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“It doesn’t mean we like you,” I growl, whipping my hand off her back.
“I like her just fine,” Gabe says.
“Me too,” Eli pipes up.
She’s wearing Gabriel’s aftershave as perfume. Against her skin, his scent takes on an intoxicating danger. I’m drunk with the need of her, the way I was at that party when she pressed her body against me. Hot skin on skin, her golden dress clinging to every curve. How good she felt in my arms, her body molding to mine…
No. I can’t.
I tear myself from Mackenzie and cross to the windows. Beyond Gabriel’s pool, waves crash against golden sand, almost the exact color of Mackenzie’s hair. Even the view makes me think of her. I shove open the window and gulp in fresh air. Get a grip, Noah.
“This isn’t happening.” Mackenzie fixes us all with her glacial stare. “I handle my own problems. This is between Alec and Cleo and me.”
“Alec got me to help him attempt to rape you,” I say. “Even though things didn’t go as far as they could, it’s disgusting. I won’t let that stand.”
Mackenzie shakes her head. “I don’t like this. I don’t work with outsiders.”
“I don’t like beans, but Maria makes me eat ’em.” Eli smiles. “This is happening, so get used to it.”
“Before we do anything, we need to get a few things straight.” I whirl around and fix on Mackenzie. I can’t believe this is happening. I can’t believe I’m on the side of a Malloy. The Malloy. But today broke everything. Or maybe I’ve been breaking apart ever since she started at Stonehurst, and giving her a slice of chocolate cherry cake in the desert after rescuing her is the first piece put together again. “Who were those guys you sent to terrorize us all?”
“Friends of my family.” She flips her hair and shoots me that defiant Mackenzie stare.
“Do they work for hire?”
“They do, but it’s probably not a path you want to go down, not if you want to graduate with honors and go on to your fancy colleges. Blood on your hands has a habit of sticking.”
“Why do you say that like you don’t have a future to worry about?” Eli asks.
She snorts. “Noah can tell you.”
Two sets of accusing eyes swivel to me. I shrug. “She’s flunking out.”
“And that bastard refuses to tutor me.” Mackenzie glares at me. Climate change would be sorted if the UN employed Mackenzie to glare at the ice caps until they froze again.
“Wanker,” Gabriel grins.
“That’s right.” She leans back on the sofa, arranging her hands behind her head. “He’s a wanker.”
This conversation is ridiculous. “So we’re actually talking about how we’re going to make Alec and Cleo pay.”
“You boys seriously don’t have to worry. I’ve got this. I will be brutal. The fact they went after George…” she tips her head. “I remember something George said to me in the bathroom. I think Alec might’ve done something to her before.”
“Everyone’s bullied George,” I say. “She’s weird. You and Cleo were her worst tormenters, if you recall.”
A flicker of something that might’ve been regret passes through Mackenzie’s cold eyes. Or maybe she’s just blinking away a piece of dust. “That’s ancient history. The new Mackenzie stands up for the little guys. That reminds me.” She glares at me. “I need your phone.”
“Why?”
“Because mine fell out of my pocket in the middle of the desert and I don’t particularly want to go back to look for it.” She whips the phone from my hand and starts tapping the screen. “Relax. I’m not downloading radical feminist tracts over your porn or anything. I need to see what’s stored on my remote drive. And check in with my cat sitter.”
“You… have a cat?”
“Duh. You know this. Eli told you and Alec about the secret entrance to my house and you broke in and tried to disembowel her.”
What the fuck? “That’s sick.”
“Agreed.” She jabs the screen with surprising force. “Why do you think I branded my initials into his forehead? You would’ve got the same treatment, but I know you were at school that day.”
