“Do you think I care if Dominic and Mel hear me talk about their sleezy-ass—”
I pick her up and toss her over my shoulder.
“I will fucking kick your ass.”
“You need to do that, you do it away from the house.”
“You think I’m gonna talk to you?” she huffs.
“Me or Max’s sheep,” I say, now jogging.
As soon as I think we’re far enough away, I drop her on her feet. By the light of the moon, I can see her tears.
I yank her into a hug, and she doesn’t try to beat the shit out of me. She screams into my chest, “I hate them!”
“Jesus, Tris, I am so sorry.”
“I hate them so much! I hate them so much, I swear to you, I am going to make them pay when they go to school at Seashore. I’m going to make them all pay.” Her body shakes as she cries.
“I need to know what’s up, Tris, and then I’ll figure out how to help you do just that.”
“They’re family!” Now she pushes me away. “None of you will do anything to them because of Forever Steel shit. So, don’t lie to me.”
“Not lying, Tris. One hundred percent promise you that we get down to the bottom of this hurt, betrayal, whatever happened, and I’m not Forever Steel. I’m Forever Tris.”
She slaps away her tears and nods.
“But we need to talk this shit through, get to the meat of it, bleed if we have to, and then we make a plan.”
“They’re fucking Marcello.”
“Wait—what? They’re, like, twelve.”
“They’re fifteen. Same as me, same as him.”
“So, that song was a big fuck you to him?”
She shrugs. “It doesn’t matter. They’re moving to Seashore, and I want them gone.”
“Are they calling themselves a thrupple?”
“Apparently, they switch days.”
“Let’s sit down and talk through this.”
“I don’t want to talk anymore; I just want them to stay away from us.”
“This why you’re kissing on two different guys in the past two weeks?”
“When I get through them all, maybe I’ll start fucking around with girls, too.”
“To each their own, but I’m pretty sure you’re not a lesbian, Tris.”
“What makes you an expert?”
“Where you going with this?” I ask.
“You’re not the only one who sees things. And when she hurts you, I’ll make her bleed, too.”
“Let’s stay in your lane for a bit, Tris. I’m all good.”
One week in, and I’ve managed to keep Tris from killing anyone, and even gotten her to hold a guitar. Today was supposed to be Amias and Max’s day—the tittie beach. Thankfully, it’s raining, and the rain makes me tired, but so do talks until three in the morning with Tris, who still hasn’t figured out that Marcello is the one she should be the most pissed off at. He’s been her boyfriend since they were, like, four.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Max gasps as he looks at his phone screen.
“What’s wrong, Max? You find out your latest texting buddy has a dick?” Amias jokes.
“Dude, shit’s going down back at home. Check out The Sound app.”
“I don’t have the fucking app,” JT snaps, grabbing his phone.
I pull mine out of my pocket and scroll to the app.
What. The. Fuck?
“Tricks, you seeing this?” JT asks.
“Yeah, I’m seeing it, but something isn’t right. Savvy’s last name is Sutton.” I try to enlarge the picture, but it gets really blurry.
There’s no way in fuck they have that shit right. Savvy is with Chloe, and her name’s not listed.
I sit back and watch my phone, knowing she or Chloe would call or message if shit went south.
Justice is a fucking mess. He’s the new number one guy in the hierarchy, and the old number one is here, too, so the panic for them is real.
In less than an hour, my phone rings. I don’t know the number, but it’s our area code, so I stand up and leave the noisy room to answer the call.
“Hi, Patrick, you don’t know me that well, but my name is Millie.”
“Hey, Millie, this have anything to do with what’s going on at home?”
“Savvy’s in trouble.”
“She hurt?”
“No, but she’s gonna need help getting out of this one. That’s what Heather said. I don’t know the details, but—”
“Can you call me as the details come in, Millie? In the meantime, I’m gonna see about getting home.”
“Yes, of course, I will.”
As soon as I hang up, I hear them already planning on heading back. “I’m going, too.”
“Patrick, they got this,” Dad says from across the room.