“No. I’m not willing to risk it. This kind of shit can cost big time. I was fucking stupid.”
Sian put her hands to her head and growled. “Stop it. Just stop it. None of this is helping anyone if you’re leaving me in the dark!”
“It doesn’t make a damn bit of difference if you know the truth or not,” Mateo said. “The best thing we can do right now to keep you all safe is not to tell you anything.” He grabbed his cell phone.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to make sure he’s still alive,” Mateo said.
I walked over to him, grabbing his phone. “No!”
“Don’t tell me no, William. None of this shit is a game. I know it is to you. Life is just one big game, but this time, we’ve fucking lost.”
“We haven’t lost shit. How do you know Fred didn’t piss the wrong people off? It happens. We all piss people off. It’s the name of the game.”
I noticed Gideon and Dante stayed quiet, and this wasn’t helping. Nowhere near close to helping.
“This isn’t about anyone else. This is about them. They did it to send a message to stop digging into the past. His computers were taken. Those that were left were destroyed. This is a goddamn message. We fucked up big time.”
“No!” Gideon said. He glared at everyone. “We didn’t fuck up. We knew what we were getting ourselves into, and I think it’s time we told Sian everything.”
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Mateo asked.
It went on and on, back and forth between all four of us. Sian stood there, not saying a word.
The sun went down as we argued, and then Sian went to her bedroom and slammed the door. The sound echoed through the apartment and we all went silent.
Mateo collapsed into a chair. “We can’t tell her everything. Do you realize what we risk with telling her?”
“You think I don’t know that? I’m not even friends with this Fred guy and I’m worried, Mateo. It was all destroyed?”
“Yeah, every last piece of evidence, and from what some of the people at his dorm said, Fred was almost unrecognizable.”
“Are you going to go and see him?” I asked.
“I have to.”
“I don’t think that’s wise,” Dante said. “This isn’t just a message to people like Fred. This is a message to us. We’re being watched, and they’re on campus.”
Gideon sighed. “Which means we don’t trust anyone.”
I leaned back and looked around the dorm. If they knew everything about us, and we were being watched, I would bet a lot of money cameras were everywhere. Glancing around the dorm, I wouldn’t have a clue where to look.
“I think it’s time we went out and got some food.” I got to my feet and without waiting for Sian to answer to a knock, I entered her bedroom.
Before she got a word out, I rushed toward her, pulling her to me and pressing a kiss to her lips to silence her, then held her close.
“Please, do not argue with me. We’re going to tell you everything, but we don’t know if we’re being watched. Hug me like you forgive me and smile. We’re going out to dinner.”
I expected Sian to put up more of a fight. Instead, she followed my instructions, and then taking my hand, we both walked through the dorm, following the guys out of there. We went to go grab our cars. Sian rode with me, and I took us to Billy’s. On the way there, Sian tried to talk, but I put a finger against my lips, letting her know not to say a word. If The Society had bugged our dorm and the school, they had done our cars as well. There was no doubt about it.
Parking my car, I pulled my cell phone out of my back pocket and threw it on the seat. Sian still didn’t have a cell phone. We purchased her one but she refused to take it out of the box. Suddenly, I found her paranoia oddly refreshing.
I waited as the guys did the same.
Technology free, I made sure we walked a good distance from the cars.
“Where are we?” Dante asked.
“None of your concern. It’s safe,” I said. Billy’s would always be a safe place for me.
“What in the world is going on?” Sian asked. “Why all this secrecy?”
I turned to Gideon. “It’s time. You can tell her everything. We’ll fill in the blanks where it is needed.”
“This isn’t right,” Mateo said.
“Look, we’re all in this together. Our lives are bound in more ways than we realize. We don’t have a choice. Come Halloween night, we’re all going to be initiated. Including you, Sian.”
****
Sian
Holy fucking crap balls.
Secret society.
Initiation.
Sex.
Greed.
Power.
This was something out of a soap opera or a movie or something else, I wasn’t exactly sure what. Holy fucking crap balls.