Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty-Six

Vox

I wait another five minutes for the lot to start emptying before I shove Nicole off me and ignore her pouting, I toss my keys to Archer, who frowns but says nothing when I shake my head. Hayze and Vivian climb in the back. We catch up to Ez and Nova in no time. When Archer pulls over beside them, she smiles at Ez and thanks him but before she takes another step I shove my door open and grab her.

“Vox!” she snaps as I pull her inside the car and lock my arm around her waist, securing her on my lap. “Jesus, let me go!”

“Shut the fuck up!” I snarl in her ear. Instantly she stills and clamps her mouth closed as Archer hits the gas. “Good girl,” I whisper in her ear low enough for only her to hear. She tries to hide the shiver that runs through her by shifting but my chuckle has her growling and elbowing me in the ribs.

“Well, for someone who didn’t know they were screwing my brother you both seem cozy.” Nova stiffens at my sister's declaration.

“Buzz kill, Vivi baby,” Hayze says through his laughter. Nova huffs in annoyance when I wrap my other arm around her.

“I was joking,” Vivian defends.

“Yeah, sure you were, pretty.” Archer snorts out, earning a glare from me.

“Everyone needs to stop giving her fucking pet names!” I snap.

“Oh, but you can screw Nexus’ sister?” Ezekiel calls out, the car descends into silence and the tension ramps up for a moment until Nova begins laughing. A few seconds later the rest of us join her, I have no idea what the fuck is so funny about that comment but the sound of her laughter is infectious and has me smiling like a lunatic.

“Can you pull over here for a sec?” Nova asks Archer. He obeys and pulls onto the shoulder of the road. She shifts on my lap and I growl when her ass keeps rubbing against my dick, and the second she feels what her wiggling has done she turns to me with wide eyes. I shoot her a deadpan look.

“What did you expect?” I ask her teasingly.

“Expect what?” Vivi pipes up and asks.

“Best to not know the answer to that one, Vivi baby.”

“Call her that again, Hayze, and I’ll break your fucking jaw.” I sneer.

“Don’t be so touchy,” my sister scolds, earning an eye roll from me.

“Why did we stop?” I ask Nova redirecting the conversation back to her.

“Where’s the letter I gave you?” My brows draw in and I shake my head.

She huffs. “She knows more than you think, dick bag.” I dig my fingers into her sides and she jolts and smacks my chest. “Stop being an ass, give me the letter.”

“You gonna kiss Nexus again?” Her face reddens with anger but I’m fucking furious, the sight of her lips on his has been burning a hole in my mind all day.

“That wasn’t my idea,” she admits bitterly. “If I didn’t do it he was going to hurt my mom. I told you, ignore me and pretend you don’t know me.”

“Unless you want me to feel your ass in front of everyone, little witch, you’re going to have to grab it out of my pocket.” The guys all snicker while my sister gags and huffs out her annoyance.

“So you can get laid but I can’t?” In an instant Vivian has everyone’s gaze on her.

“Who the fuck touched you?”

“I’ll kill the cunt.”

“He’s dead!”

“The fuck?” My sister scrunches her face and crosses her arms over her chest. I look at each of my boys and narrow my eyes. The way they are looking at my sister is… not brotherly and that shit needs to stop!

“Got it!” Nova announces. I glower at her. “What? Did you really expect me to play with your dick after the stunt you pulled?” She doesn’t give me a chance to answer and just scoffs. I’m more pissed she used my moment of distraction with Vivian to fish the letter out.

“What is it?” Ez asks.

“I told you I was getting letters from my long lost relative, last night he left this on my bed. When I ditched you guys and Nexus, it was in my room.” She leans forward pressing her tits right in my face as she hands Ez the letter. I inhale her scent and fight back the groan that wants to break free. My mouth waters with the memory of how she tastes on my tongue and my cock twitches, drawing her attention back to me. I don’t hide my lust from showing. She searches my gaze for a second and her mouth parts on a silent gasp when I lift my hips to show her what she has done to me, but the moment is shattered when Ez speaks.

“This is my family’s seal…”

“What?” she questions.

“The seal, the T stands for Tempest.” I can hear the shock and confusion in my best friend's voice.

“Read it,” she encourages. Ez reads the letter aloud. Archer and I share a loaded look.

“He knows you met us?” Arch says.

Nova nods. “I think so.”

“If he saw you with us then he knows who we are,” Hayze mutters, looking shocked and slightly angered by this revelation.

“Can I see the other letters?” Ez asks, clearly shocking Nova.

“Yeah, I guess so. I need to get home or Nexus is going to lose his shit.” I grit my teeth and say nothing as Archer drives. We stop at the end of the street and let her out but before she closes the door she says, “The proof you wanted, I wasn’t lying, it's in your garden shed on the shelf at the back.”

“With Thomas hunting your uncle and everything else going on, why would you give up your one bargaining chip?” I ask.

She rolls her eyes. “Because unlike you, Vox, I don’t get off on hurting people. Plus, if you fuckers think I am paying you a debt for getting me into this shit, then you are sorely mistaken because I don’t owe any of you a goddamn thing.”

“Right on, sister,” Vivian calls out as Nova closes the door and walks home. Archer spins the car around and does a few laps around the block so Nexus doesn’t suspect us of giving her a lift home. When we finally pull into the driveway of my house I glare at the sight of Thomas’ car. The five of us head inside. We find Mom in the kitchen, cooking with Olivia. We all say hi to mine and Ez’s mom before we head to my room. I don’t trust Thomas to not be watching us so we’ll have to wait until after the meeting to get the proof.

I’ve been on edge all fucking afternoon. When it was finally time for us to leave for the meeting, I couldn’t help but look at Nova’s window, trying to catch a glimpse of her. Her room light was off but her balcony doors were open, almost as if she was inviting me inside.

