Page 109 of Filthy Liar

Frank’s eyes widened on me, and I held them out to him with a wink as he stammered. “Me?”

“Yeah, dude. Where’s Greg?”

He pointed towards Rory, and I spotted Gregory and his siblings behind her as they watched. Knowing what I was intending on doing, Rory ushered them in our direction, carrying Maggie and one of the twins over, while Jade joined us holding Lara.

Gregory held Sia, the other twin, his face bright as they all huddled around the ribbon.

“You want to announce it’s open?” I asked quietly, waiting for him to nod before taking the microphone in my hand and holding it down to his level as Frank got the scissors ready.

“The community center is open!” he said with excitement as Frank cut the ribbon, his face only getting brighter as people cheered and clapped.

Slash took the scissors from Frank as the boys soaked everything in, and I lifted the microphone to my mouth.

“Come inside and help yourself to food and drinks.”

People weren’t going to wait now they knew there was food, and we moved out of the way to let people through.

“Told you it would be fine,” Slash chuckled as he gave me a nudge, and I couldn’t help but grin back.

“Yeah, you did.”

Raven

Reid spoke so well, and as much as I wanted to congratulate him, he was swarmed with people pretty quickly, so it could wait. Logan was dragged into it, and before long, the place was packed with people.

I knew not to wander off alone, so I stayed inside in view of everyone, enjoying the excitement that was radiating off of everyone. Teenagers were in the other room playing pool, small children had found the toys and drawing tables, and adults mingled as they talked to Rory and her guys about things.

“I need to go and help near the computers, apparently,” Zavier murmured as he leaned down to talk over the noise. “Cruz said if you go outside to smoke or anything, stay within the property and they’ll have eyes on you. Ander’s having a deep conversation with some kids about cars, but he’ll come and find you in a minute.”

“Go have fun. I’ll be fine. There’s more security here than I can poke a stick at,” I promised, grabbing the front of his jacket and tugging him down for a kiss. “If you talk to Reid or Logan, tell them I’ll find them later when they’re not so busy.”

“Will do. Be careful,” he said as he walked off, leaving me on my own.

Psychos and Devils were everywhere on top of the hired security with the Thieves, so I did as Zavier said and ducked outside for a cigarette, finding a quiet bench just off to the side near the parking lot.

I got a peaceful two minutes maximum before it was ruined by Cami as she stumbled over, already crying. “Raven, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean?—”

“Bite me, Cami,” I replied bluntly, flicking ash on the ground. “I don’t want to hear it.”

“They made me!”

I frowned, blowing out smoke as I eyed her. “Who made you do what?”

“He made me tell him about your dad and your house. He kept asking all these things, and then he threatened me and?—”

“Woah, slow down. Someone was asking you about me? Why?”

“He had an accent. Said he’d kill me unless I told him all about you. I didn’t know he was going to burn your house down. It was him, right? He found your house because of me and burned it down!”

She was getting louder and louder, a few eyes darting in our direction.

I stood and snagged her wrist, tugging her towards the parking lot more.

“Would you be quiet? Calm down and tell me everything.”

She sniffled, unlocking her car and reaching inside for a bottle of vodka, and I didn’t bother scolding her for it. I needed her to fucking tell me everything.

“He seemed nice and said he was your uncle. He paid me to tell him about your house and stuff, but when he wanted me to bring you to him, I knew something weird was going on. I told him I wasn’t going to tell him anything else, then he pulled a gun on me. I didn’t want to die, Raven. I told him about Josh, and that you’re dating the guys. He was really curious about the stuff with Josh.”

---