Page 156 of Filthy Liar

With Dante shaking hands on fuck knows what deals he was making with the Psychos and Devils, I knew business arrangements had been made going forward. I’d probably find out at the next Psychos meeting, but right now, I couldn’t find the strength to be curious.

Blake approached, looking a little uncomfortable.

“I need to head home to my sister, but maybe next time I’m in town we could meet up for lunch or something? Maybe with Riley?” she asked Raven nervously, the relief not hidden on her face when Raven smiled.

“I’d like that. Give me your phone, I’ll add my number for you. We can text.”

Reid eyed them like they’d grown two heads, but I was glad the two girls were making an effort to be friends. I understood the issue with her dating Ander in the past, but Blake was a nice chick, and the guys were all friends with her.

If her and Raven could form a friendship too, that would make future get-togethers a lot easier.

The girls got chatting, and Logan carefully draped his arms over my shoulders, smacking a kiss on my cheek. “My poor baby. We should get you home and kiss it all better.”

“I’d feel better if you choked on my dick.”

“We’ve talked about this. That monster intimidates me,” he shuddered, losing his teasing tone. “For real though, we should head home. You need some rest.”

“You going to snuggle me?”

“Absolutely. Anything for you, Lopez,” Logan chuckled, moving back so I could stand.

We all stood to leave, but the front door closing drew our attention, and we found Ryder standing in the doorway with his bags as he studied us suspiciously.

“Ry! You were supposed to wait for us to pick you up later,” Rory scolded, walking towards him and giving him a hug.

“I wanted to surprise you,” he answered with amusement, his eyes taking us all in before he smirked, our appearances and the smell of smoke hard to ignore. “So, what did I miss?”

“Nothing,” Beckett chuckled, making her way across the room to hug her twin as she held him tightly. “Nothing at all, Ry. It’s good to have you home.”

Raven

I was exhausted, but my brain was running a mile a minute. Between talking to Ryder so he could apologize for his actions prior to going into rehab, knowing the mafia wasn’t chasing us anymore, and the fact that I had multiple college letters in my hand as we left Rory’s, my emotions were all over the place.

I was excited, relieved, and fucking scared.

“Can we open these at home?” I asked as we got to Reid’s Challenger, Ander slowing his steps as he reached his Supra close by so he could listen.

“That’s the plan,” Reid answered, but I shook my head.

“No, I mean home.”

Logan opened the passenger door and climbed in, poking his head out a second later. “I think that’s a good idea. That way, Josh can hear what fancy colleges accepted you.”

That was exactly why I wanted to head over to the Heights to open them, and I loved that they understood me. This was something I never thought I’d be doing, and it felt wrong to find out without being at the house.

My chest ached at knowing we wouldn’t have anymore firsts in that house. We could never stand in that kitchen again with our morning coffee, or have movie nights in the living room on the old, lumpy couch.

This would be the last thing we could do there, and then we’d have to walk away.

No other place had felt like home, but we’d find it one day. We’d get the happy ending we’d always thought we could only ever dream of, we just had to work a little harder to make it happen.

“We can do that,” Reid said warmly before climbing behind the wheel, my eyes sliding to Zavier. I was going to let him have the front seat so it was easier for him to get in and out, his body was getting pretty sore now he was bruising, but he gave me a quick kiss.

“I’ll ride with Lavaro. Don’t open those letters without us, we’ll follow.”

“I won’t,” I promised, nerves filling me.

What if all the letters said no? I couldn’t blame them, my education wasn’t the best, and some of these colleges were insanely hard to get into. I knew Harvard and Kingslake were going to be a no, but I was hopeful for Ashburn Valley. Even Newhaven’s university was pretty good, and it was close too.

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