Page 94 of Veil of Lies

“You’re such an asshole!”

“Aww, you love me really,” he chuckled, then tensed when he realized what he’d said. “I didn’t mean—”

Brax chose that moment to appear and drop down on the sofa, thankfully wearing more clothes this time.

I wasn’t sure who was more grateful for the interruption, me or Harley. I cared about him. A lot. But I wasn’t ready to put a label on it. And definitely not while I was so attracted to his two best friends.

Fuck, my life was a mess.

And now I had no choice but to make things worse by telling them about the prison visit.

“So, what happened at the prison?” Quinn sat in the chair facing me. The gold flecks in his warm brown eyes distracted me for a moment, then I mentally shook myself. If I was to keep them safe, they needed to know what was going on.

“Dad isn’t doing well,” I began. Brax looked like he wanted to say something, but then turned away. Guilt strangled me and the words I was about to say got stuck in my throat.

“Carry on,” Quinn prompted. I swallowed hard while staring at the floor. Brax had every right to be happy Dad was struggling. He probably thought - like most everyone - he deserved everything he got. And then some.

“Dad was looking rough. Thin, like he’s not eating, and covered in bruises. And not the kind of bruises he’d get naturally from being clumsy. We talked a bit but he seemed really nervous.” The memory of it all made me feel sick. I was beginning to wish I hadn’t eaten so much dessert.

Harley jumped up and grabbed some beers from the fridge. He dropped one in front of me and handed the others to the boys. I twisted the cap on mine and drank some of the cold liquid gratefully. It soothed me a little.

“I tried to ask him about what happened, the money, but he said he couldn’t talk about it. Then I realized he was tapping out messages to me in Morse Code while he spoke to me. It was a game we played when I was younger,” I explained. “When I was a kid, I wanted to be a spy. I loved that movie, Spy Kids, so he taught me Morse Code. Said it would be useful.” I smiled to myself. It was one of my happier childhood memories.

“What was he saying?”

“He said I was in danger. To go back to college and stay here.” Harley sucked in a sharp breath and shifted closer until his arm was around my waist. I leaned against him, enjoying the woodsy scent of his skin. “Then he told me that Michael, his lawyer, couldn’t be trusted, said he wasn’t working for him.”

Quinn looked perplexed. “Who is he working for?”

“I don’t know. Visiting time ended before he could say anything else.”

“Was that why you were acting off when you came out?”

I hesitated, unsure whether to mention the psycho prisoner’s threat. Would they even believe me? It sounded insane and I was there. Although, given someone shot at me, maybe I should take it seriously. Agent whatshisface seemed to think I needed to worry, which was frankly worrying.

“Yeah, but mostly because of something else that happened.”

“What?” Harley tensed and pulled me closer.

“There was a guy, one of the other prisoners, Elroy, the guard called him. He sat at the adjacent table while I was talking to Dad. When the bell rang to indicate visiting time was over, he hung back and just as I was leaving, he threatened me.”

“What the fuck did he say?” growled Quinn.

“He told me Dad needed to keep his mouth shut or my cute little ass might not stay sweet for long.” I shuddered at the memory. “He said he had some buddies on the outside who would do bad things to me.”

Brax jumped out of his seat. “How was this allowed to happen?” he bellowed. “Where were the fucking guards while this piece of shit was mouthing off?”

“There was a guard, but he stood too far away to hear anything and was looking the other way. Although he did eventually tell Elroy he had to go back through the door. Another guard came in and warned me I needed to leave the room. I told him what had happened, but he just said I could put in an official complaint. He seemed more bothered about his shift ending than dealing with me.”

“Does anyone else think there has to be a connection between this and the shooting?” Quinn asked.

“Yeah,” Harley agreed.

“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Brax said. “The FBI agent also felt there was something suspicious about Stella being shot at,” he pointed out.

“Maybe you need to talk to him about this?” Harley sounded worried. I squeezed his hand.

“I’ll be OK, nobody can touch me here on campus. There are too many people around. And besides, what can I tell him exactly? Some psychotic prisoner made some vague threat? He’s not going to take it seriously. He’ll think I’m being paranoid.”

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