I pass through the hallway, feeling much better. The throbbing pain in my head is still there, but my brain and muscle functionality has pretty much returned to normal the longer I’m awake. The shower helped a lot too, just as Wyatt said.
Before I even get to the living room, Stone’s raised voice carries toward me. It doesn’t take long to figure out that he’s not talking to Wyatt or Lucas, he’s on the phone. “It was a mistake,” he growls. When I emerge, his head snaps up to meet me. His irises are huge. His hair is disheveled like he’s run his fingers through it ever since he woke up from being drugged. His face is pale, and if I didn’t know the true Stone Jacobs, I’d feel sorry for the guy in front of me. He looks like he could use a hug.
Not from me. Definitely not from me.
“We’re taking care of it,” he snaps again. A beat of silence follows before he stands up straight, throwing his shoulders back like a soldier standing at attention. “No. No, of course not. Yes, Father.”
Lucas comes up behind me, entwining our fingers. Stone’s gaze drops to our joined hands, and his eyes flare with something like jealousy.
I must be really out of it because that can’t be it. His father must be saying something on the other end of the line to cause that reaction. As I’ve already been told, whatever Stone’s infatuation with me is can’t happen. Not that I truly believe there’s any sort of infatuation.
“We’ll take care of it,” Stone says, calmer now before hanging up the phone. He spins on his heel and throws the phone across the room. It crashes against the cupboards, glass splintering and denting the wood. He lets out an inhuman growl that makes me stiffen.
“Stone...” Wyatt starts.
“Give me a minute,” he says in a voice like sandpaper being dragged over jagged stone. He takes several deep breaths, his fingers lost in his hair as he stares at the ground. Like he promised, within a couple of minutes, he gazes up again. His calm facade back into place. It’s scary how quickly he can change his demeanor. It makes me wonder if I’m ever seeing the real Stone Jacobs, or if everything he wears is just a pretense.
He turns to the couch that he slumped against earlier and falls back on the cushions like he owns the place. Wyatt pats him on the back as he eyes Lucas and I. Lucas guides me over to the opposite couch, and we sit.
“How are you?” Stone asks, the gravelly texture in his voice gone. In its place is the even tone I’m used to hearing from him.
“I’m better,” I say.
“You probably have a lot of questions.”
“You could say that.”
Stone leans forward, draping his hands over his thighs so his fingers dangle over his knees. “We were given a dose of Rohypnol that was ground up and put on our food. It was a high dosage which caused us all to pass out. The drug is most commonly referred to as the date-rape drug.”
“Wait.” I cock my head. “How the fuck do you know all this?”
“I called a scientist I’m friendly with as soon as I woke up. I had one of his lab assistants pick up a piece of the pizza and rush it to his lab. He tested it and told me, confirming my suspicions.” He takes a breath. “We don’t believe you were raped, but I will send you for a rape kit if you so desire.”
“Wait. What?”
“Jesus Christ, Stone,” Lucas snaps. He pulls on my arm to make me look at him. He sears me with his brown gaze. “You weren’t disturbed at all. When Wyatt woke up, we were all in the same positions. You were fully clothed. Nothing out of place. There is absolutely no evidence that anything happened to you, even from the video feed.” He motions toward the cameras in the room. “Stone just likes to be thorough, that’s all. You weren’t raped,” Lucas promises.
My heart beats like crazy in my chest.
“Pretty sure I just said that,” Stone argues. He takes another deep breath and lets it out. “Continuing,” he says, agitation lacing his voice. “While we were out, whoever did this to us took pictures and sent them to my father. That seems to be their whole aim, just letting us know how easily they can get to us.” He pauses for a moment, then with a straight face and little emotion says, “I’m very sorry.”
I close my eyes. Is he a robot? Like, what is wrong with him? I was given roofies and photographed while I was incoherent. “Just tell me what’s going on,” I grind out. “All of it.” As much as I want to be mad at them, some of this is my fault. I have a sneaking suspicion this is a lot more dangerous than I originally thought. They tried to warn me, and I dismissed it.
“I’ve been waiting for you to be ready to hear this,” Stone says.
Lucas grips my fingers tighter. I lean forward, eyeing his friend and my family’s natural enemy. “I’m ready.”
“There is someone else after the treasure,” Stone says, lifting a brow to stare at me. “And it’s not a normal outfit. They’re not tracking off our leads. They’re not looking for what we know, so they can make inferences and go search for themselves.” His Adam’s apple bobs up and down. “They’re exploiting my family. If we don’t get them the treasure, they’re going to kill us.”
23
I eye Stone on the way to school from the backseat. All of us are functioning on very little sleep, yet he looks the most put together. There’s just the tightening around his eyes that’s proof of us staying up late into the night after being drugged so he could tell me the story of
