Trenton - Your other option is an abortion, otherwise you’re on your own.

  Rachael - Okay, fine. I’ll do it.

  Trenton - Good. Now don’t message me again. No one can know about this.

  Horror settles into my chest, and as I lift my gaze from the phone, I meet Tanner’s concerned stare. “Mom?” he questions. “You don’t look so good.”

  “Here,” I say, passing him the phone, a strange hollowness inside my heart. “You need to read this.”

  Chapter 33

  BRIELLE

  “OH FUCK. GO, GO, GO,” Addison yells as she races down the hill of Bradford Private toward the student parking lot, school security hot on her tail.

  “Oh, shit,” Tanner laughs, shoving the key into the ignition and starting the engine as I dive into the backseat of the Mustang, making space for a quicker getaway.

  Tanner throws the car in reverse and hits the gas, flying out of his spot before reaching over and opening the passenger door just in time for Addison to fly through it. The door slams behind her, and Tanner puts his foot to the ground, skidding out of here like a bat out of hell, only narrowly escaping school security.

  “What the fuck was that?” Addison demands, whipping around to fix me with a hard stare after receiving a very shady text from me to meet us in the school parking lot and make it quick. But hell, once I received the heads up, I wasn’t about to waste a perfectly good opportunity.

  “You’ll have to wait and see,” I tell her as Tanner grins, knowing damn well what’s coming her way. “But I promise, it’s worth the after-school detention we’re all about to get.”

  Addison groans, trying to get comfortable in her seat. “I didn’t even think about that.”

  A smirk stretches across my face as I rest back in my seat, and it doesn’t move the whole ride into the city, despite Addison’s endless demands to be told what the hell is going on.

  We pull up across the road of the office I was only just rummaging through a few days ago, and I grab a bag of popcorn, shoving it into the front seat. “Here,” I say, dropping it into her lap.

  Addison’s whole demeanor shifts, unease and nervousness flashing in her eyes. “What the hell are we doing here?” she demands, recognizing Orlando’s office. “I wanna go home. I don’t like this.”

  Tanner rests his hand over his sister’s. “Just sit back and watch the show,” he tells her. “I promise, it’ll all be worth it.”

  Addison groans and sits back in her chair as my knees bounce, the anticipation of what’s about to happen almost killing me. My phone buzzes and I stop breathing, terrified I’m about to be told this isn’t going ahead, but when I pull my phone out, I find a new text from Miranda, a girl I used to go to school with.

  I open it to find a video, and I quickly read the text before pressing play.

  Miranda - Dude, you should see this shit. That video your friend posted last week made the rounds big time and now Erica is getting her ass handed to her. She just got booed out of the cafeteria and then escorted off school grounds. She won’t be showing her face here again.

  What the hell?

  I hit play on the video and the sound of the entire student body of Hope Falls fills the Mustang, and I watch as Erica is escorted out of the cafeteria by the assistant principal, dragging her by the arm as the students boo and throw food at her back.

  “Holy shit,” I breathe, my gaze glued to the phone.

  “What’s that?” Tanner questions, glancing at me in the backseat.

  I scoot forward in my seat and hold my phone out. “Here, check this out,” I tell them, starting the video from scratch as Addison and Tanner lean over to get a better view. A few seconds play before they understand what’s going on, and I watch as Addison’s brows arch. “I know it’s not exactly the justice you were hoping to get with her, but at least she’s being held accountable now.”

  “Yeah, I guess, I just—” Addison freezes, her gaze drawn out the window as no less than twenty police cars come screeching down the road, every single one of them coming to a stop around the building. Some stop out front while others go around back, making sure no one from inside can make a break for it. “What’s going on?” Addison rushes out, sitting up straighter with her eyes glued out the window.

  Excitement drums through my veins as I tear open my bag of popcorn. Show time.

  I shove a handful of yummy goodness into my mouth like some kind of rabid animal. “I might have found a little dirt on one particular dirty lawyer that may or may not put him away for the rest of his life while also convicting Colby of exactly what he did.”

