Page 118 of Chaos at Westbrook High

“Fucking bitch,” she spits.

I smile at her.

Derek chuckles darkly as he sets her upright on her feet. “Freya, meet my little sister, Hailey.”

“Your what?” She gapes at me and Kai in disgust as she tries to fit the pieces together. “Ew.”

I don’t tell her I’m not related to Kai because I’m not Maverick’s. She can think what she wants.

When Kai’s arms wrap around me from behind, I hold on to his forearms and lean back on his chest, not missing the way Callie and the boys are all looking at me with a mix of shock and amusement.

I can’t tell what Kai’s thinking when he puts his mouth next to my ear. “Feel better?”

“A little bit, yeah.”

He laughs and tightens his arms around me.

“What’s going on?” Freya asks, but none of us bother to enlighten her.

Levi grabs me some ice for my hand, and I smile gratefully at him.

Damon tosses the pack of cable ties at Derek’s face, and Derek catches them, securing Freya’s wrists behind her back and sitting her down next to Wyatt. When she whispers something to him, Derek shakes his head and wipes a tear from her face. I’ve never seen them together before. The sight makes me nervous, and I know Kai notices.

“She’s playing him, Hails,” he whispers.

“Derek,” I say, and he walks away from her and over to me and Kai. I bounce my gaze between his, searching. “Are you in love with her?” I ask quietly.

He hesitates, his eyes full of regret as he rubs the back of his neck. “I don’t want to be.”

Nodding my head softly, I relax back into Kai, enjoying the strength and the warmth of him around me, the way he feels like home.

I don’t want to be.

Yeah, I know the feeling.

When Elijah shows up after being called by his guards, he takes us all in, followed by the two people tied up on the floor. He sighs.

Chapter 38

KAI

I told her I love her.

I told her I love her.

Fuck.

I meant it, but I didn’t mean to say it, not right then in front of a room full of people. But I did say it, and she’s still here in my arms. She hasn’t run away from me. She hasn’t told me to go fuck myself. I didn’t scare her off like I was terrified I would for saying the words out loud.

“I shouldn’t have hit her.”

I blink at the sound of Hailey’s quiet voice. “What?”

“I saw the mark on her face before I did it, Kai,” she admits, her head tucked back on my chest, her legs folded up on top of mine. “I shouldn’t have hit her while she was down.”

“Fuck that. She deserved it.”

She shrugs. “Still.”

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