Page 79 of Heresy

It takes a few minutes for him to finally look up and explain, “His name is Scott Jeremy Clayborn. He’s—”

“The fuck?” Jase interrupts Taylor before he has a chance to say another word.

Turning to Tanner, Jase’s expression is pure frustration, his skin turning a shade of pink from what I assume is a rise in blood pressure.

“Everly’s last name is Clayborn. Are those two fucking related?”

Taylor nods in response.

“Looks like it. Scott was born in Georgia to Gary and Constance Clayborn, joined the military when he was eighteen, disappeared shortly after while still enlisted, which tells me he was involved with special ops, then reappears here at the age of thirty under the employ of Governor Callahan.”

Tanner stabs a hand through his hair.

“Okay. This is getting ridiculous.”

He turns to Luca. “How are all of these people connected? You lived in Georgia, and they all seem to be circling around you and your dad’s business.”

Like Ivy, Luca is unaffected by Tanner’s temper or tone of voice. Her facial expression remains neutral as she shrugs a shoulder.

“Don’t look at me. For the most part, I was kept away from my dad’s business growing up, and I’d never seen Everly before she was my roommate at Yale.”

Tanner turns to Ivy.

“Okay, then let’s discuss what you know. Obviously, you know Brinley and Scott, but did you ever meet Everly?”

She shakes her head. “Nope. The only reason I know her name is from the conversation I overheard my dad having with Jerry. I had no idea Scott has a sister.”

Everyone goes silent. So much so that we can hear Gabe’s ice clink in his glass when he takes another sip and the rhythmic strokes of Taylor’s fingers over his laptop keyboard.

I finally speak up because I helped create this mess, and I’ll be damned if I’m not the one to clean it up. It would be just one more thing for Tanner to hold over my head, and we’ve had enough run-ins over the past years to risk another one.

“Brinley has to go back to school eventually. With her grades and the courses she’s taking, she can’t afford to drop out or even take a few days off. She’s a nerd of epic proportions.”

“Your point?” Tanner asks. He doesn’t bother looking at me, his face tilted down at his feet as he rubs his hand over the back of his neck.

“My point is, I’ll show up at her dorm, her class or the fucking library she hibernates in and drag her away if I have to.”

Apparently, I do have a rule, I realize. I don’t take women against their will. But I’m willing to break it to get this job done just like every other rule I’ve broken in the past.

Giving my offer a few moments of consideration, Tanner shakes his head.

“That won’t work. Now that the governor knows we have our sights set on her, he’ll have someone watching her. Possibly this Scott guy who everyone is afraid of. You’ll have to lure her in. You can’t just snatch her.”

Ezra takes issue with that. “I’m not afraid of Scott, it’s just—”

“I don’t give a shit, Ez,” Tanner breathes out, frustration riding his shoulders.

Glancing up, he meets eyes with Gabe, and they have a silent conversation stare before both nod their head as if in agreement.

But before they can let the rest of us in on their thoughts, Ivy clears her throat.

“I think we all have to admit that the golden rule applies here, and the lot of you idiots are having a hard time realizing it.”

Turning to her, Gabe cocks a brow. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you?”

She laughs. “No. Not that golden rule. Another one that men will never accept in their bullshit bid for patriarchy.”

Oh, for fuck’s sake. I don’t have time for Ivy’s feminist bullshit right now.

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