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“What kind of work was he doing?” I ask, more curious than I want to be.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Well, FYI, the wrong person did see me—not sure if Reece told you that. This guy named Trystan Fairfield—his dad works for my dad. He saw me at the party and freaked out when I told him who I was. Not that I meant to tell him. I was too drunk and distracted to think straight.”
He eyes me over suspiciously. “What were you distracted by?”
I want to tell him that if Reece hadn’t freaked out when he found me at that party, I would’ve fucked Trystan. But if I’m being honest with myself, I know I wouldn’t have been able to go through with it. And I’m too damn exhausted to get into a fight with Ryder right now. I’m sure Reece will tell him all about it when they get together later tonight.
“Stuff … It doesn’t really matter. None of this does.” I sigh heavily. “Although, I worry Trystan will tell the wrong person I was at that party, and word will get back to my mother.”
He inhales through his nose then returns his attention to the boot. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t.”
My gaze bores into him. “Why would you do that?”
He helps me get the boot off my foot. “Because, despite what you may think, I want to protect you.”
I roll my eyes, which results in dizziness taking over again. “That’s bullshit. If you wanted to protect me, you wouldn’t have told those lies about me years ago.” I’m way too dizzy now, so I stumble toward the bed. “You wouldn’t have betrayed me.”
I swear I hear him whisper, “I had to, baby.” But who the fuck knows if he really said that?
“Whatever,” I mumble, more than ready to fall asleep.
He digs his phone out of his pocket and sends someone a text. Then he stands there, staring at me.
“What’re you doing?” I mumble through a yawn.
“I texted Blaise. He’s going to come stay with you and make sure your mother leaves you alone.”
“I don’t need a babysitter.” I turn and crawl toward the headboard.
It only registers when I flop down onto my pillows and roll over that I probably just flashed him. When I look at him again, his teeth are sunken into his bottom lip.
“Yeah, clearly, you don’t.” He gestures at me as if that explains what he said.
“I’m … fine.” It’s the last thing I say before sleepiness pulls me under.
EIGHT
RYDER
I’ve been in love with Allura since I was five years old, ever since the day she saved me. Although, she doesn’t realize she saved me. But to me, she did. Even though I didn’t know it at the time, I started falling in love with her from that moment on. Of course, it was just a friend loving a friend back then. Then that gradually changed to real love. And it was the same for Reece and Blaise when they fell in love with her. Blaise fell the hardest, but he’s always been more open with his emotions than Reece and me.
I remember the day we all realized we had feelings for Allura. We were hanging out at this club that we were way too young to attend. We were typical teenagers, yet we weren’t. We were fifteen-year-olds on the brink of being thrown into a world of corruption.
We were drinking and sitting at a table on the balcony, watching people grind each other on the floor below us. The air smelled like sweat, the leather sofas were uncomfortable, and I was fairly certain a couple was having sex in the far back corner below us.
Reece sat across from me and was staring at the dance floor. I assumed he was checking someone out when he said, “We should’ve brought Al with us.”
I shook my head while swishing my drink around. “No way. I’d rather cut off my arm than bring her to this shithole.”
“Agreed.” Blaise was sitting beside Reece, leaning forward with his arms resting on his legs, his attention on twisting his ring around on his thumb. “She’s too good to be in this dump. We shouldn’t even be here.”
“He’s right.” Reece sank back in the chair with his arm draped over the armrest. “Why are we even here when we could be at that party with Al?” I assumed he just wanted to be at the party—he likes to party—when he added, “I don’t like that she’s alone there.”
“Ellis will keep an eye on her.” I acted more casual about it than I felt.
The truth was I didn’t like her being at a party alone, either. I never liked it when she was alone.
