Chapter Twenty-Eight
Linc
Madden was on his mind. Always. Through every class he’d taught today, every lesson he’d given. All he could think about Madden. Was she safe? Was she feeling okay? He’d gotten back to his office when it was almost lunchtime. He pulled his phone out, needing to connect with her in some form before he went insane.
Linc: How’s it going? Feeling okay?
Madden: Everything is fine. I feel great. Meeting Corey for lunch now.
Linc: Please leave the second you start to feel bad. You need to be completely off campus before it hits full force.
He hoped they were right. He hoped that the scent was triggered by her hot flash episode and that they could control them going forward. In end, that would mean they could control their fate, at least for a little while.
Madden: I will, I promise. I don’t want to see anyone hurt either.
He put his phone down when Dom, Keller, and Baze filed into his office. “Hey guys, what’s up?”
Keller wiggled the cell phone in his hand. “We want to call Brooks, let him know what’s happening down here.”
“Thought it be easier if we did it on speaker phone, that way no one has to be filled in.” Baze crossed his arms as he perched on the edge of Linc’s desk while Kel and Dom sat down in the spare chairs against the wall. The ones usually reserved for students who needed a good talking to, aka the rare occasions when Linc had to adult because the other coaches were too busy.
Keller sat his cell on Linc’s desk; he and Dom both leaned forward when it started to ring. Linc glanced at Keller, trying to gauge his mood. They all knew that contacting Brooks, bringing him back into their lives, was the last thing Keller wanted to do today. Or any day.
“Brooks.”
“Brooks, it’s Keller Byrne from St. Leasing.” Keller closed his eyes briefly, like he was in pain.
“Oh, hey.” Brooks chuckled lightly. “I gotta be honest, man. I never really thought I’d ever be getting a phone call from you.”
Keller huffed. “Believe me, neither did I.” He sighed. “Listen, Riley Harris was attacked yesterday afternoon. Someone jumped him, kicked his ass, and told him that Franklin said hi.”
“Fuck. Is he okay?”
“Slight concussion, a little banged up, but he’s fine.” Keller cleared his throat. “That’s not all. The Franklin twins had their dorm room ransacked as well.”
From the other end of the line they heard Brooks let out a weary sigh. “Where are the kids now? Somewhere safe?”
“Yeah. They’re all safe. We reported the incident to the dean, and they’ve stepped up security on campus.” Linc’s eyebrows rose at Keller’s statement. He hadn’t known they’d gone to the dean already. That old man was so emotional, they tended to put him on the need to know only list. “We’re all a little confused over here. The last we spoke, you and Agent Grimes assured us that none of this would be traced back to the students who came forward.”
“The only people who know that Riley and Franklin’s boys brought him up during our investigation are you guys, Grimes, and me.” His voice was hard, like he was pissed at the silent accusations Keller was throwing his way. “Both Agent Grimes and I have been working ‘round the clock on this case. Neither of us would compromise this investigation. Hell, we left that part of the boys’ testimony out of our report all together. We could get fired for the doctoring we did to those tapes.”
Dom spoke up. “Brooks, it’s Dom. We have you on speakerphone.” He scrubbed his hands down his face before continuing. “Is there anyone else that could have known? Anyone at all? Corey’s pregnant, we have a campus full of kids. If Franklin wants to come here and start trouble, it could be catastrophic.”
Dom was right. They all had so much more to lose today than they did a year ago. Especially Dom; he had Corey and their baby to think about. Linc looked at his friend, really looked at him. He had bags under his eyes and his mouth was turned down in a frown.
“What I’m about to tell you is classified. It’s not public knowledge, only those involved in this investigation are privy.” The line went silent for a few seconds and Linc was almost afraid the douche canoe had hung up. “We started going after a few of Franklin’s ex-employees. People who had wound up in jail were our first targets. Two of the five we talked to were willing to make a deal. The day before we went to get statements? They were found dead. Suicide.”
“Like Bull.” Baze shook his head and got to his feet. He started to pace the length of the office. “How the fuck did Franklin find out?”
“From what we can gather, the other three, the ones who refused to talk must have tipped him off.”
Keller was standing now too. Everyone was becoming increasingly agitated. “Didn’t you see that coming?”
“Of course we fucking saw that coming. We had everyone we spoke to placed in solitary. They weren’t allowed to talk to anybody. Franklin has to have guards on his payroll. Maybe a warden or two?” Brooks let out a loud, defeated sigh. “We’re starting to realize Franklin’s reach is a lot farther than we could have ever imagined.”
Linc scooted his chair forward, the wheels squeaking lightly. “What now? What’s our next move, Brooks?” That was what mattered, right? What they were supposed to do moving forward, how they were supposed to keep everyone safe?
“We need to talk to the twins. We are going to need to get every morsel of information out of them that we can. Everything they can recall about their father. And then we’re going to need to place them in protective custody.”
