Empire High Betrayal (Empire High #3) - Ivy Smoak Page 0,42

all the time. What are you going to tell her when they don’t come over for dinner tomorrow?”

“That they were busy.”

“Eventually she’s going to catch on…”

“Which means we’ll never have to have an awkward conversation,” Mason said. “Just let them slowly disappear from all of our lives.”

“You can’t just delete friends from your lives.” Everyone was making this so much harder than it needed to be. It was all a huge misunderstanding. Without even realizing it, they were letting Isabella dictate their lives.

“It’s already done,” Matt said. “They wouldn’t hear me out.”

“But…”

“And James kissing you was the final straw. I’m never talking to either of them again.”

I swallowed hard. God, he was going to hate me. “Can we please go upstairs for a few minutes?” I asked.

Mason laughed. “Insatiable.”

I grabbed Matt’s hand and pulled him away from the table before Mason could make any more jokes about our sex life. By the time we reached Matt’s bedroom I practically shoved him inside. I closed the door and locked it. When I spun around, Matt’s arms were caging me in.

“You know I like when you just ask for what you want,” he whispered against my ear. “I was just waiting for you to tell me your wildest fantasies.”

My heart started racing. “In front of your brother?”

“You could have whispered all the unspeakable things you want me to do to you.” He traced his tongue along the side of my ear.

It took every ounce of restraint not to grab his face and pull his lips to mine. “As much as I want to do more of…that…I need to talk to you first.”

“Or we could talk after.” His fingers skimmed across the waistline of my leggings. “I’ve been thinking of you all day. Thinking about what I did to you last night.”

God.

His fingers dipped beneath my waistband. “Thinking of you alone in my bed.”

“I hung out with James!” I wasn’t sure why I screamed it. It was like the secret was burning a hole in my chest.

Matt’s fingers froze on my skin.

“I didn’t mean to,” I said. “Rob came over and was talking about all the rumors swirling around. And he said that he wanted me to help him clear them up. I didn’t want there to be rumors about me sleeping with James, which apparently there are. And I thought I was just going to hang out with Rob. But when I climbed into his treehouse James was there and then…”

“Are you kidding me?” Matt pushed himself away from the door. “You promised me…” he glanced at the clock on his nightstand “…less than 24 hours ago that you wouldn’t hang out with James anymore. What the hell?” He didn’t sound mad. Just disappointed. Somehow that was even worse.

“But that’s what I’m trying to explain. I didn’t mean to hang out with James. I was going with Rob and…”

“Jesus, Brooklyn. I’m fighting with Rob too. You’re supposed to be on my side.”

“I am on your side.”

“Well it doesn’t really look like it.”

His words stung. But I knew I deserved them. “I’m so sorry. It won’t happen again.” I’d be able to follow through on the prank without seeing the Hunters. That’s what phones were for. I could still fix everything.

“And you’re not supposed to leave the house,” Matt said. “We don’t know where Isabella is. Do you have any idea how dangerous it was to go to the Hunters’ house?”

“I was just trying to fix your friendship…”

“I asked you not to see James. How is you hanging out with him fixing anything? You looked me in the eyes and promised.” Now he sounded mad.

I knew I was in the wrong. But I hadn’t meant to do anything bad. “I didn’t know James was going to be there.” And now our conversation was going in circles and not getting any better. I was just trying to be honest with him.

Matt sat down on the edge of his bed.

I hated when he was mad at me. I hated fighting with him. Unless it was the kind of fighting we did last night, in which case…I wish we were doing that instead. But he didn’t seem to be offering that. “I’m sorry that it happened. But I wanted to make sure I told you the truth.”

“The truth?” He looked up at me. “The truth is that giving you that ring meant something to me. I even went to your dad’s place today to tell him about my intentions with you. I’m all in with you.