Page 71 of Diem

“Fuck!” I shriek, grabbing my chest and turning to Diem standing inside my room next to the open window.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I rasp.

His heated eyes slide away from mine, and he says, “Your brother asked me to check in on you.”

“Why?” Since when does my brother care about what I’m up to? I smell something fishy.

“Don’t know.” He shrugs and with a dramatic roll of my eyes, I turn away.

“Just go. You shouldn’t be here.”

“Not until you tell me about Patrick,” he says, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.

Eyeing him with a frown, I give in because the sooner I do, the sooner he’ll get the fuck out of my room. “I don’t know anything beyond he was at that party the other night.”

Oops. Sore subject, I know, and I wince when he looks away, his jaw ticking and says, “And Skull?”

“Why can’t Ollie text me?” I ask and Diem shakes his head.

“He’s busy. Was Skull at that party, Mae?”

“Yes,” I say, and his brows drop over his eyes. Avoiding his no doubt murderous look, which he’ll deny if confronted about, I grab my phone and pretend to check my text messages. Anything to delay the inevitable with this asshole.

But my fingers slip off the phone when a text comes through and I watch it tumble to the floor, muttering, “Shit.”

Penny: I found something else…it's a message from some guy named Charlie

Charlie: You like it dark? Let’s play on the dark side…

“Jesus Mae, will you just…” Diem’s grim smile drops to icy blankness as he searches my gaze. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” I whisper, picking up my phone and glancing at the door. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“Mae—” he says, and I do the only thing I can think of, I deflect.

“Diem, my dad—”

Shaking his head, he points his finger and says, “You need to drop this shit about your dad. So, he fucks around. Big deal.”

“Big deal,” I shriek. “Big deal? He’s messing around with girls my age, Diem. That’s…”

Shit. Is that what all these dicks are doing? Dr. Love…Charlie…Dad. Turning away, I face the wall, my mind racing. Charlie…as in Charming Charlie? Oh fuck. Could it be? No way, but…could it?

“Mae? C’mon, this isn’t the end of the fucking world. How about you get off your high horse and join the rest of us. Fuck. I knew you were a priss, but I didn’t think it was that bad.”

Closing my eyes, I smile bitterly and say through my teeth, “Of course you don’t see anything wrong…you fuck everything.”

I fling my arms out and Diem raises a brow. “Whatever. What’s it like to live in la la land because damn, you’re a total bore.”

His words are like daggers to my already aching heart and the words tumble from my lips before I can stop them. “Really? Sounds like something Uncle Frank would say.”

Oh shit.

“What the fuck did you just say?” he rasps, staggering back.

Exhaling, I close my eyes and say, “Just go.”

“No, did you just compare me to Frank?” he spits, and I flinch.

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