Page 123 of Pretty Poisoned

I look back and forth between the two brothers and shake my head. "Are you serious?"

"It actually works in your favor that they reported the weird shit she said about cults," another man says. "That was a dumb move by the journalist; it diminishes her credibility. No one is going to take that seriously."

"So, we'll say the two of you were doing drugs; you passed out, you're not sure how much time passed, but when you woke up, she was gone. Had she let you restrain her in the past, and do you have any proof?"

"Umm…" Luca starts.

"Teagan shouldn't have to listen to this," Rhett says.

"No, I agree," Declan says. "The girls and Brady need to go."

"Yeah, okay," Hazel says. "We'll just…go watch a movie or something. We can go to our room."

I follow them to their room, and when the door closes behind us, I say, "So…I guess I know why Luca was in timeout now."

"He was fucked up," River says. "She saw some things, he did some shit that freaked her out, and she…threatened him, I guess. He freaked out, too."

"And you guys are all…fine with this?" I ask. "Because…I'm having a really hard time."

"But you didn't leave. You know him."

I climb into bed next to Riv and rest my head on her chest.

"You're good for him, Teagan," Hazel adds. "Even Declan knows it."

"What do you think is going to happen to him?" I ask.

"I don't know," Hazel says. "Probably nothing. We'll see."

"What do you want to watch, Teag?" River asks. "Something scary?"

"Whatever you want to watch is fine, Riv. We can watch one of your shows."

"Nooooo," Brady says. "Not another one of Riv's cheesy romcoms. I watched like seventeen of them on the bus this week."

"Shut up. Your favorite movie isMean Girls," River says.

He scoffs. "Well, that's not cheesy—it's iconic."

"No, he's right.Mean Girlsis iconic," I say. "Plus, it's Lindsay Lohan at her peak hotness."

"And it's more of just a com than a romcom," he adds.

"Well…we'll watch that then," River says. "I'm glad you stayed."

"Yeah, me too. I think."

"It'll be fine," Hazel tells me as the movie starts playing. "You'll see. In a couple of weeks, we'll go home for a good, long while, and it'll be like a reset. Everything will feel normal again."

I don't answer, pretending to be wrapped up in the movie already.

But all I can do is worry—and not just about Luca, but about myself. And what this all means about me.

TWENTY

"Hey, it's me," Rhett says from the other side of the door. "Open up."

None of us move.

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