Adrenaline surged through my veins. That was the one thing that taunted me the most. The reason why. “Why did he do it? I mean, he didn’t want to do anything to me, did he?”

Wyatt’s eyebrows twitched upward. “God, no. Zac’s as gay as they come. I don’t think he’s even seen a vagina, to be honest.”

“Then why?”

I watched his lips press together sourly. “He hasn’t actually told me why, but in the weeks leading up to that night, he was getting irritated by the lack of time we were spending together. He didn’t understand why I was going to so much trouble to make you happy. He kept pressing me to ditch you so we could see each other. I don’t know. I think he thought that if you were knocked out, we could do whatever we wanted and you’d be none the wiser. He was a fool. We both were.”

“Yeah,” I said, letting my shoulders drop with a sigh. “That makes three of us.”

Chapter 38

Eli

Tension hung in the air like a cloud of colorless poison. As I stood at the dinner table, my knuckles turning white as my hands clenched the back of a chair, I stared down at Noah’s drained expression. “How the hell did he get out on bail?” I demanded. I was about ready to snap something, I was that wound up.

Noah’s jaw ticked. “You’re the fucking lawyer. You tell me. My job is to catch them, Eli. That’s it. The rest is up to the system.”

Shoving the chair, I took a step back. “Has anyone bothered to tell Jess?”

He pressed his lips together. “As far as I know, Walt was sending someone around there later today.”

My eyes all but bugged out of my head. “Later today! Are you fucking serious right now? You sit here and tell me that Zac—the guy who was caught on CCTV slipping a date rape drug into Jess’s drink—has been seen loitering around Jess’s apartment, and you think someone might be going around there later today? What about now, Noah? What’s going to protect her now? At least if she knew he was hanging around, she could make sure she stayed inside and locked the fucking doors.”

Adam stepped forward. “Just calm down, Eli. Yelling isn’t going to solve any fucking problems right now.”

Throwing my hand up in the air, I turned in exasperation. “Fuck off,” I said, my gaze swinging to the both of them. “If it were Kaeli or Kara, you’d be fucking worse than I am right now. You certainly wouldn’t be sitting here. You’d already be on your way there. In fact,” I

said, grabbing my keys off the table, “that’s a fine fucking idea.”

Adam shook his head and took another step forward. “You’re not going anywhere, Eli. Sit the fuck down.”

My blood was starting to boil. “Who’s going to stop me, Adam? You?”

Isaac stepped into the room from the side door, Micah behind him. “That would probably be me,” he said, leveling me with a pissed-off glare.

Rubbing my hand over my mouth, I turned and threw my keys at the wall, the impact making an instant hole in the drywall. “Fuck!”

“What the hell is going on!” Mom said, storming into the room, her eyes wild with authority.

No one spoke. We all just glared at each other. Well, they were all glaring at me. I was taking turns glaring at each of them.

“I asked a goddamn question!” Mom roared. “So, someone better tell me right now, or shit’s going to get ugly!”

I stared down at Noah, barely able to unlock my clenched teeth, and narrowed my eyes. “It’s your choice, little brother. Either one of you goes to see Jess now, or I do. And seeing as you’re all so adamant that I don’t go, I suggest someone picks up some fucking keys right now and starts walking out that fucking door, or Mom’s going to lose her shit over the things I’m about to break.”

“Eli James Murphy!” Mom scolded. “I don’t care how old you are, or how big you are, I will still put you over my goddamn knee!”

I didn’t take my eyes off Noah as Mom ranted. They weren’t just words to me. I was dead serious, and he knew it. A few moments later, he nodded. Just one swift tilt of his head, but it helped me take a slightly calming breath.

“All right,” he said. “Adam and I will go now. You’ll stay here with Isaac.”

I sneered at him before I swung my gaze out the window. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

Adam picked up his keys and pocketed his phone. “Apparently, you do.”

As they both made their way toward the front door, Mom threw her hands in the air. “Am I freaking invisible now? What the hell is going on?”

Without waiting to hear them go, I grabbed my jacket off the chair and stalked out the back, heading to the man cave—the only place that had any chance of giving me any kind of peace right now.