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Creed flinched at the words and jerked his gaze to the screen. A scowl cut deep before he jerked a frantic glance my way, as though he'd only just realized what was happening. His foot eased off the accelerator and we slowed as the turn to the school came up ahead.
Relief swept through me as Creed finally answered. “Yeah, yeah, Nick. I did.”
“Ryth,” my brother spoke to me. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” I swallowed hard, watching the familiar buildings come toward me. “We’re at the school now.”
“Okay. Good, and Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“If you take my sister and drive like an asshole like that again, you and I are going to have problems. You understand me?”
Agony coursed across Creed’s face as he pulled into the drop-off zone, slowing the car until he braked to a stop. He didn’t answer, not for a long time. His cheeks reddened against his pale skin as he nodded. “Yeah.”
“Call me when you get out, Ryth,” Nick added, then ended the call.
My hands were shaking as I grabbed my laptop.
“I’m sorry,” Creed started as I yanked the handle and shoved open the door. I couldn’t get out fast enough.“Ryth! I, wait, I—”
I pushed the door closed, gripped my laptop, and stumbled away. My knees were shaking and the breaths sawed in and out of my chest as I stepped further from the car and called Nick.
“Hey,” he answered instantly, that low bass tone spilling through me. “You okay?”
“Y-yeah, I think so.” I looked over my shoulder, watching the gray Mercedes pull out and make a U-turn. “He’s gone.”
“What the fuck was that?”
I stared at the rear of the car until it disappeared. “I don’t know. But whatever it was, it wasn’t good.”
“Just as long as you’re okay. Goddamn bastard. Just wait until he gets home.”
That flutter came in the center of my chest, like wings expanding, brushing the cage around my racing heart. “Nick.”
“Yeah, princess?”
I stopped walking. That’s what he did to me…stopped me cold in my tracks.“I miss you.”
“You want me to come?” His tone grew deeper,huskier.“You can skip…I'll take you to our park. Tell me what you want, and it’s done.”
I wanted that, more than anything. Footsteps crowded in from the other students around me. I caught sideways glances from some of the other females as they passed. God, if they only knew what I had waiting for me. “I can’t,” I sighed, and kept walking. “But the moment the damn bell rings.”
“I’ll be waiting,” he answered me. “And this time, you’re all mine, got that, princess?”
A shiver tore through me. “Yes.”
“Good girl.”
I ended the call with the words resounding through me and pushed open the door, descending back into Hell. Voices grew louder as I headed for the first class. I scanned unfamiliar faces for Gio, and the memory of our last interaction came roaring back to me.
My cheeks burned, remembering the way Tobias had grabbed my breasts in front of him, the act branding me, just as his body had. But there were things left unsaid between Gio and me, things that included Lazarus Rossi.
I ground my teeth, hating how anger followed. How could Gio have just stood there, knowing what they’d done? My father’s bruised and bloody face lingered in my mind, the way he'd hung his head in shame, knowing the position he’d put us in.
Flames blazed under the surface, burning my entire world to the ground. I pushed through a crowd that was gathered outside the classroom. “Let me through.”
But they didn’t move, leaving me to clutch my laptop and shove through, catching a glimpse of Gio with his back turned to me.
