Heresy, p.38
Heresy, page 38
“We’re setting fire to this piece of shit as soon as I get my hands back on Beauty.”
Laughter shakes my shoulders.
“No, we’re not. This is my car. I drive it, and you can drive Beauty. So back to my question. Where are we going?”
“To Tanner’s. It’s almost noon, and I told him I’d meet him there.”
That’s right. It’s not like me to forget, but for whatever reason it had slipped my mind. “Are you nervous?”
He glances at me then back to the road. Reaching over with his right hand, he slips his fingers through mine.
“Not at all. Tanner lays into me all the time, so that’s nothing new. But I don’t think this is about anything I’ve done. He said something about how all our houses were hit.”
A thought comes to me, something Scott had pleaded with me to believe when they had me at the safe house. “Scott didn’t mess with your car. I accused him of it when they had me—”
“We know,” another glance my way with a small smile.
“Taylor found the flight Scott took down to Georgia. He was already down there when the houses were vandalized and my car was fucked with. Somebody else had to do it.”
“Like whom?”
Laughing softly, he squeezes my hand. “That’s a hell of a list of possibilities. We’ve left a long line of enemies in our wake. People we’ve screwed over or played a game on who could still be sour about it.”
“Or the governor still,” I ponder aloud.
He nods his head. “Or him. Or anybody else. But we’ll figure it out. If Tanner wants us all there to discuss it, I’m sure he’s thought of something.”
It’s a short drive to Tanner’s house. Shane pulls into the back parking area. There’s not much room due to the shells of burned-out cars still in place, so he parks in the shady spot where his Beauty had been that night.
Walking me through a side entrance into the house, he keeps my hand in his as we make our way through the kitchen and dining room to find one of the twins waiting for us.
He motions with his head toward the foyer.
“Tanner wants you upstairs, Shane. You may want to leave Brinley here.”
A subtle shake of Shane’s head and I know he’s about to refuse to leave me alone. “Where’s Luca?”
From around the corner, Ames comes skipping in. That woman has more personality than anyone I’ve ever known. No matter what’s going on, she’s always having a good time.
Sliding up to stand next to us, she wraps her arm with mine. “There you are. I’ve been waiting forever to talk to you.”
Ames looks up at me, and I’m struck by the violet color of her eyes.
“No worries,” she says when she turns to Shane. “I’ve got Brin. Go do your man shit or whatever.”
Shane is hesitant at first, but then he inclines his head and leaves the room with Ezra following closely behind him.
Ames flashes me a blinding smile. “You’re just in time. We’re having lunch out by the pool.”
Suspicious of the mischievous glimmer in her eye, I pull back when she tries to tug me along with her. “Who’s we?”
She rolls her eyes. “All the girls. Who else?”
“Nope. No way, Ames. Luca was ready to tear my head from my shoulders yesterday. I’m not getting into it with her again.”
She grabs hold of my arm again. “It’s not a problem, Brin. Just trust me. I think she feels bad for what she said yesterday, and it won’t happen again. Plus, you’ve been spending all your time with Shane and haven’t had a chance to get to know Ivy and the rest of them. These girls are insane. Every single one of them. You should hear the stories they have on the guys. And holy shit, what was done to them makes me wonder if they’re right in the head.”
Pulling me along, she continues, lowering her voice into a conspiratorial tone.
“Did you know Luca married some dude for like two years because Tanner was playing a game on her? Oh! And Emily fucked both the twins. At the same time. I’m a little jealous. And Ivy? Oh my god. Girl goals with that one.”
Stopping before walking out an exterior door I assume leads to the pool, she leans in closer and says, “Never keep me away from the snooty folks again. I swear, each and every one of them is almost as crazy as us.”
Pausing, she looks me up and down. “Okay. I take that back. They’re almost as crazy as me. You’re still coming out of your shell, but we’ll get you there.”
Ames opens the door before I can respond and leads me to a table set with an expansive lunch.
Luca, Ivy and Emily sit back, enjoying the sunlight, each one looking up at us with a gracious smile on their faces.
Unsure about Luca’s feelings, I direct my attention to her. She frowns and sits up straighter in her chair.
“I’m sorry, Brinley. I shouldn’t have jumped your ass like I did yesterday. It wasn’t fair. Please, take a seat and have lunch with us.”
Unsure how she could flip from blaming my dad for everything to apologizing and inviting me to lunch, I’m hesitant to pull out a seat and sit down.
Doing so, I scoot to the side a little to give Ames room to sit in the chair next to me.
Luca is still eyeing me when I get settled.
“Eat up. There’s everything here you could want. Sandwiches, fresh fruit, chips, cookies … you name it.”
Ames and the others don’t waste their time digging in, but I’m still watching Luca with suspicion.
Her blue eyes meet mine, actual remorse rolling across her expression.
“What I said was wrong of me. All of us have been dragged into this mess by our families, and none of us are to blame for what our parents have done. That trip to Georgia just brought back a lot of bad memories, and I reacted badly. I’m serious about being sorry, and I hope you can forgive me.”
