Page 122 of Chaos at Westbrook High

She lets out a breathy laugh, tucking herself back into my chest with her ear against my pounding heart. I like the thought of her being able to hear how fast and hard she makes it beat.

“Why aren’t you surprised by any of this?” I ask my dad, twirling a strand of Hailey’s hair around my fingertip.

“I’ve known since I was a child that my little brother despises me, Kai. It’s not a surprise that he wants to take everything he thinks he’s entitled to.”

“And he’s going to what?” Wren asks. “Kill us all to get it? That’s awfully bold, even for him.”

Is it? He killed Leila Kingston and her lover because they betrayed him and made him look a fool. He killed the woman who was like a mother to Hailey and Derek probably just to hurt them. Killing my dad and his heirs might be trickier to get away with, but I don’t doubt he’d try given the opportunity.

Hailey goes quiet and still again, her thoughts probably mirroring mine.

“Where does Hailey come into this?” I ask. “He’s been following her for weeks. Watching her. Having his men chase her. What does he want with her?”

My dad’s forehead creases as he hesitates.

“He wants her back,” Damon guesses.

“Why?”

“Because it means he gets to take her away from you.” His eyes cut to Hailey. “From us.”

My nostrils flare as I think about that, my limbs vibrating with rage as the image of him putting hands on her and capturing her fills my head.

Over my dead fucking body.

Chapter 39

KAI

Hailey’s barely spoken since she told me she liked me last night. It’s been a whole twenty-four hours, and she’s gone numb. I miss her voice, the curve of her smile, the sound of her laugh when I say something she thinks is ridiculous.

We all went to work with her again today. Callie and Wren dealt with the customers and took their orders while Hailey made the coffees, speaking to no one, her hat pulled down low over her face.

Damon and Levi sat in the corner, backs to the wall, and kept watch all day, speaking quietly to each other while keeping an eye on every person who entered the shop.

Derek sat on his own, watching me and his sister every time he thought I wasn’t looking.

I never left Hailey’s side.

I don’t know if she’s scared, angry, traumatized over the fact that there was a camera watching her which was planted by someone who was supposed to be her friend, or a combination of all three. I can’t tell because I can’t get a read on her when she’s like this. I’ve never seen her like this before.

Curled up next to me on the large sectional in my dad’s home office, she rests her head on my shoulder, her legs pulled up over my lap, her eyes distant. She still doesn’t speak, but it makes me breathe a little easier knowing she’s attaching herself to me, that I’m the one she’s choosing to ground her and keep her safe.

When our dad walks in to find us all here waiting for him, not just Callie, he falters. “Out.”

When none of us move, he works his jaw and walks around to the back of the black marble desk. He glances at Callie, checks the time on his watch, then leans forward on his palms and levels us with one of his looks. It doesn’t scare us.

“You will not speak to her,” he says, looking at me specifically. “The only voice I want to hear is Callie’s. Do you understand me?”

We nod as one.

He doesn’t want the woman who killed our mother to hear any of our voices ever again. He doesn’t really want her to hear Callie’s, but Callie wouldn’t let it go. Someone has to talk to her, and to let her speak to my dad would only make her feel like she’s won something from him.

When our dad’s phone rings on the desk, he looks down at it. Callie sits in the armchair across from him, staring at the unfamiliar number displayed on the screen. Our dad made a few calls and arranged for one of the prison guards to escort his ex-wife out of her cell this evening. She’s been taken to a secure, locked room with no cameras, no listening devices, and no glass panels. She’s been given the guard’s personal cell phone to call her daughter.

“You sure about this, Callie?” our dad checks.

She nods. “Answer it.”

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