Page 28 of Drown in You

Sienna

What do you think the odds are that this is a wrong number?

My heart pounds. Even if I block the number, Marcus will text me from another.

Ten won’t let this message go ignored. Even if he’s pissed at me for some reason, he cares about me. He wouldn’t have stayed my friend for so many years if he didn’t.

He’ll text me back. He won’t let me deal with this alone.

But as the professor drones at the front of the lecture hall and the minutes tick by, my phone screen doesn’t light up. He doesn’t respond.

Maybe he actually doesn’t give a fuck. I don’t know when the hell everything changed between us or what I did wrong.

I thought coming to Diamond would be the answer to all my problems, but instead, my whole life is going up in flames.

I’m only a couple of hours away from Wakefield. Marcus could drive here in a single day. What if he somehow manages to track me down?

Maybe no matter where I go, I’ll never be truly safe.

Chapter 8

Luke

Over the hiss of skates slicing through the ice and my hammering heart echoing in my ears, Knox shouts, “Ease up, Valentine! You’re gonna kill yourself.”

“Ignore him!” Damien yells. “Rockefeller is just afraid you’ll be better than him.”

While they argue, I ignore both of them, chasing the puck between the orange cones over and over. Beneath my helmet, sweat drips from my hair.

But no matter how hard I push my body, I can’t get the image of that screenshot Sienna sent me out of my head.

Some prick threatened her. And other than tracking down who the phone number belongs to, there’s nothing I can do for her. No way I can protect her. And I couldn’t even respond to her. Had to keep being the douchebag who ignores his friend when she needs help.

I’m fucking tired of feeling helpless. Like I can’t do anything to protect the people I care about. Not Pop or Chloe or Sienna.

“Bring any puck bunnies home last night?” Knox asks.

I finally take a break, skating to the wall and leaning against it while I catch my breath. My lungs heave, starved of oxygen. “Who I fuck is none of your business.”

“What I don’t get is how he hasn’t been balls-deep in his hot stepsister every night,” Damien calls.

My fists clench. “Shut the fuck up, Vanderbilt. We don’t talk about each other’s sisters, remember?”

I would’ve been balls-deep in Sienna after a romantic candlelit dinner if she wasn’t so set on avoiding me. As if finding out we’re step-siblings somehow negates the mindblowing night we shared. How can she just avoid me like nothing happened? I know when I’ve made a girl come, and she did. Hard. Every kiss, every moan, every breath—we were in sync from the moment we walked through that door together. We knew exactly what to do to each other because we know each other better than anyone else does. We’re meant to be, and she’ll learn that soon enough.

“And moms,” Knox adds. “You know how hard it is for me not to talk about how much I want to bone Damien’s mom every game?”

Damien punches his arm before turning back to me with a salacious grin. “I’m just saying, I wouldn’t let the whole stepsister thing stop me. Not like you two grew up together. You can fuck her, just don’t marry her.”

I don’t care who the hell our parents are married too—they’re not stopping me from marrying her. She’s mine. But if keeping my mouth shut means she’ll stay here with me, that’s what I’ll do.

Now that I’ve finally had Sienna in my arms, I’m not letting her out of my sight. I’ve failed too many people I care about. I won’t fail her.

Finn takes my place at the orange cones, chasing the puck as he darts between them. He’s the best offensive player on our team. Usually, we don’t hear a word out of him, and when we do, we’re lucky if it’s a full sentence. Yet the puck bunnies love him.

“Tell him, Ashby!” Knox calls.

Finn shrugs, keeping his eye on the puck. “I’d make my stepsister scream.”

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