“Am I?” he huffs.
“And Dane. I think he’s the one behind this.”
“What do you think he knows?”
“No clue.” It’s only half true, of course. My father might know about Cadee’s abortion. I don’t know how. But that’s the only way this day makes sense.
We sit in silence and then quickly get to our feet when we hear Ax stomping down the stairs. A few seconds later the door swings open and Cadee steps out. She looks like she’s been crying and her hands are still tied behind her back.
I put a hand up to my mouth to hide my smile when I see the second length of baling twine has been tied into a slip knot and is now around her neck. My t-shirt is still stuffed in her mouth.
“OK, then,” Ax says, kinda puffing out his chest with pride. “We’re good.”
“What the hell is this?” Lars laughs. “She can’t walk through campus like that!”
“Oh, she can. And she will.” Ax growls these words into Cadee’s ear and she furrows her brows and shrugs her shoulders to make him back away from her neck. “I warned her. If she needs a leash, I can provide.”
She starts protesting through the gag.
I reach over and pull it out of her mouth.
“This is kidnapping! I’m pressing charges!”
“Good luck with that.” Ax laughs. “The fucking sheriff works for my father, Cadee. They only send us to jail when they want to teach us a lesson. You’re not part of today’s lesson. You’re just a task to check off our list. You’re going over to the Chairman’s house. How you get there is up to you. I thought I explained this upstairs?”
“You’re a bunch of animals!”
“Listen.” I sigh. “We can do it the easy way. Unbind your wrists, take off the leash. Or we can do it this way. You’ll be just another move-out day prank, Cadee. No one will care.”
Lars is nodding his head. “Yup. That’s pretty much it right there. So decide. Easy way? Hard way? We don’t really give a fuck.”
She huffs.
“Is that acceptance I hear?” I cup my hand to my ear to be an extra-special dick about this whole thing.
“Fine.”
“Oh, no, that’s not good enough,” Lars says. “We’re kinda pissed off at this point. Hell, who am I kidding? We’re definitely pissed off. We’re having a bad day, Cadee. And you’re very much a part of that. So get on your fucking knees and apologize for making things worse.”
Cadee looks at me, her eyes begging me to take pity on her. But I shake my head. Because I like this idea. Humiliating Cadee Hunter might not fix anything, but that old saying—‘misery loves company’—is so very, very true.
I narrow my eyes at her. “Knees. Now. Someone has to teach you a lesson.”
CHAPTER SIX - CADEE
Eleventy-billion terrible, evil things run through my mind in this moment.
I thought Cooper was the worst? Uh… no. Ax Olson is the worst!
I look at him. Not Cooper. I’m done with Cooper. How dare he accuse me of telling my own secret?
“First of all,” I say, looking right at Ax, instead of Cooper, “it’s not your secret.”
“W-what?” Ax laughs. Looks nervously over at Lars.
“It’s not your secret to hold close or spill like an idiot. It’s mine.” I practically spit the words at him.
“Uh… what the hell are you talking about?” Ax says.
“And,” I continue, still not looking at Cooper, “if you ever”—I lower my voice—“ever touch me again, I will have you arrested.”
“Um… Jesus, dude,” Lars says. “What the hell did you do to her upstairs?”
I whirl on Lars. “And you—”
“Me?” He points to himself. “What did I do?”
“Do the words ‘willing accomplice’ mean anything?”
“Clearly she is losing her mind.”
Oh, Cooper Valcourt. You did not just say that.
But I will not look at him. I refuse to look at him. Not after what he did. “My mind is not lost. But one word from me about my secrets”—I’m staring Lars dead in the eyes—“and you. Go. Down.”
“Cadee,” Lars spits. “What the hell are you talking about? I haven’t even talked to you in three years! Whatever fucking trip you’re on, it’s got nothing to do with me.” He looks at Ax. “Take that fucking thing off her neck. And untie her, for fuck’s sake. We’re not walking her across the campus like that.”
“You’re not walking me anywhere. I’m staying right here.”
Ax sneers at me. And for a moment I wonder if he’s going to actually do something stupid. Like choke me out. Because he’s that kind of guy. Angry. Unstable. Violent. Even now I can see the greenish-yellow stain around his eye. He wears bruises like badges. That’s how many fights this boy gets into.
“Go downstairs,” Cooper says.
“What?” Lars asks.
“Just… both of you. Go downstairs and give me a minute with… Cadee.” He sneers my name like it is something truly disgusting.
“Gladly,” Ax says, eyeing me up and down in a threatening way. “Fuck this bitch.”
Lars follows him and Cooper waits until they are through the door at the end of the hall before he reaches for my wrists. “What the hell was that?”
“That was a threat.”
He pulls a small folding knife out of his pocket, cuts the twine around my wrists, and then reaches for the noose around my neck.
I swat his hands away and remove the twine myself. “And if you don’t think I’ll do it, you have severely underestimated me.” I try to say it with as much conviction as I can, but my voice cracks. And I know if I say much more I will probably start crying.
Cooper sighs, puts his hands in his pockets, then leans against the wall. Like he needs something to hold him up right now.
I don’t mean to stare at the giant fighting-lion tattoo that spans his entire chest—or the muscles underneath it. He didn’t have either of those when we were last together.
You were never together, Cadee. He bullied you. Relentlessly.
Right. Let’s try to keep this day rooted in reality.
But holy hell. The last time I saw this much of Cooper Valcourt, he certainly didn’t look this good.
I pull my eyes away from his chest and refuse to admit I like the tattoo and the muscles, because Cooper Valcourt is evil. All the Valcourts are evil. Which means… his father’s offer might be…
“Look.” Cooper sighs. “If you help me out, I’ll help you out.”
“I don’t need your help.”
“Don’t you? Looks like he stole your life, just like he stole mine.”
Now I do look up at him. “And whose fault is that?”
“Not mine.”
“Wrong. Everything is your fault. Even when it isn’t.”
“Childish much?”
Air blows past my lips. “You are such a piece of work.” I turn my back to him.
“Listen to me.” He grabs my shoulders, spins me around, and pushes me up against the wall. Not only that—he pushes himself up against me. So his chest is pressing against my breasts.