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“That late at night?” Mase questions.
“I don’t know. I had to take the whole system down to do the updates. There were more than enough people there to unload, but I don’t get it. Something seemed off, but I wasn’t about to question it. It was your dad’s orders that the system needed the upgrade.” He turns to me.
I run a hand through my hair. “Fuck. I don’t like this. He’s up to something.”
“You think it has to do with Phoenix?” Mase gives me a worried look.
“No. She has nothing to do with the docks. At least, I don’t think she does,” I sigh. “I don’t have a good feeling about tonight.”
“Well. I guess we will find out when we get there.” Mason shrugs. “You think she’s okay?”
“Who?” Colton asks as he looks down at his phone.
“Red. Like, she was really freaked out last night. I mean, I hate to say it, but we did a number on her. And it’s still going on.”
“Why the fuck did you take that fucking locket? Better yet, why didn’t you just leave it in her room?” I smack his chest.
He frowns. “Like I said last night. It was a vicious circle. I wanted to give it back, but the longer I had it, the worse I felt about having it. Guilty conscience, asshat.”
We head into the fitness center, and I find a set of open treadmills for us to warm up with. We get ourselves up to a nice jogging pace when Colt grabs my attention.
“What are we gonna do about Bianca and the other two? We told her we would handle it. If they get wind that she is going there to meet us, all hell will break loose. More so than it already has.”
I have no idea. The last thing we need are the queens fucking this up. If they find out, they will torture the shit out of her. Worse than they already have. I can’t let them find out about all of this.
I shake my head. “I don’t know. We just have to keep with the story that we are going stag. Might piss them off, but then they won’t know anything is up.”
“I don’t like any of this. Something is going to go wrong,” Mason says as he pounds away on the treadmill, talking through quickening breaths. “I really think this is all a bad idea. We should just not go.”
“The kings not showing up to homecoming? Not a good way to go out, boys,” I scoff. My neck is tight from the stress.
“You missed a fun night last night, Colt.” Mason waggles his eyebrows.
“Yeah, I figured when I walked into Dax’s room to find you three butt ass naked.”
We are silent for a moment, and then Mason stops his treadmill and turns to me.
“You think she will ever forgive us?”
I shut my machine down and lean against it for a moment, staring off in front of me. Turning to Mason, I shake my head and shrug. “I don’t know.”
I jump off the machine and head to the weights. I need to do something to take some of the stress and tension out of me. We failed to do what we were told to do. Get Phoenix to leave school. With the three of us being summoned, it won’t be a fun night. We won’t hear the end of it.
I can only prepare for whatever fallout awaits.
thirty-two
PHOENIX
“This is too much.Like way too much.” I turn to Liz, who is staring at me with her jaw hitting the floor.
“Girl. Holy cow!”
I narrow my eyes at her and point. “Did you just call me a cow?” I crack a smile and turn back to the mirror.
She lightly slaps my shoulder as she turns me back towards her to take me all in. “I knew this would be a perfect dress for you.”
“Yeah, and I’ll find a way to pay you back. But thank you.” I feel my cheeks heat.