Unknown (The Secret Life of Cassie Martin #1)(46)

“I think I should follow Kelly or Mr. Smyth around.” I don’t get to tell them why before they all yell, “No!”

“Hear me out, please,” I plead with them. “I’m small and quiet. I can make my way around to find them. They know more than they’ve told us, and it doesn’t appear like they’re going to say anything else to us.”

“It’s not safe. We need to stick together,” Lucca argues.

“We can go in teams. Cassie and I can check out the people. Noah will be safe checking out computer stuff. Parker and Lucca can question the girls. The girls here will say just about anything to them for a smile.” Jay laughs.

Parker sighs loudly. “Fine, but we’ll have regular checkins at the Corral. We’ll also continue our evening training.”

We all agree to the plan before we fall asleep.





EPILOGUE





- Jay’s POV -

“Is she asleep?” Parker whispers.

I gently brush her hair away from her face. With our focus on the night’s activities, Cassie fell asleep without cleaning up and dried blood clumps the hair together on her forehead. She sighs softly and leans into me but doesn’t open her eyes when I touch her. “She’s asleep.”

“We’ll need to wake her up at some point tonight to make sure she doesn’t have a concussion.” Noah leans over to get a better look at her. “She wasn’t out for long, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“I’ll remember,” I tell them since it’s not like I’ll get much sleep with her next to me. I’ve never slept next to a girl before. Her head rests on my bicep, and her body curls into my side. This is something I could get used to.

“Earth to Jay.” Parker jabs me in the side.

Luckily, I don’t move much. I’d hate to wake her. I need to get my head in the game because she’s distracting. “What?”

“You know, I used to laugh at my mom because she was hung up on reality TV shows,” Noah muses. “I always wondered how a person could know someone for only a few weeks and be ready to marry them. I can see the draw now. Being so close to one person days on end brings you so much closer to them. Much more than someone we go to school with.”

Either I spoke out loud, they can read my thoughts, or we’re all thinking the same thing because Noah’s thoughts match ones I’ve been having for the last week. This is going to get harder as time goes by. “I know. She won’t get close to any of us, though.”

“She’s mentioned it several times already. At the end of the summer, we’ll all go back home, and she’ll be by herself. She won’t let herself get attached. We can’t push her, but I would date her in a heartbeat.” Noah and his honesty…

“I wonder if there are any boarding schools near where she lives. My parents are sending me to the States for my last year.” Lucca is much too excited about his options. “I might as well go somewhere close to her instead of New York. My parents won’t even know if I’m not around. She wouldn’t have to lose one of us that way.”

“I’m sure there’s a University near her as well. We can be roommates.” Parker nods at Lucca.

I shake my head at them. “She’ll never pick between the two of you. If you start this now, the next six weeks will be a nightmare. Parker, you can’t give up your full ride to Stanford. She just needs us to be her friend.”

It’s not fair they have options to be closer to her. From her stories, she doesn’t know where she’ll be tomorrow, let alone in twelve months when we’ll be able to be together again.

“I can get a scholarship anywhere,” Parker retorts.

Noah laughs at him. “Ohio State would be decent, but it’s not going to match Stanford. Just give it up now.”

“Guys! There’s no point in arguing about this, and if she hears us, she’s going to be mad. We need to talk about what happened tonight.” I push to get them back on track. I have no chance with her, so it’s depressing to think about. The easy thing to do would be to push her away, but I don’t want to do that, either.

“You’re right. We need to keep to our agreement to just be friends with her. She doesn’t need us fighting.” Noah sighs, but I can tell he wants more.

“Do we think one of the girls here is a target? If so, why would they choose this year to do it? It can only be Cassie or one of the new younger girls. Cassie says she doesn’t know her mother’s name, but what if someone else knows her story?” Parker ticks off our questions.

“I think we should stick with the plan to ask questions,” Lucca says. “This will help us narrow it down. We don’t leave Cassie alone, though. She should be safe in her cabin at night, but one or more of us should meet her each morning and then take her back later. We should also ramp up the martial arts lessons.”

“We need to tell her what we’re planning or she’ll think we don’t trust her. She’ll likely kick someone’s ass if they try to mess with her. Even if it’s one of us.” I normally don’t like bossy girls, but Cassie’s a good mix of bossy and sweet. She doesn’t push her way around to get what she wants, which is good. At the same time, she doesn’t get pushed around.