Page 3 of Twisted Legacy

But this is different. We have to get on Thea’s good side to make The League happy, and there’s nothing I won’t do to make The League happy. Gifts and orgasms. My Pet loves coming. I can totally fix this.

“Finn!”

“What?”

“You wanna pretend you’re listening?”

I really don’t. I usually find letting Pax stress about every little thing leaves me free to worry about nothing. “Can we do this tomorrow?”

“We need to have a plan, in case we get called in front of the disciplinary council for not warning them about Thea before they made this big announcement.”

I pull my hat off and shove it in my pocket. “I get that, but whatever you’re thinking about right now, I don’t want to hear it. We still have five hours left in Mayhem Night, and half a dozen challenges to complete. I’m trying to focus on that.”

“But-”

“No, fuckingbuts,Paxton. You were bitching earlier about our outreach numbers being down. If we don’t get back to campus and join the frat, you’ll be mad about our challenge numbers too.”

He nods. “You’re right, man. One thing at a time. Let’s go finish up Mayhem Night.”

Chapter3

Pax

My head’s spinning from the high council’s announcement about Thea. I pushed it aside last night for Mayhem Night, but now we need to deal with this assignment before her presence here becomes a bigger problem. I know what The League thinks, but until I’ve talked to my father, we need to operate as if she’s still a threat, and I need my boys on board with that. We need to stick to our plan.

I chug my drink, then stalk back over to the pull-up bar to finish my workout. The gym door squeaks open. I catch sight of Holden and Finn through the mirror, but continue my reps, counting down from thirty in my head. When I’m done, I hang for a second, stretching out my shoulders and lats, then drop, landing softly on my feet.

“I’m ready to listen to your suggestion now.” Finn grumbles, walking over to the treadmill.

I meet Holden’s gaze in the mirror. He must’ve had something to do with Finn’s calm demeanor. He’s usually more hostile this early in the morning after no sleep. I turn to face them. I’m not a coward, and I stand by everything we did. That we’re even having to discuss this shows just how problematic Thea is.

Holden’s brows furrow, and his jaw ticks when I say, “We should’ve gotten more information about Thea before confronting her.” Looking over at Finn, I say, “There was probably some merit to your suggestion that we get closer to her, and we should have implemented that sooner. I didn’t trust her. I still don’t, but maybe we would have gotten some more insight into who she is and why she’s here.”

He pushes his hair back off his forehead. “She hasn’t really done anything to make us distrust her.”

I see the strain on his face. He’s still strung up pretty tight, and clearly refusing to see what’s so in front of his face. “Hasn’t she? Why is she using a false identity? We never found out why she was on the Southside of town the night of the painting challenge, when she almost ran you over. Remember,that’swhat started it all.”

Holden interjects. “Malcolm knows something. That’s the night he ordered you to spy on her, right? If anything’s suspicious, it’s how she got on his radar before she ever came to school.”

“My father is looking out for The League, like we’ve all sworn to do. He’s always following up on rumors he hears about threats. This one was credible.”

“Possibly. But isn’t italsopossible he used your relationship to manipulate the situation? To cause confusion? What are we doing, Pax? Are we in the right, and we continue with our current course of action to protect The League? Or was Malcolm wrong? This is why the bylaws forbid us from accepting personal assignments from family members. He presented it as a favor, and we went with that because who wouldn’t want a council member to owe them one?”

Holden holds up his hands before I can jump to my father’s defense. “I concede it’s highly likely he was looking for dirt on Thea or her family to present to the high council. But other than the birth certificate, I haven’t come across anything suspicious about the Hughes to warrant a deeper look, so you need to be willing to accept that it’s possible he failed to share some pertinent information with us, about why he thoughtthisgirl was a threat, and we won’t know the answer to that until we talk to him.”

Holden gets it. That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking. Finn scratches the back of his neck. He looks like he wants to argue about this some more. I’m right. I know I am. I steer the conversation onto safer ground.

“There’s no sense in arguing about what we’ve already done. Now we have a new task from the high council. An official task, but before we do anything, we’re gonna go back over the rule book and make sure everything from here on out is in strict accordance with the by-laws.” I look each of them in the eye. “And we won’t mention the favor we did for my dad. Agreed?”

I haven’t heard from my father. My mother says he’s still on his business trip. I doubt he’ll tell anyone what he had us doing. He won’t want the scrutiny until he has absolute proof that he’s right and everyone else is wrong.

“Agreed,” Holden says, going to take up his spot in the corner. Finn turns on the treadmill and starts running.

“Finn?”

We’re the Trium. We have to be in agreement on everything. We never leave room for anyone to form a wedge between us. It’s what makes us unbeatable. Unstoppable. If Finn wants to go a few rounds in the ring, because he’s pissed we’re in this situation, we can, but ultimately he’s gotta get on board. “Are you in or not?”

“I don’t want the council on my ass any more than you do. Of course. I’m in.”

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