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“We have… her Sweetheart application,” I said. “Right?”
“I’ll take that,” Leighton said, “But I want it from you, too. We don’t know how much of the application was forged. Vex Eden doesn’t come up much through search engines, and her social media profiles are mostly private or hidden. I’ve got someone working on hacking—”
“I… I added her as a friend,” I said. “But she doesn’t have much on them at all. It’s not just the private stuff.”
Leighton nodded. “Then it’s all the more important I hear from you.”
“Okay…” I didn’t know why the others weren’t saying anything. One of us had to start talking. “Well she’s nineteen. She uh… has—had—a friend named Aisha, but I think she passed. I don’t know how. Her mother died when she was sixteen. She likes music, I um… I have her playlists…” I glanced to my phone which was still in Ebony’s hand. “She loves Heart’s new album—Gilded, plays it on repeat…” I trailed off.
Stupid.
That was stupid. None of it would be helpful.
“You’re doing fine,” Leighton said quietly, gaze fixed on me. “Keep going.” She was a female alpha, so her aura wasn’t like ours. Instead, it was always out. Right now, it helped to focus on it; I could feel her calm like it was mine.
“I don’t uh… I don’t know what was real. She never mentioned her dad, so I think maybe he was out of the picture. Did she… did she say anything about that to you guys?” I glanced around at the others.
They still hadn’t spoken. Love was paler than I’d ever seen him, and Rook looked ill.
I don’t know why they were leaving this to me. She’d spent loads of time with Rook. And I wasn’t good at this. He’d know more.
How did I know so little?
Just her favourite fucking music?
She was my mate, and I didn’t even know her mom’s name. Love and her would have talked about real shit—I was sure of it.
“She never mentioned her dad,” Love said quietly. “But I didn’t talk to her that much.” He glanced to Rook.
Rook shook his head. “I’m… I don’t know. Drake knows the most,” he said, looking to Leighton. “Vex and him…” He swallowed, eyes shifting in my direction but still not meeting mine. “She really liked him.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but he got to his feet, jaw clenched. “I’m…” He wrinkled his nose. “I’m useless here. She hated me.”
“She what?” Love asked, brows drawn.
“Sit down,” Leighton said cooly. “You can mope later. I’m not done.”
“I'm not going to be any help,” Rook snapped.
“You can go when I say you can go,” Leighton replied.
Rook’s scowl deepened, but when no one challenged her, he sank back down into his seat.
Leighton continued shooting me questions about anything and everything: jobs Vex might have had in the past, her favourite places to visit, her schooling and registration status. I couldn’t stop shaking, even when I tried to focus on the answers.
I’d taken my phone back from Ebony, anxiously scrolling through her photos, glancing down at them occasionally as if they might help. I kept regurgitating stupid shit, like how she really loved the otters at the aquarium and had once thought about being an animal trainer.
The silence of the others was like a constant scratching at the back of my mind.
I didn’t understand.
Shedidn’thate Rook. She’d have told me if that was the case. And Love hadn’t talked to her?
That made no sense.
I felt like I was in a parallel world, wondering why my brothers were lying in a moment like this, when there were bigger things to worry about than keeping secrets. She was alone right now, so afraid—
“You said she liked Heart?” Rook asked, cutting into my spiralling thoughts.
