I scrub my palms over my face, and a heavy feeling settles in my chest as I realize something very dark.
The one person I want to be around.
For my whole life, the person who came to mind has been Weston.
But right now, I only thought of Hunter.
I’m pacing around the reading room, listening to the sound of the other guys checking all around the house, when I hear footsteps coming from nearby.
I feel a hand on my shoulder.
Weston’s there.
And a new form of guilt pools inside me.
I’ve never seen more fear on his face, and yet I was in here, only thinking about his brother.
“Rayne,” Wes says to me. “I think we need to quit pretending that this is coming from somewhere outside of Onyx House. It’s so obvious that this… thatall of thisis coming from someone in here.”
I shake my head. “No. There’s no way. Weknoweveryone here. We’ve talked to everyone about this. We know where every guy goes, what every guy does.”
“We can’t be everywhere all the time, though. That box was in Noah’s room all week. Who else could have access to that?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “We have parties all the time, and people come over almost every day.”
“And guess what? Noah is one of theonly peoplewho actually locks his door upstairs,” Weston says. “Nobody’s getting in there during a party.”
I feel sick as I lean against the wall. “Wes, you’re not saying…”
“I don’t think it’s Noah. No.”
“It couldn’t be. I know you’re my best friend, but Noah is practically like a brother to me at this point, too?—”
“It’s not Noah,” a voice says from the other side of the room.
Hunter walks in with a serious look on his face.
He’s so handsome he practically takes my breath away, and I can’t do a damn thing about it.
“You say that like you’re justso sureof it,” Wes says.
“Iamsure.”
“Hunter Knox, smarter than everyone and apparently as all-knowing as the gods above, too,” Weston says with a distinct bitter tone.
He’s thinking about the text he showed me earlier.
This anger isn’t just directed at Hunter, it’s directed at their father.
Hunter frowns. “I don’t have to be smart to know that Noah’s innocent. I know he’s innocent.”
“How?”
“Because I put those notes into the box.”
20
Hunter
