Page 68 of Smith

“It’s my house, I’m coming with you,” she asserted.

“I’m coming with, Smith.”

I blinked in an attempt to stop the memory but it was too late.

“Rie it’s not safe. Stay here.”

“They’ll be asleep and I need my clothes.”

“Rie—”

“I’m coming with.”

In my naiveté I gave in. I shouldn’t’ve. We barely escaped her parents’ house alive.

My shoulder lurched, accompanied by Jonas’s clipped, “Smith!” which pulled me back to the room.

Aria’s cheeks were no longer a shade above pink. Her face was sheet-white and her brown eyes warm with concern.

“Suit yourself,” I rasped.

Before I could move, her hand was on my wrist, halting my exit.

“I’ll stay here.”

Her acquiescence made some of the tension bleed from my shoulders, but not nearly enough to extinguish the blistering anger of the past.

“Let’s go.” Jonas pounded my shoulder, propelling me forward.

Aria lost hold of my wrist and stepped to the side.

Cooper was already gone, leaving the ride down to reception alone with Jonas a silent one.

It wasn’t until we were in an Escalade, him behind the wheel, did he lay into me.

Even knowing it was coming, every damn word out of his mouth pissed me right the fuck off.

“Coop told me what happened,” he started.

Annoying but not surprising.

“And what did he tell you?”

“That you completely shut down and zoned out. If it was half as bad as what just happened that proves I’m fucking right. You need to deal with this.”

He was wrong. I didn’t need to deal with anything. I needed to get my shit together and stop thinking about the past. I had to do better at keeping the memories locked down.

“Valerie—”

“Do not sayherfucking name,” I seethed.

“Sorry, Five, but this shit has to end. You did nothing wrong. You fell in love with a girl and did everything you could to save her. Valerie going back is on her.”

“Jonas—”

“You did not kill that girl. You did not kill her mother. Her father did. You did everything you could to save her from that. It was her choice to go back. Valerie went back knowing it was not safe. She made that decision. There wasn’t anything you could’ve done to stop her.”

My chest felt like it was caving in, making it hard to take a breath. That compounded with the cold sweat trickling down my neck made me want to crawl out of my skin.

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