“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “It was a stupid idea.”
Beside me, Easton shakes his head in disapproval. “Wow, Gid. That’s harsh. You don’t want to help Reed?”
His brother’s jaw drops. “I can’t believe you just said that to me. Of course I want to help Reed.”
“Yeah? Well, we both know he’d bang every cougar in the state if it was your neck on the line. Reed would do whatever it took to save you.”
I can’t disagree with that. Reed is loyal to his core. He’d die for his family.
Hell, he might’ve even killed for it.
Stop it!
I banish the awful thought and focus on Gideon. “Look, you don’t have to do it if you’re not comfortable. All I’m asking is, if you’re around Dinah for some reason, maybe you can ask her if there’s anyone out there who may have hated Brooke? Like, what about any of these people inside?”
He goes quiet for a moment. “Fine. I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank—”
“But only if you do something for me,” he interjects.
I wrinkle my forehead. “What?”
“When are you moving in with Steve?”
“What?” I’m even more bewildered.
“When are you moving in with Steve?” he repeats.
“Why would she move in with Steve?” Easton demands.
“Because he’s her father,” Gideon says impatiently before focusing on me again. “Dinah must keep all her blackmail shit at her place. I need you to find it and get it back for me.”
I frown. “Even if I was moving in with Steve,” which I don’t want to ever, “I wouldn’t know the first place to look.”
“There must be a safe or something,” he insists.
“Okay, and when I find this mythical safe, I’ll open it using the power of my brain or something?”
Gideon shrugs. “I’m not opposed to sledgehammering that shit out of the wall. We’ll tell Steve you and Reed got into a fight.”
I gape at him. “That’s a terrible idea and I’m not going to do it.”
Gideon grabs my arm. “I’m not the only one who you could save.” His voice is low, deadly. “Savannah’s up to her eyeballs in this. Dinah’s got a DA in her pocket. He visited me up at State and showed me two criminal complaints, one for Sav and one for me. They were going to charge us with things I didn’t even know were illegal.”
Sympathy tugs at me as I stare at his pale face. There’s a bead of sweat along the top of his forehead. “I don’t know,” I say slowly.
“At least think about it,” he begs. The fingers at my elbow are tight and desperate.
“I’ll do what I can,” I finally say. I might not be close with Gideon or Savannah, but what Dinah is doing to them isn’t right.
“Thank you.”
“But only if you return the favor,” I counter, raising one eyebrow.
“I’ll do what I can,” he mimics.
“So Savannah can actually get in trouble for sending you those naked pics?” Easton asks his brother as we walk toward the exit.
“Dinah and the DA claim she can, but I don’t know,” Gideon admits. “I didn’t want to take the risk, so I broke up with her. I was hoping it would remove her from the equation, but…” He curses softly. “Dinah never lets me forget that Sav is involved in all this. It’s her go-to threat when I’m not feeling cooperative.”
Wow. Every time I think Dinah O’Halloran can’t get any worse, the woman proves me wrong.
Hands in his pockets, he lumbers past us toward the parking lot. He pauses with his hand on his car door and looks over his shoulder. “Want to know who’s here?” He jerks his head toward the entrance. “Check the guestbook.”
Easton and I exchange a wide-eyed why-didn’t-I-think-of-that look.
“Anyway, I gotta go,” Gideon mutters. “It’s a long drive back to school.”
“Later, bro,” Easton calls out.
Gideon gives us a brisk wave before climbing into his car and driving off.
“I feel so sorry for him,” I admit to Easton.
His blue eyes flicker with pain. “Yeah. So do I.”
“Let’s go look at that guestbook.”
I turn to head back inside, only to run into Callum.
“You kids heading home?” he asks. Steve is right behind him. Dinah must still be inside where the guestbook is.
Easton waves his keys. “In a sec. I gotta use the little boys’ room.”
His father nods. “Good. And I’d prefer it if you stayed in tonight.” He gives Easton a warning look. “No wild parties or dock fights. I mean it.”
“We’ll order some takeout and chill by the pool,” Easton promises, surprisingly obliging. He tilts his phone toward me, indicating that he’ll take a picture of the guestbook while I stall the dads. “I’ll be right back.”
The moment that Easton is out of earshot, Steve speaks up. “Actually, I’d like Ella to come back with me.”