Page 111 of Devil's Riches

Laurel’s brows furrowed. “What is it?”

Alexis took a deep breath, and her shoulders tensed. “I’ve managed to hide this for a long time, but with all the media attention on me right now, it’s bound to come out soon. I’m actually surprised that it hasn’t come out already,” she said, nervously clasping and unclasping her hands in front of her. “I didn’t tell you when we met because I thought you might judge me or refuse to hang out with me anymore. But I’m sorry for that. I should’ve told you and let you make up your own minds about me.”

She fell silent and looked at the ground. Her friends stared, eyes wide with curiosity. “You can tell us anything,” Ruby said.

Alexis finally spoke up again. “I wasn’t always Alexis Livingston,” she said, looking back up at the girls. “I used to be Alexandra Covington. Peter Covington’s daughter.”

Ruby bit her bottom lip and looked over at Laurel, who simply lifted her brows and rubbed the tip of her nose, averting her eyes from Alexis and me. Neither of the girls looked surprised.

“You knew, didn’t you?” I said, brows furrowing.

Laurel nodded. “We’ve known for ages.”

“How?” Alexis asked. Her eyes were like saucers.

“She guessed when she first met you,” Ruby said, tapping Laurel’s arm.

Laurel nodded. “I got a bit suspicious when we were talking about the Butcher case in the library, and you snapped at us when Ruby said something about Peter Covington,” she said. “I thought you were just in a bad mood, but the whole thing made me want to read more about the case. So I went home and looked it up. I found some photos that someone took in the courtroom during Peter’s arraignment, and there was a photo of his wife and daughters. One of them looked familiar. Like a tiny blonde version of you.”

“She didn’t know for sure,” Ruby added. “But she showed me the picture. I agreed with her. It looked a lot like you.”

“After that, I looked up the street you grew up on in San Diego,” Laurel went on. “Turns out Kingsway Place doesn’t exist. So then I knew you were lying about where you were from.”

“We talked about it for a while, and we decided not to tell you that we knew,” Ruby said. “We figured if you wanted to talk about it, you would.”

Alexis frowned. “It didn’t bother you?”

Laurel rolled her eyes upward. “Of course not! We liked you, and Avalon is your home. We figured you just wanted to come back here without being judged by everyone. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“You had every reason to hide your identity, too,” Ruby said. “We know Peter was innocent now, but back then…” She trailed off and shook her head. “Everyone really thought he did it. So if you admitted to the world that you were his daughter, a lot of people on this island would’ve tried to drive you away.”

Alexis bit her wobbling bottom lip and blinked rapidly. I rubbed the small of her back. “See?” I murmured. “I knew they’d be okay with it.”

“Thank you,” Alexis whispered, reaching out to hug her friends again.

“Just don’t go disappearing again,” Laurel said, raising a brow. “Next time you and Nate want to catch some murderers, call us and we’ll help.”

Ruby’s lips curved into a devilish smirk. “Speaking of murder… how about we go and murder some shots?” she said, tipping her head in the direction of the house.

“Sounds like a plan,” Alexis said, face lighting up with a dazzling smile.

We headed up to the house. A cheer greeted us as we stepped under the skull-shaped crystal chandelier in the foyer, and a guy shoved a beer into my hand as someone else’s hand clapped down on my back.

The house was teeming with people, and the party was already in full swing. Half of Blackthorne seemed to be in attendance. Some people were swaying to the loud music, while others shouted at each other and knocked back shots as they competed in drinking games. Others were lounged on various surfaces, hooking up or doing Jell-O shots off each other’s bodies.

I slowly sipped my beer and watched Alexis and her friends join in with the giddy fun. I had no plans of getting fucked up tonight. I wanted to keep an eye on Alexis. Make sure some asshole didn’t try to grope her or drop a pill in her glass.

I was already drunk on her anyway; my existence tethered so tightly to hers that I could feel her excited energy coursing through my veins. She was intoxicating. Breathtaking. Addictive in the best kind of way.

The night wore on, and the party got louder and messier. Eventually Alexis stumbled over to me, holding out her cell phone. “Can you help us?” she asked, eyes slightly glazed with tipsiness.

“With what?”

“Ruby taught us a new dance. We want to put it on TikTok.”

I grinned, picturing the look on her face tomorrow morning when she woke up and saw the drunken video. “You sure?”

She nodded impatiently. “Yes. Can you film it for us?”

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