I scanned over each message, the oxygen in my lungs disappearing. I tried to function, to breathe, but my brain refused to process what I was reading.
It was Silasagain.
But this time, he had beenwatchingme. He knew what happened, what I had done at the coffee shop.
Throwing open my front door, I beelined straight toward my room. I wasn’t going to reply. I wasn’t going to let him know he had succeeded in making me flustered. In fact, he’d done nothing besides solidify how I felt about him. Stomping across the floor, I flung my closet door open and yanked out the shortest skirt I owned. I wasn’t the one who needed tolearn.Hedid.
The skirt I grabbed was gifted to me last year, jet black leather with a zipper crotch. I’d worn it once to a bachelorette party, then stored it, knowing it barely surpassed my moral dress code.Tonight, he had ripped that inhibition in half.Stripping out of my pants, I shoved the skirt up my hips with violent purpose and reached for the matching top. The corset-like front was perfect, a message that I knew he would receive loud and clear.Fuck you, Silas.
I worked a closing shift tomorrow which meant I had plenty of time for what I was about to do. This wasn’t just about the text he’d sent. This was about proving he was not the boss of me. If he wanted to watch me, I might as well do something interesting.
I sat down at my vanity and brushed out my hair, maximizing every inch of volume.Stretching over to grab my make-up bag, I chose a crimson lip stain, like the color of blood. Taking the cap off, I traced over my top lip and then popped my mouth a few times before smiling into the mirror.
This was going to be fun.
When I finished getting ready, I headed to the kitchen where Kinsley was dancing with a half-cut lime in one hand and a salt shaker in the other. Stepping up next to her, I snatched the tequila bottle off the counter. “Still want to go out?”
Kinsley sighed in disappointment, turning toward me, “What—” Her eyes moved across my body, bulging as they hit different parts of my outfit. After a few seconds of pureglitching, she reset and looked me up and down. Taking my hand, she spun me and whistled. “Who are you, and what have you done with Ember?”
A grin slid over my face. “I’mthe girl taking you out to the bar tonight.”
Her response was a high-pitched squeal that bounced off the kitchen walls. Covering my ears, I motioned toward her bedroom.
“I’m leaving soon, with orwithoutyou.” Then for added drama, I took a long swig straight from the neck of the bottle. She gawked at me before jumping up and down. Then, she opened the cabinet and pulled out two small glasses. I took them from her without hesitation, pouring each of us a shot.
Kinsley’s eyes widened with happiness as we clinked our cups together. Knocking hers back, she set the empty glass down on the counter before bolting to her room. “You better not change your mind! Give me twenty minutes!”
Pouring myself another shot, I watched her close the door. There wasno wayI was changing my mind. I planned on making whatever choices I wanted tonight, and he could sit there and watch every single one.
With that thought, I replied to him.
I guess that means you didn’t do it for me, huh? Maybe the next guy can.
Taking another swig, I felt the warmth from the alcohol as it settled into my chest.
13
Silas
The drive back to the club became an internal war between staying awake and not turning the car around to go back to Ember. All the windows were down, and the radio was on full blast—anything to keep me awake and stop me from sending more text messages to the woman I was close to strangling. The anger was back, but for a different reason. Something in me warned that I would always be mad at her for something.
I could just envision it. Every time she misbehaved, I’d pin her up against the wall with my hand around her throat. The way she’d look up at me, the absolute rage it would put her in.Thatthought alone sent a tingle through me.
By the time I reached the garage, my eyes were heavier than I wanted to admit. I fought against them as I parked the car and entered the club. My staff was so focused on the tasks I’d left for them that no one noticed my maskless face as I snuck back into my office.
My body hit the couch as my phone fell to the floor, and I was fully asleep within thirty seconds. I was okay giving myself just a little time to recharge here, because then I could be at full capacity to get back at Ember. I would need to be at full strengthfor that, because I knew she’d put up a fight with whatever I chose to do.
One second I was picturing her face, and the next I was somewhere else entirely—some half-formed dream where nothing made sense but everything felt real. There were voices, I think.My brothers maybe?I was only there for a matter of minutes, or at least that’s what I felt like before something started ringing.
At first, it blended in entirely, just another sound stitched into the dream. My brain twisted it into a phone call at one of our family dinners, but the sound didn’t stop, even after Greyson walked away to take the call. It kept cutting through, louder each time, like it was trying to claw its way out of whatever fog my mind was buried in.
Soon, the sound was coming from my phone at home, and I was standing there above it, lifting the receiver to talk to the police about my mother.
The next time I heard it, it was the principal calling about how Greyson was fighting at school again and how he was seriously close to being suspended…again.
Ringing.
Ringing.
