“Have you talked to your brother more? Told him anything else that happened?”
She shook her head. “No. Lennox would lose his shit if he knew how bad it was. He’s not rational, you know? Sloane has been great about keeping him calm and occupied and not thinking about it, but he wants to run in and protect me. And since I’m already safe right now, protecting me will just look like murdering Chad.”
I cleared my throat, knowing this one was tricky. “Have you spoken to Phin?”
Her eyes went wide and she plastered her whole body into the corner of the couch. “No, I have not spoken to Phin.”
“You know full well that he’d want to know if something had happened to you.”
“Well, he’s not going to know. He doesn’t get to know what Chad tried to do. Besides, Rhys took care of him.”
I sighed and nodded. “Yes, but maybe we should call the police anyway, so the consequences will be more permanent.”
“You don’t know Rhys. Likely the consequences are permanent. And the police can’t know, Tanith. If they knew, then there would always be a chance the story would leak.” Aurora sighed and rubbed a thumb along her forehead. “I can’t put my family through that bad press. They’ve already been through enough with my dad being an unmediated shitpouch. I should have never left my security behind. That was so stupid. I’d just wanted away from Phin.”
“You sure you don’t want Phin to know all of it?” The rest of us could see the air clearly, that the two of them were actually meant for each other. But they were fighting it. I guessed whatever heartbreak had happened two summers ago had been unforgivable, and yet they still couldn’t seem to let each other go.
True to form, Aurora made a face. “He doesn’t deserve to know.”
“There you are.”
I whipped around when I heard the deep baritone voice behind me, and my insides turned to jelly.
Aurora jumped up. “Yup, there’s my cue to leave.”
I looked back at her. “Hey, Aurora, we’re not done yet.”
She nodded. “Yes, we are.” Then she scooted around with a quick nod.
“Aurora, wait . . .”
With a twirl, she gave me a wave goodbye. “I’ll see you later. Oh, and, Owen, if you hurt my friend, Sloane and I will cut off your balls. Have fun.” With a tight smile, she bounced out.
Owen’s gaze was on mine and direct. “Is she okay?”
I shrugged. “She says yes, so clearly not.”
He strode over and wrapped his arms around me, tucking me close. I automatically nuzzled into his neck. “Hi.”
“Hello, beautiful. I missed you.” I couldn’t help but grin. His voice went even softer as he chuckled. “I can feel you smiling against me.”
“You feel nothing.”
He ground his hips into me then. “Well, you’re about to feel something, all right.”
I giggled and then pulled back. “You’re the worst.”
“Well, I just want my girlfriend to know how much I missed her all day. I didn’t get to hold her last night.”
“No, because the dorm monitors are on a rampage. Some of the kids who stayed over break were having a good time shacking up in the dorms, so everyone’s been on the lookout for infractions. Therefore, not wise.”
“I’m fucking Hellfire Club. They can’t touch me.”
“No, not you. But they can touch me.”
“Then maybe we need to make it known that you’re mine.”
“I think that ship has sailed. We’re not being as discreet as we think we are.”
He shrugged. “Fine by me. Let the whole world know.” He leaned then and brushed his lips over mine.
“Does that include your mother?”
He pulled back and pressed his lips together. “Fuck. No. Okay, I see your point.” He glanced back at the door. “But seriously, though, is Aurora okay?”
I shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. Something bad definitely happened last weekend, but she’s not comfortable talking about it in detail yet.”
Owen’s jaw went tight. “Was Felix involved more than we thought?”
I could see the worry, the concern, the disgust in his eyes. I just wrapped my arms around him tighter. “She says it was all Chad, which matches what Rhys said when we found her. She won’t tell me exactly what happened, but she looks . . . I don’t know. Not okay. I can extrapolate, but . . .”
He nodded. “Phin’s not talking either. He’s beside himself, though. He’s acting even more like a dick than usual. Fucking Chad. You know, I’ve always hated him. He has a way of getting my brother into these messes.”
“There were messes like this before?”
His brows furrowed. “No. But you know, they’ve managed to run around unchecked for a long time. There was one time they went to the city, and he convinced Felix to drop acid. Felix got arrested that night and it was just so humiliating for my parents. They even had to get him to a doctor because he was tripping so bad. It was a mess.”
“Jesus.”
“Yeah. Then there was the other time Chad hired hookers to come to my parents’ house. One of them was underage.”
“Fuck.”
Owen nodded. “Yeah, a real fucking mess. But Felix actually came through. He didn’t mess about with her and made sure Chad didn’t either. It was one of the few times I was actually proud of Felix. He took one look at her and knew she wasn’t old enough to be there. He found out she was fifteen years old.”
I winced. “Where the fuck were her parents? Or Chad’s?”
Owen shrugged. “I don’t know, but I do know that Felix got rid of the hookers, kept her behind, and waited until Mum came back from wherever she was that night. Mum sorted her, returned her to her parents or wherever the hell she was from. Probably paid her off to make sure she didn’t come and point fingers, but I remember Felix
