Page 186 of Wreck Me

“I honestly don’t know, brother.”

“Yeah, she does play big emotions close to the vest.”

He cursed under his breath, shaking with it.

I went to him and laid my hand on his shoulder. “We’ll figure it all out. It’s gonna be okay.”

“Is it? Do you honestly believe that?”

“If you’re using again, no. If it was just a slip up, that’s a different story. But anything beyond that and you’re gonna lose her for a whole other reason.”

He jerked away from me. “And what about you leaving?”

Jesus Christ.

Today really had been the day for it.

30

~Skylar~

I should’ve known better.

“You don’t need to worry about any of it, I’ll handle it.”

Bastian’s promise to me.

One I’d believed in.

Far too easily at that.

Like a fucking fool.

I’d gotten sucked in so completely. To him. To Caleb. To Caspian.

The whole thing had pulled me into some sort of reverie. A bubble, really. It had seemed untouchable. And in all honesty, an escape from reality, something I’d been struggling with ever since Jett had forced his way into my life and tried to wreck me to pieces.

But there was no true escape from any of it.

I should never have allowed myself to go down that path.

I should never have allowed myself to become so immersed in them.

The all-consuming fucking, the thrill and the empowerment of working alongside The Jackals and getting back out there again delivering punishment and justice, the intensity and freedom of being around the three of them, the acceptance and understanding and the amazing sense of belonging that I’d never felt before… it had all had me succumbing and letting go of control, allowing them to take the wheel.

I’d made a mistake.

It had taken power out of my hands, power that I’d worked so long to create in myself, to build myself into since I was a teenager and I’d made a vow that I’d never be at anyone’s mercy in any sense.

And now, here I was at the mercy of everyone.

Jett. Damien. The paparazzi. The whole fucking city.

Yet again, right when I’d been about to get back on the path all that bullshit before had torn me from, it was all coming crashing down again.

Days had gone past and still that fucking video was being talked about non-stop.

I’d even had my application to the best design school in the city rejected. They hadn’t wanted to deal with the massive media circus that was now associated with me. I believed it was more than even that, though. It was a prestigious school and having a student now attached to what had basically amounted to a porno would reflect badly on them. It had been really dirty and rough fucking too. Shit.

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