Page 37 of Chaos at Westbrook High

The elevator doors open, revealing my father and yet another few guards, and she shuts her mouth. I lift a brow in a silent challenge, and she leaps off my lap like her ass is on fire.

“Chickenshit,” I say under my breath.

She sits back beside me, and I stretch my arm out on the couch behind her, casual as fuck while I wait for this shit to play out.

My impatient older brother inches forward off the wall he’s leaning against, his hands curling around the back of the couch behind Callie. As our dad heads toward us, he looks at the five of us in turn before his eyes settle on Hailey. Her gaze is pinned to the fireplace next to him, refusing to meet anyone’s eyes. She looks afraid, but not of him. I don’t know what’s going through her head right now, but I don’t miss the way she inches forward slightly as if she’s getting ready to make a run for it.

“Are you hurt?”

Hailey cringes—at his question or his furious tone, I’m not sure—then says, “No.”

He relaxes ever so slightly, and I meet my siblings’ eyes. That right there confirms what we already thought as soon as his guards were ordered to protect her like they protect us.

He knows her.

Chapter 16

HAILEY

I don’t look at Kai. I can’t look at him. Not after the way I just acted in front of him and everyone in here. Weak. Pathetic. Needy for his touch…

Fuck, I’m an idiot.

Peeking over at the elevator on the other side of the suite, I wonder if anyone will try to stop me if I just get up and walk out of here. Go home, crawl into bed, and pretend this night never happened. Judging by the several pairs of suspicious eyes on me, that’s probably not going to happen any time soon. Not before they get some answers.

Elijah clears his throat, getting my attention, then says, “Come with me,” tilting his head at the wide hallway across from us.

Thank God.

The second I move, desperate to get away from his children, Kai catches me by the back of my neck, keeping me in place. He slowly shakes his head, and Elijah stares him down, all while Kai gently rubs the tension from my neck through my hoodie. It makes me shiver, although I’m still not cold. In fact, it’s really fucking hot in here all of a sudden.

“Kai…” his father warns.

Kai says nothing.

“She’s not going anywhere until you tell us what the fuck is happening,” Damon says, gesturing between me and Elijah. “Who is she to you?”

Elijah sighs heavily, loosening the tie at his neck, seemingly preparing himself for the fallout. “Everybody out,” he demands, and the employees behind him vanish within seconds. “Not you,” he says to James, who immediately drops his ass back down at the kitchen island, a small grin on his face as he holds a towel filled with ice to his bloody nose. Elijah does a quick double take at him before shaking his head in bewilderment, his gaze moving back to Damon as he side-eyes me and Kai with a quick glance I can’t read. “Her name is Hailey?—”

“We know her name, Dad,” Damon says angrily, sneering at us both. “Are you fucking her?”

“Jesus.” I look at Damon in disgust. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

He glares. “That’s not a no.”

“No, you sick fuck. He’s—” I stop, protectively folding my arms over my body.

“He’s what?” Damon asks.

“Fuck you.”

James snorts. Elijah sighs again. Damon raises a brow at me, and it’s only now I realize that’s the first time I’ve ever spoken to him.

“What happened to you before Kai found you in the lobby?”

I keep my mouth shut because I don’t like him and I don’t want to tell him shit, but something tells me I’m not leaving this penthouse until they get what they want from me. “Some guys were chasing me.”

“What guys?” Kai asks.

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