  “What?” she breathes, her eyes wide, watching as the cops bail out of their cars and race through the door, kicking it down, and raiding the place as though they’re in some kind of movie. “Holy shit. You found the real rape kit report?”

  “She sure did,” Tanner says with a proud, boastful grin. “Along with every other fucked-up thing he’s ever done. Orlando Channing is done for.”

  Addison laughs and rests back into her seat, watching the show like it’s prime time television. She scoops a massive handful of popcorn into her mouth. “Oh my God,” she cackles, just as more cops show up and start taping off the area to all the press who have come crawling from every direction. Big camera crews and reporters are all rushing around to get the money shot. “This is amazing.”

  Tanner glances back at me, his eyes so bright and happy it makes me want to kick Addison out and screw him right here and now. Fuck getting written up for indecent exposure. It’ll all be worth it.

  Barely a few minutes have passed before two cops come striding out of the office with Orlando in handcuffs. They shove him hard, pushing him toward a police cruiser, and before I even know what’s happening, Addison’s window is down and she’s calling out to him. “HEY, ORLANDO,” she hollers, making sure he hears her loud and clear. Her hand flies out the window just as Orlando’s head snaps up, and she flips him the bird, grinning wide so he knows exactly who’s responsible for his downfall. “FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE. ENJOY PRISON.”

  Just as Addison sits back in her seat, Orlando’s head disappears into the back of the cruiser. “You’re right,” she says with a satisfied grin. “That was totally worth the after-school detention.”

  We sit and watch the show, and as the minutes pass, Addison’s phone starts blowing up. She opens her texts, and I watch her brows furrow. She quickly searches for something on her phone and sure enough, her face is plastered all over the internet for the second time in as many weeks. Only this time, instead of demanding the justice system to do better, she’s half hanging out the door of Tanner’s Mustang waving her middle finger around for the world to see.

  Tanner laughs. “Nice.”

  “Ahh shit,” Addison groans. “After-school detention and a rant from Mom. Just perfect.”

  “I don’t know,” I muse. “After Orlando helped your dad secretly divorce her, your mom might be cool about this one.”

  Tanner glances at Addison. “She’s right. Hell, Mom might even be proud.”

  We watch the show for the next twenty minutes, watching as box after box of files are taken from Orlando’s office, each one hopefully holding all the evidence the cops need to give justice to all the people Orlando has screwed over during his long career.

  We’re just about to go when a text comes through on Tanner’s phone. He pulls it out, checks it and laughs before holding it up for me and Addie to see.

  Mom - Get your asses back to school, NOW!!

  Addison scoffs as Tanner starts the engine. “Right, Mom’s really going to be proud,” she mutters to herself, rolling her eyes.

  Tanner smirks and hits the gas, pulling the Mustang around in a wide U-turn and heading back toward school so we can all face the firing squad and be handed our detention. Though hopefully that’s all we get.

  Addison cranks up the music, trying to make the most of the ride just as Tanner slams the brakes and pulls off to the side of the road, nearly sending me right through the fucking windshield. Though at least this time a broken windshield wouldn’t be my fault. Tanner only just got the Mustang back from the shop yesterday.

  “What’s wrong?” I rush out, leaning forward in my seat, getting closer to Tanner as he stares out the window, his hands tightening on the steering wheel.

  He nods out the window, and I follow his gaze to find Rachael and her mom stepping out of a designer store, probably spending the money Tanner was forced to pay for a child that isn’t even his. Rachael pushes a stroller as her child sleeps, her shopping bags dumped on top of him.

  Anger drums through my veins. There’s so much wrong with this picture, I can’t even focus. That baby might not be Tanner’s child, but he’s still his half-brother, still shares his DNA, just like the three babies living in Australia. And despite how they all came to be, I don’t doubt there’s nothing Tanner wouldn’t do to protect them. Family means everything to him, and it’s not their fault their father is a lying, adulterating piece of shit.

