Nathan

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The early morning broke over the trees, and Nathan was in his house, at the kitchen table, with Diego Ramirez sitting across from him. They were both still wearing their clothes from the night before, Ramirez in jeans and a black shirt, and Nathan wearing a red hoodie and jeans. Nathan’s clothes were torn in places. He imagined his face was bruised. Parts of him were scraped and discolored where Hendricks had kicked or hit him.

His whole body ached, making sitting upright in the hardwood chair difficult.

Ramirez’s dark brows were high on his forehead as Nathan rattled off what happened. Nathan had been granted permission to talk about his dive into the lake, and onward.

Ramirez shook his head slowly as Nathan wrapped it up with the fight at the Lee house. He leaned forward, writing notes in a small notepad he’d pulled out for this. “I’ve got to tell you, I don’t know why you didn’t call in someone else sooner.”

Nathan shrugged. “Who is going to believe we’ve been chasing around a guy in a mask? And what we knew about Mr. Hendricks? We can’t submit the video we’ve got.”

“You can’t,” he said and he stopped writing, putting his pen down. “I can. Someone can.”

“How do we explain the cameras?” Nathan asked. “We set them up, not the school. And Hendricks had never gone as far as he did last night. That was crazy.”

Ramirez smirked. “Okay. You’ve got me.” He pointed a knuckle out toward the street, beyond it to the Lee house across the way. “But I don’t want to see this shit happening again. You’re lucky David and I are on the same page when it comes to you-know-what. He’ll do his best to marginalize your exposure with the police, but we could have taken care of this well before if you’d let us in.”

“We can’t always do that,” Nathan said. “But outside of Volto, Hendricks and McCoy were the people we needed to put aside. And well, Morris. Only we didn’t know it before.”

He shook his head looking down at his notebook. “It’s likely more people were in on this and you don’t know it. Morris isn’t going to talk to me now. It’s going to take time to get information out of him or McCoy about who they were working with. Maybe once they start ratting on each other.”

“So they’ll be in jail?”

“Last I heard, they were awaiting lawyers and for bail. At so early in the morning, they’ll just wait for a judge. I doubt they’ll get bail. Not after attacking a minor in her home.”

“Not Sang...”

He shook his head. “Jessica Lee. And you. You’re willing to take this all the way to a trial, right?”

“Anything,” he said and he felt sure he could do it. Sang needed to stay out but he didn’t have to. “We’ll get lucky if they don’t mention Sang at all.” He was sure they could manipulate the lawyers and get Academy lawyers involved.

It’d require far more favors. More than he had.

Diego tapped at the table. “You’re lucky I went out to check up on Morris. I didn’t know he’d lead me right back to you.”

“You got on this quick,” Nathan said.

“You got driven off the road and you all looked terrified. Sounded dangerous. I wanted to get a good grasp on the situation quickly before anyone else was hurt. I showed up a little late but I couldn’t really get a idea of what was going on until it all started happening.”

Nathan couldn’t disagree with that. And they were lucky he was willing to get out there so quickly. “You threw the lights?”

“Nope. That was Mrs. Lee, I think. That’s how I realized something horrible was going down. Smart of her to do it.” Ramirez stood up, taking up his notebook and stuffing it into a sling bag he’d brought in, throwing the pen inside as well. “I’ll probably be back. I want to find this Volto.”

“We’ll take care of him,” Nathan said.

Ramirez smirked and shook his head. “This is off the clock. I’m curious. I love a puzzle.”

Nathan didn’t like the sound of that. He wasn’t too sure they should have told him as much about Volto. If he took down Volto, they’d owe him a lot more.

Besides, when it came to Volto, he was determined to take him down himself. After taking Sang, after the swim in the lake, not to mention Luke’s nose and the time he got them all sick. After so much of what they’ve done to them all, he needed to be taken down. Dangerous. Crazy.

But he couldn’t stop Ramirez from looking in on Volto. He’d just have to get to him first.