The drive to the town hall is filled with tense silence. I park my car in the lot that is too full for this time of night but no one will ever question it. The town of Hollow Hills always turns a blind eye to shit like this, they never want to get on the wrong side of the big names in the community. Hayze leans forward and peers through the windscreen and frowns.

“Why the fuck is mine and Arch’s dads here?” I follow his gaze to his father and Archer’s standing there, staring right at us. Without delay the four of us climb out of my car and head toward them. Shane and Henry both look tired and unhappy about being here. Hayze cuts in front of me and steps closer to his father. “What are you doing here?” he asks his dad.

“When the lord summons all members to a meeting, we don’t have the luxury of telling him to fuck off.” The bite in Shane Draven’s tone can’t be missed, him and Henry haven’t hidden their hatred for Thomas. We are not able to harm or kill a member but that doesn’t mean Thomas hasn’t made it difficult for them to work. He’s brought in out-of-town construction companies, icing out Henry and Shane’s construction company of the business. Ez and my family are just lucky we still have a steady income from our father’s investments to keep us afloat.

“You boys need to have each other's backs. Thomas is up to something and I have this gut feeling his disgraceful son is included in this,” Henry warns. Ever since mine and Ez’s dad passed away these two have stepped up and raised us like their own sons. Shane taught me how to play football and took me and Hayze to every game. Henry is the one who taught Ez about fixing cars and how to change oil filters and everything else there is to know. They both took my sister to her first father-daughter dance at school. I remember standing back, holding my mom as she cried knowing it wasn’t their place to do that but ever so grateful that my sister didn’t have to miss out.

“We got this, Dad. We think we can finally take them down,” Archer whispers. Both men jerk back with wide eyes.

“You found it?” Shane breathes out in awe.

“We need to go through it but I think so,” I admit.

“How?” Henry asks.

“Let’s just say, Vox’s extracurricular activities with Thomas’ new stepdaughter may have worked in our favor.” I glare at the side of Ezekiel’s head, the bastard just shoots me a wink.

“Fuck, play with someone else, Vox, if he catches you with her…” He lets his sentence trail off, we all know what he is implying. Thomas isn’t above committing murder to get what he wants. “Just… keep us in the loop, okay?” Henry says as he places a hand on my shoulder. I nod. He darts his gaze between me and Ez looking sad. “They were your fathers but they were also our best friends, our brothers. We want in on what you have planned. None of us want to see your sister blooded in.” I grit my teeth at the mention of Vivi. “Come on, if we’re late he will make a scene about it and for now we all need to fly under the radar.” We all nod and follow after Shane and Henry.

As we enter the main room where everyone is gathered for the meeting, I fight not to scoff at the sight of Thomas smiling and shaking hands with other high-ranking members. It still blows my mind that our own fucking principal is a member of the Saints—doctors, the mayor and even the police fucking chief is here as well. I spy Nexus standing beside his father, dressed to the nines in a suit looking the part of the perfect bastard son. When he spots us the smile slips before he quickly recovers and nudges his father, then flicks his head toward us. Thomas smiles politely and excuses himself before storming toward us. He isn’t fooling anyone, I can see the hatred in his eyes as he looks to the four of us. He pays Henry and Shane no mind as he stops before me with a look of disdain etched into his features.

“I want an update,” he grits out.

“There’s nothing to update, we’ve tried tracking the fucker but there isn’t a trace left behind,” I answer with a cocky lilt to my voice. He knows for a fact we haven’t lifted a finger or even really tried to find this fucker for him. If anything, we’d happily aid him in destroying the Saints.

“He’s been in my house, toying with my daughter?—”

“Stepdaughter,” I correct.

“Don’t fucking cut me off again, boy. I have been hospitable toward the four of you for long enough. I want this masked wearing fucker found, he knows too much.”

Shock ripples through me, it takes everything inside me to keep it from splaying on my face. I can feel the guys all staring at me but I say nothing. “Mask?” I query.

Thomas grinds his teeth and narrows his eyes. “He’s broken into my home and my stupid stepdaughter has whored herself out to him, numerous times.” My breathing grows erratic at the thought of this cunt seeing Nova like that. “Here.” He lifts his hands and Nexus places four black envelopes into his hand, then Thomas passes them to me. I look over them and lock my jaw when I see he has clearly removed the seal from the back. “These should help, now get out of here. I don’t want the likes of the four of you ruining my evening.” Before Thomas can turn and flee, Nexus cuts in.

“You four need to stay the fuck away from Nova.” All rational thought flees me as I take a step toward Nexus, but Archer grips the back of my shirt, halting me.

“Why? What does she have to do with any of this?”

Nexus’ gaze darkens. “You fucking touch her?—”

Thomas cuts his son off before he can continue spewing empty threats. “She is our family and is off limits, she has been promised to another.” My brows raise in horror.

“What?” Hayze snaps, drawing their attention to him.

A devious smirk graces Nexus' face as he straightens his suit jacket and shoots Hayze a wink. “Nova isn’t fair game. She may be a whore but she has a great pedigree and we will take great pleasure in teaching the pig how to behave.”

“She isn’t your fucking pet,” I seethe.

Nexus just shrugs and smiles as he says, “She is nothing but a pig to the slaughter and the sooner she realizes that, the better things will be for her.”

“The five of you have a reputation to uphold in the halls of your school, don’t forget that,” Thomas bites out before he turns and stalks away with his bitch of a son following after him. The six of us stand here staring after them.

“The four of you need to get out of here,” Shane says, shooting us a pleading look. Begrudgingly we obey him, say our goodbyes and escape while we still can. With these letters and the evidence Nova found, we may just have enough to take Thomas down and finally put an end to the Saints once and for all.