Page 59 of For the Night

“Keep your voice down—he might hear.”

“Any more clues?”

“…we think it’s gonna be here…”

The moment the audio stopped, you could hear a pin drop in the club.

We totally got them!

We weren’t stupid. We knew very well that Reese and Ash—and all the other Sadists, for that matter—loved to rile brats up. What they’d said in the video was them fucking with brats. It wasn’t what they actually believed. But either way, now they had to own their claims.

Ash scrubbed his hands over his face and sighed heavily.

Reese scratched his eyebrow and tried to look unfazed. For once, he was failing.

“Don’t worry, Sirs,” Macklin said into the mic. “We won’t make you streak naked through DC. We propose a compromise.”

“Fuck my life,” Ash chuckled. “All right—give it to us.”

“Seriously, dude,” Reese snapped. “You’re surrenderin’ that easy?”

“The longer we drag this out, the more they’re gonna enjoy it,” Ash pointed out.

He wasn’t wrong.

Noa and Corey stopped holding back their laughter, and they scurried up on the stage.

“We ordered two gorgeous summer accessories for you,” Macklin continued. “Until the end of August, we want you to wear these when you’re around the pool. And any brat who comes up to you is allowed to Sharpie a message on the fabric.”

“Good Christ.” Ash smacked a hand over his face.

Oh, they were so beautiful! Two pairs of white swim trunks with tiny red hearts all over. Plenty of space to leave messages, which we’d already done. To get them started, so to speak. Who knew how much would remain after a few dips in the pool—hence why we were allowed to add messages.

Right now, the trunks were filled with “THE BRATS WON,” “I WAS OUTSMARTED BY A BRAT,” “BRATS RULE,” and “SADISTS SUUUUCK.”

“What do you say, gentlemen?” Macklin asked. “Do you accept our compromise?”

A low murmur erupted among the members, several muttering about the damn brats, some admitting we’d earned our win, and Colt saying, “Revenge will be sweet.”

Ash was the first to suck it up and head toward the stage.

River nudged his brother. “Just fuckin’ accept they won this round.”

In the end, a grumpy Reese accepted his punishment too, and he and Ash met with Macklin on the stage to applause and a new summer outfit.

I clapped and whistled sharply. “You’ll look adorable, Sirs!”

Corey snatched the microphone from Macklin. “Also, a round of applause for Macklin, the mastermind who orchestrated this whole thing—but many of us were proud to assist!”

“Go brats!”

“Good job!”

“Nailed it!”

“Go Macklin!”

It was the most exhilarating feeling, which only grew stronger when the Sadists conceded. I watched them all, Colt, Walker, Kingsley—they applauded and admitted they’d been defeated. This round. They were very clear about the last part. This round. Greer, Ty, KC, I could go on. They were surrendering. We’d won this prank.

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