Ramirez held out a hand to Nathan, offering to shake. “I’ll be in touch. Give me a call if there’s any updates.”

“You’re keeping Sang out of this, right?” he asked, shaking hands with him. “You sure? We need this. She needs it.”

“You said. I did.” He held up the bag, showing him before he put it on his back. “But if you don’t keep her out of trouble, I won’t be able to help it. Lord knows David is going to be in some shit after this. The precinct already gets after him going it solo, but he knows the streets, knows the people. Goes into territory other cops won’t.”

“And you trust him?”

“As far as I can throw him,” Ramirez said. “But he won’t talk if I tell him not to.”

Ramirez left. Nathan sat back down in the chair at the table. He tapped his fingers against the surface, the sound echoing in the kitchen.

Sang spent the night with Kota. And as far as he knew, Kota was having a conversation with Erica. He wasn’t sure how deep he’d go into describing the Academy, or what was going to be revealed about Sang, but he hoped Erica would understand.

After last night, though, this might change things for Kota. The Academy alone, what it was about, and Sang’s role in it, everything...Would Erica see them as teens in a dangerous adult situations and demand her son get out of it? Would she even understand why they were in the middle of all this in the first place?

And what would Kota do if she did make such demands?

A door opened, the one to his father’s bedroom. Victor materialized a moment later. “He’s gone.” His eyes were shadowed. His white shirt was wrinkled, the sleeves rolled up to near his elbows. They’d all been up all night over this.

“I know,” Nathan said. He looked up at him.

Gabriel appeared behind Victor. His hair was wild above his head, the blond sticking up and out from his face. “You didn’t tell him about the rest of us.”

“Let’s keep what he knows to a minimum,” Nathan said. “We’ve told him a lot. We’ll be lucky if we aren’t under investigation at some point.”

“Shouldn’t we trust him?” Gabriel side-stepped around Victor. “You know, telling him not to look into Sang...I mean, he’s a private investigator.”

Nathan raised an eyebrow. “So?”

“Couldn’t we get his help with...you know...the whole Sang’s mom thing? Maybe he can work something through his network.”

“More than we can do?” Victor asked. “I don’t know. I think he’d get as far as we did. With waiting to get information from people who won’t talk to us. There’s no way Marie or anyone in Sang’s family will talk to a complete stranger and not us.”

Nathan chewed on his lower lip. He didn’t like the sound of someone else looking in any closer on Sang. “If he saw anything, like the potential underage rape and all of that, he’d have to report it. He’s a private investigator. They still have to follow some rules, like informing the police of certain things. We’re asking a lot for him to not include her at all.”

“Maybe we could look into him,” Gabriel said. He pressed a palm to his forehead. “I don’t know. After all this, I’m questioning everyone. Even Hendricks went off the rails this time. Didn’t see that coming. Who knows who might be next?”

There was a knock at the door. Victor yanked his phone out before any of the others could, checking Nathan’s app and the camera feeds. “It’s Danielle. And Marie.”

“Speaking of devils,” Gabriel said and then looked toward the door. “Should I get it?”

“No, I will,” Nathan said. He waved to them silently. There was no doubt Danielle knew some of what happened last night. The police car in the front yard was enough to come around asking questions. And she’d stayed up half the night with Sang at the diner.

She didn’t go to school since didn’t drive them today. Maybe he should have made sure she went before he talked to Ramirez.

But then, most of them were too busy to keep her contained to the music room.

Nathan went alone to the front door. Danielle wore jeans and a large, loose shirt, part of it hanging off of one shoulder. Marie stood back, a bit away from her, looking frazzled in a simple pair of jeans and a T-shirt.

She didn’t want to here. He couldn’t blame her. “Not a good time,” he said.

“Really?” Danielle said with an irritated tone. “Do you want to tell me about why you were outside with cops all over the place last night? Because my parents are asking me a lot of questions about where I was. They found out I was gone and thought I was in the middle of that.”

“Good,” he said. He imagined during the incident, which woke up neighbors, Danielle’s mother checked on her, found her gone. “I told you to go home and stay there last night and you didn’t listen.”

