Disorder by J.L. Weil

Chapter Eleven

We put the beginnings of Mads’s harebrained scheme into motion Monday at school. The Elite would make it known over the next few weeks that I was one of them, I was in the inner circle of trust. All the while Carter would think I was using this newly gained trust to stab them in the back.

Thinking it caused a pang in my gut.

But first, I had to convince Carter I was willing to help him if he stopped harassing my friends. He was never to touch Mads or Ainsley again or the deal was off. That part needed to be very clear.

If he had a problem, then he came directly to me.

It was a dangerous game but the only way I could see to pacify Carter long enough to come up with a way to take him down. Nothing so far had worked. Like the Elite, Carter had money and a powerful father in his corner. But I had the Elite.

Nothing about this would be easy. And I realized the Elite were putting a lot of trust in me.

I had to do this not just for them, or myself, but for the sister I’d never met. Kenna deserved justice and closure.

I thought about Kenna often, particularly when I was alone with my thoughts. It had only been a little over a week since I found out my life was nothing but a lie. That rage at being deceived and taken from my family still burned bright inside me, and I knew my silence on the matter wouldn’t last much longer.

There were answers I needed from Angie, answers only she could give me.

To say I hadn’t yet dealt with being kidnapped as a baby was an accurate statement. How the fuck did someone cope with that? On one hand, my parents were all I knew. They raised me; however good or bad that had been was debatable. But to me, they were Mom and Dad.

Then there were the Edwardses. It was stupid but a part of me was afraid of how they would react when they found out their dead daughter wasn’t dead after all. Logically they would happy. Shocked, for sure, but happy. Right?

The whole thing was so fucked-up.

There was too much shit in my life to dissect it, compartmentalize my feelings, and know what the right way to handle Angie, Dad, Grayson, Kenna, and my birth parents.

One problem at a time, and right now, Carter took precedence.

My stepbrother was smart. I refused to do anything that might jeopardize his faith in me. I had to convince Carter that while I was living with the enemy, I wouldn’t double-cross. He would expect that of me because it was no secret how much I hated him.

I couldn’t fake that shit.

The hatred was real.

But it was a mutual animosity he would trust.

It took two hours of arguing on Sunday during my first Elite takedown, which Mads demanded she be a part of, before I finally got Brock to agree to let me meet Carter alone. The fact he wanted to hook me up to a wire shouldn’t have been a surprise. Nor should my refusal.

We came to an agreement. The Elite would give me space to talk to Carter, but it had to be in a public place. The Academy was our best bet. In between classes. The lunchroom. Anywhere but the parking lot. Carter and I had history with parking lots and I wasn’t keen on having those memories in my head when we talked.

Third period had just ended when the announcement of a mandatory assembly echoed through the school. A unanimous groan went through the halls. “Any idea what’s going on?” I asked Fynn, who had been waiting at the corner for me.

Fynn shrugged, seeming unconcerned. “Probably some lecture on safe sex or bullying. They usually do them once or twice a year.”

Sometimes when I walked down the halls of Elmwood Academy, I was still struck by the unusual and gothic design. Huge cathedral ceilings hung overhead as I passed into the auditorium. The doorway was arched, black carved wood framing the entrance.

I spotted Carter walking in from the other side. “I’ll catch up with you. There’s something I need to take care of,” I told Fynn, catching his eye.

Fynn’s gaze narrowed but only briefly when he noticed Carter. Fynn gave me a short nod and took off down the aisle to find the Elite.

When opportunity strikes, you take it. This was the safest place to talk to Carter, in a crowded room with lots of noise and witnesses, including the Elite.

“Carter,” I called out as I rushed to the other side, catching him before he turned down the aisle leading to rows of black seats. “Carter!” I said again, this time louder to be heard over all the voices talking.

I finally caught his attention. My skin immediately crawled as his eyes ran over me. It was the first time I’d been at school without a guard dog since my stepbrother decided to get gangster and take me hostage. Despite all the crowds, my veins tingled with unease. “Hey, you got a minute?”

Carter kept his eyes trained on mine. His lips slanted into a spiteful grin. “For you, sis, always.”

Gag me.

I kept my face neutral even though my stomach felt like I’d eaten an entire bag of pop rocks and washed them down with a case of pop. It was all fizzy and crackly inside. “Look, you’ve made your point. I don’t want to see any of my friends get hurt, okay?”

“So you’ve finally come to your senses. Good. Thanks to you, the police came knocking on our door. Dad wasn’t too happy when he found out you were involved.”

Bastard. He would try to make me somehow responsible. Since he was so smug, I assumed nothing came out of the police speaking with him. Typical. I swallowed against the gloating in his eyes, forcing myself to keep going. “What is it you want me to do?”

He shifted closer to me. It was a struggle to not back away. “Are you still crashing at Brock’s?” he asked.

Nodding, I replied, “For the time being.”

His grin turned into a triumphant smirk. “Why are you exactly? Don’t tell me it is because of me?”

I snorted. “You aren’t that important.” But he was in all the ways that were bad about this world.

