs to fuck her right off.”

Beck looked more interested now, standing and moving closer to me. “You have a plan?”

I nodded. “Yes. I need some sort of evidence that Catherine is not loyal to Delta. I mean, she’s Huntley blood. She’s always in the midst of the drama and fuckups. I know there is something there, I just have to find it before I confront Richard.”

Beck tilted his head, like he was considering my words. “Richard has always had a blind spot when it comes to Catherine. My father briefly contemplated having her killed a few years ago because she constantly has her nose in everything, but he refrained out of respect to Richard.”

That didn’t surprise me at all about Beck’s father. The killing part anyway. Him respecting someone other than himself was actually a bit of a shock.

“Richard doesn’t seem quite as enamored by her these days,” I said slowly. “We might have a chance.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell Beck about my insurance policy in Richard’s office, but for some reason, I held back again. We are not friends. I had to keep reminding myself of that. Beck might be bulldozing himself into my life, but I could not trust him. I could not fall back into that same life and pattern as before. That na?veté allowed me to be completely blindsided.

I woke the next morning wrapped in Beck’s arms, and I allowed myself the briefest of seconds of peace before I pulled away and got ready for the day. It took me longer than usual, given how sore and stiff I still was from fighting off my attackers, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle with gritted teeth and a couple of aspirin.