“Geez, thanks,” she grumbles. “Great friend you are.”
All I can do is grin. “My pleasure.”
I stand up and climb on top of the bar stool, looking over the top of all the dancing bodies, trying to find the one face that somehow has become a crucial part of my payback plan.
Candice looks up and I wave my hand in the sky to get her attention. Her eyes lock on mine and the second I give her a firm nod, a seriousness ripples over her face.
Next up, I search out Kaylah and grin excitedly as I find her standing amongst her whole Broken Hill crew. I bring my hands up and circle them around my mouth. “It’s go time,” I yell over the top of the crowd.
Kaylah laughs excitedly while Tora pumps her fist in the air. Her boyfriend, Nate, bends down and says something in her ear and I watch as Tora points me out and explains something, probably the whole ‘Monica’ situation. Nate’s back stiffens before his eyes lock on mine. He gives me a firm nod, and just like that, I have Nate Ryder and the whole of Broken Hill on my team.
They start towards me as Candice does the same with everyone she and I asked to come along tonight.
This is going to be fucking epic.
Just as I drop down from the stool, a muscly, tattooed arm curls around my waist. “What the fuck is going on?”
Shit. I probably should have let him in on the secret.
Oh, well. Too fucking late now.
Chapter 18
I push out of Noah’s arms, hating how desperately I want to stay safely wrapped up in them. I have to remind myself how angry I am with him. “Monica’s going down and it’s happening right now. Either get on board or fuck off,” I tell him, letting the fact that I’ve had no idea where the hell he’s been all night fuel my anger. Seeing Rivers stroll through the back gate at the same time that Noah just happened to show up doesn’t exactly help their case. They were out together which means they were doing a job.
I walk away and Tully instantly falls in beside me. As if sensing that something’s about to go down, Rivers falls in beside Tully and Noah because he would never let the three of us step into any kind of situation without him, so he steps into my other side just as I knew he would.
The four of us walk towards the back of the property as a pack, but for tonight, this pack has a new leader. I don’t turn to look at Noah. I know exactly how he would feel about not being front and center. The fact that he doesn’t know the plan or what I have to take her down, that’s probably making it a shitload worse.
Noah’s like me. He likes control and he likes being the one in charge. The unknown doesn’t sit well with him, and I don’t doubt we’re going to have words about this when it’s all over. But first, he’s going to sit back and watch me take her down because he knows that’s what I need to finally move on from this.
After all, he might hate it, but Noah always has my best interests at heart. It’s a part of the reason why I’m falling for him so hard. So, he needs to sit back and watch his queen work.
As we walk towards the back of the property, I curse how damn big it is. The further we get, the quieter the music becomes, or maybe someone is turning it down.
Shadows fall to both sides of me and I glance across to my right to find Nate Ryder standing front and center before every damn Broken Hill High student at the party. He has Tora, Jesse, and Kaylah at his sides with the boys I had met earlier making one hell of a show of force. Nate nods my way and I quickly realize that he’s a man of little words, but it doesn’t faze me, the fact that I have his support right now speaks volumes.
Looking to my left, I find Candice. She doesn’t look happy to be there, but with the whole cheer squad standing at her back, she has no choice but to stand with them. Besides, I’ve spent my whole week working my ass off to ensure that each of those girls knows exactly why they’re here, and believe me, they’re more than happy to stand by me, especially if it means Monica going down. They’ve been waiting for this even longer than I have.
The whole party comes to a standstill and I have I have no idea how we swung a private room, but if I had to guess, I’d say the boys had something to do with that too. Though a brief flash of guilt flares through me. This is supposed to be Kaylah’s eighteenth and here I am, about to steal the limelight, but if I take the wicked grin pulling at her lips as she tries her hardest to appear tough, I’d dare say she doesn’t mind.