A crowd of kids weaved around us, but Carter ignored them. “Not like your fuck buddy, huh, but that’s where you’re wrong.”

My heart plummeted, but I refused to let it show. “Can we cut the shit? I don’t have a lot of time. They’re watching.”

“In that case, we better make this look convincing.” He shifted his stance so he was in front of me, using his body as a blockade, a maneuver that screamed Carter. He had a way of isolating someone even in an auditorium filled with hundreds of students.

The flutters of restlessness that entered my belly increased tenfold. “Do you want the fucking thumb drive you’re so obsessed with or not?”

Cater’s mouth flattened. “I’m not sure I can trust you.”

I expelled a ragged breath. “I know I can’t trust you. But you’re not giving me much of a choice here, are you?”

The last few stragglers made their way into the auditorium. Carter and I were running out of time. “The rules are simple. Get me the thumb drive. I want everything the Elite have on me,” he stated, like it was as easy as stealing candy from a baby.

I saw it then, for just a fracture of a second. Fear. “You’re scared. You’re afraid of them.” Of course, I knew Carter had every reason to fear them. With what they had, it could ruin a lot of people’s lives, including the reputation of the Academy.

That kind of information didn’t belong in the hands of someone like Carter. The safest place was right where it was.

“Get me the thumb drive,” he restated, his voice firmer this time. “And the passcode to his phone.”

“What do plan to do with it?”

“Not your business, sis.”

I had a sickening thought. What if Carter didn’t just want to destroy any evidence that could hurt him? What if he wanted to do some destroying of his own? Grayson said there was information on the Elite that could hurt the four of them. There was also information on Kenna, Grayson, and me, proving Angie had kidnapped me from the hospital.

I didn’t want him to see just how much fear the idea of him having that information caused inside me. I lifted a single shoulder, feigning indifference. “Whatever. Keep your end of the deal, and I’ll find out where the thumb drive is.”

“And Brock’s passcode.”

I gritted my teeth. “What good is the passcode if you don’t have the phone?”

His smile turns smug. “I don’t need his phone, just access to his cloud.”

“Fine,” I barked out as needles tiptoed down my spine.

He reached out and grabbed my elbow as I turned to leave. “You’ve got two weeks.”

I jerked out of his hold, my brows slamming together as I suppressed a shudder of revulsion. “Are you kidding?”

That stupid smirk was back plastered on his face. “It shouldn’t be too hard. You are fucking him.”

“After this, you never speak to me again,” I spat.

Carter tugged on his black-and-blue tie. “We’re family. We’re stuck together.”

Fuck. I was going to be sick—all over the Academy’s plush carpet in front of the entire school. I was due for a round of gossip. What better way to get the school talking about me again than spewing right before an Academy announcement?

“You’re nothing to me.” I shoved my way past him and scanned the seats for Brock. It took me a minute of searching before I spotted them near the back of the auditorium.

I sunk into my seat next to Mads. “Girl, you look hung the fuck over.”

My hands shook. I shoved them under my legs. “Carter has the kind of effect on me.”

She shuddered. “Shit, he has that effect on most girls. Except for maybe Ava.”

I followed her line of sight, seeing Carter take a seat next to the Queen B herself. Porter and Shawn were in the same row. Carter leaned close to Ava, whispering something in her ear. Ava said something back, a satisfied smirk on her painted lips.

Mads crossed her legs, a look of disgust on her face. “Nothing good can come out of that pairing. Please tell me they’re not fucking.”

I scrunched my nose. “How would I know?”

“Rumor is, she and her groupies are no longer standby girls.”

The whole concept of having girls to hook up with was disgusting. “Good,” I said.

Mads’s eyes jerked back to mine. “Things are changing around here, and it is all because of you.”

“Wonderful,” I muttered as Principal Wallis took the stage.

* * *

Brock pulled me into his lap, his fingers lingering over my hips. I turned my head toward him, my eyes resting on that too gorgeous face. “What are you doing?” I asked shortly, despite the ache his touch started inside me.

“Setting a precedent,” he said with a deliberate sneer to his lips.

His familiar heat pulled at me, and I could feel myself leaning into him. “And that is lap dances in the lunchroom? Which I am most definitely not doing, by the way.”

He chuckled as one of his fingers hooked into one of the belt loops on my skirt. “That’s not a bad idea, Firefly.”

Mads scrunched her nose as she sat across from us at the table. “Gross. Can we not do this while I’m eating?”

I had to agree with Mads. This wasn’t a lunch-worthy conversation. But my body was like let's get it on.

“I think you might be onto something,” Micah added, grinning like a fool. “Imagine all the stress it could relieve in between classes.”

Relaxing against Brock’s chest, I rolled my eyes. “If you have stress to deal with, hit the weight room,” I suggested, lacing my fingers with Brock’s for two reasons. First, because I wanted to touch him. Second, to keep his hand from going other places.

Grayson shook his head. “Why is it the moment Josie is around, the conversation somehow always turns to sex?”

“Because your sister is fucking hot.”

Brock’s eyes blazed at Micah as he kicked him under the table. Micah only laughed.

