Page 53 of My Brother's Best Friend

“I was hacked, Maddie. I swear.”

“Don’t believe him, Maddie,” Piper said, hooking her arm around mine. “He hurt you.”

Alec handed me his phone. “I’m locked out of all my accounts. Look.”

I grabbed the phone from him and scrolled from app to app. He was locked out of everything. Instagram. Facebook. TikTok. Even his school emails. Stupid him must’ve used the same password for all his accounts.

“You have to believe me,” Alec said desperately, stepping closer to me.

But I stepped back.

All I felt was hurt and betrayal, and all I could remember was what Spender had done to me. Pain like that didn’t just go away out of nowhere. It lingered like a quiet beast, readying for when it happened again.

When my back hit the lockers, I stared up at Alec with tears in my eyes. “Alec …” My voice was nothing but a trembling whisper.

He pushed some hair behind my ear, eyes filled with just as much hurt as I felt. “I wouldn’t do that to you, Cupcake.”

I wanted to believe him so badly. Deep down, I knew he wouldn’t do that. He had kept it a secret all this time. But still … it was hard to believe him after seeing Spencer in Redwood. Maybe he was doing this. Maybe he had locked Alec out of his accounts.

“Okay,” I whispered. “I believe you.”

Though … I wasn’t sure I did.

I was scared as fuck that I was being stupid again and falling for a man who’d hurt me.

Alec slumped his taut shoulders forward and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into the tightest hug that he had ever given me. “I swear, I’ll find out whoever did this. I’ll make their life hell for you.”

When he pulled away, I let a tear fall down my cheek. All this time, I had been so worried about what people would think of me. And all this time, someone had been plotting to make sure Redwood thought I was an easy slut.

Behind Alec, Oliver stormed down the hallway toward us.

My eyes widened at the rage in his eyes.

“I’m going to fix—”Alec started.

Before he could finish the sentence, Oliver slammed his fist into the side of Alec’s face.

CHAPTER32

MADDIE

Oliver shoved Alec against the lockers, hurling his fist at Alec’s jaw again.

“Oliver, stop it!” I screamed.

Alec struck him back in the nose, the force pushing Oliver to the other side of the hall. Blood covered Alec’s pearly-white teeth, spurt out of Oliver’s nose, and drenched the front of both of their shirts.

“Please, stop it!”

Before he could hit Alec again, I desperately tugged on Oliver’s arm to try to pull him away. But it was no use. He was too strong, especially for someone like me. And while I tried to pull, a crowd formed around us.

“What is wrong with you all?” I screamed at them when my fingers slipped from Oliver’s arm and I fell onto the ground, ass first. “Help me break it up!”

Still, nobody moved in my direction.

Jace Harbor, billionaire football star, grabbed his stepsister and pulled her away from the rowdy group. Poison, Redwood’s most cutthroat gang, smoked a blunt and watched from the other side of the hallway. And Carter, our asshole quarterback, cheered on Oliver.

“Get out of the way, Maddie,” Vera said, pulling me back. “You’re going to get hurt.”

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