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They both visibly cringed as if they could feel that happening themselves.

“I can hear a but in there,” Ryder pressed.

“But did he do something awful enough to—.”

“Oh, myfuck,Little Sanj,” Cade groaned, dragging a hand down his face and cutting me off. “Why are you so…”

“Human?” I snapped.

His mouth opened, but Ryder spoke first, his voice so calm it made me still.

“I love how kind of a soul you have, baby, but it won’t save his.” He sliced through his food with slow, deliberate movements before taking a bite.

“Then what about the other guy?” I asked, eyes narrowing. “Are you going to find out who it was and go after them too?”

Cade looked up, chewing more slowly. “What other guy?”

I jolted back. “What do you mean? Dennis wasn’t alone.”

They shared another look, and my stomach twisted.

Ryder leaned in slightly. “Are you sure?”

I stared at him. “Are you kidding me right now?Yes, I’m sure.”

Cade straightened, brow creasing. “What did they look like?”

“They were wearing all black,” I revealed, heart rate picking up as I thought about it again. “Had one of those LED face masks. Some kind of voice distorter, too. Whoever it was talked the same way the person texting us does. You didn’t see the new messages I got?” I looked at Ryder. “You didn’t check?”

He rubbed his jaw and gave me a bemused look. “I answered your phone when it rang, so you didn’t get woken up, Sass. Your thread with D-W was already pulled up. I wouldn’t randomly go through your text messages.”

That...did nothing to ease the pressure building behind my eyes. I grabbed my cell from the table, unlocked it, scrolled to the thread from 1031, and slid it across to him. “Look.”

He took it, reading in silence.

“You guys don’t get private texts?”

“Oh, we do,” Cade said, taking the phone from Ryder. His brow furrowed. “But this is…” He trailed off, eyes still on the screen.

“Is…?”

Again, neither of them answered right away.

“So you didn’t know there was someone else?” I questioned when the silence stretched, my voice sharper than I meant it to be. “That’s who backhanded Britt.”

Ryder tilted his head. “She said Dennis did that.”

“What? No, he didn’t.”

Why would Britt lie?

There was no way she was in on what happened. She wasn’t that good of an actress. She barely managed to show up to class on time without getting lost, and we’d been attending college for two years now.

Cade’s voice cut through my spiraling thoughts, voicing my inner doubts. “Could she be in on it?”

“I don’t understand. She had the shits and then got backhanded and dragged by her hair. Who signs up for that?”

Cade blinked. “She had thewhat?”

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