Jaden (Jaded #3)

I turned back around. Bryce had helped Michael back up and untied him. I went over to him and tilted my head to the side. Both guys looked up, but Bryce went back to letting Ritt loose.

“Tit for tat, Ritt,” I said. “You narc on us, we’ll narc on you. And trust me, we’ll make it sound worse than anything you can cook up in that fried mind. Got it?”

He nodded wearily. “He’s going to kick me out of the fraternity.”

“You used him.”

Bryce paused and lifted his head. His eyes rested on me, and I felt like he was hearing something in my voice, seeing something through my wall I didn’t realize was coming out. I flushed, but then hardened my jaw. I didn’t care at that moment. All I cared about was Corrigan.

I added, “You used him, and you betrayed his trust. You abused your friendship, your brotherhood. You should be thankful that’s all that’s happening to you.”

We left him there with the instructions to leave the warehouse and lock it behind him. He was instructed to sit and wait. Bryce called a cab for him as we left the parking lot. After he hung up, he glanced at Corrigan. “He’s got some major injuries. You don’t think he’ll say anything?”

Corrigan’s eyes were narrowed. “No, I don’t think he’ll say a word, not if he’s smart, not if he wants something worse done to him.”

Bryce met my gaze in the reflective mirror. Corrigan had been outside when I said those words. The fact they were almost the same, word for word, wasn’t lost on me. Like I realized, Corrigan and I were alike.

We understood each other.

I turned away and felt a slice of pain through my chest. Something else had happened in that warehouse. I had realized how Bryce and I were not alike anymore, and the distance between us felt like an ocean now.

It was almost too wide to overcome.

“Okay,” Bryce announced, turning the car to the right on the highway.

Denton’s house was to the left.

Before we could ask where we were going, Bryce held a hand up. “Ritt was a dead end, but we need to celebrate.”

“Celebrate?” Celebrate what?

He said to me, “Ritt’s not your stalker. That’s one celebration, and the other is that you’re no longer a suspect. We should’ve celebrated last week, but we didn’t. We’re doing it now. I don’t care what happens. We’re drinking. We’re laughing. We’re taking a fucking break from this world right now.”

There was a moment of silence, then I said, “Thank god. I need a break.”

Corrigan grinned, and some of my tension eased at that.

Bryce was a genius, although this time away presented some problems of its own. Like the fact that it was only Bryce, Corrigan, and me. I pressed a hand to my stomach, feeling somersaults.

The love triangle just got real.

*

Bryce took us to a biker dive bar on the edge of the city. A line of motorcycles littered the front of it, and when we got inside, it was mostly bikers.

Corrigan said it perfectly, “Well. Being recognized isn’t a worry I have for us here.”

Bryce laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. “Come on.” He wound his way through the room to a table in the back section. When we went past the pool tables, I saw there were others there. They weren’t wearing the leather jackets like the rest of the bikers and were wearing jeans and sweatshirts like us. Sliding onto my chair, I could only stare at those people.

“What’s up?” Corrigan noticed my reaction.

“I’m not a biker.” I gestured around the bar. “I should be worried being in a place like this, but I’m not.” I paused, wondering if that was true. “Yep. Nothing. I don’t feel a thing. We have the best weapon in the world.”

Both Bryce and Corrigan were grinning. They knew what I was going to say.

I said it anyway. “The media. One call and thirty news stations will swarm this place. Nothing’s scarier than a camera light in your face and a nosy reporter sticking her mic where it’s not welcomed.”

“Hey, folks.” A waitress came over. She was tiny, her blond hair pulled into two side braids, and she was a burst of fresh air. Her face was heavily made up with blue eye shadow, black lipstick, and glitter on her cheeks. She wore a black tank top with the cleavage area ripped to show more boobage. Her eyes caught and held on Bryce.

I waited for the recognition, then a look of horror would come to me.

Nothing happened. She gave him a slow seductive smile instead.

Corrigan started laughing.

I was grinning, too.

“Shut up, you guys.” Bryce ducked his head down, but he was grinning, too.

“Oh-kay.” The waitress glanced around the table. “Can I get you three a drink?”

Corrigan slammed down a fifty-dollar bill. “Bring as many pitchers of beer that will pay for.”

“All right, indeedy.”

He snapped his fingers and pointed at her. “And keep ten of it for a tip.”

She winked at him, her voice growing warmer. “I can see who my favorite customers are going to be tonight.” Tucking the money between her fingers, she winked back at him. “Be back soon, freshlings.”

When she was gone, I smirked. “Freshlings?”