“You do? With a case?” Everly sat up on her knees, leaning across the table. “Detective Everly reporting for duty.”
“A young man died at college a few years back, and we need to know how it happened. Was it an accident because he was drinking, or did someone hurt him on purpose?” Ten hated Everly knowing that people sometimes hurt each other. She’d helped on cases before, but usually, the victim had been gone much longer than three years and wasn’t so damn young.
“I understand.” Everly wore a solemn look. All traces of her giggles were gone.
Ten reached into his pocket and pulled out Sebastian’s friendship bracelet and pushed it across the table to Everly.
“Oh, a Taylor Swift bracelet.” Everly went to reach for the item but pulled her hand back at the last minute as if she’d been burned. “Nota Swiftie bracelet. I wouldn’t touch that for a million bucks and two, no,threeunicorns.”
Ten hadn’t felt anything from the bracelet at all. “What did you feel that made you say that?”
“Well,” Everly said, drawing the word out. “My stomach was squirmy the way it gets when Aurora gets a new toy I don’t have.”
“So you felt jealousy, maybe?” Ten prodded.
“Something like that. Simon was jealous of Batch. Bats. Brats.” She shook her head as if that would help her figure out the word she was reaching for.
“Bash?” Ten asked.
“Yes! That’s it. I’ve never heard a name like that before.” Everly nodded to herself.
“It’s a nickname. His real name is Sebastian.” Tennyson knew the connection his Disney princess–loving daughter would have to that name.
Everly kept her composure. She was all business, just like Ronan. “Like Ariel’s friend. Okay, that makes sense now.”
“Do you know what Simon was jealous about?” Ronan asked, taking a sip from his cup.
“Mandy Patterson,” Everly said without hesitation. “Simon wanted her to be his girlfriend, but she liked Bash better. “Did you bring the phone, Dad?”
“Your cell phone is charging on the hall table,” Ten said. “Do you want me to go get it?”
Ronan grinned at his daughter. “That’s not the phone she’s talking about. Is it?”
“Nope!” Everly shook her head and returned Ronan’s knowing look. “There are pictures of Mandy on Bash’s phone. She’s wearing a pink bra or something.” Everly made a face.
Reaching into his back pocket, Ronan pulled out the darkened cell phone. He tapped the screen and quickly entered the code. He held the device in front of him so that Everly couldn’t see the screen. “Is there anything else you can tell me about the picture?”
“Bash is smiling on the outside, but he’s not really happy. There’s something wrong. He has on a blue shirt with funny letters or something, and Mandy’s wearing a little black skirt with her pink bra.”
Ronan flipped through the pictures on the phone and handed it to Tennyson, who wasn’t surprised by what he was seeing. He set the phone on the table in front of Everly.
“Yup, that’s the picture.” Mandy wore a tight pink tank top, which almost resembled a sports bra. Her breasts stuck over the top of the shirt to the point where her nipples were almost visible. Her barely there skirt was almost invisible. Bash wore a blue shirt, just as Everly said. “What is the weird writing on his shirt?”
“Bash was trying to become a member of a fraternity called Sigma Chi. The two symbols are Greek letters.”
Everly frowned as Ronan spoke. “He didn’t want to be a Cobra Kai. Not anymore. Bash wanted to make his father proud, but…” She trailed off, looking lost in thought.
Ten reached out to his daughter with his gift, hoping he could see or feel what she was experiencing, but all he felt was betrayal.
“But he found out something that made him feel a certain way, not mad, not sad, not happy. I don’t know a word for it.” Everly looked to Tennyson for help.
“Did a friend do something behind his back? Like pretending to like him but really didn’t?” Ten asked. He hated that he was about to teach his young daughter a new word, one she’d never heard of and hadn’t experienced before.
“Something like that. What is it?”
“Betrayal,” Ten said softly. “It’s when breaking someone’s trust in you. Like if Dad went on a date with another man. Or if you pretended to be Wolfie’s friend in order to trick him into something that would hurt him and help you.”
Everly shook her head. “I don’t like that feeling. I feel icky inside my belly. I’d never do that to Woofie or Aurora or anyone.” She turned back to the picture, her lips frowning. “I can see a weird look in Bash’s eyes. His mouth is smiling, but the rest of him is not. He knows someone is trying to hurt him.” Everly took a long sip from her tea cup, as if the peppermint brew could wash away the sick feeling inside her.
