Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“You’re assuming the judge grants us bail,” I said quietly. “Or that the video of us admitting we kidnapped and tied to a stake the man that Cairo set on fire, won’t be more than convincing to a jury of our peers. You’re assuming we’re ever getting out of this cell.”
“I didn’t set him on fire.”
“But we can’t say who did,” Jacques replied.
Cairo didn’t argue that. He could be pissed at her, and even have himself convinced they broke up, but he knew what belonged to the Bedlam Boys, belonged to the Bedlam Boys. She’d leave us when we allowed it.
Roan crossed to the bars. “Why haven’t they brought Legend back?”
“Because they think you’ll continue kicking his ass,” Cairo shot back. “Wherever he is, he better be thinking of a way out of this. We’ve got to get to my father tonight.”
“I’ve taken care of that.”
Three heads swung to the guy in the corner.
“What do you mean you took care of it?” I said.
“I told de Souza the name. One of the Black Letter Crew. She knows what that means she has to do.”
“Yeah,” Cairo scoffed. “It means she kicks back in our bed, sipping smoothies, watching the clock run down. She hates Jack Sharpe. She’s not lifting a finger to help him.”
“She’d do it for you.” Roan leaned on the bars—a rare serious look on his face. “She loves you, despite you doing everything you can to turn that love into hate. She won’t sit back and do nothing when she knows you need her.”
“I don’t need her,” he snapped. “And if that’s what she’s been doing all this time, what’s taking so long? Huh? Where are they?”
Roan, Jacques, and I shared a look. That was a good question.
“I couldn’t find her,” Jacques admitted. “Maybe she can’t either.”
Roan held up a hand. “First, who is her?”
“You won’t believe this but it’s—” Jacques gestured with his chin.
I shook my head no. No one was listening to us.
“It’s Quinn Cunningham.”
Pure shock slackened my jaw. “What? No. It can’t be.”
“It is. I tested her and she was twelve for twelve on the sociopath scale.”
“Yeah, but what does that prove?” Cairo said. “That’s one of the things we like in our girlfriends. Or else they’d run screaming.”
“You’re a psych major, Cairo. You know what that proves. Even you wouldn’t pass that test with flying colors.” Jacques got to his feet. “But that wasn’t the only thing. Unlike the others, I spent time with Quinn. Lived with her. I had hundreds of memories to access,” he said, tapping his skull. “The night of the party when her sister was killed, Quinn left to drive a drunk friend home. She never came back.
“Then there were things that she said. Stuff that she did. We know Quinn has a mean streak. There was all that shit with the sorority hazing, but we can’t forget what she did during the Dallas away game.
She and her friends shoved alcohol down a freshman’s throat, then Quinn took her up to the roof. She told her she’d get in with the sorority and with her friends if she walked across the hotel’s roof ledge five stories up. The girl was drunk off her ass. There was only one way that story was going to end.”
Cairo nodded, eyes glazed. “She’s still in a coma. We only know Quinn did it because we saw her running from the rood staircase that night. She still lies with a straight face and says she doesn’t have a clue what happened to that girl.”
“Exactly,” Jacques said. “And if all that wasn’t enough to convince me, hooking up with Jeremy Ellis did. We thought he went after her to get dirt on us—and he probably did—but Quinn isn’t an idiot. She would’ve known he was using her, and that using him to make us jealous was a waste of time. It wasn’t about us—”
“Dante wanted her to snuggle up to the sons of Foundry,” Cairo finished.
“Exactly.”
I swore. “How did we miss that! We fucking shared a bed with this woman.”
“We didn’t know the Black Letter Crew existed then,” Roan reminded. “Like he said, the things off about Quinn just turned us on. But now I’m wondering did we pick her... or did she pick us?”
Silence spread through the cell.
“And you sent de Souza to question her,” Cairo said. “Our ex and one of the people who killed her sister. No wonder it’s taking so long.”
He didn’t need to explain that. Naturally, Ivy was taking a while because burying a body six feet under wasn’t as easy or quick as people thought. I could only hope she got Cairo’s dad’s location before—
The lights winked out, plunging us in darkness.
“Hey,” Mars called. “Peters, what happened? Did you trip the breaker again?”
“Just walked into the kitchen. Didn’t even get the chance,” she said. “Relax. It’s an old building. Faulty wiring. The backup generator should kick on in a minute.”