Page 32 of Ruthless Legacy

He stares over my shoulder. I turn in time to see Holden shaking his head.

“But you two have a habit of stalking me, don’t you?”

Holden smiles, and Finn says, “We do, but it wasn’t either of us this time.”

“There.” Pax smirks. “You’ve got your answer. And no, it wasn’t me. I wouldn’t waste my time trying to keep tabs on you.”

“Oh, trust me, asshole. You didn’t even make the list for doing it yourself.” I point to each of them. “You three are always fucking with me, and if it’s not you, then it’s one of your lackeys. Tell them to back off. I’m not in the mood to go through another semester dealing with ya’ll’s bullshit. And if you send someone after me again, to teach me a lesson, I promise they’re leaving in a body bag.”

They all share a look, but none of them fess up. I recognize the look. They’re hiding something. Well, I’m done letting them make a fool of me. As soon as I can get the equipment I need, I’m wiring their rooms for sound, but there’s a more immediate action I can take with them being in the gym.

I walk over to the cart to get a clean towel and wipe myself down. Before taking care of the treadmill. I pass the laundry bin, drop the towel in it and snatch up my water bottle and gym bag, pretending not to notice Pax locking the door behind me.

When I’m out of sight, I put my AirPods in and hit the icon that allows me to listen to their conversation on my phone, which I’veaccidentallyleft behind. Whatever they’re up to, they’ve already started discussing it.

“Okay.” Finn sighs. “She’s gone, united front is over. Holden, are you hunting her through town?”

“No, and if I were, she’d know it.”

Finn says, “You like to chase her and scare her.”

“I also like to catch her. So like I said, if it were me, she’d know it.”

Pax chuckles. “I’m telling you guys she’s lying. Nobody’s following her. She’s just saying shit for attention.”

“Or,” Holden says, voice deadly quiet, “You’ve got someone new to torment her.”

I suck in a breath. If he does, what are they supposed to do to me this time?

“It’s not me, man. I’d be stupid to allow a targeted attack against her with all the attention she has on her from The League.”

“You don’t think…” Finn trails off.

Think what? Come on, Finn. Finish your sentence.

He doesn’t, but the other two obviously know what he’s talking about, because Holden says, “That would be unusual.” And Pax adds, “She’s already said no, to being a Guardian, so they won’t waste time and resources to go through the vetting process.”

“Then who do we think it is?” That comes from Finn. At least he believes me.

“It’s nobody.” Pax sounds exasperated by the whole thing.

“Pax, let’s just assume, she’s not the attention seeking trouble maker you’ve made her out to be. Let’s assume she really is being followed. Who would be first on your suspect list?” Holden sounds just as irritated as Pax. But at least he’s defending me.

“Fine.” Pax huffs. “I’ll play your game. It’s not any of us. So if she’s being followed, it’s someone who knows her schedule and wants to observe her without being seen, to make sure she’s guilty, or innocent of something. They haven’t approached her. She’s not even sure they’re really there. I don’t know. Maybe it’s one of the sororities redoing pledge season.”

“Lady Lions, then. They were interested last semester.”

Holden hmms. “Maybe, but she’s not a legacy candidate, so the impact of her joining wouldn’t be the same.”

Ouch. Although… I was with LJ each of those times, so maybe it is the Lady Lions and she’s the one they’re vetting. I smile, because I told her they’d still be interested. I remove my AirPods, then wait a few more minutes before appearing around the corner. I yank on the locked door, glaring at them.

Finn hurries to unlock it. “What’s wrong, Pet?”

“Nothing.” I shove by him. “I forgot my phone, and if I find out you went through it…”

“We didn’t. We didn’t even know it was here.”

I scoff. “Right. Whatever.” I snatch it up and walk out again.

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