A Good Boy Is Hard to Find (The Naughty List #3)(8)

“N-no!” he stammered quickly, flicking a glance at Kira. “We set you up. You got ratted out and—”

“Shut up.” Blaze held up his hand, signaling Rhett to stop talking.

“A rat?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper as I tried to hold on a little longer.

Blaze smiled, the little gap between his teeth showing. “Yeah, little Kitten. You’ve been had by a big ol’ rat.” He and Rhett laughed at what I assumed he thought was a clever play on words. Personally, I might have gone for the “when the cats away, the mice will play” reference, but whatever. Point was somebody handed us over. We’d been stabbed in our uniformed backs. Again.

There was a sudden surge of pain, and I had to push away this latest drama. Right now I needed to get to the hospital. I was pretty sure my ankle was broken.

“Get me out of here,” I murmured to Leona, reaching as she held out her arm. “I need to go to the emergency room.”

“Shit.”

“Where do you think you’re going?” Blaze asked, menacingly blocking our path. To accentuate his point, he rammed his fist into the metal locker as a warning. The noise startled me, and I grabbed onto Leona as she steadied me. Kira and Izzie gathered behind us, and Rhett looked between me and Blaze. The tension was thick enough to cut. With a butcher knife.

“Get out of the way, Neanderthal,” Leona growled. “Tessa’s hurt, and I need to get her to the hospital.”

Blaze’s mouth twitched with a smile before it turned into mock concern. “You hurt your little paw?”

“I think it’s broken,” I said, not nearly as forceful as I should have. But I was about to lose it.

He laughed. “I guess you won’t be doing anymore spying then, will you?”

Izzie walked up, grabbing my other arm. I looked sideways at her, and she darted a terrified glance at me. Well, at least, she was pretending to be courageous. I smiled supportively.

Blaze paused, staring us down with disgust. Then, unbelievably enough, he held out his arm, motioning for us to pass. “Get the f**k out of my field house.”

“Gladly.” Leona pulled us forward, elbowing her way past Blaze as I held onto her and Izzie. Rhett stifled a laugh, but I focused on making it out the door.

“You think you’re hurt now,” Blaze called after us, “just wait until school.”

His warning rang in my ears as we left. I knew we were in trouble—at least, waist deep. But when I got out into the parking lot, I closed my eyes, letting the cool wind rush over my face. Oddly enough, my first instinct was to call Aiden. But I knew better than to do that. He was off my radar now.

“Um, you guys?” Izzie said, her voice low.

“What?” Kira murmured from behind us. She sounded lost in thought. I’d only heard that tone from her maybe once or twice before. It was a sure sign of bad things.

Izzie gulped. “I sort of peed my pants.”

My mouth opened in surprise, and Leona stopped with a shuffle, nearly sending me headlong into the pavement. Did she just say—

“Iz! That is totally sick!” Leona said.

“I was scared! I told you guys I had to go!”

Poor thing. I reached out to pat her arm. “It’s okay,” I said weakly. “We all have accidents.”

“When we’re two,” Leona answered.

“I don’t want to talk about Izzie’s weak bladder anymore,” Kira said, shaking her head. “Our duck is cooked!”

“It’s goose,” Leona corrected, turning to pull me forward again. She took out her keys to unclick the locks of her car.

“Whatever,” Kira snapped. “Who eats roasted goose? I’d rather have duck.”

Izzie gasped. “You eat little ducks? That is total animal cruelty!”

“Ladies,” Leona said as she opened the passenger door. “Knock it off. Tessa’s ankle is broken and Blaze Harmon just outed SOS. We’ve been betrayed again.” She darted a look at Kira. “We have some serious problems.” She paused. “Can you imagine what Chris is going to do when he hears?”

Worry passed over Leona’s face. Her boyfriend was on the football team, so he might already know by now that he was dating a member of the spy society who had busted so many of his friends. But being the brilliant professional that she was, Leona straightened her face and continued talking to Kira.

“I’ll call from the emergency room so we can set up an early morning meeting. And whatever you do, don’t answer your phones tonight from anyone else. This news is going to spread like wildfire, and it’s going to burn the whole damn school down.”

“Nice,” I said, easing my way into the seat. Leona was always very good with her words.

“Thanks.” She turned and put her hands on her hips. “Kira, would you mind taking Izzie home? I have a fear of urine.”

“Gross,” Kira said. Then she rolled her eyes. “Fine.” She grabbed Izzie by the sleeve and pulled her toward where she’d parked.

As Leona slammed the passenger door for me, I watched her run around the front of the car. I couldn’t even wrap my brain around the idea of our cover being blown. Or who would have done it.

This was worse than Kira’s copy-Kitten scam. It was worse than Christian tricking me into suspecting Aiden as a cheater last year.