She appears sincere, so I accept the apology. “It’s fine. We’ve both been through a lot.”
“Woman,” Ivy interrupts, half a sandwich pinched between her thumb and finger. She points it at me. “You have no idea. The stories all of us could tell you.”
I glance at Ames. “Even you?”
Ames blushes and suddenly finds her food to be more interesting than the conversation.
Ivy laughs her ass off.
“I’m telling you, Brin. We’ve all been through some shit with these boys. Welcome to the Inferno.”
Curious about that, I begin making my plate and ask, “Why are they called the Inferno anyway? I’ve heard people saying it, but I still can’t figure out what it means.”
Ames taps me on the arm, her mouth stuffed full. She doesn’t bother to swallow before saying, “You’re going to love this. Trust me. I can’t believe the shit these guys have pulled.”
All four of them laugh, but it’s Ivy who decides to fill me in.
Watching her, it’s hard to imagine her when she was a little girl. It’s been so long since I’ve seen her, much less had the chance to catch up.
“Okay. So this story starts a long time ago, back when we were kids. Well, for Emily and me it does. The rest of you are newbies.”
Luca tosses an ice cube at Ivy. “Shut the fuck up and get on with it. Newbies my ass. I think once you’ve spent twenty-four hours with these guys, you should be considered a pro.”
Ivy plucks the ice cube from her plate and chucks it back at Luca.
“Fair. So anyway, Emily and I grew up with all of them. Went to the same schools, you know the drill. In fact, Emily has been practically engaged to Mason since before she was born.”
I remember that and it brings up a question I’d wondered before. “Then why are you always with Ezra?”
Emily’s pale cheeks blush when she smiles, her red hair falling down over one shoulder. “Let Ivy tell the story. She can make it a hell of a lot more interesting than I can.”
Ivy laughs. “That’s because you always leave parts out. This is a twisted fucking tale and it gets confusing if certain parts are missing.”
Her aqua eyes are back on me, the color almost a perfect match with the rippling water in the pool behind her.
“Okay, so as far back as I can start… Once upon a time there was a spoiled princess and a broken prince…”
The next few hours are spent learning the details of the Inferno, who they are and the name assigned to each one. I learn the connections between their families and the women who have been adopted into the group. I learn more about Shane but refuse to answer questions they ask about personal details in return.
Those are his and mine alone, and they understand when I don’t reveal them.
By the time my stomach is full and my jaw hurts from laughing, I begin to realize what a tight-knit family this is, chosen and not by birth.
I also used to think that what Shane did to me was wrong, but after listening to these stories, I realize I may have gotten off easy.
There’s only one more piece I haven’t quite figured out yet, so while Ivy, Luca and Emily are laughing about something Gabe did, I turn to Ames.
“What’s your part in this? You’re the only one who hasn’t fessed up.”
Ames’s eyes round, and she shifts uncomfortably in her seat.
Suddenly her food is more interesting again, and I realize that getting the full story out of her is going to be more difficult than it should be.
Shane
After quickly checking with Brin to see her wave a hand for me to go, I reluctantly left the room and headed upstairs. Ezra followed close behind me, the rest of the Inferno waiting in Tanner’s office.
“Shut the door.”
Ezra slams it closed a little too hard, the walls vibrating with the force of it. I take up a position by Jase against a wall because all the chairs are filled. It’s just us guys, none of the women attending this meeting.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
Tanner taps a pen once on his desk then turns to me. “Can you pull up your home cameras on your phone?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Watch the vandalism shit again, and pay attention this time. Tell me what you see.”
Doing as he asked, I pull my phone from my pocket, thumb through my camera footage and find the videos I’d saved.
Just as I’d seen last time, it’s four guys all in black, breaking windows and damaging whatever else happened to be around.
I tell Tanner that, and he scowls. “We all thought we saw the same thing, but after reviewing it again, I noticed we missed something.”
“Like what?”
He waves me over to his desk and turns the screen for me to see.
“This is the footage from four of the houses. I was trying to figure out how four men managed to not only get to each one in such a short time, but also cause the damage they did.”
Four different playbacks are running simultaneously on his screen. Not seeing anything different than mine, I ask, “What’s different?”
“Look closer,” Gabe instructs with his typical drink in hand.
Tanner runs the videos again, and that’s when I notice it.
“One of them is female.”
Once you see her, it’s impossible not to notice. But you have to look close to catch the different shape of her body compared to the rest of them.
“Exactly,” Tanner answers, “but only at four of the houses. The other four were hit by an all-male team.”
Understanding hits me.
“There were two teams.”
“Yep,” he agrees. “Seven guys and one female. Who do you know that fits that description?”
When I don’t answer immediately, Tanner clicks his pen in frustration.
It’s Damon who answers the question.
“Probably seven guys we beat the shit out of before going to jail and one female you fucked who started the fight in the first place.”
My body goes stock-still. “Paul.”
“Bingo,” Tanner says, drawing my attention back to him. “And I assume it was one of them who messed with your car. Not here because my cameras showed they hightailed it out of here as soon as they set shit on fire. So where was your car after that?”