“I went after Sang!” she sputtered. “My god, I’m not a kid. I saw Sang running off and I went after her. I figured something was going on.”

Nathan took a moment to count, and breathe, so he’d stop throwing all of his frustration at Danielle. If that was true, then they owed her, too. At least she made an effort to be a decent human being. For once. “Sorry,” he said, and he opened the door further. “I’m just irritated after last night.”

“I got it,” she said. “You’re just like your dad. Angry first, maybe listen later.”

Nathan bit down hard at his tongue to not lash out at her for that.

Danielle marched past him into the living room. Marie followed behind her, keeping her head down.

Nathan joined them, aware Gabriel and Victor were listening in. “What did you need?”

“There’s a rumor going around Mr. Hendricks is in police custody,” she said.

“You probably want to keep away from anyone talking about that,” Nathan said. “Don’t get involved.”

“But what does it mean for us?” she asked, pointing to her own chest. She said us but he suspected she was talking mostly for herself. “I thought you said we needed a principal to get out of this. Sounds like we don’t have one.”

“You’ll have a new one by next week.”

Danielle raised an eyebrow. “Who?”

“Does it matter?” Nathan didn’t want to give into any more information. It didn’t matter to her who the principal was, that Mr. Blackbourne was going to be one for the remaining of the school year while the school board looked into options for next year. “You wanted out. You’ll get out. But you’ll have to explain to your mom why you’re out of school.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

Nathan looked over at Marie. “You’re okay,” he said. “You can stay home if you want. We’ve already got you covered.”

Marie picked up her head. “You could do mine?”

“Yes,” he said. “The same for Sang. Danielle’s is tricky because her parents are actually active in her life.” He returned his attention to her. “Right?”

Danielle grumbled.

“So we’ve done what you’ve asked,” Nathan said. He crossed his arms over his chest, leaning on one foot where he stood. He ached all over, but he didn’t want to sit down and get comfortable with them around. He was hoping they were leaving soon. This had gone on long enough. He got them what they wanted. “So maybe you can tell us what you know about Sang. We’re pretty busy...”

“Just one more thing,” Danielle said, moving deeper into the living area, standing next to the table. She checked the walls and then put her back to the fireplace. “Come here for a second?”

Nathan inched closer as she brought out her cell phone. “What do you need?”

“You said you’d do a picture?”

Nathan rolled his eyes. “Really? Seriously?” he motioned to his face, with a fresh bruise at his jaw and looking ragged with shadows under his eyes. “You want me in a photo like this?”

Danielle spun around, her brown eyes flashing briefly and then finally settling down. “Yes. I’ll Photoshop out the bruises. Just do it, okay? It helps you. It helps me. If you don’t screw it up like with having Sang in the car with you last night, it’ll smooth things out in no time.”

It didn’t help him at all, as far as he could tell. After last night, who knew what Kota was telling his mother just now. Whether he’d bring up the relationship thing or not, he wasn’t sure. The Academy would be enough to explain.

However, it was just a picture. Luckily Victor was probably listening in the other room. He’d be able to delete any she took.

So if all he had to do was stand here and take pictures with Danielle and she’d get off his back, this was the last favor. Marie could go home, and they could get the name they needed. It’d be mission accomplished. “Okay,” he said. He held up a single finger. “One quick photo.”

“Two,” she said. “A second one for in a couple of weeks, maybe.”

He grumbled. He told himself it didn’t matter but he hated her pushing. “Danielle...”

“Trust me,” she said. She motioned to him to come closer.

Just a picture. He relinquished, coming over to her. “Fine.”

“Marie,” Danielle said, passing her phone to her, the camera already on. “Take the picture?”

Marie fiddled with the phone, looking at the button. She snapped it once, taking a picture of the floor before aiming it at them.

Danielle put her back to the fireplace. “Come stand behind me,” she said.

Nathan grunted and stepped up behind her, looking over her shoulder at the camera.

