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So before he can make a comment about it — dirty, of course — I continue, “And their whiskey is excellent too, don’t you think? It’s so excellent that people steal it just to have a sip.”
“If you think that then you should probably just stick to your lemonade and leave the hard liquor to the grown-ups,” he says, tipping his chin to my half-drunk glass of lemonade, not taking my bait.
“You’re such a —”
“The point is,” he speaks over me, “that I’m willing to give you a ride to your ballet studio.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Just so you can stop being stupidly reckless and taking the bus at midnight. Where at worst, you could be kidnapped and murdered and at best, robbed and raped.”
I have no words right now.
I don’t.
He’s insane.
“You’re insane,” I tell him.
“And you’re lucky.” He sips his coffee coolly. “That I’m willing to drive you around on your foolish errands.”
“Foolish errands?”
“Yes.”
My fingers claw at the lemonade glass as I say, “The reason I have to run those foolish errands is because I’m stuck at St. Mary’s. And in case you forgot, it’s a reform school. Meaning they don’t have a ballet teacher. Because apparently, ballet doesn’t rank so high when it comes to restoration and reformation of teenage criminals.”
“Well now you know, don’t you?” he says with a harsh jaw. “Next time you’ll think twice before stealing someone’s car with the intent of destroying it. Almost wrecking your future in the process.”
I bite the inside of my cheek at his words. I bite it so hard that I think I taste copper.
I taste the broken pieces of my heart, my foolishness.
My recklessness.
And I gulp it all down with a hard swallow. “Yeah, you’re right. I will. I will think twice about it. At least then I won’t be stuck in a cage, trying to chase my dream. Trying to break into the one place that was supposed to get me there but they kicked me out instead and —”
“What?”
I flinch at his severe tone. “What?”
“They kicked you out.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I frown at his ticking, angry jaw. “Because I stole your car.”
“So?”
“So… apparently you steal one car and the world suddenly thinks that you’re running a grand theft auto ring,” I tell him as I grow increasingly confused again.
What is it to him if I got kicked out?
“They said that to you?” he asks then, his voice all low and his features tight.
“I…” I shake my head. “What does it matter what they said to me?”
“What about Juilliard?”
“Again, none of your business. Besides, it’s done. It happened two years ago.”
“Yeah,” he snaps, his fingers digging into his coffee mug. “And I’m wondering how the fuck did I not know about this until now?”
My mouth falls open then.
I do realize that this might be the first time he’s hearing of it.
It’s not as if I told Tempest about it, about being kicked out and my Juilliard plans. I was too embarrassed to tell her. So I get that if his sister didn’t know, he didn’t know either. I mean, how else would he have come to know?
But that tone? How the fuck did he not know?
Who does he think he is?
I lean forward. “You didn’t know, Reed, because I didn’t tell you. Because it’s none of your business. Because when you so completely broke my heart and betrayed my trust, I decided that I wasn’t going to treat you like my whole world and share things with you.”
That jaw of his, clean-shaven this morning and angular as ever, keeps ticking as he stares at me with heated eyes. “Blue Madonna, right?”
I open my mouth to answer him and then close it before saying, “I don’t know what’s going on with you. I don’t know why you think that you can tell me what to do like you did last night or why you think I should share my life story with you. But it’s getting really old and I want you to stop, okay? Oh, and I don’t need a ride from you.”
“You’re taking it regardless.”
I scoff. “What makes you think that I’m going to get inside your car and let you drive me around after everything?”
His nostrils flare. “If I’m willing to let you anywhere near my car, you better get inside it, Fae. And you better smile your good girl smile and say thank you in your sweet voice to show me your gratitude no matter where I decide to drive you. After everything.”
“And if I don’t?”
He smiles then.
A humorless, cold smile as his animal eyes flash. “See, the thing is that I know where you live. I’ve been to your house, remember? And as much as I’ll hate going back there and talking to your brothers, I’ll still do it. For you. I’m sure they’d be very interested to know what you’ve been up to. Behind their backs. Besides I did it once, remember? At the championship game no less. So I could win. I can do it again.”
