Barbie Btch (Rejects Paradise #3) - Sheridan Anne Page 0,90
a week from now, he would have eventually got to me. There’s nothing neither of us could have done to avoid it. It was inevitable.”
“I don’t like it.”
“I know,” I murmur. “I don’t like it either but it is what it is. It’s done now so can we please try and forget about it? It’s bad enough that I’m dreaming about it. I don't want to be talking about it too.”
“Of course,” he says, checking his side mirror and pulling back out onto the road. “You’re really having a shitty time since moving here.”
“Tell me about it,” I grumble. “But if I was back home, I can guarantee that they would have gotten to me sooner.”
“I guess,” he says with a hint of cluelessness seeping out of his tone as he shrugs a shoulder. “I always figured that your Widows were the worst there is and that no one would be stupid enough to make a move against them.”
“To me, they’re at the top of the game, but to the Wolves, Nic is just a kid. Now that his dad is gone and changes are being made, they’re taking the opportunity to remind Nic just how fucking bad they can be.”
“Shit, Ocean. It's like it’s some kind of gang war.”
My voice drops to a low grunt. “Gang war is exactly what it is.”
“Well … shit. I don’t know what to tell you, but you know you can always come to me if you feel like they’re watching you. I can hide you at my place and no one would ever know. I’ve got a pretty big closet that’s good for hiding in.”
“No shit,” I laugh. “Your closet would be pretty squishy with you already in it.”
“Shut up,” he laughs. “It’s not like I’m completely in it. I have one foot out.”
“You have your big toe out and that’s it.”
Milo rolls his eyes and just like that, the heaviness of yesterday begins seeping away and I laugh at his ridiculousness. He's been such an amazing friend since the second I showed up here. I don’t know what I’d have done without him. Shit, I probably would have had to be besties with Charlie and who knows how that would have turned out.
Charlie. Charlie. Charlie. Sweet Charlie.
It’s only been a few days that he’s not been talking to me and I really hate it. He should come around soon, I hope. The boys said he just needed some time but I fear that things will never be the same between us. He's going to look at me differently now. I’m no longer the edgy new girl who he wanted to bring home to Mommy and Daddy, I’m now the girl with issues, the girl who’s been broken and abused. I’m dirty, touched, dark, and now destined to spend the rest of my days as a gang girl.
I try to put it to the back of my mind. There’s no use worrying myself over it today. He’ll come around just as the boys said he would and I need to be patient, otherwise, I'm just panicking for no good reason when I already have so much going on. Charlie is out of my hands and I just have to hope that he decides that I’m valuable enough to have in his life.
Milo pulls up at my school a short moment later and before I have a chance to push my way out of his Aston Martin, he reaches over and takes my hand. “You’re going to be okay, Ocean,” he promises me. “Whatever you need, you know all you have to do is ask. With me, Colton, Charlie, and Spencer at your back. No one will touch you. You’re safe with us. I don’t want you feeling as though you’re not when you’re here.”
I flip my hand over and give his a squeeze. “Thanks, Milo. I know. I do feel safe with you guys and believe me, I’d do just about anything to avoid running into those guys again. Nic and the Widows are just as bad, but they’re on my side. These guys … they’re bad news and I know you want to help any way you can, but I’d never drag you guys into this world. It’s not safe for guys like you.”
“Guys like me?” he questions, his brows furrowed.
“Yeah, guys with their pockets filled with cash,” I explain, realizing he thinks I’m talking about his sexual orientation. “You’d be steam-rolled until you had nothing left but the shirt on your