Danielle reached around, wrapping an arm backward over her head to hang off of his neck.

Nathan’s skin crawled as she leaned into him. Flashes of memories of when she used to hang out with him, about what happened years ago erupted. He suppressed it all for this photo, trying not to grit his teeth as he barely smiled.

Marie took a couple of pictures to try to get a good one. Danielle turned her face at different angles, some duck kissing faces at the camera, some toward him but not touching. Nathan was pretty much the same for each one.

“Okay,” Danielle said. “So the one for in a few weeks.”

“You already took a few,” Nathan said.

“That’s just to make sure we get a good one,” she said. “I want a second one.”

Nathan groaned. He imagined the guys in the bedroom were laughing about this. “Fine. What’s next?”

“Well,” she said, “we can’t wear the same clothes. Just...take your shirt off.”

Nathan cocked an eyebrow. “For real?”

She motioned to the wide window that looked out into the back porch and the pool. She moved the blinds, changing the light in the room, giving it more sunlight. She reached for her shirt, shoving it up over her head until she was standing in her bra. “You big baby, just take it off. What’s the big deal?”

Nathan’s jaw unhinged and he shook his head. “No fucking way.”

She motioned to the window. “I can’t wear the same clothing for the pic. We’re just making it look like it’s a different day.” She reached up, parting her hair in a different direction and letting it fall back away from her face. “Come on. Take your shirt off.”

“I’m not taking my shirt off so you can say we’re sexing it up,” he said.

She lowered her arms and her hands moved into fists. “Nathan! God. Just take your shirt off and get over here.”

“Why are you pushing this?” he asked. “What’s in it for you?”

She sighed, groaned. “Well, thanks to you and whatever happened last night, you scared off the guy I’d been trying to make jealous and date me. He turned around after the cops showed up. And for your information, he was totally into me. He’s off with someone else now. I’m going to make him see he missed out.”

He grumbled and shook his head. He knew it. It was all about her. This wasn’t to help him. He’d make sure Victor deleted the photos. Or did something horrible to them. Put in a dog on top of his own image or something to teach her to not do this again.

But he needed that name. Desperate not to give Danielle any more reasons to hold back, he held up a finger. “One more,” he said. “And you tell me about what you know and then you both leave.”

“I’ve already said that!” she cried out. “This is the second one. You said you would.” She snapped her fingers and pointed to near where she was standing. “So get over here. I don’t want to be here all day.”

“Shoulders and up,” he said.

“No duh,” she said. “I’m not putting my boobs on the internet. Too many creeps.”

Nathan sighed loudly, not hiding his grumbling displeasure. He took his hoodie off. “Is this enough?”

“No, take the shirt off.”

He glanced once at Marie, who was completely focused on the camera and fiddling with it.

Nathan grit his teeth again and took his shirt off. It’d been a couple of weeks since he’d really worked out, a few weeks where he’d let his physic go a bit. Being so busy, taking care of himself, getting the improvements he’s wanted, it’d been put on the backburner. At first, he thought his hesitation was from that.

Maybe it was how Danielle was just wearing a bra and he was all sorts of uncomfortable.

After last time...

But he removed his shirt. He repeated to himself why he was doing this, and it was one more picture. He wasn’t naked. Victor would delete the photo. This is the only place it’d exist. In this moment.

Danielle motioned to where she was standing. He moved over and stood nearby, his hands in his pockets, pressing his elbows into his sides, masking his body a bit with his arms.

Danielle turned to him, putting a hand on his chest and then her face close to his.

“Woah,” Nathan said, taking a step back. “You didn’t say you were going to do that.”

Danielle flashed that angry glare at him. “Oh my god. You’re such a baby. This a photo for in a few weeks. I’m just showing some relationship progression. This isn’t personal.”

It totally was. He grumbled. He returned to his position. “Okay.” He’d stand through it. It was probably better to get it over with quickly. “Just watch your hands.”

Danielle came up to him again. “Just tilt your head down a bit,” she said. She moved his head with her palms on his cheeks. She checked with Marie, where she was holding the camera and adjusted him to where she wanted.

