Page 93 of Pin-up Girl

The walk back to the car was full of heavy thinking. Our footsteps echoed eerily in the stairwell, even carrying over to the empty garage. Why hadn’t I noticed how empty the garage was on the way inside? Milo’s Caddy was literally the only vehicle here. Wherever Chao parked, it wasn’t here.

Neither Milo nor Jules made any conversation once we were in the car. They had both turned to look at Emmett, and at his nod, they visibly relaxed, then looked at me. I glared back because I didn’t like how they were trying to gauge my reaction. Okay, maybe I did like it, but I’d never let them know that.

The next destination was a little farther. Instead of heading back toward the frat house, Milo took a highway that would go straight through northern Colorado, into Wyoming, then eventually Montana. I knew that because I’d driven this stretch of highway a million times.

They couldn’t be going where I thought they’d go. And now, if we really weren’t going there, I was going to bawl my fucking eyes out.

Each mile increased the jitters inside me. First, my leg started to shake, then I chewed through several of my nails. When I started looking wildly around the car from Milo to Emmett, Emmett to Jules, then started all over again, Emmett burst into laughter, roped an arm around my shoulders and tugged me into his side.

“It’s all going to be okay,” he said into my hair before he planted a kiss on my forehead.

Clenching my eyes shut, I buried my head in his chest. I took a deep breath, inhaling the unique masculine scent that was all Emmett. It calmed me, and I let it, not even putting up a mental fight.

Please let this be what I hoped it would be, I silently chanted over and over in my head. If it wasn’t, I was hunting down my dull scissors. They knew I suspected, and they weren’t trying to tell me different.

The rest of the ride passed pretty quickly, considering I stayed tucked into Emmett with my eyes closed. The car came to a rolling halt before picking up speed again.

This really could be it. That could have been the gate we passed through. But I was too chicken shit to look. I snuggled so hard into Emmett, I might as well have been trying to climb inside him. His soft chuckle vibrated against my cheek, soothing me.

“We’re here,” Milo announced as he parked the car, and my body jolted forward from the sudden stop. “You can look now.”

Ok, Elise. Stop being such a little bitch.

I sat up, blinking a few times to adjust my vision. And I was not ashamed to admit tears fought their way into the corners of my eyes.

“Come on, Pin-up. You have things to do.” Emmett reached for my hands and helped me out of the back seat. Once I was out, he lifted the top file, shuffled through the documents and pictures, then put about half back in another folder.

All I could do was grin, like a cheesy hallmark grin. And apparently it was contagious, because Emmett and Milo grinned too. I looked at the car to see Jules still in the passenger seat.

“It’s important Jules stays in the car,” Milo said. AKA, protect the blackmail gold.

Damn, they were jeopardizing everything they’d accomplished for me. To get my sister free the second we had the material to do it. It would have been smarter to stop and store the files somewhere safe, but that would have delayed our trip. No one had ever, ever put anything on the line for me. Tears of a different kind started to take over, but this time, I was able to keep emotions under control.

The school was a huge, castle-like structure made of concrete. It truly was like a prison. The one saving feature were the trees and mountain view in the distance. It was hard not to find beauty in at least that.

The crotchety secretary waited at the front doors for us. Ms. Betty was a hateful old woman with nothing better to do than belittle me anytime I had visited. As soon as we were within hearing distance, she scowled and clasped her hands in front of her stomach. “This is not a scheduled visit day, Ms. Stanton. I’m afraid you’ll have to come back another time.”

Milo jogged up the last two steps and extended his hand. “Hello, my name is Milo Kingston. You let Mr. Bradley know I’m here, and he won’t refuse us.” The authority in his tone sent a naughty shiver up my spine. It was so wrong to get turned on right now, but it didn’t change the fact that I was. I may have even made an inappropriate noise. But I couldn’t focus on that, we werethis fucking closeto Ellie.

At his name, Old Mother Hubbard lost some of her steam, and she patted her coiffured hair. “Oh, well, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I knew your grandfather many years ago, such a nice man.”

I almost snorted. Milo briefly mentioned his grandfather one night, described him as a ruthless asshole with the charm of a pit viper. I didn’t need three guesses to know how she knew him.

“I’m glad to hear it. Any friends of my grandfather’s will always be a friend of the family.” He smiled, and the light might as well have twinkled off of his brilliantly white teeth.

Now that I knew the real Milo, the charming persona he donned to get his way annoyed the hell out of me.

Then she started leading us deeper into the school, and I found I wasn’t so annoyed after all.

Gray walls were spruced up with a random, dull painting every ten or so feet. Otherwise, no one would ever know this place wasn’t an abandoned jail. The only other good perk to the scenery were the abundant windows to view it. That was what I tried to remind myself every time I left here. Ellie at least had a little beauty from the world. And they didn’t seem to mistreat the kids. They were just viewed like little soldiers with strict regiments to rule them.

We arrived at an office with a solid oak door. If everything in this place was dull and boring, this door spoke of money and status. Funny how I drew all that from a door, but just looking at it, I knew it was one of those thick, heavy pieces of wood.

Protection? Or status?

“Give me just a moment, Mr. Kingston.” She smiled and knocked a few times before opening it.

“Clearly, she’s in his inner circle. My father would never allow this from one of his staff,” Milo said under his breath as we waited.

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