Page 121 of Chaos at Westbrook High

Her eyes flick to Derek before she says, “I think I know what he wants.”

“Which is?”

“Everything,” she says simply, gesturing around at the room we’re sitting in. “Your life. Your penthouse. Your empire. Your money. Your power. He wants to take it all away from you, and in order to do that?—”

“That’s enough, Freya.”

All heads turn to Derek, who’s subtly shaking his head at Freya with a warning look in his eyes. When he catches my brothers and I glaring at him, he rubs his face before peeking up at our dad, who doesn’t look surprised at all, just furious.

“Get them out of here,” he says to James.

James gestures to two of the other guards with his fingers. “What do you want to do with them?”

“Get a room downstairs and do not let them out of your sight,” our dad orders the guards.

“Wait.” Wyatt rears back before he’s pulled up off the couch by his arm. “You’re keeping us here?”

Our dad sets his dark eyes on him. “Would you like to leave? You’re safer here than you are out there.”

Wyatt swallows and shrinks back. He doesn’t look so sure about that.

After he and Freya are taken away, I turn my attention to the backstabbing asshole sitting beside me, not missing the way Hailey hasn’t looked at anyone or said a single word, her body tense as she fists my shirt with her good hand.

“Is what she just said true?” I ask my cousin.

Derek nods, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, his head dipped. “More or less, yeah.”

“How long have you known about this?”

He shrugs. Sighs. “A few years,” he mutters.

I scoff out a laugh, unsure why I’m even surprised. I already know Derek’s main goal in life is to fuck us all over. “That’s your big plan, huh, D? You and your bastard daddy want to take what’s ours and make it your own? You want to sleep in our beds and live like kings?”

“No.” He shakes his head. “Why do you think I’m here with you instead of Maverick? I don’t want it. I never wanted it. Not really.”

“Bullshit,” I bite out. “You haven’t been here for years. If you don’t want it, why did you turn on us?”

“Because he forced me to.”

“Forced you how? Did he hurt you?”

Derek hesitates, starts to nod, but then shakes his head. No, Maverick might have hurt him, but that’s not what convinced him to betray us. Maverick threatened to hurt us.

My jaw ticks. “You abandoned us to protect us?”

His eyes shine despite himself. “Kai?—”

“No. Fuck you, Derek. We could have been in this together this entire time. We would have had your back. You know we would have. But you didn’t give us the chance. You just fucking left us.”

He left me. The four of us were always tight, but he and I were best fucking friends. More than that. He was like another brother to me, my partner in crime, my ride or die, and he left me. I was fourteen years old, and it crushed me more than I ever let on. I never admitted that to anyone. Not even my brothers. Not even to myself until now.

Hailey’s hand flattens against my chest, and she touches my chin, tilting my head down to look at her. Her eyebrows pinch together as her pretty eyes search mine. I know she sees the hurt there, but I don’t try to hide it from her. Never from her.

“I might have met you sooner,” I whisper, touching my forehead to hers. “You might have liked me.”

“I like you now.”

My grin is huge against her soft, full lips. “Say that again.”

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