AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Out of the three of us, River had always been the fastest. He was agile as hell, which made him a threat on the court. He was leaner than either of us, but I noticed last night when we played that he wasn’t as small as he used to be. If anything, he’d learned what a weight room was since he left town.
“You don’t know shit about anything that’s happening here anymore,” West snarled, his shoulders tense. “You’ve been gone six years.”
“Want to take a shot?” River baited West, tapping his cheek. “Go for it. I won’t even fight back. For the first hit, anyway.”
His words had me seeing red. He was acting like everything was a damn joke. I wanted to fucking kill him. With a growl, I darted forward, grabbing the collar of his jacket in my fists. He’d already loosened his tie and undone the first button of his shirt. Tattoos were poking out from under his shirt, and I wondered what the hell he’d been up to since he left.
“Not the face,” West muttered to me, his shoulder hitting mine as he stepped closer.
I knew that. That was why my first hit was somewhere clothes could cover. I wasn’t stupid enough to leave marks on him where our parents could see.
“Are you really going to try and get Kat to come back?” River asked, his face growing serious.
There it was. That question was the reason he’d let us catch up to him. My grip on his collar tightened before I shoved him away. I was going to end up punching him in the face if I didn’t create some distance between us.
“Why do you care?” West narrowed his eyes. “Have you two been in contact while you’ve been gone?”
“Nope.” His answer contradicted the amusement glistening in his eyes. “But I do think bringing her back here is a mistake.”
“Too bad for you, we don’t give a shit what you think,” West said, glancing at me. “She’ll be back before classes start in a few days.”
“You remember how she was as a kid?” River let out a chuckle. “She fell headfirst into trouble. She’s all grown up now. And I bet she’ll create pure chaos. I think me being back is going to stir enough up this year. Let it go until next year.”
“No. She’s tried pulling our strings from the shadows for the last two years. It’s her turn.” My inner demon chased away any guilt of dragging her back into this life. If she had wanted to stay away, she shouldn’t have stepped foot back in Braidwood last night.
“When you go get her, I’m coming too.”
West nearly choked on a laugh at River’s words. “We have no plans to do anything with you unless it involves slamming your face into a wall. If it wasn’t for our parents, you’d already be in the ground.”
“She’s going to be on edge after last night.” River shrugged, ignoring West’s remark. “You let me help, and I won’t interfere with your plan. If not, I’ll make sure our parents know exactly whose idea it was to force her to come back.”
“Snitching?” I scoffed. “You’re a piece of shit, you know that?”
Headlights lit up the driveway as a sedan turned. River backed away, fixing his tie. West and I nodded to his mother, who was in the back seat of the car.
“Call me before you leave,” River called out, opening the car door. “Your dad has my number.”
We didn’t answer as he got in and the car backed out. I ran a hand over my head, taking a deep breath. West stared at the car as it disappeared down the road. Turning around, we started walking back toward the house.
“You think he’ll really rat us out if we don’t let him help?” West asked.
“I have no idea what he’d do anymore. I wouldn’t put anything past him.” I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. “You know when she comes back, you can’t fuck her, right?”
West froze as he sputtered out an argument. “After what she did? That’s the last thing I want.”
“You were nearly drooling when you saw her yesterday.”
His eyes flashed with annoyance. “That was before I knew who she was. And don’t act like you weren’t thinking it too.”
I bit my tongue. He wasn’t wrong. Before I’d known it was Kat, my dick had been getting all sorts of ideas. Even after I recognized her, those thoughts didn’t completely disappear, no matter how much they pissed me off.
“River was right about one thing. She’s trouble. And she knows how to pit us against each other. That’s what she’s going to try to do. Like she did when she was mad at us when we were kids.” I leaned against my Escalade. “We can’t let her get between us.”
“She won’t.” He slung his arm over my shoulders. “You’re my best friend. My brother. We’ve had each other’s backs our whole lives. When she left. And then River. We stayed and dealt with everything. Nothing will get between us. Especially not her.”
I nodded before we got into the car to drive back to campus. This wasn’t the senior year we’d been planning. But that didn’t mean we couldn’t have fun. River was going to be in a world of hurt if he thought his name was going to save him. And Kat…I wondered if she realized what she’d started by coming back.
Even if she didn’t, she would soon.
