Page 120 of The Forever After Bet

Ryker’s face falls, and he stops laughing. “Wait, are you talking about Hannah Clark?”

“The one and only,” Jack says, glancing over his shoulder.

“You’re siblings?” Ryker asks.

“Yep.”

“They’re step-siblings!” Someone hollers.

“She’s my sister, and I take issue with anyone who says otherwise,” Jack yells to the room.

Ryker doesn’t say another word. He just goes to his locker to get dressed. Jack, and Ty, and I are quiet until we leave the locker room.

“That went better than I thought,” Ty says.

“Yeah, I thought Baldwin would try to push my buttons. I guess he’s smarter than he looks.” Jack laughs.

“Are we headed to the newspaper classroom?” I ask.

“Yep,” Jack says. “We’re on a roll. We may as well keep going.”

The classroom and computer lab the school newspaper staff use is empty.

“Well, damn.” Ty shakes his head.

Jack points at the office in the corner. The door is open, and the light is on. I walk around the back of the classroom and peek my head inside. Mason is sitting at a desk typing on a laptop with his back to me.

I lean against the door frame and clear my throat. Mason glances back at me, does a double take, and then jumps out of his chair.

“She made me,” he says, raising his hands in front of him.

I decide to play along. “Why, when you’ve already got legal problems?”

Mason tilts his head and gives me a weak smile. “I like her.”

Jack steps into the office and Mason’s eyes get wider. “Start talking, Mason, or my stepdad is going to be knocking on your parents’ door tomorrow with another slander suit.”

After we leave the school, we all head to Ty’s house. I call Hannah and she says she’ll head over. Jack takes my car and heads to pick up Leah.

When Hannah pulls up to the house, I walk down the driveway.

“Hi,” she smiles when I open her car door.

“I missed you.” I grab her around the waist, lifting her out, and she wraps her legs around me.

“I missed you too.” Hannah lays her head on my shoulder.

“Are you okay?”

She shrugs her shoulders. “I’m meh. I’m better now that I’m with you.”

“How was your talk with Alison?”

“It was good. How about things on your end?”

I nod. “Not bad.” I sit her back on her feet, taking her hand. “Come on, let’s go inside. It’s freezing out here.”

Leah and Jack pull up in my Range Rover as we walk up the steps. We wave but head inside and wait for them. Mrs. Hansen bought sugar cookies from Twisted Soda for everyone.

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