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Zeke looks at me thoughtfully then nods. “I agree. Go get dressed.”
I realize I’m still wearing Zeke’s T-shirt and only his T-shirt. It’s big enough that it comes to mid-thigh at least. I nod and slip out of the room to get changed, thinking all the while. I put on the same things I’d had on yesterday and when I step out into the hallway, I find Zeke talking to Jericho. Jericho looks at me and I clear my throat and walk down the stairs.
Dex comes in from the front door carrying the bags I recognize from yesterday.
“These came for you,” Dex says, seeming surprised. I guess it’s because they weren’t sent to Zeke but to me. “Just delivered to the gate,” he says, holding them up.
“Thanks.” I take them from him as Zeke and Jericho descend the stairs.
“I’m sorry,” I say to Jericho.
He nods, his expression grave.
Isabelle and the kids come down too. The kids are all wearing swimsuits and although the boys look excited about swimming, Angelique is still upset, and her eyes are red rimmed.
“Want to come to the pool with us, Blue?” Isabelle asks.
“I think Zeke and I are going to head out, actually.”
“Oh?” Isabelle asks, looking first at Zeke then Jericho. I get the feeling she thinks it’s Jericho who is sending us packing.
I turn to them too and I see how Jericho’s jaw is locked. “Not my idea,” he tells her, then shifts his attention to Zeke. “There’s two of us if you stay, Brother.”
Zeke shakes his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” He turns to me. “Ready?”
I nod and we say goodbye, Jericho barely muttering two more words. He stops when we reach his study. I think he’s going to leave us there but he turns back to us. I notice my dad’s laptop on the corner of his desk.
“Stay here. It’s safer,” he says.
“For us, maybe, but not for you,” Zeke says.
He just shakes his head and Zeke nudges me to the front door. We drive to the Bishop house, Zeke clearly occupied because he barely says two words.
“I heard what he said,” I tell him once we’re at the gate.
He punches in the code to open it then turns to me, so lost in thought it’s like he forgot I was there.
“I think we should give him what he wants,” I continue.
“Maybe. Maybe not,” he says. “I don’t like that he walked into Jericho’s house. It was a show of power. Of how far he’s willing to go.”
“It also shows how capable he is. If any of them got hurt because of me, I couldn’t live with myself. Ifyougot hurt because of me, I couldn’t—” my voice breaks.
“That’s not going to happen.” He wraps a hand around the back of my neck and turns me to face him. From inside his pocket, he takes out the flash drive.
“You took it?”
He nods.
“Does Jericho know?”
“Not yet.”
He punches in the combination of numbers to open the front door of the house. He doesn’t hide the code from me, and I mentally catalog it. It’s one digit off from the one that opens the gate.
We walk into the house. I leave the bags of clothes in the hallway and follow Zeke into the study where he sets the flash drive and a business card on the desk then turns to me.
“I think we should give it to Girard, Zeke. I’ll do it. You can’t. If Councilor Augustus finds out you gave Girard the flash drive, he will go after you and your brother.”
