Page 11

Xander

After getting kicked out of the party, we regroup at Colton’s. I steer my motorcycle into his driveway seconds after he turns in, and Lucas is right beside me.

“What the hell did she think she was doing?” Lucas spits out once we’ve all pulled off our helmets.

“Whatever her drunk little mind planned, it wasn’t very smart,” I say. “What the hell does slapping you prove, anyway?”

“That she doesn’t care about my threat,” Colton says, but it doesn’t sound like he cares much.

I shrug. “I mean, it’s not like you meant it.”

Lucas clenches his fists. “Not the point. The little bitch needs to be put in her place.”

We both look to Colton, expecting him to agree, but he’s gazing into the trees that surround the backyard and the east side of his property.

“Colt?” I ask.

“I want that painting,” he murmurs absentmindedly.

“What painting?” Lucas asks.

“The one that stopped Haven in her tracks. It was hanging just outside the kitchen.”

Frowning, Lucas mutters, “I didn’t even notice.”

“I did,” Colton says.

Because of course he did. He notices everything about her.

“All right, fine.” I rub my hands together. A little Halloween heist sounds like it’s exactly what we need to blow off some steam. “How are we getting back into the party?”

Colton narrows his eyes, thinking. “We’ll need some way to make sure those assholes don’t recognize us. Any other night, I’d be down to beat the living hell out of them, but our focus is on Haven.”

“How about those masks we used back in July?” I ask.

“The ones from The Williamsons’ party?”

I nod. It was the first job we did together after I was finally initiated into the Glass Rooks. It took years, thanks to Haven’s betrayal, but I’m in now, so Lucas and I can stay together. That’s all that matters.

“Dude, we used those to commit a crime,” Lucas says.

“Multiple crimes, actually,” I shoot back with a wink. “And so what? They’re plain white masks. They’re too popular to be used to tie us to anything.”

“Fair point,” Colton says thoughtfully, and then he nods. “They’ll work. We’ll need to change our clothes, too. I’ve got some hoodies inside we can grab.”

“Perfect,” I say with an excited grin. “Still taking the bikes?”

“You two ride together and park a block away from me. I’ll take the BMW and swap out the license plate with a fake.”

“That settles it, then.” I throw one arm around Colton’s shoulder and the other around Lucas’s. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

. . .

?

By the time we’re pulling up to the party, it’s been forty-five minutes since we got kicked out. Lucas and I are two blocks from the house, and we pull our masks over our faces as we jog to meet up with Colton.

“We’ll have to be quick,” he says as we move toward the house. “In and out, no distractions. We’re in masks and different clothes, but that doesn’t mean we’re completely unrecognizable.”

“I don’t know, man, most of the people at this party are pretty wasted,” I say.

“Yeah, but not those other masked guys, and they’re the only ones we really have to worry about,” Lucas points out. Then he stops abruptly, forcing us to as well. “Do you think…?”

“The thought crossed my mind,” Colton replies.

“What?” I ask.

“Wes, Cal, and Kellan. It could be them.”

“Oh, shit. You know what? The body types match up. Although… I dunno, seems like a lot of trouble for them to go through just for a party.”

“Unless there’s more here at play than we realize,” Colton says.

“Do you think it’s something we need to be worried about?” Lucas asks.

“I suppose we’re about to find out.” Pushing past Lucas, Colton adjusts his mask. “Now let’s move.”

The party is still in full swing. Wes, Cal, and Kellan are nowhere to be seen, so we get inside without any issues. We make a beeline for the painting, shoving through the crowd in the front hallway.

“Hey, do you know where Aaron is?” some guy shouts.

“Yeah, he’s fucking that quiet goth girl,” someone responds. “What’s her name? Haven or something?”

Colton freezes. With his shoulders bunched up, he whips around and locates the two guys talking. Grabbing one of them by his costume, Colton slams him into the wall. “Where is she?”

“W-what?” the guy sputters.

“Haven. Where is she?”

“D-downstairs. There’s a bedroom—”

Colton is already stalking away, and Lucas and I are close on his heels. We’ve never interfered with Haven’s sex life before, other than knowing every boy—and the occasional girl—she’s touched. After what Haven did tonight, Colton must be feeling differently.

