only to shove me, and I laughed. Four was still sitting with her arms crossed, and when our gazes connected, she immediately looked away. I’d expected no less. I’d fucked over her best friend and used Tyra’s sister to do it. I’d be lucky if Four didn’t poison me first chance she got. It didn’t seem like her style, though. At least I knew Lou was more direct, which meant I would definitely see it coming.
“What the hell happened to you?” Ever demanded. “We didn’t know what to think. Where did you go?”
“Absolutely nowhere,” I confessed, letting them know I’d been right under their noses the entire time. “My father thought I needed some time alone to think about what was best for my future.”
“You mean he kept you locked up,” he retorted, reading between the lines. I didn’t respond. My attention had already shifted, my gaze wandering the room. Was she here? “Are you really going to work for him?”
“I don’t have a choice,” I mumbled, giving up the search and flopping down on the sofa. I wanted to ask about Tyra, but somehow, I refrained. I wasn’t in the mood to have my eyes clawed out by Lou or my balls severed by Four for even daring to mention her name.
“What do you mean? You were going to play for USC. What the fuck happened?”
My fists balled at the reminder that someone else was living my dream. Even if my father did me the fucking favor and kicked the bucket tomorrow, I’d never get a chance like that again. My reputation was shot. College ball and the NFL had kissed me goodbye as coldly as I had kissed Tyra. I shook my head, wondering just where the hell I’d gone wrong. She started as a challenge and became a once in a lifetime opportunity. She’d been a shooting star, a goddamn miracle, and I let her slip through my fingers.
“Nothing happened,” I snapped before reeling in my anger. After what I’d done, it was the last any of them deserved from me. “It was just time I stopped living a lie.” Against my will, I met Four’s gaze again, and this time, she looked ready to skin me alive. Her chest rose and fell much faster now as she gripped the sofa underneath her. Any moment now, I expected to see the stuffing pour out when the fabric inevitably gave way.
I winced just as Lou’s scathing voice broke the trance. “Next time you feel like seeking some truth,” she scolded, “try doing it in a less skeevy way, asshole. You hurt our friend.”
My lips parted, but I had no retort, no excuse nor lie to make it all better. Luckily, Wren spoke, saving me from finding one. “Maybe now is not the time for this,” he said in a way that brooked no argument.
For once, she listened as her worried gaze shifted to Ever. “We can still call it off,” she whispered to him.
Ever didn’t respond, so I studied their uneasy expressions and the stiffness of their bodies, recognizing the tension that was there before I ever stepped in the room. “What’s going on?”
Surprisingly, it was Four who answered when the rest of them paled. Leaning forward, she pinned me with her brown-eyed gaze. “It’s been months since anyone’s seen or heard from you,” she pointed out sharply enough to sting. “Despite that glaring fact, the police refused to help for some reason.” I gulped at that, knowing why. The Blackwoods may have controlled this town, the cops included, but my father controlled them. “Your best friend got desperate and decided to turn elsewhere.” Casting a worried glance at her boyfriend, who looked like he was going to be sick, Four sighed and said in a softer tone. “His father is on his way. Ever agreed to meet Sean in exchange for his help.”
“What makes you think Ever’s father could help?”
Lou was the one to answer this time. “Because the enemy of your enemy is your friend, and if anyone is crazy enough to challenge your father, it’s Crow.”
I found Wren watching me, his gaze hard and steady. Ever was watching me, too, only his gaze was full of guilt when it should have been fear. By telling them who my father was, he’d put all of them in danger without realizing that I wasn’t even worth it.
None of that mattered when I realized what Lou had revealed. “Your father is Crow?” I asked of Ever. “As in