Page 62 of Liar

A chorus of groans answers him. He grins and waves at all of us.

I would shoot him if I could.

Sav pushes to her feet, and I’m at her side before she rounds her desk.

She jumps at my sudden presence. “Thorne. Hi.”

“Hello, sweetheart.” My voice drips with sarcasm.

She catches it and rolls her eyes. “No need to put on an act. No one’s watching.”

“Everyone watches all the time.” I take her hand, squeezing hard with warning as I lead her out of the classroom and to somewhere private where we can talk. “I have a few questions for you.”

“I’m sure you do, but I don’t have any answers to give.”

As soon as we’re out of the wave of escaping students, I whirl on her. “That’s—”

My phone buzzes in my blazer’s inner pocket. I frown.

“Are you going to answer that?” Sav crosses her arms and cocks a hip.

My, isn’t she confident today? I immediately wonder why.

I pull out the phone, checking my display. My frown deepens as I lift the phone to my ear. “This better be good, Jax.”

“You wanted to know where she is, didn’t you?”

My back turns ramrod straight. I shift away from Sav, murmuring, “What’ve you got?”

“Well, not Ember, exactly, but Aiko. She just walked into Zeke’s hospital room.”

My brows slam down. “What? Why?”

“I’m as confused as you, man. I didn’t think they hung out with each other.”

“They don’t.”

“Then why—”

I hang up, spinning to Sav. “I’ll come back to this. Right now, I have somewhere else to be.”

“Sure, fine. Corner me another time,” she says dryly, then sweeps her arms out in an after you gesture.

It’s the most personality I’ve seen from her since she’s returned.

I don’t trust it. Not one fucking bit, but there’s nothing I can currently do about it.

Ember is my top concern. She’s up to something. That’s what the niggling at the back of my neck has to be. She continues to plan and put herself in danger, somehow roping Aiko in to do her dirty work.

And I have to stop her before my father catches wind of it.

Chapter 21

Ember

I meet Aiko in the oncology wing’s visitor room of Boston General. It is a quiet, somber place that I thought would have the least prying eyes.

When the elevator doors slide open and Aiko steps out, I rise from one of the sofas. No one else is here.