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“Girls, just in time.” Ellen, the Jaggers’ housekeeper, wipes her hands on a towel. “Let them cool first. The pizza is in the refrigerator for later. I’m off for the day now. Stay out of trouble.” She winks.
Remi stands up on a stool, wincing a little, and I wonder exactly what Ace did to her.
“Maybe you should try some ice,” I tease, and she flips me off.
“Very funny.”
“Do I smell cookies?” Conner breezes into the kitchen, shooting me a smirk. Damn him. He’s such a flirt.
Unlike his brother, who is a locked box.
Remi smacks his hand away as he dives for the cooling rack. “They’re not ready.”
“They look pretty ready to me.” They start wrestling over the gooey cookie in his hand, and I smother a chuckle.
This is nice.
Normal.
“I’m going to use the bathroom,” I announce, my words falling on deaf ears.
Slipping out, I make my way down the hall.
I can’t help but think how much Remi has changed since Ace arrived in Sterling Bay. She used to be like me: lost and alone, just trying to fight against a riptide full of vapid bitches, elite play boys, and prep school bullshit. Now though, she’s happy.
I want that.
I want to remember what it’s like to feel something other than constant numbness.
After washing my hands, I steel myself to go back to Remi and Conner. But when I open the door, Cole forces me right back inside.
“What the hell are you doing?” I snap, gulping when I see the heat blazing in his eyes.
“Hello to you too, Little Dove.” He gives me a wicked smirk and my heart skips a beat.
Crap.
I’m in so much trouble.
Chapter Eighteen
Cole
“What are you doing here?” I growl, pushing Hadley back inside the bathroom I watched her disappear into, only a few minutes ago.
Her eyes flash with defiance and my cock immediately begins to harden.
I’d laid in bed staring at the ceiling for hours after sneaking back into the house sometime after dawn this morning. Memories of our time together, of the things she admitted to me, were on repeat in my head as I tried to figure out how she ended up here, only to find out she was shipped here by her parents. But I know there’s more to it. I know she’s still keeping secrets.
At some point, Conner had come in, probably to tell me about whichever girl he hooked up with at last night’s party, but I feigned sleep and thankfully he left not long after he pushed the door open.
I feel guilty for shutting him out. As far as he’s concerned, it’s always been the two of us. He thinks we’ve got some kind of twin connection that makes him aware when there’s something up with me. I see it differently, however, because all the times I was left at home in our trailer, forced to witness and experience the things I did, he had no clue. He never came to my rescue because he ‘felt what I felt’ or whatever bullshit he thinks.
The truth of it is that no one k
nows what I’ve been through. No one understands. Not Ace, not Conner, and certainly not our so-called father.
The anger I was already feeling swells inside me as I stare into her dark green eyes.
