Wild Like Us (Like Us 8)

Shock stiffens my joints.

Xander has always been homeschooled.

“He told Ben he feels confident about it. Ben is just worried about him. He thinks he’d get peer-pressured. But they got heated since Xander wants to at least try and Ben isn’t letting him do that,” Donnelly pants like he’s jogging.

Now I’m worried about him. “What are you doing, Donnelly?”

“Trying to beat the PPA.” He grunts in a sprint. “I only had enough quarters for seven minutes, and I parked four blocks away to go grab a hoagie.”

The PPA is Pennsylvania Parking Authority.

He rushes to say more. “And then Ben brought up what happened with Kinney at school. When he said that something like that could happen to Xander—Xander got upset.”

I’m surprised he knows about the Kinney Hale incident at school. It happened months ago. But as the head of security, her parents gave me all the details. I even learned that Kinney told the Rainbow Brigade first.

Don’t know how Ben or Xander found out, but I’m guessing Kinney told more people. It’s mostly likely that Donnelly was in the room when she confided in Xander. Because clearly Donnelly’s not asking me what happened to Kinney.

He continues, “Once Ben and Xander got closer to each other, Xander gave me a look.”

“What kind of look?” I ask.

Banks glances at me, interested in my call because of Xander. And if we weren’t trying to keep hidden from Team Apex, I would let him listen.

“Like back me up,” Donnelly pants. “And I know we’re supposed to stay out of family stuff, but you shoulda seen him, man. And all I did was step between them. Ben wobbled backwards. I didn’t touch him, I promise. He’s six-five and looked unbalanced, and I felt bad the moment he fell in. I startled Bambi, but I didn’t touch him. I tried to help him out of the pool, but Price came in and acted like I was some…” He trails off. “I didn’t touch him.”

I’m irate. That Price would make Donnelly feel like a fucking axe murderer. “Hey, I believe you. You’re not in trouble. Just log in your account of the event, send it to Thatcher. We’ll have a security meeting when SFO is all back together.”

“Sure thing.” He inhales a sudden sharp breath. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

“You get a ticket?”

“Yeah. Parking restrictions ended only three minutes ago.” The car beeps over the line. “Got a hundred-dollar hoagie in my hand.” He’s referring to the cost of the fine.

“Kitsuwon Securities will pay for the ticket,” I tell him, even though my company will be in a deficit the more I throw cash around. Hiring Michael Moretti wasn’t cheap.

“Nah, I’m off-duty. I got it.”

“You’re driving a security vehicle.” I watch as Sulli starts saying goodbye to her sister.

“Farrow let me borrow his Audi while he’s gone. That’s what I’m in now.”

He should pay the fine then. But I’m uneasy about it.

I’ve noticed that Donnelly has been tattooing more while he’s off-duty. He’s even brought some of his tattoo clients to the apartment. And I’m not positive what he’s blowing his money on.

Right now, he sounds like he has enough to cover the fine, so I don’t argue with him.

Once we hang up, I tell Banks, “Xander’s okay.”

His shoulders ease.

Sulli ends her call with Winona and rotates towards the boulder. “Have they moved?”

“Still warmin’ their cold hearts,” Banks mumbles, cigarette between his lips. Yeah, sure enough, they’re all just gathered around the fire. Still chatting.

Still laughing.

Their vocal happiness is almost as infuriating and grating as my talk with Price. Like five sets of nails scraping a chalkboard.

I pocket my phone. “Is Nona okay?”

“No.” Sulli winces, looking between us, her voice grows hot as she tries to whisper, “She punched some fucking bastard in the hallway at school, and she won’t tell me why. Just that he did something disgusting. She said that she can’t explain more because Kinney told her in confidence or something.”

Shit.

I go cold.

The incident at school—Kinney must’ve also told the girl squad.

“You know what happened?” Sulli realizes off my expression.

I nod, and I’m going to tell them. From my angle, the guy involved is a security threat, and if Xander really does go back to school, I’ll need to tell the rest of SFO: Quinn, Banks, Thatcher. And I can see everyone finding out and Sulli being the only one in the dark.

She’s the last to know a lot of things with her family, and I have the power to change that.

Quietly, I explain, “At Dalton, a guy followed Kinney into an art supply closet and showed his dick to her. He pressured her to touch his penis to prove that she’s a lesbian.”

Sulli’s jaw is on the ground.

Banks mumbles Italian curse words.

“Fuck him,” Sulli growls after shock wears off. “Good fucking job, Nona.” To us, she reminds us like we forgot, “She punched him.”