I replay that night in my head, and my teeth grind together to realize what he’s saying.
“It was at Myth. We went there so Brinley could talk to Ames.”
It makes sense. Beauty is a recognizable car, and everybody knows I drive it. Perhaps after not finding it at any of the houses, Paul and them went to Myth that night to celebrate their supposed win against us.
They probably saw it in the parking lot and used what was available to screw with it. Almost every car has a lug wrench, so it would have only taken a few minutes for them to grab one out of their trunk and loosen the nuts on my tire.
“I’ll fucking kill him.”
“No,” Tanner answers, “you won’t. This time, we’re going to do things the right way and decide how the entire Inferno will handle this.”
He doesn’t have to elaborate on his answer for me to catch the admonishment. I’ve been running ahead this entire time, taking care of problems my own way and only causing more in the process.
When I lock eyes with him, he arches a brow.
“Before you run off half-cocked, why don’t you stay here and listen for once?”
Message sent and received. And for Tanner, that was as subtle as it comes.
“Yeah, okay.” I cross the room to lean back against the wall. “What are you thinking?”
Relaxing back in his seat, he clicks that damn pen again, his dark stare running across all of us.
“We have three immediate problems at the moment. Paul, the governor, and Scott.”
It takes effort for me not to make the demand that Paul and Scott are left for me. Both have done things that threatened Brinley’s life, whether intentional against her or not. And they both need to be handled because of it.
But I bite my tongue and hold my opinions. Let Tanner take the lead for this one.
Pure evil glimmers in his eyes, and I see Treachery take over. He’s happiest when planning the next game to fuck up someone’s life.
“We play them against each other. Use one to destroy the other, and then once that shit hits the fan, lure Hillary in to make the situation a little messier.”
Okay. I’m listening.
Tanner clicks his pen. “Hell, if we play this right, we might even get Governor Callahan implicated. It’ll be a four for one, and the rest of us simply get to sit back and watch.”
Now, I’m really listening. Getting the governor off our back is just one more way to ensure Brinley remains safe in all of this.
“What are the marching orders?” Gabe asks.
“I need to think this over first. We’ll get to that when Mason gets back. I’m sure it’ll take all nine of us for what I figure out. However, there is still the question about how we’re getting our hands on the servers.”
“I know where they are,” Taylor pipes up. “From what Scott’s mom told me and the little bit of information Brinley told Shane when she got back, I was able to figure out the first house Brin’s mom rented when she first moved to Georgia.”
Gabe sips from his drink. “How do we know they haven’t been moved yet? Scott and Jerry have to know that Brinley will lead us right to them.”
“I’ve already taken care of that,” Tanner explains with another click of his damn pen. “I hired a private investigator to watch the house as soon as Taylor gave me the address. As long as they didn’t ditch the servers before he started watching the place, nobody has moved anything.”
“But has he seen any activity at all?” Gabe asks.
“He has. Just Jerry, though. But we all know Scott is back in town, so it makes sense he wasn’t spotted.”
Silence fills the room for a brief moment, all of us unsure what to do now that we know where the servers are located.
Remembering Brinley’s worry, I bring up the obvious problem.
“Whatever we do to retrieve them, we have to do it in a way that doesn’t hurt Brinley’s father. She’ll be devastated if she helped find him and got him killed in the process.”
Taylor makes a suggestion. “We could fly back to Georgia. Send Brinley into the safe house to get her father out then we go in to grab the servers.”
“Absolutely not,” I answer. “Her father wasn’t exactly sane when he took her from me. He allowed Scott to hold a loaded gun to her head. There’s no telling what he’ll do to protect the safe house.”
Tanner watches me carefully, understanding seeping into his expression.
“I get your concern, Shane, but if we have to ensure Jerry isn’t hurt, we need Brinley’s help. She’s the only person he won’t fight against.”
“We don’t know that.” The anger in my voice is barely restrained. I won’t risk her. Not for anything.
“Then let’s ask Brinley,” Gabe offers.
I glare in his direction.
He sighs.
“She might know how to get him away from the house without alerting him to the fact that we’re going in after the servers. If she meets him in public, it’s possible he won’t do anything stupid or hurt her.”
“Possible,” I emphasize the word. “But not certain.”
“We can at least talk to her,” Gabe argues.
Seeing nothing wrong with that, I nod my head.
“Fine. We can talk to her. But if I don’t like whatever idea we come up with, it’s not happening. You all would feel the same if it were Luca, Ivy or Emily taking that risk.”
Unable to argue that, they nod their heads.
“Then we wait to decide what to do about the servers until we talk to Brinley.” Gabe turns to Tanner. “What else needs to be addressed?”
“Nothing I can think of that we can decide without Mason here. Until he gets back, fuck off out of my office. I have work to do.”
As instructed, we all move to leave the office, but Tanner calls out my name before I make it through the door.
“Shane, get your ass back here.”
Fuck.
I was hoping to avoid being alone with him.
