Page 25 of Theirs to Ruin

I cringed and immediately froze. I knew that voice. I turned around and faced my roommate. My ex-best friend. Ava.

I was expecting to find Ava wearing her usual ice-cold expression but I was surprised to see flaming anger in her eyes instead.

“As if my brother wouldeverbe interested in you,” Ava sneered. “You’re the last person in this entire school he’d go for—and that includes the boys.”

Walk away, I whispered to myself, but I couldn’t seem to get my feet to move.

Beside me, Simone paled. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered under her breath.

“It’s not your fault,” I said. Embarrassment ripped through me as I looked down the hall and noticed Kage and his friends still standing where we’d left them. Kage leaned against the wall, his arms crossed, his gaze on me, just watching the spectacle.

I attempted to step past Ava, but she blocked my path.

“Kage, did you hear that?”

I cringed when Ava called out to him.

“My roommate wants to fuck you, but she’s afraid you’ll give her herpes.”

Everyone around us stopped to stare, some whispering and laughing. I heard words like “ironing board,” “wishful thinking,” and “pathetic,” but I did my best to ignore them. I stared at Kage, silently praying he’d call his sister off me, but he just said, “Is that right, Rebel? You want to fuck me?”

Oh God. Why was this happening?

I lifted my chin even as I trembled. “I never said that.”

He raised a brow. “But youdidsay I’d give you a sexually transmitted disease?”

“She wouldn’t care if you did, man. I bet she’d get down on her knees and beg you to take her,” a male voice shouted out.

“Did you say I had an STD or not, Camille?” Kage said, his gaze challenging.

I should just say yes. Something in Kage’s expression made me think hewantedme to say it. That he wanted me to stick up for myself with Ava. To publicly tell him to go to hell. But unlike earlier, when I’d sassed off to Alex, all I wanted now was to disappear.

Quickly, I turned and walked away. Simone rushed after me.

“That’s right, bitch, run away,” Ava called. “If you want, put a paper bag over your head and maybe, justmaybe, if my brother is feeling generous, he’ll do another good deed and fuck the freak he had to rescue last month.”

I froze then slowly turned around.

My heart hammered in my chest, and my anger sparked. The memories of that night at The Roost and the vulnerability I had experienced all came rushing back in an uncontrollable flood. Outside of the random townspeople that were there, only three people besides my sister knew what happened that night: me, Kage, and Brooke, who Kage swore to me would never tell. I knew Brooke wouldn’t dare go against Kage. Which meant Kage had told Ava himself. To me that was way fucking worse.

“What are you talking about, Ava?” I heard Alex ask.

"Ava," Kage snapped, a thinly veiled warning in his voice. He’d moved closer to us and I could see the vein throbbing in his neck. "Don't talk about shit you know nothing about.”

"Oh, come on, Kage,” Ava drawled. “We're all friends here. Alex, Camille put on quite the show at The Roost by getting so fucked up on drugs that Kage had to save her before she got raped.”

Next to me, Simone gasped.

“That’s not true,” I said softly.

“Right,” Ava said. “Everyone knows about your druggie mother. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, I suppose."

Ava’s words cut deep, making my heart bleed. The mention of my mother coupled with the knowledge of Kage’s betrayal wastoo much. Tears filled my eyes, and I suddenly whipped around and bolted down the hall, ignoring Kage’s voice calling after me.

Blindly, I ran, ditching even Simone as I charged down the hall, then turned a couple of corners until?—

I hit a brick wall. Strong hands reached out to steady me and I looked up into Dante’s blue eyes. Through my tears, I saw he was a mess. Bruises covered one side of his face and his lip was split.

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