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“What are you doing with him?” I asked.
“He had information that I needed about Skylar and her death.”
While I wanted to be angry with her for being with him, I knew that he was the only one who would be able to keep her safe at school. Who the fuck knew what kind of drama and rumors were spreading around Redwood about me right now? If she got caught up in this mess, I would never fucking forgive myself.
As much as I hated it, João could keep her safe.
And he would because she watched his little sister. He trusted her.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, pulling her along back toward my house and praying that security would let me in without telling the bitch that I called Mom. After passing a security guard, I nodded in hopes that he wouldn’t say shit. And he didn’t, thankfully.
“Are you sure this is okay?” Vera asked, nervously looking at the guard.
It wasn’t, but she didn’t need to know that.
Once we made it all the way upstairs, I shut and locked the door. Then, I turned around, threw my arms around her, and hugged her. It had been too long of a fucking day, and nobody had really been on my side.
All my parents wanted was to keep their names out of this all.
Vera sighed softly and squeezed me tighter, the scent of her strawberry shampoo drifting around me. Not wanting to let her go, I picked her up and brought her to the bed, making her sit on top of me in my arms, bridal-style.
She rested her head on my shoulder and hummed. “Some girls were talking badly about you at lunch today, and I wanted them to know that … you didn’t do anything. Mr. Avery pulled me out of the cafeteria and told me not to say anything about you.”
“What do you mean, he pulled you out of the cafeteria?” I asked. “What did he say?”
“He … he said that there were some bad people who were trying to pin this on you. Is that true? Who’s after you? What … what did you do?” She furrowed her brows and stared up at me with wide eyes. “Please tell me.”
“It’s just my dad. He’s fucking slept with half of the town,” I said, hoping that she’d drop it.
I didn’t want to bring up that I knew Dad had slept with her mom. Maybe forcefully. I didn’t want to fucking get intothat. Not now.
“Is that all that Avery said?”
“Yeah,” she whispered. She chewed on the inside of her lip, her expression uncertain. “And I … I kinda told the school that …”
“You told the school about what?”
“I told them that … I told them that, um … you and I are kind of, um, hanging out.”
“You told them that we were together?”
“Mmhmm,” she said, not looking me in the eye.
My heart raced in my chest, warmth spreading throughout my body. I pressed my lips together to suppress the widest fucking grin that I wanted to plaster on my face. All this time, Vera hadn’t wanted to be seen with me. She hadn’t wanted to be associated with me. But now, she had told the entire school that we were together.
She really … she really fucking cared about me.
She had been willing to risk everything to protect me. Everything.
“We don’t have to hide anymore,” she whispered, peeking a glance at me. “I’m sorry if you still wanted to—”
Before she could finish her sentence, I smashed my lips against hers. I’d been waiting for fucking years for this. I’d been waiting ever since my parents had fired her mother. I’d wanted her so bad. And now, I would have her.
ChapterFifty-Nine
VERA
“You’re mine,” Blaise growled against my lips. “Mine.”
