Chapter Twenty-Nine
Corey
The next week flew by. Corey’s nights were spent getting to know the man she loved, and her days were filled with endless interviews. The nights were amazing and mind-blowing. She had learned so much about shifters, like they didn’t shift for the first time until they were sixteen. Poor guys, it was like they went through puberty twice. They didn’t have to shift if they didn’t want to once they learned to control that side of them. Dom compared it to sex. They never had to but they wanted to. If they waited too long in between shifts, they would start to feel edgy and restless.
Dom also opened up and told her about how his mom leaving ultimately led to his dad’s death. She felt so horrible for him. She couldn’t imagine ever wanting to leave Dom and wondered what motivated his mother to abandon her mate.
Corey and Keller made it to yoga every morning, which was a miracle at seven a.m., but she was really starting to look forward to their classes together. She was able to get to know a whole different side to Keller. And Keller and Molly seemed to be hitting it off in a completely friends sort of way. He never propositioned her; he talked to Molly like he talked to Corey. It was nice. They always went for coffee after class, and it was one of the best parts of her day.
Then there were the interviews. Ugh. No good news there. It turned out that the only players Henderson had interrogated for hours were juniors and seniors. Since it had become clear that he hadn’t been interested in anyone under the age of sixteen, they were starting to believe he was fishing around for information about shifters.
None of the boys said much about Jace though. Most said they never really spent any time with him, and he didn’t put in much effort to be nice to anyone. Dom’s detective buddy hadn’t found Henderson yet, and Corey was trying to not get too nervous about it since the detective had only been looking for about a week.
All the interviews were completed and turned in, and the team’s first game was next Friday so they still had another week before they had to deal with telling Jace that he couldn’t play. Corey was currently sitting at her desk finishing up for the day, for the week actually. It was Friday, and she was pumped. The guys and Molly were coming over for a barbeque and they were going to relax and not discuss anything murder or sociopath-related for a whole evening. Which was going to be a nice change of pace for them.
“Hey, baby, you ready to head home?” Home. She loved hearing that word come out of his sexy mouth. Dom had slowly (and secretly) moved most of his stuff to her house over the last several days. But they would have to keep his house until they could figure out all this Jace crap and tell the dean they were mated.
It seemed their neighbors didn’t go out of the house after they got home. And although Corey and Dom tried to keep a low profile and stayed inside when they were mauling each other, they didn’t think having their friends over would draw any attention since they were mingled into a large group of people.
“Hell. Yes. I am so ready for beer and b-b-q. Maybe we can put on your Doin’ it playlist.” She handed him her bag, winking, when he reached to help her carry her stuff out.
“Sure can, sweet thing.” He slung his arm around her shoulder as they walked down the hallway.
Corey saw Dean McCormick coming up the sidewalk to the door they were about to walk out of, and there they were, walking side by side, looking all lovey-dovey. Shit. She shoved Dom with all her might to the opposite side of the hallway. He tripped and landed on his ass just as Dean McCormick walked in.
“What the hell, Corey, you could have—”
“Dean McCormick, what are you doing in our neck of the woods? I’m sure a man as popular as you has weekend plans.” Corey smiled her sweetest, most innocent I’m-not-mated-to-a-wolf smile.
“I do have plans, my dear, I was on my way out and wanted to come by and make sure you didn’t have any trouble getting those evaluations turned in.” He looked down and noticed Dominic on the floor. “Coach Hardy, what are you doing on the ground?”
“I tripped.” He glared up at Corey, and she stuck her tongue out at him while the dean wasn’t looking.
“Don’t tell me you two still aren’t getting along? Coach Hardy, I thought I told you to please make Ms. Cooper feel welcome.” The dean shook his head, looking like a disappointed father. “Corey, I am so sorry if Coach Hardy is still giving you a hard time.”
Corey nodded solemnly. “You know, he is giving it to me hard. I don’t know what else I can do to make him like me.” She took a rather fake and dramatic deep breath. “Ah well, you can’t win ’em all.” She shrugged. “And, sir, I finished the evals this afternoon, they have been turned in, and everything is set to go for the big game next week.”
“Thank you, dear, we owe you one for getting this taken care of so quickly. Don’t we, Coach Hardy?”
“Oh I owe her plenty.” Corey rolled her eyes.
“You two should really try to be friendlier with each other. Ms. Cooper is a valuable asset to this school and we aren’t letting you run her off. Have a nice weekend. I’ll see you next week.” The dean left the building clearly believing he had sufficiently scolded them into submission.
Corey and Dom both started to giggle when the door closed. She went over and helped him to his feet. “Come here, babe. I’m sorry I made you fall. I thought you were better on your feet than that. What’s the point of being a werewolf if you can be taken down by a tiny little girl?”
“Funny. I wasn’t expecting you to push me. I was caught off guard.” He opened the door for her and they got in his truck to head home.
