Page 109 of Reckless at Westbrook High

“Fucking hell, Wren,” he growls, stepping closer to snatch the vodka from the side. “How many times do I have to tell you to stop fucking fighting? Do you want to go to jail? Or rehab? Because that’s exactly where you’re headed if you don’t stop this shi–”

“I’m gay.”

He stops yelling at me and Callie chokes on her coffee, awkwardly bouncing her eyes between me and him with her mouth parted. “I’m gonna go.. do somethin’ else,” she mutters, standing to scurry off through the door he just came through.

I roll my lips and he stares at me, slowly moving closer to sit down on the edge of the coffee table in front of me. “W–What did you just say?”

“I’m gay,” I repeat, leaning back on the couch to smoke my joint. “Actually, I think it’s called gay for you but that’s besides the point. I fell for a fucking guy and he lied to me. Got my heart broken all over again.”

He frowns at that, and I don’t miss the flash of hurt in his eyes when he catches the hurt in mine. “What do you mean he lied to you?”

I sigh and tip my head back to look at the clouds, hesitating a while before I decide to tell him the truth. “Zane Kincaid killed someone a couple years ago and me and Levi saw him do it. He made us help him bury the body and Killian Matthews found out about it, had one of his guards film us without us knowing and held onto it for safe keeping. He convinced Freya to come back to Westbrook to blackmail me with it and she did, told me if I didn’t marry her she’d give the video to the cops and send me to jail.”

His nostrils flare and he opens his mouth to say something, but I’m not done yet.

“Some other stuff happened and Killian shot someone in the face, kidnapped us and took us to this warehouse in LA so he could kill me, Damon and Kai without anyone seeing. We found out he and his best friend raped Callie when she was fifteen and made Levi watch, took turns beating the shit out of him when he tried to save her. He did save her, sort of, twice, actually, but it doesn’t really matter. He knew who she was this whole fucking time and he didn’t fucking tell me,” I choke out, forcing myself to take a breath before I continue. “Killian’s obsessed with Callie and he’s been kicking Levi’s ass since he was a kid. He’s also a psycho drug boss named Louis. Practically untouchable. He wants Callie to divorce Damon so she can marry Levi as part of some deal he made with Jason O’Conner and for the rest of us to disappear without a trace.”

He pulls on the tie wrapped around his throat while he attempts to process all that, then he leans his elbows on his knees and drops his head in his hands. “Fuck.”

Yeah. Fuck.

“Where is Killian right now?”

“We don’t know.”

“Where’s the tape he was blackmailing you with?”

“Zane burned it.”

“Where’s Freya?”

“Gone.”

“And Levi..” he lifts his eyes, tipping his chin at my split up knuckles. “He’s got the black eye to match?”

I shrug, gently running my thumb over the sore spot. “He deserved it.”

“You’re in love with him.”

I wince before I can stop it and he links his fingers together, dipping his head to catch my eyes.

“Wren, talk to me.”

“I don’t know what to do, Dad,” I whisper, fighting the stupid ass tears creeping their way back up to the surface. “Tell me what to do.”

He sighs and glances off, staring at the pier a minute before he looks back to me. “Do you still want him?”

My jaw ticks and I drop my eyes to my lap, flicking my lighter to relight my joint. “He lied to m–”

“That’s not what I asked you,” he cuts in, snatching the joint to toss it over his shoulder. “It’s a simple question, son. You either want him or you don’t. Which is it?”

I open my mouth to lie to him and he cocks his head, making me laugh. “You’re such an asshole.”

“Wren.”

“Yes, I still want him, okay?”

“Okay,” he nods, shrugging like it’s obvious. “You want something, you take it, you make it yours. Sounds pretty damn simple to me, Wren.”

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