My lips twitched as I caught Micah’s sparkling light blue gaze. “You guys realize this is not normal.”

Micah shoved a handful of fries into his mouth. “Talking about sex?”

Someone shoot me.

Mads snorted a laugh. I had a feeling my friend wasn’t as over Micah as she liked to believe. No one laughed at Micah’s jokes but Micah.

“At Public, you’d never get away with having a girl on your lap. The teachers shut down the first signs of PDA. No kissing. No touching. No lap sitting,” I said, shifting purposely in Brock’s lap. He made a small groan that caused my lips to twitch at the corners. If he planned to make me sit on top of him the entire lunch period, then he would suffer for it.

“Public sounds like a drag,” Micah groaned.

Fynn shrugged, a hint of a smile on his lips. “Your normal is not everyone’s.”

Very true.

“What happened with Carter?” Mads asked, changing the course of the conversation, thank God. Not that talking about Carter was any less stomach-turning.

“He took the bait,” I said with a touch of bitterness. This was what we agreed on, but now that it was happening, I was having second thoughts. This is the only way to keep your friends safe. That’s what I kept telling myself. But it wasn’t just for Mads, Kenna, and Ainsley that I was willing to risk my safety. I had to do this for myself as well.

Fynn shook his head, picking at the pepperoni on his pizza. “So predictable.”

Brock slid our joined hands in between my legs, the warmth of his touch seeping into my thigh. I told myself not to shiver under his touch. “His eagerness will be his downfall,” he said, his voice remaining even whereas I was afraid to speak.

“Let’s hope. He lacks the discipline to see this through,” Fynn said, pointing out Carter’s fatal flaw.

“Then we better make it convincing.” I should have noticed the sudden change in Brock’s tone, the husky texture that came into it. I might have been prepared when his fingers slipped into my hair and he fastened his lips to mine.

A voice told me I shouldn’t be kissing him during school, not like this with his tongue tangled with mine. I didn’t abhor public affection. It was the principle behind Brock’s kiss. It would be one thing if he were my boyfriend.

That was not the case.

This kiss claimed me as not just a standby girl, but also Brock’s current favorite, a position Ava prided herself on holding.

Not anymore, bitch.

Of course, the entire thing was a sham.

I definitely was not a standby girl.

As for Brock’s favorite… that might have had a bead of truth to it. As far as I knew, he wasn’t sleeping with anyone else but me.

I told myself not to let it go to my head.

A difficult task when my toes were curling under the table. I melted into him, sinking deeper into the kiss.

Someone cleared his throat.

“Enough,” Grayson grumbled. “I can’t sit here and watch the two of you make out.”

Micah reclined in his chair, looking rather relaxed, a crooked grin on his lips. “I disagree. I’m rather enjoying myself. It’s kind of like watching porn at school.”

My cheeks flamed.

Brock’s gaze cut across the table at Grayson. “This is part of the plan. We need Carter to believe Josie is—”

Grayson dropped a hand on the table with startling force. “My ass. Let’s not pretend you aren’t enjoying every second your lips are attached to hers. This isn’t a game. When are you going to admit that something is going on between you?”

Mads’s jaw dropped. She was thoroughly enjoying this, despite my discomfort. Micah too. He had his chair leaned back, balancing on two legs.

Brock scowled at my brother. “Josie and I have an understanding.”

“Oh, do you?” Grayson snapped, his expression calling Brock a liar.

I saw forward, putting a small amount of space between Brock and me. Not that it mattered. The lazy circles he drew on my inner thigh were driving me crazy. Focus, Josie. “I’m confused. Is this part of the plan?” Brock and Grayson bickering with each other was not a good thing.

“Who fucking knows,” Fynn groused, staring at Brock and Grayson with disapproval.

I never did get an answer. The bell rang.

* * *

On my way to ninth period, I got a text from Ainsley. She must have finally found her phone.

I need to talk to you. Can you meet me after school? I don’t want to be alone right now.

I read Ainsley’s text twice as I sat down at my desk. Did she remember something from the other night?

My best friend needed me, the same friend who had always been there for me, and here I was thinking only about myself, that all the problems in the world revolved around me. Selfish. That’s what I was being. And after what happened to her on Friday night, I’d be a shitty friend not to help her with whatever she was going through.

Of course. Are you okay? Should I be worried?

While I waited for her to respond, I leaned into the aisle toward the desk next to mine. “Hey, Mads. I need a favor.”

She lifted a brow, popping a piece of gum into her mouth. “Anything.”

I lowered my voice. “Can I borrow your car after school? I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

She raised a slim brow. “Everything all right?”

“I don’t know. Ainsley texted me. She needs me.”

“Enough said, girl. Here….” She dug out her keys and handed them to me. “I’ll cover for you for as long as I can.”

The second the bell sounded, announcing the end of class, I shot out of my seat before the teacher could excuse the class. I had only a small window of opportunity to sneak out of school without the guys knowing. Word traveled like a bad STD around here. They had practice and expected me to be there.

Brock would be livid but this was Ainsley. And now that I had a moment to dwell over her text, I was concerned.

Just meet me at Tommy’s.