The guys were already in the backyard with the grill going by the time they made it to the house. It smelled wonderful. Corey always loved the smell of charcoal and lighter fluid. It reminded her of her dad manning the pit back home. Sooner rather than later, they were going to have to go back to Louisiana for a visit and introduce Dom to her family. She’d told her parents she met someone but had kept the details vague. She was getting slightly homesick, and maybe once they solved the Henderson mystery they could go back for a visit.
“Where the hell have you two been? Did you stop on the way home to make out? We started without you. Here, catch up.” Linc tossed both Dom and Corey a beer. Corey easily caught hers and Dom fumbled his. “Damn, Hardy, that was embarrassing. Since when can you not catch a cold one?”
“Don’t make fun of him, he’s still out of sorts from our run-in with the dean. We were walking down the hall. You know how we do, lovey-dovey. And I saw the dean coming up the sidewalk.” She mimed her pushing him dramatically. “So I shoved Dom away from me and he tripped and busted his ass. Then the dean gave him grief for giving me such a hard time.”
“Oh yeah, Dom? Are you giving it to her hard?” Keller came walking outside carrying a platter overflowing with meat.
“If you weren’t carrying hundreds of dollars’ worth of steaks right now, I’d pop you. It’s none of your business how I give it to Corey.” Dom sat down in a chair opposite Linc.
“Why are you so touchy? Are you PMSing?” Linc looked at Corey and winked, making her giggle.
“Hilarious, Linc, you are so damn clever. Hey, Molly’s coming over tonight, maybe you can make us all laugh some more by asking her out.” Dom looked over at Linc and gave him a cocky grin. “It’s always fun watching her turn you down.”
“You guys suck. It’s not funny. I feel like my powers are broken.”
“Linc, I have seen you around town with two different girls this week, not including the bartender from Monday. It’s not like you’re hurtin’.” Corey pointed at him with her beer. “Suck it up.”
“Hey, darlin’.” Keller got up to help Molly with the bags of food when he saw her come up the side of the house. Corey followed him inside.
“Hey, Miss Molly, I’m glad you came, but you didn’t need to stock the house with groceries.” Corey started to help her unpack the bags.
Molly snorted. “I’ve seen Keller eat half the bakery display case for four mornings in a row. I figured you would need it.”
“Hey, I’m a growing boy. I need sustenance. What have we here?” Keller started digging through the bags. “Cookies, potato salad, chips, salsa, veggie skewers, French bread, beer. Wow, Molly, you are a girl after my own heart.” Keller grabbed the veggies and headed outside to put them on the grill.
Corey and Molly finished getting everything ready inside and then brought it all to the patio. They spent the next couple hours laughing, eating, and drinking. Linc shamelessly flirted with Molly, who continued to turn him down. Molly made doe eyes at Keller, who didn’t seem to notice. Dominic tried to get Corey to go inside and have sex real quick, and Corey kept laughing in his face. And through it all Baze actually talked and joked more than usual.
Salt-N-Pepa came blaring through the iPod dock. Corey and Molly both started to rap “None of Your Business” and before long they were up doing the running man while they were singing. Corey was so pumped she met Molly. It must be fate; they both loved dirty rap songs. Suddenly their impromptu routine was cut off by the sound of a phone ringing from inside the house. It was her phone, since it was the one currently sitting on the iPod dock. She raced inside to get it before it could ring a second time. She didn’t recognize the Colorado number.
“Hello?”
“Ms. Cooper? Holy shit, you’ve got to help me.”
“Riley? Kiddo, what’s wrong?”
“It’s Jasper, he’s hurt real bad. I need help.”
“What happened?” Corey looked up to see Dom and Baze come rushing into the house. Their super-sensitive hearing had picked up that she was talking to one of their players. Dom grabbed her phone and put it on speaker so they could all hear. Linc and Keller would probably be able to pick up most of the conversation from outside too. The only one who would be left in the dark was Molly. “Okay, Riley, slow down and tell me what’s going on. Coach Hardy and Coach Carter are here now too, you’re on speakerphone.”
“We went into town for this party, to blow off some steam. The instant we got there, girls started to flock all over Jasper, like always. Anyway he and this girl go into the woods to, uh, make out and it turned out she had a boyfriend. When they came back to the party, her boyfriend came at Jasper and coldcocked him. The guy was big, but Jasper is, well, he’s got the wolf thing on his side. Once it was clear that Jasper was going to kick this guy’s ass, the dude’s friends all jumped in and ganged up on Jasper—”
“Wait, Jasper got beat up by a bunch of kids?” It sounded like Dom was having a hard time believing that a shifter got beat down by a bunch of average high school boys.
“No. Listen. Jasper lost his shit. He started shaking like he was trying not to change—”
“Oh my god, did Jasper shift in front of everyone?” Baze paled at the thought.
“No. From out of nowhere Jace comes up and tackles Jasper to the ground. He beat the shit out of him. When we were finally able to pull Jace off him, shit, Jasper’s really hurt. I think he is starting to heal, but it’s slow and he lost a lot of blood. He’s kind of in and out of consciousness. I didn’t know where to take him or who to call. I don’t think I can drive and keep him calm at the same time.”
