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“Yeah,” he answered. In the background, I heard gunfire—virtual, not real, and the low rumble of Nick’s voice bleeding through Xander’s headset. “Mic’s muted so Zoe can’t hear anything on her side,” he added.

“Alright, go on.”

“I got something off Lindsey’s phone. It came through on the clone.”

He and Rook had been running that play for days now.

Some program he made was logging every text, planting a few when necessary, pinging her in different locations so it looked like she was still moving.

No one had come across what was left of Chess Club yet, but I knew that would come to fruition sooner or later.

“What is it?”

“Someone’s making plans to try and move on, Ari.”

I sat up straighter. “You got a day and time?”

“Next week. Monday, to be exact, after her second class. They dropped a location pin behind the art building. I’ll stick close to her. Rearranged my schedule already.”

“Perks of being beloved by the entire school board and faculty, huh?”

He chuckled. “We all are.”

“You’re going to give her a whole other reason to be paranoid.”

“She’ll get over it,” he laughed, calm and smug. “Eventually.”

I shook my head. “So, do we know who is running point?”

“Bradley Wells.”

My brows shot up. “I swear this year’s Hunt is for people who know this is their last chance to peak.”

Xander scoffed. “From what I’ve gathered, Deadweight is not one of the Huntsmen, so this is something else.”

That would’ve required more brain cells and backbone than Ashton had.

According to Roxxi—my number one ally in all things Sanjana—he was nothing but a shiny trophy boy who mistook his own reflection for depth.

Chess Club had at least one of the two qualities Deadweight lacked.

In a mask, people could pretend to be anyone.

My voice dropped a notch. “Send me everything.”

“Already did,” Xander replied. “Handled things on the back end too and finalized the list of Marked with last-minute add-ons. We’re good to go.

Wait till you see it now. Looks like it’s all of us rich fucks people think are too entitled, and a few pity Marked tossed in for fun.

Oh, and I’m sending something extra, but don’t watch it until everyone is around. ”

“Thanks, Xan. We couldn’t do this without you.”

“I know. I’ll see you at the gym.”

He hung up, and I stared at my phone. Cocky fucker.

I huffed a laugh, fingers drumming against the wheel.

A second later, the file came through. I opened the PDF and skimmed it over.

It looked to me like a bunch of fools with superiority complexes.

The ratio didn’t match last year. When we were all ineligible for the auction block, they picked names with strategy.

This year’s list reeked of petty bias and weak attempts at control.

In other words, it was going to be a fuck ton of fun now that we were playing along.

My phone went off with a new text.

Sassy

You shouldn’t have heard about what happened from other people. I’m sorry, Rye.

I didn’t answer.

Another ping, this one from the Group chat I’d muted hours ago, followed by a second from Sass.

Sassy

& Thank you for the food.

I waited for that to be the end of it. Then three more bubbles popped up. I opened the group thread while waiting to see what else she had to say.

Roxxi

I’m going to come out and ask what the hell is going on and why Macy was with you all yesterday. Is this some passive-aggressive thing because of The Hunt?

Ari

Please don’t bring Sarah back around, Ryder.

I frowned. Where the fuck did that come from?

Xander

That is not what’s happening, Ari.

I figured it was time to shut that shit down before they all started writing their own fanfiction about what I was doing.

Was Sass worried about Sarah, too? Fuck, I hoped not.

I should’ve stuck with Ellie Newton and never given Sarah the privilege of breathing near me.

Ellie caught feelings, though. Heavy ones.

I knew I’d never return them, so I ended it the right way: clean, kind, extra respectful. I had a reputation to keep, after all.

Sarah was a different game entirely.

I wasn’t nice to her. Not even a little.

She pushed boundaries on purpose, pretended she was more than a warm body, more than a temporary fling.

Seeing Deadweight talk to her, then seeing Macy at the Nest yesterday, was more than enough to set my girl off.

She overthought everything, built entire alternate universes in that pretty head of hers.

I was already in the process of destroying every reason she might have to question what we were becoming.

I didn’t want any wiggle room for her to ever doubt me.

I wouldn’t let her near me. She can’t set foot in my driveway.

Nick

See, no reason to worry. Especially you @Roxxi. We don’t need you going to prison, Vixen.

Roxxi

Daddy has too much money for me to go to prison, and I would never get caught. But if I did, could you imagine me in a uniform?

