Page 54 of Frenemies

There was no coming back from that, and I was willing to bet Jax had one hell of a secret. Why else would he have had that meeting with my father, who just so happened to be the Mayor of Ashen Springs?

Chase kidnapping me made more sense now. He had to know. Did it ever occur to him that that was the key to taking his brother down? Of course not. Why would it? He was a man, and men liked to grunt and flex their muscles. Ah well, I guess it was up to me to figure this shit out.

I stepped out of my car and flicked my hair over my shoulder. Never send a man to do a woman’s job.

I’d barely made in the door before Bailey came bounding over.

“Naomi, he was in my room again.” She clutched onto my arm and leaned in to whisper, “My teddy bear is missing.”

Well, maybe not this woman.

“I don’t have time for your imaginary friend,” I waved her off and clicked up the stairs.

This war was really starting to be a pain in my ass. A girl can’t even get her nails done without being accosted on the street. If I had to rebook one more hair appointment, I was going to rip Chase’s brother’s spine out myself.

I stormed into my room and dropped down on my bed. Bailey followed, muttering something about how I shouldn’t be in here. There were more important things on my mind to worry about than my roommate’s mental breakdown. The first thing I had to figure out was why Daddy was even associating with someone like Jax in the first place?

It wasn’t like I could call him and ask. Daddy refused to talk business at home. His secretary though. . .Sara might tell me something, but did she know anything? She was just a secretary.

Bailey swung her hands down, pointing at her dresser. “It was right here.”

What? Oh, right, the teddy bear. Was she seriously this worried about a child’s toy?

“It’s just a stuffed animal.” For all we knew, Ava thought it was a real bear and burned it before it could eat someone.

“That’s not the point.” Bailey let out a little huff. “Stuff like this didn’t happen back home.”

I shot up.

Home!

I could go home. Why didn’t I think of that? Daddy had an office at the house full of files. There had to be something in there. I’d have to pick the lock, though. Ah, I could figure that out when I got there. One thing I would need was a distraction. God forbid, one of the staff caught me trying to break into Daddy’s office. Then there was my mother.

“We need to get an alarm. What if he comes in while we’re sleeping?”

My brow cocked at Bailey pacing around the room.

“You know what you need,” I walked over and placed my hands on her shoulders. “A vacation.”

She tipped her head and furrowed her brow. “I can’t take a vacation.”

“Why not?”

“Well, we have classes.”

I rolled my eyes. “It’ll just be a few days.”

Before she could argue, I headed for the door and said, “Pack a bag. I’m going to tell Ava we’ll be gone for a bit.”

I heard Bailey grumbling while walking down the hall to Ava’s room. I knew she was in there because I could hear banging, which got abnormally louder the closer I got. What the hell was she doing? Building a boat? The second I opened her door, I questioned whether or not I wanted to know.

Ava, who was crouched in the corner of her room, shot up onto her feet, a guilty look on her face, tucking her hands behind her back.

My brow arched at the streak of neon green paint on her left cheek. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” she answered a little too quickly.

Yeah, I definitely don’t want to know.

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