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“You shouldn’t go off campus by yourself,” West told her. “William might back down for now, but I doubt he’s finished with you.”
Her anger faded, and she flashed him a grin. “How about I call you when I need to go somewhere? I don’t mind being alone with you.”
My jaw ticked, and I forced myself to not react the way she wanted me to. She got with West to piss me off. And it fucking worked. I nearly lost it at dinner when I realized what her words meant. She wanted us to fight. It wasn’t going to happen. West and I had been through too much together to let a girl get between us.
West barked out a laugh. “You think I want to do that again after you screwed me? Or wait—you didn’t screw me. You fucking left me to finish by myself.”
“I promise next time will be different.” She leaned forward to touch his face, and I grabbed her just above the elbow.
“You want things to change?” I asked as she tried tugging out of my hold. “Then stop trying to piss us off.”
“Are you upset I didn’t come to you instead?” Her lips tipped up in a cold smile.
“Kat,” I warned, trying to stay in control. “Go to bed.”
Her eyes narrowed at my demand, but she ripped away from me and got out of the car. I faced the front and rubbed a hand down my face.
“I should have told you,” West said gruffly. “I was going to.”
“It’s fine,” I replied, sliding the keys into my pocket. “But if it does happen again, tell me before she blurts it out at dinner.”
West’s phone rang, and he answered it, his firm voice telling me it was his father. We both got out of the car and headed toward the house as he talked to his dad. I tried to ignore my simmering anger about what had happened tonight. I wanted to fucking kill William when I saw him trying to shove those pills down her throat. Which would not have gone over well. I glanced at my best friend, telling myself there was no lingering annoyance about what he’d done with Kat.
No fucking annoyance at all.
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
“How are you liking Braidwood?”I asked before tossing another fry into my mouth.
“It’s all right,” the girl replied, glancing around. “It’s not like home, though.”
“You’ll get used to it,” I assured her as the booths around us started to fill.
We were at the campus bar, and the Friday night crowd was coming to party. The bar shared the same name as our team, the Wolves. My guard rose when I spotted Eli and West taking seats at the bar. They’d been leaving me alone, avoiding me whenever possible. I wasn’t sure if they were tired of dealing with me or planning something. Either way, I’d been on edge all week. We hadn’t spoken a word since Sunday night when we rescued Kat from William.
“I don’t know how much longer I can do this, River,” she muttered under her breath. “I don’t like living a lie. No one here knows who I really am.”
“That’s the point,” I told her quietly. “I brought you here because no one knows you. You’re safe.”
“I’m older than everyone here by like three years. And I hate lying about everything.”
“No one knows that. You look like every other college kid,” I said gently, trying to ease her fears. “You’re just Marissa here, as long as you stick to your story.”
“I want to go home.” She ran her hand through her short hair. She had dyed it blond with pink streaks right before I brought her here.
“I know. You will. When it’s safe. This is the best place for you right now.”
She was the reason I’d comeback to Braidwood. She needed a place to hide out, and this was the best idea. Keeping an eye on her and then dealing with the founding families at the same time had been a fucking nightmare.
She let out a short laugh. “I should have known something like this was going to happen at some point. This happened to a friend too. It’s actually how I met her. We can’t escape this life. Even if we don’t want anything to do with it.”
“You’re preaching to the choir,” I muttered, doing a double take when Kat walked through the door.
“Have you been checking in with my dad?” she asked as she stole one of my fries.
My gaze stayed on Kat as I answered. “He expects reports every three days. That’s what I’ve been doing.”
Kat walked between two other girls, who I was guessing were both on the basketball team. The three were giggling, and Kat’s eyes were bright until they landed on Eli and West. With a frown, she grabbed one girl’s arm and led her to the opposite side of the bar.
