The Revenge by Tijan

It was still a kind gesture, just with invisible strings.

Quinn was found guilty and sentenced to prison for twenty-five years.

After the second month, Peter returned to his job again, and soon the family was hosting banquets and events at the house again. It reminded me of the summer when Quinn hosted them, but I realized this was normal life for everyone who was not a Hayes. Chrissy helped with the banquets, but they were mostly Peter’s deal.

Chrissy returned to working part time at a private clinic not far from the estate, and stayed living at the Chesapeake.

She was happy.

Matt returned to his evenings at Naveah, with Tony, Chester, Guy, and the girls. I went, but not often. If I went, it was for one drink with my brother and then I would head up to spend time with Kash. If he was working or needed to remain working, I would do my schoolwork on his couch or curl up and take a nap. It was our new normal.

The other thing that went back to normal was Kash’s notoriety.

He returned to having his picture taken by local gossip sites.

Word hadn’t leaked about Chase, but we all knew that was coming one day. I, for one, wasn’t excited for it to happen. The world would find out there was two of them, and the world would go nuts. There’d be a frenzy.

I didn’t want that, but I totally understood it.





FIFTY-NINE

Bailey


We were celebrating tonight.

Our last day of classes was today. We had a weekend, and then my classmates and I were starting our internships on Monday. So tonight, we were doing a whole Long Island theme night. Everyone came together after being off doing their own thing.

Melissa roped in Torie and Tamara, and everyone had started with the same bar/club crawl as we’d had for our girls’ night so long ago—or it seemed like so long ago.

We went to the biker bar first.

Then we went to Octavo.

Now everyone was ending the night at Naveah, and I’d requested ahead of time to get the VIP booth for our group. Torie helped push that request through, mostly by marching up to the booth and shooing Tony, Guy, and Chester out of there. They weren’t happy when they saw that we weren’t alone. We had our guy classmates with us. Liam was back to being approved, since he moved out from living with Hoda.

Hoda.

I’d forgotten about her. I hadn’t seen her on campus or at the library at all. Team Batt maybe needed to do some investigating. The other thing new: Melissa and Liam came in holding hands.

Dax, Shyam, and the rest of the guys were with them when they all arrived.

“Hey, sister.” Matt bumped my shoulder next to me. “Where’s your man?”

“He’s with his brother tonight.”

“Really?”

I nodded. I was having another Long Island, and I was right at the stage of alcohol where I wanted my man with me, but I was reining it in. I didn’t want to be one of those couples, who couldn’t spend an entire day away from each other.

Nope. Not me.

But yeah, I missed Kash. I wanted to see Kash.

Fine. We were that couple. All gooey and cheese and mushy.

Matt sighed. “I can already tell you’re going to be moping tonight. Go, sister.”

“What?”

He shook his head, flicking his hands in the air. “Go. You want your man, so go and get your man. Go. Find him. Drag him away from that brother.”

“Oh no. I’m good. I’m with friends tonight.”

“Go. To. Him.” He spelled it out, rolling his eyes. “It’s your turn, sister. Be selfish.”

“You sure?”

Matt mock-glared at me. “Now you’re pissing me off.”

I laughed, finished my drink, and grabbed my purse before sliding out of the booth.

“Where are you going?” Torie called out.

I waved at her. “Gonna go find Kash! ’Night, guys. Don’t drink too much.” I grinned, because the guys were almost falling over by then. Melissa was buzzed, with Tamara drunk. Torie was the only one sober. I wasn’t sure what Matt was, but he hadn’t joined us until Naveah. He didn’t get the boot like the other guys. As for myself, I was definitely buzzed.

Fitz moved in when I walked down the pathway. “I want to see Kash.”



* * *



It had been a whole battle.

Fitz on one side.

Me on the other.

He was all like “You should stay, be with your friends.”

And I was like “No! I want my man. Take me to my man,” in my drunken state.

Fitz lost, and now we were outside my old apartment building and he was going in first. He said the coms weren’t working for some reason, so I stayed behind with Drake. Kash had taken to keeping Josh and Scott with him at all times, which I understood, but I missed the guys. When Drake got the notice to send me in, I was expecting to see Josh or Scott at the door.

I assumed they would escort me upstairs, but it was a no-go that night.

The building was probably on lockdown, so I headed up myself.

I was just leaving the elevator when the door to our old apartment opened. Out walked Kash, alone.

He was looking at his phone, but then looked up and stopped in his tracks.

“What are you doing here?” He looked beyond me, his face darkening. “Why are you alone?”

“Where’s Scott and Josh? They weren’t at the door.”