Page 22 of Tainted Deception

He chuckled. “Don’t worry, Rynn. By tomorrow, you’ll be back on top at school, and those assholes won’t be able to touch you. Including Chris.”

“How?”

“You’ll see.”

9

“She just walkedout of Alicia’s dorm,” Tripp informed me over the phone. “We can’t get her. She has Hyde and other guys surrounding her. They’re heading toward the auditorium.”

I jumped off the couch, making Jace look up from his phone as he leaned on the counter. It was noon, and we were in Rynn’s apartment while Tripp and Pratt kept an eye on Alicia’s dorm.

“We’re on our way,” I said, hanging up and grabbing my gun while glancing at Jace. “She left the room. Seems to be staying on campus for the moment.”

Jace nodded in response, following me to the door. “You haven’t told your dad?”

My eyes snapped to the back of his head as I followed him into the hall. “We agreed we wouldn’t.”

“Never know with you,” he muttered under his breath.

I scowled, not responding as we jogged out of the dorms. We’d agreed not to say anything about losing Rynn until we absolutely had to. If they didn’t think we could handle her, then they’d fucking step in. We still hadn’t talked about Rynn bent over between us last night. Or maybe we didn’t need to talk about it. I seriously doubted our gangs would stay friendly.

Once we were off campus, things would go back to how they were between us. Last night was a small reprieve from real life. For a while, the outside world didn’t exist while we were in those woods. We didn’t argue or fight, but the second we were alone again, it went right back to how it had been since we were fifteen. Enemies instead of best friends.

“Pratt’s outside the back door of the auditorium, and Tripp’s at the side entrance,” I said as I read Tripp’s text. “She went inside a minute ago with Alicia and Hyde.”

“If she’s not running off campus, it means she’s up to something,” Jace mumbled as we crossed the grassy quad.

“She can’t kill us in broad daylight,” I argued as we got closer. “She has to play by the rules, just like us.”

“Does she?” Jace shot back. “We have no idea who she’s with.”

“If she had that much power, she wouldn’t have stayed with us for four days.” My words were much more confident than I was actually feeling, but we kept moving for the auditorium entrance anyway. “Tripp and Pratt will cover the exits. We’ll be fine. Unless you want to call Chris?”

He shot me a glare. “We can deal with this.”

I pulled the door open, and my nerves heightened when I saw the auditorium was dark. Except for a couple of dim lights in front of the stage, revealing Rynn sitting on the edge of it. Her head snapped up when the door slammed shut behind us. I peered around the room, unable to see anyone else in the dark.

“She’s definitely up to something,” I grumbled as we stood there for a moment.

Jace strode forward. “We both have men watching the campus. She doesn’t have anyone backing her except those college kids. They won’t do shit to us.”

“We should think this through,” I hissed under my breath, hurrying to catch up with him. “She wouldn’t be here if she didn’t think she could escape us—”

“She thinks this campus is still hers,” he cut me off. “We’ll remind her that it’s not.”

We walked past the rows of seats, my eyes staying on Rynn as we got closer. Her face was a blank mask, her fingers clutching the edge of the stage as she tracked our every move. My heart thudded unevenly when another set of footsteps joined ours. Shit. This was a mistake. Jace and I halted about ten feet away from Rynn when a body emerged from the shadows behind her on the stage.

“Motherfucker,” Jace breathed out.

Gage jumped to the floor, an arrogant smirk on his face as he leaned against the stage right next to Rynn. Her gaze didn’t leave me or Jace, as if she was waiting to see if we’d leave. But neither of us moved a muscle.

“You gonna do this the easy way or the hard way?” Gage drawled, crossing his arms. “I’m really hoping you choose the latter.”

“You think anything changes because you’re here?” I bit out.

“It’s not changing,” Rynn said, her voice cold. “It’s going back to how it was. Where I run my businesses on campus, and you two sit back and do absolutely fucking nothing.”

Jace scoffed. “Not happening.”

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