AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Stop pretending, Cole. I see what you’re doing,” I say. “It won’t work on me.”
“I’m not doing anything, Lindy just sat next to me and started flirting with me. Big deal.” He narrows his eyes, and a hint of a smile pops onto his face. “Are you jealous?”
I almost choke on my saliva right then and there. “You wish.”
He snorts and shakes his head. “Whatever you want, Mo …”
I’ve had enough of him making fun of me. “Don’t.” I point my finger at his chest. “I don’t need your pity.”
“You know what you do need?” he retorts. “You need to leave.”
“Why?”
He leans in with my finger still pressed against his chest. “This is dangerous.”
Because of that dude? I’ve been through worse. “I didn’t ask for your help.”
He grabs my finger. “You don’t have to ask. Not with me.”
The looks we exchange are so electric the air fills with static lightning.
“Whatever you want, Cole …” I jerk free of his grip. “I don’t like this party anyway.”
“Good. Leave,” he hisses a little too easily.
Fuck. Does he want me out of here so badly? What’s his problem? Why does he want to fuck me one second, but then hate me the next? I can’t get a grip on him, and that’s what’s so infuriating.
“Wow, what a friendly conversation.”
Ariane suddenly bumps into me, breaking the spell between us.
“Oh, excuse me … Am I interrupting something?” she asks sarcastically, gazing at both him and me.
His face darkens. “Stay out of this.”
“No, I don’t think I will,” Ariane says, defiantly folding her arms.
“What are you even doing here?” he growls at her. “Who invited you?”
She pulls Michael from the crowd and shows him off like he’s some kind of prize. “He did.”
“Hey, Cole,” Michael says, but he’s barely walking straight. “Want some?” He shoves a red cup into Cole’s hand, but Cole completely ignores him.
“No fucking wonder … So you invited all these people?” Cole directs all his anger toward Michael.
“What? You asked everyone over, remember?” Michael shrugs.
But it’s a big deal. A very big deal.
Because if Cole asked everyone over … that means this is his house.
“Whatever.” Cole shakes his head.
“What were you two talking about anyway?” Michael asked.
“Nothing,” we both reply.
“Awesome,” Michael jokes.
“Fuck no,” Ariane replies.
I frown and look at her. Why is she so upset at me having a conversation with Cole?
“You were trying something on her again, weren’t you?” Ariane asks Cole.
“Stay out of this,” Cole spits back.
“No, I fucking won’t. Whatever it is you had to say to her, you can say to me.” Ariane steps between us. “She’s my fucking cousin, and you’ve messed with enough girls already. You don’t need to ruin another one.”
“Oh, I ruin things?” Cole spits back at Ariane, making a scene.
“Okay, I’m out of here.” Michael scoffs, rolling his eyes, and he disappears back into the crowd.
Cole isn’t done yet, though. “Fuck you, Ariane. You play the fucking victim in front of everyone!”
The victim? What is he talking about?
“Shut up!” she yells, her face turning red. “I told you to stay away from her, and you wouldn’t listen!”
“Wait, hold up,” I say, completely confused by what the hell is going down here. “Back up… You did what now?”
“Oh, you hadn’t heard?” Cole snaps. “She’s been threatening me to stay away from you.”
My eyes widen, and I lean away from Ariane, who doesn’t seem remotely surprised by this statement.
“Is that true?” I ask Ariane.
She turns to me and grabs my hand. “Mo, I was just trying to protect you.”
Cole snorts and laughs while shaking his head. “Oh, this is rich.”
I’m so damn confused by this revelation that I don’t know what to do. Even if she was only trying to do good, it doesn’t feel right. None of it does.
So I pull my hand away from hers and shake my head. “I didn’t ask you to do that.”
“I know, and I’m sorry, okay? But you were vulnerable.”
“Vulnerable?” I repeat, tears welling up in my eyes. I can’t believe she’d say that to my face in front of everyone.
“Yeah, with what happened to you at Falcon Elite Prep, I figured—”
“Stop,” I interject, swallowing my tears. “Just stop.”
“I …” she mutters.
“You heard her.” Cole scoffs.
“Shut the fuck up,” Ariane snarls at him.
“I can’t deal with this,” I say, and I turn around and walk away before I do something I’ll regret. Because right now, I want nothing more than to slap the ever-living shit out of both of them, but I am not stooping to that level. Not in front of everyone at this party.
So I find the nearest exit into the backyard and sneak out. Away from the noise, away from the people, away from everything until I can finally fucking breathe again.
But no matter how hard I try, I can’t catch my breath.
Not as I stumble into the woods beyond the house or as I sit down on a stump and wait for a moment while I stare at the moon above.
