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“Sloane, stop being a brat,” Marigold sighs, throwing in her two cents again when it’s neither wanted nor needed.
“Butt out, Goldie,” I snap.
She holds up her hands in surrender, slinking backwards to continue her raid of the fridge.
I turn for the door, twisting the handle and yanking it open.
“Sloane, we’re not done here!” Dad calls after me.
“I am,” I say as I step outside, slamming it loudly behind me.
When I arrive at the squad complex in Goldenleaf, I’m surprised to find the practice field crowded with people again. I wasn’t told about a meeting, but then again, I’m not exactly in the loop. That’s the first thing that needs to change- I need to claim my rightful position in squad leadership so I can take on something that’ll keep me busy and distract me from the shitshow my life has become.
As I enter the fray, I quickly realize that it isn’t the squad fighters populating the field today. They’re all younger- high school aged, I’d guess- and suddenly a brunette girl rushes toward me, her hazel eyes alight and a huge smile stretched across her face.
It takes me a second to recognize River Jacobsen. I used to babysit for her as a kid, but now she’s a full-blown teenager, andholy hellis shebeautiful. Before I can even get a good look at her, she’s throwing her arms around me, practically tackling me with a hug.
“Sloane!” River gushes, squeezing me tight.
“Hey, Riv!” I laugh, returning the embrace fondly. When I pull back, she grabs for my hands, still beaming at me.
It’s hard to believe that the awkward looking pre-teen I once knew grew into the stunner standing before me now. She looks like a damn model with her tall, slender stature and her high cheekbones, big eyes, and smooth, poreless skin. River is beyond gorgeous, but I guess that’s to be expected considering who she’s related to. She’s Madd and Avery’s cousin- their moms are identical twins.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, surprised to run into her at the squad complex, of all places.
“High schoolers train on Sundays,” she replies flippantly. “Well, those of us who plan on joining the squad, at least. But how are you? Avery said you were back! I tried to get to Andie’s party last night to see you, but my dad caught me sneaking out and you can imagine how that went.” She rolls her eyes, flipping her sleek straight hair over a shoulder.
I wince, hissing a breath through my teeth. My dad’s protective, but Theo Jacobsen takes things to a whole other level. He’s the alpha of the Summervale pack and River is his sole heir. It remains to be seen how he’s going to handle the transfer of power when he steps down someday, as pack alphas are always male, but something tells me Alpha Theo isn’t going to hand over the reins to some dude over his own daughter. When the time comes, I’m staying far away from that mess.
“You didn’t miss much,” I say, secretly thankful that she wasn’t there last night to witness my public breakdown. “I’m sure there’ll be plenty more parties you can sneak past the warden to go to. I’ll have to give you some tips.” I wink, smirking conspiratorially. I practically perfected the art of sneaking out when I was a teenager- the least I can do is pass down some of my best tricks to another girl with an overprotective father.
“Ugh, yes please,” River groans. “Having a computer genius for a mom is cool until she wires the house with a security system that keeps it locked up like Fort Knox.”
“Okay, that might be a little trickier,” I laugh.
She sighs, casting a longing glance across the practice field. “I thought my dad would back off after I turned eighteen.”
“Spoiler alert, they never do,” I mutter, that ugly confrontation with my own father playing in my mind.
I regret being so harsh with him. I don’t know what came over me in that moment- it was like all the stress I’ve been under lately just made me snap. Though I can’t deny that it felt good to get some of those pent-up feelings off my chest after all these years. My relationship with my dad has been strained ever since he packed me up and shipped me off to Denver, and at this point, I’m not sure if it’s salvageable without some healthy doses of brutal honesty.
River nudges me with an elbow, pulling me back from my thoughts. “So, are you gonna be a squad leader now or what?”
“That’s sorta what I’m here to figure out,” I mumble, glancing toward the building behind her. “Gonna try to get my hands on a dorm room first, though.”
“Madd’s in his office,” River supplies, and the offhanded way she says it tells me that she has no idea what has gone down between me and her cousin since I’ve returned. “I always stop by to see him and Avery on Sundays if they’re around. Heads up, though, he’s a little grumpy.”
“Apparently that’s his default setting these days,” I say with a wry smile.
A whistle sounds across the practice field, and I look over to see the high school recruits circling up around a few older squad fighters. “I’d better let you get to practice,” I murmur, pulling her in for another hug. “It’s so good to see you, Riv. We’ll have to catch up for real sometime soon.”
“Definitely,” she agrees, hitting me with another gorgeous smile as she pulls away.
She spins around and jogs over to join her peers while I take a deep breath and start for the complex, hoping I can figure out this dorm situation without having to see Madd. I’m too emotionally drained to go another round with him, especially this soon after the last one.
I take the stairs to the second floor, starting down the hallway that houses the offices only to find a long row of closed doors, each of them vacant. Except the one at the end of the hall, that is- the door’s open, light shining into the hall from inside, and based upon what River just said, it’s an easy guess as to who it belongs to.
Becauseof-fucking-coursethat’s the kind of luck I’d have.
