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Unsurprisingly, Cole is staying extremely quiet about it.
Sawyer glares at the two of them. Like with everything else, he’d somehow managed to block that little doozy out. "Oh, yeah, that fucking shit bomb of gross glitter. Where the fuck did that come from?"
I move to stand beside him, my back to our girl, trying to protect her from whatever is about to spew from their mouths.
"Our dads have had it in play since before Dad married Sofie," Travis confesses, and I ball my hands into fists.
Of fucking course he’s known this entire time. It explains his iceman routine with her a little more.
"And you didn’t think to share with the freaking class?" Sawyer hisses at him. I clench my jaw, because if I say one goddamn word, I’m going to flip my shit cause this is utter bullshit.
"You were already in too deep with her. From the moment you saw her, I could tell," Travis explains, and I bark a laugh.
"And what's your excuse for not telling me? I wasn’t even there that night."
"Our dads told us not to say a word," Cole interjects. "They wanted us to get close to her, to befriend her, have it happen organically."
"And not telling us helps that how?" Sawyer asks as he runs a hand through his hair, tugging on it, exasperated.
"What were we supposed to say? Oh shit, the girl we all slept with is going to be my wife, back off and help me trick her into a relationship?" Cole deadpans, and I roll my eyes.
"Yeah, exactly that. Since when do we let our parents’ bullshit get between us?" I retort, glaring at him.
"Arguing about it isn’t going to make a difference," Travis says coldly. "These are the facts of our lives."
"And what if we won’t give her up?" Sawyer counters, crossing his arms across his chest while I try to take deep breaths and glance back at our girl. Her face is scrunched up in her sleep and I can’t help but wonder what’s haunting her dreams, hoping it’s not Crawford, even if it is foolish to hope.
"Did I ask you to?" Cole throws back. "This wasn’t my idea, I got as much choice in this deal as you did. As she did. Have you ever tried to stop my dad from doing anything? I have, and it doesn’t end well. The only way to protect her was to go along with it. I was willing to do that before I knew her, so how do you think I feel now?"
"Howdoyou feel now?"
My breath hitches at her voice and I turn to face her, knowing the others are all feeling as caught as I do.
"Well?" she says, tilting her head as she watches us. "How do you feel now?"
CHAPTERFOUR
BRIAR
My breath is ragged as I run across the darkened expanse, his laughter taunting me, getting closer no matter how hard I run.
"You need to keep fighting, Briar."
Iris’s voice rings through my mind. Something that used to fill me with warmth and joy, now sends an icy shiver down my spine.
What if this is the last time I hear her?
I trip in the darkness, hitting the ground with athud, his laughter ringing in my ears.
"There’s nowhere for you to run, Briar. I will always find you."
Except, that can’t be right. I was running from my professor. Nothim.
No.
He can’t have found me.
Not again.
