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Tanner’s hands come up, but it’s too late. Reeves hits him in the jaw, and Tanner’s head hits the door hard before he slumps down to the stoop.

He grabs Tanner’s shirt and leans in close, whispering something in his ear. Tanner’s eyes widen, and his skin pales.

Zoey shakes her head. “Come on, Reeves. Leave the trash.”

Logan releases Ava as Reeves shoves Tanner against the door and steps back. Before any of them can stop her, Ava slaps Tanner.

He wipes the blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth and smiles. “If I’d known you liked it rough, baby, I would have given it to you.”

With a growl, Ava launches herself at Tanner. Before she connects, Reeves grabs her and throws her over his shoulder.

“You fucking prick. I hope you die.” Ava doesn’t stop cursing at Tanner as she’s carried off by Reeves. Zoey follows them and then steps in front to open the car door.

Carter waits as Logan squats next to Tanner.

“You have a death wish, Lewis?” Logan shakes his head, like he doesn’t understand him. “Ava Ross is off limits to you. Stop texting. Stop cornering her at school.”

“Or what, Price?” Tanner’s eyes are cold as he smiles. “You going to tell on me to the horsemen? The only reason you’re taking care of that spoiled brat is because of them. Though maybe she’s showing you what tricks I taught her. She did get good at sucking⁠—”

Logan’s fist shuts Tanner’s mouth up. He slumps out cold on the porch of his house as Logan straightens. When he glances toward Carter, Carter nods.

They head back to their car, having gotten their point across. Fuck, I owe those guys for being there for Ava. Though I wish she would have come to me. This time I didn’t feel the need to step in. She’s being taken care of.

It settles something deep inside me that I didn’t realize was wound tight. That niggling of worry about Ava being back that I kept in the background because I needed to worry about Harper.

Luke pulls me back, and we stop at Tanner’s car to plant the bug. Either they’ve effectively shut Tanner down or he’ll be gunning hard for revenge tonight. I need to know where this fucker is even more now.

Jack

This stupid burner phone of Zach’s is password-protected. Because, of course, Zach would have the forethought to protect his phone in case it fell into the wrong hands. Or in case he dropped it in the girls’ locker room while attacking our girl.

Lucy sits across from me at the craft table. So Harper could use my room to change, I got dressed early for the dance. I want to be as surprised as the others when she steps out in her dress.

I was tempted to talk to her while she got ready. To tell her about Darius and his secret, but it’s not my secret to share. He probably shouldn’t have told me. Besides, she’s got enough on her mind for tonight.

Anticipation of seeing her in her dress floods me. She’s all I need. She’s asked me repeatedly throughout our relationship if she would be enough. Seeing Darius today confirmed that Harper’s it for me. I don’t know what will happen if we lose her tonight, but I’m planning on being attached to her side to prevent that.

I thought about giving Darius the burner phone, but there’s no chain of custody. No proof that this is Zach’s. We had to wipe it of our prints, which meant any other prints on it are gone. If I can crack the phone, it may give us what we need to make sure he stays in jail. Or at least make it difficult for his family to buy his way out.

When Lucy saw me all dressed up, she raced to her room and put on her prettiest princess dress. At which point she demanded my dad take pictures of us. After a few minutes of humoring her, I told her I needed to work.

She nodded solemnly and followed me down to the table in the basement. Paper and crayons are spread out in front of her as she works on coloring in a picture of a dragon. Every now and then, she shows me her work, and I give her an approving nod.

There aren’t a lot of ways around a PIN on a phone. Not without potentially wiping the data. At least not for most people.

I hook it up to my computer and see if there are any backdoors into it. It’s not like I haven’t gotten data off someone’s phone using a rootkit exploit.

It would be quicker with a fingerprint, but we don’t have time to find one and do all the necessary prep. Because it’s a burner phone, Zach would have to be stupid to use a digital fingerprint to access it.

Unfortunately, digging into this phone might take a while. And time isn’t something I have tonight. My best bet is to hold on to it until we’re ready to bust Zach and slip it into his pocket. Let the police find it on him.

There are no guarantees when it comes to the police that they won’t “lose” it to appease Zach’s father. But it’s a chance I’ll have to take. Zach didn’t want to be caught with this phone. It’s like a bomb in my hand, but hopefully I can use it to detonate Zach.

CHAPTER 7

The Staging Area

Kenz