“Stay in there and die of starvation. I truly don’t give a shit, Rees.”
“You’d never let that happen.” I wasn’t worried about her calling my bluff, either. I knew Tyra better than she knew herself. I was, however, bored with this game, so I stood from the crowded bed and crossed the small room. “Now tell me you’re mine and accept that I can never be yours.”
“What the hell does that even mean?” I heard her whisper through the door. When I finally turned the lock and ripped the door open, she wore an incredulous expression as she stared up at me.
“It means you’re my girlfriend, but I’m not your fucking boyfriend.”
Lips parted, she blinked at me as if I just grew two heads. Sometimes it felt like I had. “In what universe is that fair?”
“In the only one where we have a chance in hell of being together.” If the shoe were on the other foot, I’d take whatever I could get because I could never let her go. Obviously, she didn’t feel the same. For Tyra, it was all or nothing. What kind of shit was that?
Her gaze narrowed as she seemed to think it over. I didn’t know what the hell it meant for me when her shoulders slumped, but a moment later, she made herself clear. “Say I agreed to those terms…” She peered up at me. “Can you honestly say you’d still respect me?”
I started to assure her that I would when my mouth snapped shut.
No. I wouldn’t.
It was the same kind of relationship I’d had with every girl that came before her. I allowed them to pretend we had something deep and meaningful as long as I got what I wanted in the end. And when I was done… Hell, I usually pretended not to know them—sometimes while watching two girls that I’d screwed fight over me like dogs for a bone. It seemed cruel, but if my father had gotten wind of it, they’d both be dead.
“Can you?” she pressed, making my frustration rise. We had bigger problems, like the fact that I might already be in love with her, yet she was worried about me fucking respecting her.
“Tyra—”
“Yes or no, Vaughn.”
“No.”
We stared at each other for a long while, waiting for the other to give in. For a moment, I thought she might, but then Tyra did something I didn’t think was possible. She stepped aside, making way for me to leave. I didn’t understand the strange feeling in my chest. It felt as if my heart had crumbled at my feet. My steps were slow as I made my way toward the stairs, giving her time to change her mind.
She didn’t.
I made it all the way down, locked eyes with Selena, and my jaw tightened at her salacious smile. She’d heard every word.
I considered turning around and warning Tyra about her slutty sister, but my anger and the need to make Tyra hurt propelled me through the front door instead. As the summer sun beat down on me, I decided that Tyra was no longer my concern.
I should have been relieved about that.
“Son, you seem distracted,” my father observed as I sat across from him in his office. It had been a day, and Tyra hadn’t come crawling back yet. That had to be a record. “Is everything okay?”
I almost laughed in my father’s face at the idea of him caring. Maybe he’d even break out his knuckledusters until the pain in my body numbed the pain in my heart.
No, everything isn’t o-fucking-kay, Pop. I’m pissed. I’m pissed about the fact that Tyra had given up and pissed about the fact that you so clearly haven’t.
“Fine.”
“Good,” he said, not bothering to pry since he didn’t give a shit. “I have important business in Colombia that must be taken care of immediately.”
Good riddance.
“Fingers crossed your plane doesn’t crash on the way,” I responded dryly.
He paused at that but then continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “As Father,” he said, referring to the moniker he inherited when he ascended, “you know that I am not allowed to take such liberties and risks by showing my face. The strength of Thirteen depends on it.” I’d been drowning out the sound of his voice until he made his next announcement. “You’ll go in my place.”
I did laugh then, long and hard while my father simply stared at me. I wiped the tears that had slipped from my eyes, but it hadn’t been all from humor.