Page 45 of Rebels & Rejects

I snap my mouth closed because, wellfuck, he’s right. Why the hell did I get a goddamn bike?!

Seeing that he’s got me there, Oliver catches my gaze with his capturing sky-blue eyes. “I’ll have him back in an hour.” I can see the sincerity in his gaze, and despite the fact I don’t want to leave Luc here alone, I get the impression Oliver won’t let anything happen to him.

I grit my teeth for a long moment, mulling it over, but I know I have no other choice. I don’t have a spare helmet for him to ride my bike, nor am I actually capable of dragging his ass out of here if he’s going to fight me on it.

“Fine,” I reluctantly snap. “One hour.”

When Oliver nods in understanding, I pin Luc with a serious look. “You and I are going to have a serious talk when you get home.”

He still looks pissed off, but Jon drags him back to their game, and not wanting to hang around or have to talk to Oliver, I storm off back to my bike, and start the engine. Swinging my leg over the seat, I tug on my helmet and take off, blinking back tears the entire way back to the garage.

The second I pull up in the garage and take off my helmet, I fall apart, letting the tears fall. Luc is the only person in this entire world that means anything to me, and the fear I felt today was overwhelming. I just want to keep him safe, but he’s reaching that age where he wants to do these things. Where he wants to hang out with his friends and make his own decisions, and honestly, it scares me. I’m terrified he’ll make the wrong choices in life. That he’ll end up running for a gang. I don’t want him to throw his life away, and I couldn’t live with myself if he ended up dead before he had a chance to grow up and really live.

I have to start letting him live his own life, but I have no idea how to do that, how to just sit back and let him be. I know he’s smart, and he will make good decisions for the most part. The fact he’s made it to fifteen without falling into gang life is a testament to that. He’s surrounded by that shit in school—something I was already aware of. It’s more of a recruitment center for lowlifes than it is an educational establishment. And I know if any of the kids in school asked him to hang out, it wouldn’t be to play ball. It would be to party, drink and do drugs, and try to entice him into that life. I do think Jon was just trying to be friendly and include him... and I blew a fucking fuse at him—god, I’m such a bitch.

I let myself have a pity party for one on the floor of my garage for a few minutes before sniffling back the last of my tears and wiping under my eyes. Getting to my feet, I lock up and head toward my apartment, careful to keep my head down so no one can see my red, puffy eyes. If I can make it back before Luc gets home, then I can get a cold compress on them. The last thing I want is for him to see me upset over this.

“Red,” a voice I recognize calls out just as I step into the doorway of my apartment building.Fuck.

Straightening my shoulders, I spin to face Oliver. I didn’t think it had been an hour already. Was I really having an emotional breakdown for that long? Dammit, I need to pull my shit together.

No doubt he can see the red rim around my eyes, but I make sure the rest of my face is set in its usual resting bitch face as I meet his eyes. He’s leaning against a black Escalade and squinting through the front windshield. I don’t see any signs of Luc inside, so he must already be in the apartment. Why is Oliver still hanging around out here then?

When he sees my no doubt blotchy face, his lips flatten as though he’s annoyed, although I don’t know what about it could be angering him. “Can we talk?”

I cross my arms over my chest, needing the extra layer of defense between us right now. “I don’t see how we have anything to talk about. I think it’s best if you just go your way, and I’ll go mine, and we can pretend we never met.”

The muscles in the back of his jaw tighten—an indicator that he didn’t like what I said—and he pushes off the side of the car, moving toward me. “Is that what you genuinely want? To just ignore thisthingbetween us?”

I have to swallow around the lump in my throat. His proximity makes it impossible to think straight, and suddenly the hard-bitch exterior I had erected is starting to crack and crumble.

After a moment’s silence, he jerks his head to the right. “Let’s go grab some food—”

“I can’t,” I interject, cutting him off. “Luc... ”

“Luc’s upstairs. Let him calm down for a bit before you confront him.” With the way his gaze hovers over my puffy eyes, I can tell what he’s really saying isI’m sure you don’t want him to see you crying.Knowing he’s right, I huff out a long exhale before reluctantly agreeing.

He tosses me a small, warm smile, and we walk side-by-side down the street to a small twenty-four-hour diner. The bell above the door tinkles as we walk in, and I lead us over to an empty booth along the window.

The inside is designed in a shabby, retro vibe, which could be cool if it wasn’t for the fact I’m pretty sure the only reason for the decor is because the owner can’t afford to update it. There are holes in the faux-leather upholstery of my chair, and the linoleum table is chipped, the top layer peeling away.

An older woman with graying hair—who stinks of cigarettes—wearing a uniform and an apron approaches, barely sparing us a glance as she hands us menus and takes our drink orders.

Neither of us says anything as we peruse the menu and wait for the waitress to return with our coffees.

“Anything to eat?” she asks as she sets a chipped mug down in front of me and fills it.

“Ham and cheese panini for me,” I tell her, handing back the menu.

“Yeah, I’ll take the same,” Oliver supplies before the waitress leaves us alone. An awkward silence settles over us as I take a sip of my coffee, grimacing before I drop a couple of lumps of sugar in the cup and stir it, pointedly looking out the window as I do. I refuse to allow myself to ask him any personal questions, even if I am curious to know more about him. It won’t do me any good to get further invested with him or the Rejects. My involvement with them over the whole Reaper thing has already resulted in Luc being dragged into their life. I can’t afford for the lines to become even more blurred.

“Is Luc the only family you have?” Oliver eventually asks, drawing my attention away from the old couple walking arm in arm down the street.

“He is.”

“He’s lucky to have a sister like you. One who cares enough to walk onto gang-owned territory and yell at one of them for him.” His lip quirks up to let me know he’s joking.

I chuckle out a weak laugh. “I’d do a lot more than that for him.”

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