Page 45 of Catch Me

Oscar shakes his head. “You guys aren’t going to get shit from the guy.”

Cade leans against Oscar’s ride. It’s a busted up piece of shit like the cars we saw the Rawley Heights guys show up in. I guess Sasha’s help only goes so far since she’s been driving to school in a BMW. “Tell me again why you’re helping us.”

“I told Briar already.”

“I heard you,” Cade says, “I just don’t believe you.”

“And I care about that why?”

“Sasha losing interest?” Lex asks.

“If you think I give a fuck about her, you’re not paying attention. I’m sure Briar went running to you guys with the conversations we’ve had. I do things to help me out. You guys helped me out, I’m reciprocating. It’s as easy as that.”

“Does this mean next time your Heights buddies show up, we should let them beat your skull in?”

Oscar’s eyes flash. There’s a hint of fear there I haven’t seen since his old teammates were lined up in front of the entrance to Spring Hill High. “I can hold my own with them.”

“It looked like a mismatched fight to me,” Cade says.

“That’s the way we like it in the Heights.” Oscar slides his gaze to me. He smiles like he can’t believe this is happening, then scratches his jaw. “I suppose I can give you guys the information. I’ll just text it to you, Briar.”

Reid’s nostrils flare. Oscar notices because, of course, that’s the reaction he wanted out of him. He wants to make him jealous. Why? I don’t understand. It’s one of those things, I’m sure, where Oscar is looking out for himself and only himself. It’s a shame. Maybe I’ve read him wrong, but Oscar just might not be that bad of a guy if he wasn’t so interested in throwing elbows to the top.

Reid is right. We can’t deal with other people’s crazy. It’s like that thing teachers say about keeping your eyes on your own paper. You can’t control what other people do, but you can control what you do.

I give him my number and bring my phone out. “When you’re ready,” I say.

Oscar sighs, resigned. “All I know is his name and where the team hangs out after football practice. I suppose I could’ve found his address, but I didn’t think I’d need it.” He takes his phone out and texts me the information. I look down to make sure it’s come in and then nod to the guys.

“Thanks,” I tell him.

He glares at me and then at the rest of them. “You know, I wasn’t there, but it seems weird how that fucker even got to Reid.” His gaze drifts slowly to Lex. “Isn’t that your job?”

“Fuck you,” Lex says, his hands balling to fists. “Keep it up and next time I see a two hundred pounder swinging your way, I’ll let them pass on by. Pretend I fucking slipped or something.”

Oscar half smiles. “That’s what I was looking for.”

“Come on,” Reid says. He’s clearly done with this conversation. “Let’s get a move on.”

I forward Oscar’s text to the rest of them, so we all have the information. Reid ushers us away from Oscar even though he thinks this is going to be a bust. He told us he thought it was a wild goose chase and that Oscar was just running his mouth. His gaze lingered on me too long to be a sweet gesture. Instead, it made my back bristle. When the bell rang to end lunch, he told me he thinks Oscar came up with this idea because he likes me.

I told him if that’s what we needed to take Sasha down, I was okay with that. It can’t hurt to have someone on the inside.

We all get into Reid’s car, me in the front passenger seat and Lex and Cade in the back. “So, we’re doing this?” Cade asks.

I turn around in my seat. “Yes, we’re doing this,” I say, shifting my gaze to Reid as he pulls out of his parking spot. “We need proof that Sasha did something fucked up. Getting her in trouble for spreading that picture of me wouldn’t help because she hasn’t denied she did it and has been showing others so they can pick on me.”

“You mean Tiny Tits?” Cade helpfully says.

I slice a glare his way. “Yeah, that’s it.”

He holds his hands up. “I was just adding information to the conversation.”

“But,” I say, adding emphasis. “If we can get this guy to admit that Sasha literally paid him to take Reid out, someone would have to do something. It’s like she put out a hit on him. Almost. Kind of.”

Cade snickers.

Lex cracks his knuckles in his lap. “At the very least, we could hold it over her head that we know what happened, so she doesn’t do anything else to us. When Reid gets back on the team, she’s definitely going to try something else.”

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