Page 13 of Reckless Rebel

He shrugs. "You're not eighteen."

"Well, I should get going," I say nodding to Gerry, "I'll speak to you tomorrow.” Then I turn to Riley and her boyfriend. "Dicky, nice to meet you. Riles, I'll see you soon."

I ignore his protests and smile at the laugh Gerry coughs out, as I stroll over to my car, getting inside and driving back home, feeling lighter than I have in months. If only it were enough to stop the cravings I have. I still need something to take the edge off. Into my dark hole I go.

8

Riley

He races his car off the street in that typical boy way, and I feel the anger pouring from Rick. This is not how I wanted him to find out about this. Not that I had even fathomed how to tell him. I mean, I did tell him yesterday. I ranted to him for over an hour about the fact Fia has a brother, but I wasn't expecting him to show up so soon, and I definitely wasn't expecting him to be Jace Conrad.

Rick waits for my dad to nod, leaving us alone before he fumes. “What the hell, Riley?”

He grits the words through his teeth in anger, but they still come out at a yell. “What?” What the heck is he shouting at me for?

“Jace Conrad,” he spits his name out like it offends him. “Seriously?”

I frown, is he kidding me right now? “It's not like he'd be my top pick. I told you, I don't even know him.”

“Didn’t sound that way,” he grits. “Trust me, I know him enough for the both of us. The stories float around about him and the Rebels, even two towns over. He's bad news. You need to stay away from him.”

“And how do you suppose I do that when he's Sofia's brother?” I actually cannot believe how he is trying to put this on me right now. Like I just woke up and decided to upheave my entire life and invite a snake into my house.

“Exactly, her brother, not yours.” The venom in his tone isn’t something I am familiar with, and I’m not sure I like it, but I can understand how hard this must be for him.

I soften. “Rick.” I exhale, but it does nothing, he just steps forward and grips my arm.

“Riley, I'm serious, stay away from him. He's a player, and not to mention dangerous. He set fire to a bar when he was fourteen.”

Fire. Bar. Fourteen.

My eyes widen. “What? Surely that can’t be true?” I mean yeah he seems like your typical player, but he was polite enough to my parents and nice to Sofia. Was he really out setting fires to bars when he was fourteen?

His grip tightens to an almost painful point on my arm. “Are you seriously defending him right now?” I hear the accusation, and I try to deny it.

“No, it's just…” I fall silent when I can’t think of a single excuse to back me up.

He shakes his head, releasing my arm with a little shove. “Whatever, I'm out of here.” He turns, walking down the porch steps.

I don’t want to leave things so hostile so I call out to him, “Rick, wait!” He halts, turning slightly to look back at me. “We're still good right?” I’m almost scared for him to answer, this is the first time we have ever encountered any kind of problem in our relationship.

He doesn’t speak for a couple of seconds, but then he huffs and comes back up the stairs, his tone soft again as his fingers caress my face. “Of course we are babe, I'll catch you tomorrow, yeah?” He doesn’t wait for me to answer, just kisses my cheek and then leaves.

I watch him go, feeling more disconnected than I did over dinner where I had to watch my family fawn all over the stupid Rebel. He was polite, charming, and had my mom and Sofia laughing like he was a freaking comedian. How the hell has my life changed so much in the space of twenty-four hours? Yesterday I didn't even know who Jace Conrad was, and now he's a thorn in my side. Infecting my family, one member at a time, but he won't infect me. I won't allow it.

I storm back into the house and find my mom and dad talking quietly in the living room. "What the hell was that?" I demand, using more attitude that I would ever dare against them, but tonight it's called for.

My mom frowns. "What was what?"

I scoff at the fact she even needs to ask. "That joke of a dinner. How can you guys let that stranger just waltz in here and take over Sofia’s life?"

"His name is Jace, and he's hardly going to be taking over her life. He just wants to get to know his sister." My mom defends him, and I want to laugh. She can barely make nice with Rick for five minutes, yet here she is defending Jace Conrad, just because he is Sofia’s brother.

If I hear the words ‘his sister’ one more time, I am going to scream. "Please stop referring to her as that, we don't even know anything about him."

They share a look and I pause. My dad speaks up first, "Actually, Sweetheart, we know a lot about him. It's not like we would let just anyone in the house around Sofia, of course we did our background checks into his family."

"Family? What family? If he really is Sofia's brother.”

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