Page 24 of Reckless at Westbrook High

“Where is it?”

“Safe with a friend of mine,” she shrugs, stepping back out of fear when Callie struggles against Damon’s grip on her. “And just so you know, if anything happens to me, if I get hurt or turn up dead or something, the evidence is being sent straight to the cops and the press, so don’t even think about it.”

“Fuck,” Damon growls. “How long?”

“Forever.”

He smacks the wall by the stairs and Callie continues to try to wiggle herself free, cursing him out when he refuses to let her go. Kai remains oddly quiet and I scrub my hands over my face, digging my fingers into my eyelids while I fight to think of a way out.

There isn’t one.

She’s got me.

“How did you even get in here?”

“I still have my key card,” she tells me, pulling it from her pocket to show me. “I’m gonna go unpack my stuff.”

My head pulls back and I frown.

The fuck..?

“Are you outta your fuckin’ mind?!” Kai shouts, speaking for the first time since I came downstairs. “You’re not staying here.”

“My parents are in New York, Kai. Where am I supposed to live?”

“I don’t give a fuck,” he laughs, flicking his wrist at the elevator. “Go sleep on the fuckin’ sidewalk with all the other whores for all I care.”

Her jaw ticks at the cheap dig but she hides it well, feigning indifference. “Is that any way to treat your brother’s fiancé?”

He raises a brow. “My what?”

“You heard me.”

“Jesus, Frey,” I mutter, shaking my head at her. “I’m not marrying you.”

“Why not?” she pouts, looking genuinely hurt by that.

“Because he can’t fuckin’ stand you, you fuckin’ lunatic,” Kai snaps, looking at me like he’s waiting for me to set her straight and throw her out on her ass.

I chew my lip and look away from him, tipping my chin at the stairs. “Go put your shit in Callie’s old room. Last door on the right.”

She opens her mouth to argue, probably to demand she stays with me in my room, but then she catches the look on my face and snaps it shut, conceding. “Fine.”

The four of us stay quiet while she grabs her bags and heads upstairs, not one of us moving until we hear the bedroom door closing behind her. I feel their eyes on me and drop mine to the floor, concentrating on the marble beneath my feet rather than the guilt threatening to climb up my throat and choke me. I swallow it down and lean back against the wall, automatically feeling for the phone in the pocket of my shorts. I can’t fucking tell him, but I can’t deny I want nothing more than to hear his voice right now, either.

“Tell us.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

I don’t answer that.

“Because you didn’t kill anyone,” Damon guesses, locking his jaw when my eyes hit his. “Who are you protecting?”

I keep my mouth shut and move for the kitchen to put the coffee on, managing a light laugh when Damon and Callie both turn to look at Kai.

“What?” he frowns, confused, but then it hits him and he pulls his head back, lifting his hands in mock surrender. “It wasn’t fuckin’ me.”

---