  Tanner is out of the car in no time, but I’m right there with him.

  “Oh shit,” I hear Addison behind us, scrambling out of the Mustang and racing to catch up with us as we cross the road, looking like a pack of fucking wolves going in for the kill.

  Colby’s mom spots us first, and before Rachael even has a chance to look up, her mom is rushing across the street, her hand whipping out and smacking hard across Tanner’s face. “You … you murderer,” she spits at him. “You killed my baby boy.”

  I’m more than ready to tell her what I think of that, but Addison is on fire and comes racing in like a knight in shining armor, shoving her hands hard into the woman’s chest and sending her flying away from Tanner. Addison keeps on her, forging ahead and getting in her face. “Your piece of shit son deserved to die for what he did to me,” she spits, rage like I’ve never seen flying from her mouth. “He drugged me and threw me down. Pulled my fucking pants off while I screamed for somebody—anybody—to fucking help me. I begged him to stop, begged him not to touch me, and you know what that bastard did? You wanna know? HE FUCKING LAUGHED IN MY FACE and then got away with it. He walked free because of that dirty fucking lawyer, but he couldn’t handle the shame of what he’d done. Couldn’t handle the fucking world knowing what a piece of shit he was, so he tore the fucking breathing tube right out of my throat as I laid in a fucking coma. Is that the little boy you were trying to protect?” she spits, tears springing to her eyes.

  Addison steps even closer, her voice lowering with the deepest, raging anger. “The night Colby came to the track and held a knife up against my throat, he was ready to fucking touch me again. Oh, he fucking wanted it. He wanted to throw me down and force himself inside me all over again. I should have killed him myself. Fuck, I wish I had killed him myself because maybe then it wouldn’t be so fucking hard to close my eyes at night. He deserved it for what he did. He stabbed me that night right through my chest, and when he didn’t get what he wanted, he stabbed Brielle and Jax too. So tell me, please for the love of God, tell me why the fuck my brother should feel bad about what he had to do to protect us. He saved our fucking lives because of the decisions your son made, and he’ll have to live with the weight of that for the rest of his life.”

  The woman weeps as Tanner steps in, placing his hand on Addison’s shoulder. “Stop,” he murmurs, gently pushing her back toward me. “She’s in denial. Yelling at her isn’t going to do you any good. It just brings up things you don’t need to be thinking about,” he says before fixing his stare on Rachael. “But right now, we’ve got bigger issues to deal with.”

  Rachael stares at Tanner, visibly shaking, and with every step he takes toward her, her eyes widen further. “What … what do you want?” she questions, her gaze snapping nervously toward her son.

  Tanner stares at her and the look in his eyes terrifies me. “It seems your mom breeds them all the same.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Rachael spits, discreetly stepping in front of her child.

  Her mom recovers, and as if finding her back bone, she scrambles toward her daughter. “Don’t you dare touch her, you … you animal,” she seethes.

  Tanner scoffs. “Been there, done that, and trust me, it’s no good. Just ask my father.”

  Rachael’s face turns a sickening shade of white as her mother sputters. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” she demands.

  Tanner laughs. “It seems your daughter has a few secrets of her own,” he says, stepping around them and moving toward the child in the stroller. He grabs the handful of shopping bags and dumps them on the ground before crouching down to get a good look at the little boy. “Good looks really do run in my family,” he says. “But it’s a shame he’s not mine.”

  “Where do you get off claiming that child is not yours?” the mother spits. “How dare you. Haven’t you messed with my family enough? You take my son from me and now you want to screw over my daughter as well? Not on my watch, asshole. We have the paternity test to prove it.”

  Tanner straightens up and turns to Rachael. “Do you want to tell her, or should I?”

  Rachael clenches her jaw, her gaze flicking between her mother and Tanner, looking as though she’s about to be sick. “I … I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she says. “He’s your son and the sooner you accept it, the better for everyone involved.”

