Page 76 of Kings of Westbrook High

“Speaking of deep.” Kai jokes, sliding his tongue back and forth between his teeth. “Can I get a play by play-”

Damon tosses a banana at his head and Kai fakes a groan, making him grin. “Pussy.”

“Prick.”

I laugh and shake my head at them, thinking. “What did your Dad tell you about me?”

Damon frowns, eyeing me. “What?”

“The day I got here.” I explain, sipping my coffee. “Katherine told me he'd taken you down for breakfast to break the news to you.”

“He told us to watch you. Keep your bratty ass in line and outta trouble.”

I grin, tipping my head back on his shoulder to look at him. “And how’d that work out for ya, blue eyes?”

“Shut up and eat your pancakes, punk.”

I laugh lightly and do as I’m told, dropping my jaw when it only clicks after a solid minute of silence.

This prick.

The twins laugh at me and Damon smirks, yanking my head back by my hair to speak over my lips. “Not so cocky now, are we?”

I smirk back, stabbing a piece of my pancake to pop it in my mouth. “Fuck you.”

He licks his lips, hiding a sexy little grin. “Why you askin’ about our Dad?”

“I think he might know why I’m here.” I shrug, not missing the way their features tighten at that. “Or not..?”

Silence.

“It’s just he’s not exactly against me being here.” I explain, moving my eyes over the three. “He bought me an eighty grand car and gave me fifty grand cash for no reason other than the fact he could, he thinks I blew up that mental hospital and cost him fuck knows how much in clean up, and he never gives me any shit about being an asshole to his wife. He never gives me any shit, period. Maybe it’s not just her. Maybe they both need me here for something.”

“You’re way off, girl.” Kai shakes his head, standing to pour himself another coffee. “There’s no way our Dad and Katherine are in on this together.”

“How come you sound so sure?”

“Because I am.”

“Okay..” I draw out, looking at Wren because I know he’s the one who’ll tell me. “What am I missing here?”

He shrugs, only hesitating for a beat for he tells me. “He knows.”

My brows raise. “He what?”

“He knows what she did.” He explains, licking his lips. “He can’t fuckin’ stand the woman he sleeps next to every night. She makes him sick. Why do you think he’s never home?”

I frown because damn, I never thought of it like that. I just assumed Elijah was an absent workaholic because he loved the money and the power that came with it.

Maybe there’s more than meets the eye to him, too.

“So why marry her?”

“Imagine having your heart ripped right outta your chest.” Wren says simply, not noticing the way my muscles lock against Damon’s. “That’s the way he felt when our Mom died. A little bit of him died, too, I guess. When he realized what Katherine did and what her endgame was, he wanted to kill her for it. Probably woulda done it if Damon hadn’t talked him down and convinced him to marry her.”

“But you were thirteen..” I trail off, looking at Damon. “You told him to marry her?”

He locks his jaw and looks away, but if he thinks I didn’t see his heart crack in two just now, he’s wrong.

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