Rook

Would that actually be your main concern?

Nick

You’d look just as good in that as you do in everything else.

Roxxi

The slay would be immaculate.

Aw, Blackwell. That was so sweet.

I laughed softly.

Cici

Don’t start, y’all. We already have enough friendcest going on with Ryder and Sanj.

Ari

Friendcest??

Sassy

Wow. Thanks, Cloe.

Rook, I’m about to text you.

Why was she texting him? I wasn’t worried, just curious. I backed out of the chat and checked our message thread.

Sassy

FYI, I know you’re mad at me, but I’m mad at you too.

I stared at the screen, and a laugh broke from my chest involuntarily.

I could never be mad at her. There were times I wished I could. Might’ve made things easier.

You’re welcome for the food.

She sent another message, but I didn’t respond or read it right away. I finally climbed out of the truck and went inside.

The house was filled with the layered sounds of distant laughter and game fire echoing from the living room surround sound system.

Cade hadn’t come down yet, but Nick and Zoe were posted up in front of the TV, already locked in a new game of Call of Duty like there was a championship on the line.

Xander’s gamertag lit up alongside theirs, his calm voice cutting through the gunfire over the headset, playing from his dorm apartment, most likely with our text thread still open like the multitasking genius he was.

Rook was kicked back in the corner, feet propped on the coffee table, and comfortable. He might as well give up his place and move in. None of us was bothered by his peculiar hobbies. He looked up when I entered. “She was asking about Sophie.”

I didn’t need to ask who she was.

“What about her?”

Nick, lounging with his controller in one hand and a half-eaten granola bar in the other, chimed in like he’d been waiting for this exact moment. “You know the Wolfe family’s crazy, right?”

Rook went back to his phone. “And we’re sane?”

Cade came down the stairs, drying his hair with a towel. “Define sane.”

“So, what about Sophie?” I pressed, curious my damn self.

“She asked if we were dating.”

Nick started laughing, nearly dropping his controller, and Xander’s laugh echoed through the headset.

“If dating means—.” Xander began, only to interrupt himself with a sharp “Ah, I’m down,” as someone sniped him in-game.

Rook lifted a brow, completely unbothered. “Apparently, Kellan Rivers told her they have a thing.”

Cade leaned against the living room archway. “They do. I assume you knew that.”

Rook shrugged one shoulder. “Not my problem. She messaged me first.”

Xander’s voice came back through the speakers, picking up on Rook’s voice through Nick’s mic. “Tell us why you really fucked her.”

“Because he was rude to Cloe.”

“So you…?” Nick prompted him to finish.

“Destroyed his girl,” Rook finished.

Zoe, doing her damnedest to keep a straight face, lowered her controller just long enough to let out a chuckle, then casually took out two players back-to-back with dead aim.

“Damn, you’re good,” Xander complimented her.

My brother shook his head. “Rook, destroyed is crazy.”

“So is telling Cloe she’s got a stick up her ass because he can’t process words longer than four letters,” Rook shot back. “Actions have consequences.” He glanced up. “And I’m not done yet. Sophie was simply to hurt his ego.”

I stared at him for a second, proud. We’d all done worse for less.

It was nice watching Rook come out of his shell, even if it meant wrecking someone’s relationship without a trickle of shame.

He’d joined our ragtag family with bruises no one spoke about and silences that stretched for days.

His past was fucked in the worst way, but he never used it as an excuse to mope or gain pity. Never once played the victim.

Sanj had been the first person he gravitated toward.

She didn’t know it, but through her, he started trusting the rest of us.

Me, Cade, then eventually Nick and Xander.

The girls were a natural extension of Sanj by then.

What he’d lived through made his older brother and us borderline unhinged when it came to protecting him.

So much so that Damon took a gap year to finish out Rook’s last two with us.

That was going to be fun. He made our crew look like devoted saints.

Rook’s family still thanked us quietly every time we got together, as if letting Rook in had been some kind of grand gesture. He’d always belonged. It simply took time for him to believe it. Cade went over and held out his hand so they bumped fists.

“Destroy away, Rook.”

I laughed. “Don’t take that literally.”

“No way Cloe did,” Xander interjected before telling someone else where he was on the game map. I realized he was in a private chat when Dougie and Grave’s gamer tags appeared in the corner of the screen too.