  “Oh, there’s no doubt we share the same DNA. Isn’t that right, Rachael? It’s how you knew the paternity test would confirm me as the father. All you had to do was make sure you fucked me. To be honest, it’s almost ironic. Colby attacked my sister as some fucked-up revenge plot for me screwing you, but really, you were the one who violated me that night.”

  “I … I,” she panics, but Tanner just laughs, cutting her off and giving a manic smile to her mom.

  “Here, let me clue you in because you’re clearly not keeping up,” Tanner says. “Your daughter, the little whore that she is, wasn’t knocked up by me. She was fucking my father, a married man, and when she discovered she was pregnant, they devised a sick little plan for her to fuck me and claim the baby was mine, knowing a paternity test would still confirm our DNA was a match. After all, they couldn’t let anyone know she was fucking him because she was underage, and my father really didn’t feel like going down for statutory rape, a problem your son clearly didn’t have. Though I’m not gonna lie, it was clever, and she almost pulled it off. The only problem is, my father dearest forgot to delete his messages. Pretty stupid for a man facing jail time.”

  Rachael crumbles, weeping in silence as her mother gapes at her. “Is that true?” she gasps with disgust. “You were having an affair with a married man and set up his son to take the fall?”

  “I … I … I had no choice,” she says. “He made me do it. He was going to force me to have an abortion.”

  They start to get into it, but Tanner decides he’s had enough and spares one more glance toward his half-brother. “Well, it was lovely catching up,” he says before kicking the shopping bags with his foot and cringing. “I hope this shit is refundable, because in case you haven’t figured it out, you’ll be paying back every fucking cent of child support.”

  And with that, Tanner steps between the two of them and starts making his way back toward us, ready to leave, but I haven’t quite finished here. “Hey,” I say, stepping closer to Rachael, and without warning, I rear back and sock her right in the face. She screams as her mother gasps in horror, blood pouring from her broken nose. “Only I get to fuck with Tanner.”

  And with that, I turn back toward him, give him a beaming smile, and slip my hand into his. With a huge weight off all of our shoulders, the three of us make our way back to the Mustang, ready to face the firing squad at school.

  Chapter 34

  BRIELLE

  “HOOOOOOOLY FUCK,” Riley says, eyes wide as he watches the parking lot of Bradford Private, staring at the white BMW that just pulled in. “It’s her. She’s here. She actually came. I thought she was just fucking with me, but she actually came.”

  Jax scoffs, embarrassed to be around him. “Dude, chill. You’re never going to get your dick wet like that.”

  “Ugggghhh,” I groan, shoving Jax in the arm. “Why do you have to make everything disgusting?”

  “Can’t help it,” he says as Tanner’s arms circle my waist, his lips dropping to my neck. “It comes naturally. Call it a gift.”

  Arizona lets out a barking laugh. “If that’s your idea of a gift, what the hell do you call your ability to fuck?” she says before her eyes widen, realizing exactly what she said out loud.

  Her head whips toward Jax who just smirks, pride shining in his eyes as he looks back at her. “It’s nothing but a God-given natural talent,” he tells her, his arms opening wide as if inviting her in. “And it’s all yours, baby. All you gotta do is come and get it.”

  Arizona just stares at him, more than practiced at dealing with his charm, but when he winks, she freaking melts. “God, Jax. You’re such an idiot,” she tells him, stepping into his arms and pushing up onto her tippy toes. She brushes a kiss over his lips and pulls back to beam up at him. “Good luck warming the bench tonight,” she says, her smile quickly morphing into a wicked grin as she steps out of his arms.

  Jax presses a hand to his chest and falls to his knees. “Fuck, that hurt.”

  She rolls her eyes and glances toward us girls. “Come on, we better find seats before all the good ones disappear.”

  “Good point,” I say, turning in Tanner’s arms and looking up at him as people from all over town pour into the school parking lot for tonight’s championship game. “You’re going to be amazing,” I tell him, knowing it right down in my chest. “And listen, if you bring me a trophy at the end of the night, I might even do that thing you like.”