She returned to placing one hand on his chest, and another one at his stomach. With the way she was leaning, it was probably the only way she was holding herself up without falling back.

Nathan closed his eyes, resisting the urge to push her away. Why he was so resistant, he wasn’t sure. He’d take a picture for Jessica or Erica in bathing suits. None of this would have bothered him if it was one of them.

The memories returned as she touched him. Of the last summer when she used to hang around.

When they’d been swimming and stopped for the afternoon.

And when she cornered him, nude. And then touched him when he didn’t want to. He didn’t like her in that way. He tried to make her leave, but she said she’d tell other people he’d tried to get her to have sex with him. Who would believe a guy over a girl?

And what was worse was that she was threatening to tell his dad, who would have probably killed him if he found out.

He never told the others. He’d suppressed the memories. After that point, he tried to stay with the guys, afraid she’d come after him again. He didn’t want to tell the guys. And he was still dealing with his dad at that point. It was just something he wanted to avoid.

He’d even forgotten about it for a very long time. Only when she came around like this, did he remember. Since she didn’t come back after that, he’d let it go. One time. She was being dumb. He should have seen it coming since she was hanging around him so much back then.

He swallowed thickly and tried to ignore all those thoughts as she touched him.

He sensed her leaning in. He flicked his eyes open once, looking down at her as she was still looking at the camera, testing the angle.

“Okay,” she said. “That might be good.” She turned to him again, leaning into him. “Start taking pictures. Nathan, stop looking like you’re about to hit me.”

He closed his eyes and tried to relax his face. He counted, as if doing so would make the moments pass faster. Maybe he didn’t need his eyes open for this. He’d just close this out, ignore it all. It’ll be done.

A door opened somewhere in the house, just as Danielle leaned into him. Part of him was trying to figure out why Victor or Gabriel were coming in. They were almost done.

But Danielle didn’t back away. He sensed her face near his. He breathed slowly out his nose, waiting for Marie to snap enough pictures for this to be done.

Everything in the next few seconds happened all at once.

He was aware that another door had opened, and footsteps coming closer, multiple.

He sensed Marie snapping photos.

He felt Danielle pressing to his lips. At first, he thought it was her head. Maybe she tilted it to make it look like he was kissing her head?

But then he realized it was lips.

And the hand at his stomach lowered down, landing near his crotch and honing in, and she was gripping, but she grabbed at his thigh instead and squeezed.

The pain radiated through him, stopping him from pulling away from the fake kiss. She’d pressed onto an area he’d been kicked in last night. The sharp sensation ripped through his system, the jolt intensifying by the voices over top of one another. To stop himself from falling on top of Danielle, he reached out, gripping at her biceps strongly to prop himself up.

This had him leaning into her unwanted kiss instead of away, but he was about to break his teeth on hers at the same time. He split his lip with the act, a slice across his upper lip creating a new pain on top of a bruise that had been developing there.

There was a hushed moment then. Or perhaps his ears ceased input the moment he broke away, ripping himself from Danielle before she could do any more and then shoving her, probably more forcefully than he meant. That was the last straw. No more...He’d get the info from Marie another way. She had to know this was over the line...

But his attention drew to the other side of the room. Sang, with Jessica, standing just inside the room.

Jessica didn’t appear at all surprised. The guys were behind them. Lips were moving but with all that was going on; Nathan didn’t understand any of the words. His ears filled with ringing alarm, confusion from the pain and sudden shock.

It was Sang’s face that he locked in on.

Frozen.

Horrified.

Danielle was screaming at the boys and they were yelling back. Marie was backing off with the phone.

But Sang stood, wide eyed, swaying a bit where she was. Her face pale.

She turned, slowly, and Gabriel reached for her.

Only she put a hand up to him, warding him off, as she went for the front door in a jog.

Nathan tripped over Danielle as he started to go after her. Suddenly time returned to a normal pace.

Sang was gone and out the door before he could get to her.