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I jump when my door bursts open and Xi strides in. He grabs me by the upper arm before I can react and slams me against the wall by my bed, my head hitting the window behind me.
"What the fuck is wrong with you!” I rage.
“Let me see,” he growls low. He grips my jaw brutally and turns my head to the side. Xi is so much taller than me, and he doesn’t even realize I’m balancing on my toes as he pulls me up to see the bruises up close. “Was it Caden? Did he hurt you?”
“Xi,you’rehurting me,” I try to say past the pout he’s forcing my mouth into.
“Answer me, Billie. Or I swear his house on fire will be the least of his worries.”
“It wasn’t him,” I lie. “I…”
“You’re so full of shit,” he hisses. “You were protecting him so he wouldn’t hurt you, and look where that got you.”
“I’m not scared of him,” I tell him again. They’re all so sure he’s been threatening me and I’m too scared to tell. Yes, of course, he has. But I’m not afraid anymore. I’m protecting him for other reasons now.
It hits me just now that I’m protecting him because I want him out of here. Because we share that need to leave this godforsaken town, and we understand each other. Which isn’t something I have with Xi.
I’ve only ever shared sexual tension with my stepbrother, and now that I have found something deeper with Caden, I don’t want Xi to touch me. Not even out of protection.
“Let go,” I grunt as his grip squeezes. “Xi…It wasn’t him.” I keep lying.
He yanks my head again so I can look him in the eyes. “Who, then?”
I try to shake my head and that pisses him off even more.
“Fine. Don’t tell me. Maybe you’ll tell your sister.”
He lets go of me only to grab my wrist in a deadly grip and drag me through the hallway and the living room. Nolan catches us again and waves at me. “In trouble, little Scott?”
“Bitch-ass snitch,” I spit back. I can’t stay long enough to say anything else because Xi hauls me to the kitchen, where Emma is making out with some random girl.
He pulls at the girl’s shoulder and points at the kitchen door. “Leave and close the door.”
She turns to Emma, and my sister nods her encouragement.
Fucking great.
“What the fuck happened to you?” Emma gasps as they crowd me.
“Stop it!” I snatch my wrist from Xi’s grasp and shove past them before resting myself against the counter. “I need you two to let me fucking breathe for a second.”
They don’t. They corner me where I am, firing a hundred questions at me.
“She says it’s not Caden, but I know it’s someone from their crew.”
“When did that happen?” My sister asks.
“Was it after the fire?”
“Talk, Billie,” my sister orders seriously.
I look them in the eyes. One after the other, and keep my jaw shut.
Emma is six years older than me, and Xi never went to high school, meaning none of them ever saw the girls walking around our hallways with Caden’s mark on them, showing everyone he had fucked them.
I’m sure they’ve seen some around the North Shore, but it would have been rare since we don’t usually cross paths with the Kings. Even if they did, they wouldn’t know what it means anyway.
“Call Lik,” Emma finally says. “You’re gonna talk, Billie.”