We storm down the basement stairs. There’s a group playing pool and a few couples making out on couches in the corner. We ignore them and make a beeline for the closed door to our right. Just as we reach it, Haven’s voice floats through.

“Wait. I—I don’t think I can—wait, Aaron, stop.”

Oh, hell no.

Haven fucking other guys already pisses me off to an irrational degree. But some asshole forcing himself on her? Absolutely not.

Colton all but kicks the door down before charging inside, me and Lucas right behind him. Aaron jumps back from Haven, although it looks like he already pulled away.

Good. If he hadn’t, I’d beat him to death right here.

Actually, I might do that anyway.

“What the hell are you doing?” Colton growls as he rips off his mask.

Haven cringes away from us. Her skirt is still on, as is her bra, but she looks uncomfortable at how exposed she is. Quickly, I shut the door behind us.

If I had my way, no one would see Haven like this except me, Luc, and Colt. I’ll always hate her for what she did, but that doesn’t stop the possessiveness I feel toward her. That pisses me off, too—how jealous I get over her for no goddamn reason.

Like he’s some knight in shining armor, Aaron slides in front of Haven to shield her from our view. “Fuck off. No one invited you to join in.”

“You think I’m going to walk in on her telling you to stop and just leave?” Colton steps farther into the room, and Lucas and I follow suit.

We always have each other’s backs, no matter what.

“I stopped, didn’t I?” Aaron stands. He’s just as tall as Colton if not a little taller, but Lucas has a good three inches on him.

“You shouldn’t have even started,” Colton says through clenched teeth.

“Oh? And why’s that? Because you think she’s yours? Newsflash, dumbass, you don’t own anyone.”

“She’s drunk, man,” I grit out. Without my consent, my eyes flit to Haven, checking her over like I care—which I don’t. Not even a little.

“Oh, like that’d ever stop you,” Aaron snaps.

“What we do is none of your business,” Lucas says lowly.

“Oh, but what I do is yours? Those are some pretty big double stand—”

“When it concerns her, yes.” Colton crosses his arms and glares at Aaron.

Aaron’s hands curl into fists, but before he even moves, Haven stands. Her arms are wrapped around herself, and she looks like she wants to melt into the floor.

“Aaron, it’s okay,” she says weakly. “I should go home, anyway.”

He whips around to face her. “Seriously? You’re going to bow down to him that easily? What happened to wanting to piss him off?”

What’s this? Lucas and I exchange an intrigued glance.

“I…” Haven backs away, moving into the far corner of the room. “I can’t.”

“Can’t, or won’t?” Aaron points at us. “You shouldn’t have to be scared of them.”

Not true. We’ve done plenty to make Haven fear us, and we aren’t planning on stopping any time soon—especially after the shit she pulled tonight.

“They’re not the problem,” Haven says shakily. “I—I just…”

“Don’t lie to me,” Aaron says, and where I expect annoyance in his tone, there’s a soft patience. “They’ve bulldozed over you for years. Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

Her eyes widen. “Y-you have?”

“Of course.” He steps closer, his voice gentle. “You’re fucking gorgeous, Haven. I noticed you the first day I stepped onto campus. And… well, it’s hard to notice you without seeing what they do to you.”

Oh, fuck this.

“I can protect you,” Aaron says softly. “You just have to let me.”

My harsh laugh echoes around the room. “If you actually think you can, you’re a fucking idiot.”

Aaron turns his glare on me. “I’m done standing by and watching you three hurt her. You’re nothing more than a few self-absorbed bullies who needs someone to put you in your place.”

I grin. It’s been too long since I’ve gotten into a fight. “Bring it on, bitch.”

Aaron throws the first punch, aiming for my face, but I dodge with ease, bending down and slamming my shoulder into his torso. He stumbles back with a grunt.

“Xander!” Haven yells. “Xander, stop!”

I ignore her. “You sure you want to do this? It’s three against one. The odds aren’t in your favor.”

Aaron straightens and squares his shoulders. “She deserves someone who’ll stand up for her.”

“Funny how you only started saying that after you realized you had a chance to fuck her.”

