Page 37 of Surviving in Everton

“Here.” Kayden shows Brad his phone and I’m not the only one wondering what the fuck he’s doing with a picture of Britney on his phone. “Oh, don’t fucking look at me like that! It’s called the internet, idiots,” he grumbles.

Oh… I knew that. I’m definitely not the only one that feels stupid now if the forehead smacks and groaning are any indication.

“Yeah. That’s her. That’s the girl I saw him with at the party,” Brad confirms.

“Let’s go. We’ve got a long drive home. We can discuss how we’re going to handle this on the way,” I announce.

Chapter 16

Declan

It’s a tense ride home, everyone is projecting their thoughts so loudly, I have a headache. I know they can’t help it, it was a huge shock when we realized it was Britney talking to Harris at the party, but it really shouldn’t have been. We all know Britney’s a bitch and I really wouldn’t put it past her to do something like this, not even thinking orcaringabout the consequences. She only thinks about herself. She must have overheard Harris asking Brad for a potion to use on Rowe and swooped in to find out if it would benefit her in any way to help him.

I can imagine her giddiness when she found out the girl he wanted to spell was her nemesis. Man this is a feckin mess. I have no idea how we’re going to get her to tell us what potion she used so we can reverse the damage she caused. Hell, we still haven’t heard from the doctor, so we don’t even know if there’s any permanent damage done already, even if we are able to make this new potion. My phone buzzing pulls me out of the spiral I was going down. I pull it out to see a text from Rowe. I smile as I click to open the message.

Rowen:Your son… he’s just fucking amazing Declan. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate him.

Me:Well thank youA Stor…what’d he do? Lol

Rowen:I took the kids to the zoo in Warlington. They have unicorns. Violet didn’t know they were real, but Logan did. Yet he never told her. He just waited for her to see them with her own eyes. And I just. Damn it that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever done. I really love your son Dec. I hope it’s ok if I say that, but I do.

I remember when Logan first met Violet and learned of her love for unicorns. He quickly figured out she had no idea they were real. He told me he didn’t want to tell her though, because he knew there was a zoo close to us that had unicorns and he was waiting for her to visit and see them for herself.

Me:Of course it’s okA Stor.I’m glad you love him. I love Violet too. I wish I could have seen her reaction to learning her favorite animal is real. That must have been something.

Hudson glances at me as he’s driving and notices the grin on my face. “What’s that smile for?”

“Rowe just texted me. Violet finally saw the unicorns,” I announce to the car with a smile.

“Oh man. I wish I could have seen her reaction! I can’t believe we actually all managed to keep it a secret from her!” Ayden calls from the back row.

“I know, that was a lot harder than I thought it would be,” Kayden agrees. “It was a really nice idea though. I’m glad Logan told us all not to tell her before we ruined the surprise.”

“Me too. Rowen was honestly amazed that Loganknewand never told Violet,” I tell them.

“I think we all were surprised he didn’t tell her as soon as she started going on about how great they are. That kid has some serious restraint,” Nate commends.

“So speaking of not telling people stuff… when are we gonna tell Rowe it was BB?” Kayden voices the question running through everyone’s head.

“Not today. The zoo doesn’t close until six, and I’m sure Rowe’s goin’ to have a hell of a time draggin’ Violet away from the unicorns now that she’s seen them. They probably won’t get home until after seven. I say let’s give them the night to enjoy themselves with their sleepover. We’ll go home, talk about our next steps, and tell Rowe tomorrow,” I suggest.

“Good idea, let her have the night. I don’t wanna ruin this day for her,” Hudson agrees.

With that settled, we fall back into tense silence as we each run scenarios through our heads. This isn’t going to be an easy or fast fix. Uncovering who helped do this to her was the easy part. Now we have to figure out how to make BB give us the information we need.

* * *

Once we finally get home,I head to the kitchen for a drink. It’s almost five, I think this day calls for an early start. Seems I’m not the only one. Nate follows me in and steals the scotch before I can get it. He takes a healthy gulp straight from the bottle before I place five highball glasses on the counter. I raise my brow at him and he huffs at me, before filling the glasses. Maybe a little too full. I see the others already sitting in the living room, so I magic their glasses to them. It’s a lot easier than trying to carry three full glasses.

I walk into the room and take a seat as everyone else groans appreciatively at the burn of the whiskey. “So how are we gonna get Britney to talk?” I ask the room.

“I say we give her a dose of her own medicine. Spell the bitch and make her tell us what she did,” Nate growls.

“That’s not a bad idea, but we’re gonna need to do it carefully. Your dad’s a cop, Nate, you should know spelling someone like that against their will is illegal.” I quickly raise my hands to stave off his retort. “I know, I would gladly go to jail to help Rowe too, but don’t you think it would be best toavoidthat? All I’m saying is let’s see if we can find a way to do that without going to jail right alongside Britney.”

“He’s right, Nate, but you’re onto something… The problem is, we need her to eat or drink something to get the spell to work. Remember that truth spell Ayden tricked us into drinking when we were kids?” Hudson asks.

“Ooooh I remember that! Fucking asshole! Every time I talked, I had to tell the truth for a week! You know how much trouble I ended up in because of that shit?” Nate glares at the man in question.

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