“You’re in a room full of tall people. You’re allowed to ask for help,” Noah says as Jay moves to shut the blinds.
By the time the blinds are down, Parker and Lucca return with the blankets. “How do you want to do this? We can pile a couple together and then have to lie close to one another, or we each get two and deal with the hard floor.” Even though Parker addresses all of us, he looks at me.
I shrug at him. “I trust you guys. I don’t think any of you would do anything I didn’t want if we were alone. I definitely don’t think you would try anything while we’re together. This isn’t the first time I’ve slept with you guys.”
“Okay. Let’s put them in two groups. Cassie, you can pick where you want to sleep.” Parker is evil.
I don’t want to pick. “I don’t care where I sleep. You guys go wherever you’re most comfortable.”
I pick the blankets on the left to lie on. Now, they’ll have to choose. I end up with Parker and Jay. They argue that Noah and Lucca spent more time with me earlier.
For a few minutes, we lie in the quiet dark before Lucca brings up the events of tonight. “What do you guys think is going on here? Are we not safe?”
Lucca doesn’t sound worried, but Noah does when he responds. “I’m not sure what to think about all this. Some girl here is being targeted. We can ask around to see whose mother’s name is Lesia.”
“Well, we know it wasn’t me.” I stare up at the dark ceiling. “My mom was a Jane Doe. No one knows where she came from or what her real name was. She was unconscious and dying when the paramedics found her. They barely managed to save me.” I’ve been told the story a few times by different foster parents.
“Not that I want anyone to get hurt, but I feel better knowing it isn’t you.” Jay elbows me. “I would have to watch your cabin from now on when you’re not with us.”
“That’s great. Did I mention earlier I don’t want anyone to get hurt because of me?” I elbow him back. “I think I’m talking to myself with you four.”
Jay throws out ideas on what we should do next. “We should do some background checks on the people here we know. We can connect Lesia to Mr. Smyth. That might give us an idea of where to start.”
“I can do checks on the camp as well. If we can figure out what company runs this place, we can check on them, too.” Noah now sounds excited. He’ll be in his element checking this out.
“I think I should follow Kelly or Mr. Smyth around.” I don’t get to tell them why before they all yell, “No!”
“Hear me out, please,” I plead with them. “I’m small and quiet. I can make my way around to find them. They know more than they’ve told us, and it doesn’t appear like they’re going to say anything else to us.”
“It’s not safe. We need to stick together,” Lucca argues.
“We can go in teams. Cassie and I can check out the people. Noah will be safe checking out computer stuff. Parker and Lucca can question the girls. The girls here will say just about anything to them for a smile.” Jay laughs.
Parker sighs loudly. “Fine, but we’ll have regular checkins at the Corral. We’ll also continue our evening training.”
We all agree to the plan before we fall asleep.
EPILOGUE
- Jay’s POV -
“Is she asleep?” Parker whispers.
I gently brush her hair away from her face. With our focus on the night’s activities, Cassie fell asleep without cleaning up and dried blood clumps the hair together on her forehead. She sighs softly and leans into me but doesn’t open her eyes when I touch her. “She’s asleep.”
“We’ll need to wake her up at some point tonight to make sure she doesn’t have a concussion.” Noah leans over to get a better look at her. “She wasn’t out for long, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“I’ll remember,” I tell them since it’s not like I’ll get much sleep with her next to me. I’ve never slept next to a girl before. Her head rests on my bicep, and her body curls into my side. This is something I could get used to.
“Earth to Jay.” Parker jabs me in the side.
Luckily, I don’t move much. I’d hate to wake her. I need to get my head in the game because she’s distracting. “What?”
“You know, I used to laugh at my mom because she was hung up on reality TV shows,” Noah muses. “I always wondered how a person could know someone for only a few weeks and be ready to marry them. I can see the draw now. Being so close to one person days on end brings you so much closer to them. Much more than someone we go to school with.”
Either I spoke out loud, they can read my thoughts, or we’re all thinking the same thing because Noah’s thoughts match ones I’ve been having for the last week. This is going to get harder as time goes by. “I know. She won’t get close to any of us, though.”
“She’s mentioned it several times already. At the end of the summer, we’ll all go back home, and she’ll be by herself. She won’t let herself get attached. We can’t push her, but I would date her in a heartbeat.” Noah and his honesty…
“I wonder if there are any boarding schools near where she lives. My parents are sending me to the States for my last year.” Lucca is much too excited about his options. “I might as well go somewhere close to her instead of New York. My parents won’t even know if I’m not around. She wouldn’t have to lose one of us that way.”
“I’m sure there’s a University near her as well. We can be roommates.” Parker nods at Lucca.
I shake my head at them. “She’ll never pick between the two of you. If you start this now, the next six weeks will be a nightmare. Parker, you can’t give up your full ride to Stanford. She just needs us to be her friend.”
It’s not fair they have options to be closer to her. From her stories, she doesn’t know where she’ll be tomorrow, let alone in twelve months when we’ll be able to be together again.
“I can get a scholarship anywhere,” Parker retorts.
Noah laughs at him. “Ohio State would be decent, but it’s not going to match Stanford. Just give it up now.”
“Guys! There’s no point in arguing about this, and if she hears us, she’s going to be mad. We need to talk about what happened tonight.” I push to get them back on track. I have no chance with her, so it’s depressing to think about. The easy thing to do would be to push her away, but I don’t want to do that, either.
“You’re right. We need to keep to our agreement to just be friends with her. She doesn’t need us fighting.” Noah sighs, but I can tell he wants more.
“Do we think one of the girls here is a target? If so, why would they choose this year to do it? It can only be Cassie or one of the new younger girls. Cassie says she doesn’t know her mother’s name, but what if someone else knows her story?” Parker ticks off our questions.