AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No,” Tristan repeats.
She stares at him in disbelief. “We can’t let him get away with this. If the roles were reversed, he wouldn’t hesitate to get you in cuffs.”
“Exactly. Please,” he says, pleading this time.
My heart hurts as I watch him battle pain and something else. It’s thesomething elsethat has me on edge.
“So why didn’t you do anything?” Kim asks. “I know you, Trist. Pierce wouldn’t have been walking if you’d defended yourself. Why did you let him hurt you?”
Good question.
His expression hardens, and… oh my god.
“He couldn’t fight back,” I say, feeling sick. Kim squints at me, and when I sense Tristan’s gaze, I know I’m right. “He’d never get the benefit of the doubt in a he-said-he-said debate. He couldn’t give Pierce any kind of injury to flaunt as evidence.”
I hate Tristan’s silent gratitude. Nothing about this is right.
“But you can verify his story!” Kim argues.
“Against a Harrison? In this city?” I say. “You know we have no chance against anyone from The Hills. Especially, the son of Randall Harrison, the king of criminal defense.”
Kim grunts in frustration and shoves her phone back in her pocket. “This isn’t right. That asshole shouldn’t be able to do whatever he wants just because he has money.”
She’s not wrong. She’s also not helping.
“You okay?” I ask Tristan as he steadies himself on his feet.
“Fine,” he lies.
“Let’s get you cleaned up,” Kim says, moving toward the kitchen.
“I’m fine,” he snaps.
There’s a hardness in his face I’ve never seen, and I shudder at the change. For a few seconds I don’t recognize any of the artistic boy I fell for. I see a man detached and impenetrable.
“You’re hurt pretty bad,” she says, reaching for his cheek.
He backs away and shakes his head.
“Come on, Trist. At least some ice.”
“I’mfine. Just…”
He holds up his hands to keep us away, and I toss Kim a helpless look as he limps down the hall. We hear the bathroom door close. Water running.
“What the hell happened?” she asks, exasperation in her voice.
I have no idea how to answer that. “It’s complicated.”
“Obviously. Give me facts.”
“Fine,” I sigh out. “Pierce came in, guns blazing. He must have seen my car in the parking lot and knew I was here. He laid into me. Tristan intervened. You walked in.”
Her eyes blaze as they lock on me. “The fact that he stalked the parking lot to check on you is fucked up. You get that, right?”
I swallow a wave of nausea. “He was probably just in the area.”
“Right, he justhappenedto bein the Cedar Lake Apartment Community? Now that you mention it, I did hear that the heir to the Harrison law empire was now delivering take-out.”
