AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Undeterred by my angry tone or pissed-off expression, he meets my gaze with a blank one of his own. “I was just saying that maybe if you hadn’t gone running off with some pathetic boy band like a goddamn groupie, none of this would be happening to you.”
“So it’s my fault that some crazy-ass psycho is out there stalking my every move and threatening any guy who so much as looks at me?”
He just shrugs, but it’s more than evident that that’s precisely what he thinks.
“It’s no one’s fault,” Beck interjects. “We don’t even know if this has anything to do with the band.”
“What does any of it have to do with us anyway?” Wilder continues, clearly not done. He waves in my direction. “She left. Now, we’re all supposed to jump into action and save her ass just because she's in trouble?”
“I haven’taskedanything of you,” I snap angrily at him.
“Wilder.” Hadley’s low tone is a warning that draws his ire her way. “I’m the one that brought her here.”
“Well, I don’t want her here. I’ve got enough shit going on, never mind worrying about her bringing some fucked-in-the-head crazy person to our door. Not to mention, I’m fucking sick of having her in my house.”
“Wilder!” This time, his name comes out as a harsh snap from Hadley’s mouth, but Wilder’s done listening as he shoves to his feet, sending his chair scraping across the wooden floor before he storms from the room.
Everyone falls into an awkward silence in the wake of his departure, the lighthearted afternoon turning sour. I can feel Kai’s watchful gaze on me. It’s a weight that I’m becoming familiar with, as I’ve felt it on me numerous times this last week. He’s always watching, assessing, trying to get a feel for my emotions. It’s not intrusive, though. It feels more like he’s checking to ensure I am okay. That I’m not about to break.
Perhaps he’s just waiting for me to implode, but whatever the reason, it feels nice. Especially when I’m surrounded by Wilder’s hate and Hawk’s indifference.
“Do you feel the same way?” Hadley snaps at Hawk.
God, I’ve never felt so unwanted, and I can feel the embarrassment in my cheeks as I duck my head, choosing to commit the knots in the wooden table to memory rather than meeting anyone’s gaze.
There’s a pregnant pause before Hawk responds, and while I’m glad his response isn’t an outright agreement, his apathetic tone and callous words sting just as much. “I don’t give a shit, Hadley. She can stay, or she can go. It’s all the same to me.”
Despite knowing I brought all of this on myself, I can feel the pinprick of tears in my eyes as I get to my feet, and still without looking at anyone, I mumble an excuse to leave and scurry from the room.
Locking myself in the bathroom, I lean back against the door and close my eyes against the onslaught of tears. This is why I’ve been avoiding coming back here all these years. I didn’t want to face the damage I left behind. When I left Pac, I was certain Wilder would easily move on. Hell, I’d convinced myself of the same thing. Clearly, I was wrong on both counts.
And Hawk… before I left, we’d come to an unspoken amicable agreement. The hateful glowers and distrust had morphed into heated stares and mutual respect. While we may not be back to where we started, the cold shoulder he’s giving me is just as brutal. I can’t handle all of this past resentment on top of everything else that’s going on. I need to do something to try and mend the bridges between them both. We may not be able to go back to what we once were, but perhaps we can all live peacefully under one roof for the duration of my stay.
Bolstered, I peel myself off the bathroom door and yank it open to go in search of Wilder. I hear the dull thud of his music through the wall when I reach the top of the stairs, and nerves somersault in my stomach as I hesitate with my hand raised in front of the door before rapping on it.
“Fuck off, Hadley,” Wilder shouts.
I debate for a second before turning the handle and pushing open the door. Wilder looks up, and when he spots me in the doorway, his face hardens into a sharp mask. “What the fuck do you want?”
Digging deep to find the confidence I felt in the bathroom, I lift my chin and straighten my spine. “I want to apologize—”
“Apologize?” he scoffs. “I don’t want your lame-ass apology. I want you to leave me the fuck alone.”
Chewing nervously on my bottom lip, I try again. “I was hoping we could maybe start fresh—”
Before I can continue, the weight of a warm body crashes into me, and I stumble back against the wall. Wilder follows until his hands are planted against the wall on either side of my face and he’s towering over me, effectively caging me in as he stares down at me with derision and fury. “What the fuck do you not understand byI don’t want you here?”
I grit my teeth as anger rises to the surface. “Do you think I want to be here?” I argue. “That I wanted my life completely turned upside down? That I wanted to be stuck under the same roof as you, facing what is possibly the biggest mistake of my life?”
His nostrils flare, and I’m readying myself for another cutting remark when he spits out, “Were you going to marry him?”
His left-field question gives me whiplash, and it takes me a second to comprehend what he’s asking. “I—” I pause with my brows furrowed, unsure how to answer that. Before I can gather my thoughts into something coherent, Wilder cuts across me as he pushes back, putting space between us.
“Nevermind. I don’t care what you do anymore.” Moving over to the door, he pulls it open wider and snaps, “Get out.”
I hold my ground for a beat, searching his face for something,anything, but when all I see is an uncaring blank slate, I sigh and silently pad out of his room. Unable to let me go without getting in one last dig, Wilder practically snarls, “Stay out of my way, and I’ll stay out of yours, and before you know it, you can go back to your cushy little life and forget all about us again,” before slamming the door shut in my face.
Defeat makes my shoulders drop.Well, that was a disaster of epic proportions.