Rage flashes in Aaron’s eyes, and he charges at me with a yell. I step back and let Lucas tackle him. They hit the ground hard, Aaron taking the brunt of the fall. When his head smacks against the concrete floor, Haven gasps.

“Please don’t do this,” she begs. She’s frozen in the corner, tears falling onto her cheeks. “He didn’t do anything wrong.”

Snatching her shirt from the floor, Colton throws it at her. “Get dressed.”

“I—”

“Now,” he snaps.

Haven jumps into action. Her hands are trembling as she pulls her crop top over her head. When Lucas punches Aaron, she grimaces. “Stop. God, Lucas, please!”

I’m not sure if he even hears her. His hands are wrapped around Aaron’s neck now, and he’s squeezing hard enough to kill. As Aaron’s face turns bright red, Haven throws herself at Lucas.

“Stop! You can’t do this!” She pounds her fists into Lucas’s back. “Stop, stop, stop!”

Finally, Lucas lets up. Aaron wheezes and rubs at his throat.

“Get off him,” Haven pleads shakily, but when she pushes at Lucas, he doesn’t budge.

It’s one of the many things I love about him. Give Lucas a target, and he’ll hone in on it so hard he forgets everything else.

“Am I killing him?” he asks, his gaze still fixed on Aaron.

“No,” Colton says, his expression reserved. “He’ll learn his lesson. And if not…” He smirks. “Then he’s all yours.”

Kneeling next to them, I place a hand on Lucas’s thigh. Aaron is glaring silently at both of us, too stubborn to admit his defeat out loud. It’d be pathetic if it wasn’t so damn comical. He really thought he could take all three of us.

I kneel in close enough that only he can hear me as I whisper, “This is what happens when you touch what’s ours. Remember that for next time.”

Aaron’s eyes are focused on Haven, and then they flit toward the door. Poor bastard still thinks he can escape us.

“Are you going to touch her again?” Colton asks as he steps around us so he can see Aaron’s face.

“Fuck you,” he spits out.

“Do you have a fucking death wish?” I snap. “Tell him you won’t touch her again.”

“I’ll do whatever I damn well please, and so will Haven. You don’t own either of us.”

For the first time since Lucas tackled Aaron to the ground, he looks up and frowns. “Where is she?”

I do a quick sweep of the room and come up missing. When my eyes land on Aaron, he’s smirking. Everything clicks into place in an instant. When he glanced at the door, he wasn’t looking for an escape. He was telling Haven to run.

Motherfucker.

I give him a swift kick to the ribs, making him grunt in pain. “We’ll find her. She’s not getting away with this. But first things first.”

Colton nods, and Lucas crawls off Aaron. The asshole groans but doesn’t move to get up. Undoubtedly, he’s in a lot of pain, but we didn’t hurt him nearly as badly as I wanted to. He’ll be fine.

Pulling on my mask, I head straight for the door. “Let’s get the painting and then get the hell out of here.”

Haven isn’t in the basement, and we don’t see her upstairs. As we walk through the hallway, Lucas snatches the painting from the wall and tucks it under his arm. Everyone is too absorbed with their own groups to notice, or too drunk to care, so no one stops us.

Outside, we don’t stop until the painting is safe in the back of Colton’s BMW.

“Where do you think she went?” Lucas asks.

“Probably back to her dorm,” Colton says.

“Or she went to find Athelia,” I counter.

Lucas glances back the way we came. “Or she’s still at the party, hiding in plain sight.”

“Fuck,” Colton grumbles. “We need to split up.”

“We’ll go back to the party,” I say, gesturing between me and Lucas. “We’ll look for Haven and try to figure out where Athelia went at the same time.”

Colton nods. “All right. I’ll check her dorm.”

I take a few steps toward the house, Lucas beside me, before I stop. “What’re we gonna do with her once we find her?”

Fists clenched, Colton turns to his car. “We’ll make her pay. No one tries to humiliate me in public like that and gets away with it.”

I’m not sure what exactly making her pay means, considering that’s all we’ve made her do for the past three years, but I trust Colton with my life. Whatever he has planned, I’ll back it wholeheartedly.