Page 91 of Pay the Price

“Yeah.”

“Are you going back to prison?” Grace asked.

I had to admit, that got me. It was one thing that I’d been sent to prison with Wolf and Jace, but one thing I learned while I was there was that no one went to prison alone. All the families who filed in for visiting day — and the ones who didn’t — they were being punished too, except they hadn’t done anything to deserve it.

My sisters — my family — had suffered because of me, because of what I’d done. It wasn’t fair, and the last thing I wanted to do was put them through more of that shit.

“No,” I said, because I absolutely did not intend to go back to prison. Ever. “There are just some bad things going down in Blackwell Falls right now. I don’t want you guys around it.”

Grace considered that. “I don’t think we could get them to move up the trip even if we wanted to.”

“We can make something up!” Mia seemed way too excited about the challenge.

Grace looked down at her. “Like what?”

“I don’t know. We could tell them Meredith invited you to her beach house the third week in July.”

I didn’t know who Meredith was, but I was used to my sisters talking in shorthand only they seemed to understand.

“But they didn’t,” Grace said. “Don’t you think Mom and Dad will find that out eventually?”

Mia rolled her eyes. “You can just tell them the Batemans had to cancel at the last minute.” Oh yeah, Mia was trouble with a capital T. “We’ll think of something.”

Grace looked up at me. “You’re sure you’re not in trouble?”

“I’m sure,” I said. “This is about you guys, not me, and it’s just in case.”

Grace was definitely skeptical. “In case what?”

I thought about the question, about how to answer it without scaring them or giving too much away. “In case the bad things going down get out of hand.”

It wasn’t a lie.

“We’ll do it.” Mia looked at Grace. “Right, Grace?”

Grace sighed. “Fine. Right.”

I nodded, relieved. The last time I’d gotten mixed up in something, it had all happened so fast I hadn’t had time to prepare my family. One day I’d been their son, living at homeand going to high school, and the next I’d been splashed all over the front page of theBlackwell Bulletin, a confessed murderer going away for manslaughter.

I couldn’t tell them everything. Not yet.

But I could get them out of the way of the coming shit storm.

Chapter 55

Daisy

Isat in the back booth at Chasen’s, trying to focus on the menu I already had memorized just for something to do while I waited for Cassie. I’d wanted someplace private, and since the Mill was crazy on Saturday nights, Chasen’s — with its wood-paneled walls, barely there music, and high-backed booths — seemed like my best bet.

I’d skipped my Saturday workout even though I knew I’d hear about it from Locke the next time I went; he had a computer-like ability to keep track of members’ gym schedules and always knew if someone had missed a day.

I didn’t mind. I’d gotten to know some of the other members in a casual mind-if-I-work-in kind of way, and I felt stronger every week. It wasn’t like I’d turned into some kind of spy-thriller badass, but there was something about lifting weights (mine were way smaller than the ones lifted by the big gym bros) and using my body in new ways that made me feel more confident.

Still, I’d been thinking about personal safety a lot since Jace and I had almost been run off the road on the bike, and Idefinitely needed to expand my repertoire, maybe learn how to handle a gun or even use a knife like Wolf. Neither of those things would have helped us during the chase, but after being kidnapped and held prisoner and then being nearly pushed over a cliff on a motorcycle, I’d become pretty aware of the fact that there were lots of ways someone could fuck with me if they really wanted to.

I wanted to stand a chance of protecting myself if the Beasts weren’t around, however unlikely that seemed given the fact that Wolf was, at that very moment, parked outside after giving me a ride to Chasen’s.

After the car chase on the mountain, none of them were willing to leave me unprotected, and they were back to following me around in shifts, this time with my reluctant permission.

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