Page 70 of Duke
Mason:
Yeah, we need to warn them.
And you need to clear the air with Kingston.
Bear:
So, we’re in agreement?
Talk to Lennon?
Pay a visit to Hawthorne Hall?
Mason:
Yeah. When?
Immediately.
I’m not sitting on this.
Not fucking around.
And our fathers?
They’re going down.
* * *
We’re waitingin Harrington Hall for Lennon as she exits her calculus class. Her brows shoot up when she sees all three of us, but she walks right over. “What’s going on? I can tell there’s something by the look on your faces.”
Bear grimaces. “We think we oughta head over to Hawthorne Hall to explain why Elliot was targeted.”
Lennon carefully looks at each of us, her gaze finally landing on me. “Will we be telling them everything? Like, what happened to Juliette?” She puts a hand out when I go to speak. “Because I’m okay with it.” Her blue eyes look so tired, but she pins them on me, her shoulders sagging as if she carries an enormous weight.
I wrench my gaze from hers to question Mason and Bear whether I should tell her now, but before I can even get across what I’m silently asking, Lennon puts her hand on my arm, drawing my attention back to her.
“I know Tristan’s beard hides the scar I saw in the flash of memory I had. After making the connection between the OG’s club and the place I was raped, there’s really only one logical conclusion, right?” She takes a deep breath. “Don’t freak out. But I think I was sure when I looked into your eyes. They’re so similar.”
“Fuck.” I don’t know what else to say.
She grabs my hand. “Don’t think like that. Seriously.” Scraping her teeth over her bottom lip, she continues. “I thought it through, then went to the bathroom in the middle of class. Threw up. Cried. Took some time to think.” Her gaze drifts down for a moment, and her hands shake as she brings them up to cup her cheeks. She releases the deepest, most agonizing breath I’ve ever heard.
There are no words that I can say to make this right. My heart can’t take this. What he’s done to her… god, I want to kill him. “Lennon, I’m sor—”
She shakes her head as she puts her finger to my lips, her sad eyes boring into mine. “You are not your father. You don’t owe me that apology.” I’m a split second from pulling her to me so I can soothe away some of the hurt she must be feeling when she locks her determined eyes on us. “I’m really sorry, but I don’t know exactly what happened to Juliette that night.” Her brow arches and lips purse. “But I want to make Tristan pay for what he did to me, and what the OG Bastards have done to probably dozens, if not hundreds or even thousands of girls—but most of all, I want justice for whatever they did to Juliette. So, if you think the first stop is Hawthorne Hall, I’m in.”
I reach for her, pulling her body close to mine. “You are the strongest person I know, Lennon Bell. The fuckin’ strongest.”
Ten long minutes later, I pull our SUV up the steep drive to Hawthorne Hall. I keep going over and over in my head what I need to say, and at this point, it’s one big jumble, so I hope I can stay calm enough to explain what’s happening in a concise, logical way.
“How do you think they’re going to take this?” Lennon grits her teeth, staring up at the old estate, a little in awe.
“Oh, about as well as you’re expecting.” Bear chuckles for a few seconds, then abruptly stops. “Fuck. Here I am laughing, and this is so fucking far from funny.” He gets an odd look on his face. “Not a bit of it,” he murmurs.
I really want to know what he’s been sitting on that he needs to tell us. The only thing I can figure is that it’s something he learned from the conversation with Hunter. I catch his gaze, and he jerks his head, his eyes closing briefly.Okay. Not now. But later.
Not having seen the exchange, Mason pops his door open. “Yeah, we’ll just call it awkward laughter and give you a pass. I think there’s only one way to find out how they’re going to take it.”
