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I give her a blank stare, unsure of what to say. My life has been turned upside down. My kidnapper found me because my need for answers put me back on his radar. Not to mention, I’m in love with my adopted brother slash former best friend, a person I would’ve never considered for that role. I’m so far out of my element.
My chest constricts, and I press my fist against it. I mumble, "Rhys says we’ll figure it out."
Den’s eyebrows shoot up to her forehead.
How is that anatomically possible?
"We?" Denielle’s voice faintly registers with me, and I snap out of my ADD moment.
Shrugging, I look at my feet.
Denielle’s hands fly to her mouth. "Oh my gosh, are you dating your brother?"
My eyes widen, mortified, and she cackles, "I’m sorry, but this whole situation is too good to not make a joke about it."
I punch her in the shoulder. "You’re a bitch."
That gets me a bear hug. "Forgive me?" Then she pulls back. "So? Are you guys..." She trails off.
Another shrug. "I have no idea. He broke up with Katherine last night. But we never talked about it—about us," I stammer like an idiot.
"He broke up with the Wicked Bitch? I have to hear this." She looks at her watch. "We have ten minutes before class starts; I can make it to mine in two. Start talking!"
She won’t leave me alone until I tell her, so I relent and repeat everything that happened after we parted ways at the gym. "I wanted to apologize for being such a bitch and explain why. But I didn’t know how. And then the text came." I pause for a second and tell her about Rhys finding me on the stairs, our drive, how he left me at the house after we got back, and then when he came back from Katherine’s. I conclude with, "I asked him to stay."
Denielle’s eyes are about to pop out of their sockets. "Uh, who are you, and what have you done with my best friend?"
My lips twitch with a smile; she doesn’t judge me. I still wait for her to be grossed out about the whole thing, but she’s actually excited for me.
"She got her life turned upside down." I shrug with a smirk.
She slings her arm over my shoulders. "Well,I’malso in this with you."
"Thanks. I’m going to need your help. I am at a total loss when it comes to Rhys," I confide.
She has a devious grin on her face. "Rhys can handle the psycho, and I can help with your love life."
I dramatically smack my palm to my forehead. "What have I done?"
My psycho-stalker-kidnapper is back,and I have no idea what status Rhys and I are, but I can’t help the bounce in my step all morning. I get sidelong glances everywhere, and I want to roll my eyes. Have I been that mopey and depressed the last few years?
Rhys’s classes are mostly on the second floor, so I don’t expect to see him until later. Denielle and I are headed to lunch when I get my first glimpse of him. My entire body immediately starts buzzing, and my mind wanders to last night when he was lying in bed with me. Nothing happened besides holding hands, but the small contact was so intimate my cheeks heat at the memory. The instant he laid down, I felt safe.Home.
I’m being jerked by the elbow, which brings me back to reality—I was about to smack nose-first into an open locker. Now my face is really on fire, and I fight the urge to cover it with my hands. Looking up, Rhys’s eyes crinkle in amusement, but to everyone else, he radiates boredom. He has mastered the stone façade over the years, but I can see past it, and his eyes send acompletelydifferent message. He is as affected as I am, and his eyes jump between mine and...my lips. Is he thinking about kissing me? I can’t go there right now; I’d probably trip over my own feet.
"Keep it together, babe. You’re drooling," Denielle hisses beside me.
I force my gaze away from the gorgeous boy ahead of me and focus on my destination—the cafeteria. Instead, I find Katherine standing at the end of the hallway. Her emerald-green eyes are zeroed in on Rhys’s back, and my stomach turns into a tight knot. She’s been with him for years, and he broke up with her for me, not caring how it’d look to the rest of the world, also known as Westbridge High. As if she heard my thoughts, her gaze snaps to mine.Does she know I’m the reason?No, she can’t, I chastise myself. She’s always disliked me for one reason or another, but now she emanates outright hostility.
We get within earshot of Rhys and Wes, and Denielle hollers, "Hey, Wes, how’s the snow today?"
I’m so startled that I break out of my stare-down with Katherine. Den winks at me, and I understand. She intended exactly that. I love my best friend.
Wes flips her off. "Fuck off, D."
Both can barely contain a knowing grin, and even Rhys’s stony mask cracks a tiny bit as he gives my best friend a barely visible nod. She dips her head in acknowledgment, and a secret message passes between them. Despite my heart still racing in my chest from my standoff with Katherine, I feel pure joy. I haveallmy friends back in my life. No more secrets, no more hiding. The four of us can finally beusagain.
For the first time in—actually,for the first time ever, I’m skipping practice. I was in a fog of happiness and dread during the rest of my classes. The people that have meant the most to me in the past are all back in my life, but I can’t tell anyone. I have to pretend that I despise Rhys, that Wes and I don’t talk, and that Den is my only close friend. Sure, Sloane and Emma are my friends, but I wouldn’t confide in them. Maybe trivial things like arandomboy crush, yes, but not with what’s really going on in my life. And then there is the matter of the text message. Every time my phone vibrates, I feel like I’m being choked, and I can’t breathe until I see it’s nothim. So, instead of going to practice, I’m heading home to hide in my sanctuary. I need some time to collect myself and figure out how to play my part in all of this.