“Where are the other guys? Why is no one helping you?” Baze sounded pissed. Corey swallowed past a lump in her throat. Jace had finally snapped, just like she’d suspected he would.
“A few of them followed Jace back to campus to make sure he didn’t hurt anyone else. I’ve never seen him like that. It was scary. Everyone else stayed back at the party to diffuse things. I grabbed Jasper, got in the car, and booked it out of there.”
“You did the right thing, kiddo. Don’t worry. Dom and Baze are leaving right now to come get you guys. Text Coach Hardy directions, he’ll bring y’all back here and we’ll take care of Jasper. See you soon. Okay?”
“Okay, thanks. Please hurry.” They disconnected.
Dom turned to Corey. “Like hell I’m bringing them here. And kiddo? Buddy? When did you and Riley become so fucking friendly?”
She jerked back at the tone he was taking with her. “Don’t you dare start with me right now, Hardy. Those boys are hurt and shaken up. They need to be comforted and they need to feel safe. They don’t need to be surrounded by macho male bullshit. You bring them here, or I’m going to go wherever you take them. Your choice.”
Dom growled and opened his mouth to say something he would no doubt regret when Baze grabbed him by the shoulder and started to haul him to the front door. “She’s right, man. Calm your fear and anger, and you’ll realize that she’s right. We are all going to be here. No one is going to hurt Corey. Now let’s go get our boys.”
They left without another word. She went back to the kitchen and texted Riley.
Corey: They left the house, kiddo. Sit tight.
She stared at her phone, at the text she’d sent. She did feel a connection to Riley. It wasn’t something she could explain, and it wasn’t something she’d be able to put into the right context for Dom to understand. Hell, she didn’t really understand it herself. All she knew was that Riley needed her, and that he was part of all this somehow.
Linc walked in. “Hey, should we send Molly home?”
“Yeah, I think so, but I don’t want to seem rude about it.” Corey bit her lip, trying to decide the best way to politely say get out of my house before the young unstable wolves get here. Keller and Molly came into the kitchen before she could go out to talk to say something.
“I’m going to head home. Keller told me you guys are having some problems with a couple of students. I don’t want to be in the way.” Molly grabbed her purse from the couch and slung it on her shoulder.
“Oh, are you sure? I hate that we had to cut the night short. Maybe we can meet for lunch tomorrow?” Corey went over and hugged her new friend, feeling relieved that she’d volunteered to leave on her own.
“Yeah, that sounds great. Text me when you wake up.” Molly hugged Corey back tightly.
“I’ll walk you out, Miss Molly.” Keller placed his hand on the small of her back and led her out the front door.
Linc looked over at Corey, eyebrows raised in question. “Is there something going on between Keller and Molly? He’s really nice to her, and he doesn’t make any raunchy comments about banging her. I’ve never seen him act like this.”
Corey shrugged. “I have no idea what’s going on there. She flirts with him but he seems to ignore it. He treats her like a good friend instead of trying to take advantage and have sex with her. We have spent every morning this week with her, and he hasn’t hit on her once. He asks really insightful questions and seems honestly interested in her answers. But hasn’t asked her out.”
“That’s odd. Keller doesn’t ask questions. If he does, he typically doesn’t care to know the answers.” Linc gave her a small smile. “None of us do, really.” When Corey started to make plates of leftover food for Riley and Jasper, Linc shook his head. “Might as well leave it all out, they are going to eat all of our leftovers and then some. We heal faster than average humans, but it takes a lot of energy, which means a lot of calories. Do you have a first-aid kit?”
“Yeah, I’ll grab it.”
Corey came back into the kitchen with a massive tub bursting with medical supplies. “Uh, Corey? You moonlight as a doctor?” Linc chuckled.
“No, my mom was a nurse. We always had an abundance of first aid stuff in our house growing up. I like to be prepared. Never know when two hurt werewolves will need some gauze and peroxide.” She smiled at Linc when he snarled at the term werewolf.
Keller came back inside a few moments later. “Molly is gone and Baze texted me. They are right around the corner. I didn’t get to hear the whole conversation with Riley, I was trying to keep Molly distracted. How bad is Jasper hurt?”
“Riley sounded really shaken up. I could barely understand him at first. I’m guessing it’s pretty bad.” Corey had never been so worried about someone; her stomach was in knots. “Should one of you go deal with Jace? Find out what the hell happened? I would offer to go, but I’m sure Dom would flip his shit.”
“Yeah, one of us needs to go track him down. Not you. Stop trying to save the world. Let’s wait until Baze and Dom get back with the boys and then we’ll figure out who goes and who stays.” Keller finished the beer he was holding and went out back.
Corey could hear the sound of bottles being thrown away. She was biting her lip to shreds. She wanted Dom and the boys back here where she could see them and help them. What a fucking mess. She knew that Jace was unstable, and this proved it. He was a ticking time bomb.
But she’d never thought the person he’d go off on would be his twin brother.