Linc’s head jerked up in surprise, his expression mirroring everyone else’s. Baze said out loud what they were all thinking. “If Franklin has so many officials on his payroll, how are you supposed to ensure their safety? If he can’t get to them, what’s not to say he’ll come after us? Or the boys’ mom? From the way you made it sound, no one is beyond his grasp.”
“Look. I’m going to get with Grimes and we’re going to head your way, tonight. We’ll figure it out when we get there. I’m not telling anyone in the agency where we’re going or why. I promise I will keep this as close to the chest as possible. The important thing is that we keep the kids safe.”
“We’ll be at Dom’s house tonight, all of us, including the boys. Come there.” All eyes jerked to Keller. As a group, their expressions said they were more than stunned he’d invited Brooks into the inner circle.
“We’ll be there.” And with that, Brooks hung up.
Linc slumped back in his chair and both Keller and Baze paused their pacing. Dom looked up at the ceiling, his hands resting on the top of his head. “I wish we’d already bought a bigger house. That way everyone could just stay together for the time being. There is safety in numbers.”
Baze pursed his lips. “Or, it’d be easier to take us all out at once. No one alive, no one can talk, seems to be Franklin’s M.O.”
“Between me, Dom, and Madden we have three houses on Faculty Row. McCormick has already upped security on campus. Maybe we should all plan to stay together on campus for the next week or so? Riley at Dom and Coop’s place, Jasper and Jace at my place and Linc at Madden’s.”
“Let’s split up the twins. Linc and Maddi can take one.” Dom got to his feet, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
Baze snorted. “Yeah, right. We put one of the twins with Linc and Madden, there will be a murder taking place for sure.”
Dom’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. “What? Why?”
“That’s right, you missed the drama last night.” Keller settled with his back against the wall. “Madden had some kind of hot flash from hell. It made her emit this scent that woke Jasper up from a dead sleep. The kid basically tried to rape her.” Dom’s eye grew wide. “And then, when Baze tried to get Jace to come help? He tried to go after her too. Linc almost demolished them both.”
“Holy fuck.” Dom turned to look at him. “You okay, man? Is Maddi okay?”
Linc nodded. “Yeah we’re both fine. I tried to convince her to stay home today, but she wasn’t hearing it. She thinks everything was triggered by the hot flash and apparently she could feel it coming on.”
“Because you haven’t completed the bond?” Dom glanced over at Keller. “That ever happen to Molly?”
Kel shook his head. “Nah, she never had that symptom. But it makes sense if you really think about it. It’s the claiming at work. What would set off a bonded male more than anything? Jealousy.” Keller let out a soft, humorless chuckle. “How bad did you want to claim her after all that happened?”
“In the moment? I would have thrown her against the wall and done it in front of everyone.” He shrugged. “After the craziness died down I just felt sort of exhausted. Until, of course, I walked into my bedroom and could smell Jasper and Jace all over her. Then I was wide awake again.”
“Did you complete the bond?” Dom placed his hands on the chair he vacated, leaning forward.
Linc shook his head. “No.”
Baze paused at the door. “You need to. We have enough shit to deal with right now. We don’t need the added worry that you’ll kill one of the kids. Or that they’ll go after each other out of jealousy. This is getting out of hand.”
Linc got to his feet, his shoulders square. “She’s not ready.”
“She’s about to not have a choice.” Baze pulled open the door.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Linc had the sudden urge to jump over his desk and knock Baze out.
He looked over his shoulder, not even bothering to turn around all the way. “We’ll put it to a vote.” And then he walked away. Dropped the mic and strode away.
Linc’s heart was hammering in his chest. “You can’t put me claiming my mate to a fucking vote. Is he insane? She’s not even pack, not yet. What you guys say has no effect on her whatsoever. Hell, half of what I say doesn’t even register with that woman.” There was no way Baze was serious. A claiming was not something they could force on them. If Madden wasn’t ready, Linc wouldn’t take her. End of fucking story.
Keller and Dom shared a look, but it was Dom that spoke. “I get where you’re coming from Linc, I do. But Baze is right too.”
Linc scoffed. “How the fuck do you figure?”
“Those boys go after her, go after each other? That’s a big problem. Someone could die, man.” Keller shook his head sadly. “You want the death of a kid on your hands? I sure as hell don’t. Not to mention the fact we invited the FBI back onto our campus.”
“Jasper and Jace might not technically be pack, but they’re pretty damn close. Their wellbeing matters as much as Riley’s. Especially to my mate.” Dom headed toward the door. “If something happened to one of those guys, Corey will lose her mind. And you heard Maddi, stress on Corey is stress on our baby.”
Linc sat back down in his chair, keeping silent as Dom and Keller quietly left his office.
Fuck. Today was a damn shit show if he ever saw one.