Page 65 of Ruckus

“You can stay here, this will only be quick.” Freya gets up and heads out onto the balcony without looking at me, and I growl and count to ten before I follow her out. Even out here is packedwith people, so she takes the stairs down onto the beach and we start to walk away from the club.

“How’s Alicia holding up?” I ease us into a conversation, knowing that at some point I’m going to have to apologize.

“You could ask her that yourself?” She shrugs, refusing to look up from the sand.

“Freya I…”

“Where did you go last night after you stormed out?” she interrupts me.

“I get that I overreacted, and I know there's nothing between you and Cam, I just seem to get jealous real easily and when I found out you knew about today I panicked because it was so important that we keep it secret.”

“I don’t understand why it’s so important. You don’t usually keep stuff like this from them, do you?”

“No we don’t, but this time it had to be different.” I just need to accept that for a few more hours, then everything will be clear.

“You’re not giving me any answers, Ruckus.” She chooses now to look up at me and I can see how impatient she’s getting.

“You don’t give me answers either, Freya. I know something haunts you, I hear you in your sleep. If your dad ever?—”

“My dad never touched me, he wouldn’t have. He was sick, and cruel but he wasn’t?—”

“Then tell me, what is it that still scares you, even when you're lying next to me? Help me understand.” I want to grab her and shake her, I hate that she still has doubts that I can protect her. I hate even more that I don’t know what she needs protecting from.

“Did you go to the lifeguard tower last night?” She changes the subject again, infuriating me so much that I have to scrub my hand over my face and take a second to.

“Freya.” I reach for her hand, because I hate that we’ve been so distant from each other since last night. It’s been an amazingtwo weeks, but now she seems to have a shield in place and I can feel her slipping away from me.

“Did you go to the tower, yes or no?” She pulls back.

“Yeah?” I stare at her, wondering how she knows about that.

“That’s all I needed to know,” she whispers, shaking her head and looking disappointed. “Be careful out there, Ruckus.” She turns around and races back toward the clubhouse steps and just as I’m about to start chasing after her, I hear my name called from the balcony.

“Ruck, come on, we’re movin’ out.” Wrath looks confused as his sister barges past him and heads back inside.

“What’s with her?” he asks once I get to the top of the stairs.

“Someone had to break the news that her big brother was going to war today.” I lie to him,againfeeling all kinds of frustration as we head through the clubhouse toward our bikes. Eden and Peyton both kiss their men goodbye at the arch, and when Freya comes storming through it and stands in front of Raze, it looks as if she’s about to punch him.

“You took my phone, give it back to me.” She yells.

“I’m sorry, I can’t do that.” Raze shakes his head solemnly.

“I have to speak to Lettie, I have to make sure she and Rory aren’t at that clubhouse. Come on Raze that’s Saul’s son.”

“I promise you no harm will come to them,” he assures her.

“I’m sorry but that's not good enough. Lettie is a good person and if it gets messy, she’ll be caught in the crossfire.”

“If you call her, it’ll alert the other. Lettie and her son are safe. You got my word.”

“And how can you be so sure?” She steps up closer to him and Raze takes a deep breath as he looks toward me and Wrath. We all know the girls ain’t gonna like what they hear next, and if Freya had bothered to come out here and watch us leave, she’d be about to learn why it’s been so important that we kept our plans a secret.

“Have you seen Finn or Rocco since we’ve been back from the cemetery?” Raze asks her.

“I don’t know, I’ve been a little preoccupied since burying my brother.” She gives him more attitude and Raze proves his patience by keeping his calm.

“Well you won’t have seen ‘em, because right now, they are heading back here with Lettie and her kid.”

---