Chapter 23 #2
My drinking obviously annoyed Sloane. Her eyes blazed, but when she looked like she was going to come at me again, Dorian finally stepped between us.
He tried to talk her down in that calming nature only she could bring out in him.
He rubbed her arms as he spoke to her, but she clearly wasn’t having it.
Sloane’s jaw tightened. “No. He thinks he can treat people any way he wants. First Bru. Now this?”
I was alert now and probably reacted too quickly when my head shot up. “The fuck did Bru say?”
Dorian shot a finger at me. “Eh. Check your tone.” I got him defending his girl, but she was being so out of line right now.
“Bru doesn’t say anything to me,” Sloane said, frowning. “No matter how hard I push he doesn’t, but I know you did something, Wells. My brother doesn’t fight anymore, but suddenly he and you are throwing down?”
“Not to mention avoiding each other. Which you have been for weeks,” Ares said, cutting in. His shoulders lifted. “What is the deal? You guys used to be hella close.”
I didn’t like all this heat on me, the spotlight.
And Squeak was looking at me.
She had that pleading look in her eyes again. Like, once more, she needed something from me, but she didn’t. Not really.
She didn’t even wait.
The swallow was hard in my throat, and, blinking, I faced away from my friends.
“I’m getting a drink,” I mumbled, needing something stronger than fucking champagne. I had zero to give to anyone right now. Not Bru, and especially not Bow. Never Bow.
I headed straight for the open bar after leaving my friends. It’d be a miracle if I didn’t get drunk tonight.
In fact, I was all but determined.
I didn’t get wasted because my parents were here, and I was still trying to be on my best behavior for my dad. He hadn’t cut me off yet because of school, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t.
I also refused to make tonight about me when it was supposed to be about Dorian and his achievements.
Because of that, I kept to myself, which was easy to do.
The room was filled with influential people and, later, speeches.
Dorian’s father, Royal, had a really good one around the time dinner was served.
He said how proud he was of his son for living out his dreams.
Tonight was about Dorian, but I didn’t make myself suffer voluntarily.
I avoided my friends when I could, and, at dinner, I opted out, saying I had stomach issues.
My mom was hella concerned about that, but she let me go to get some air.
I took a lot of fucking air and returned just in time for dancing and socialization.
I found Squeak then. She was watching the dancing, and I held out my hand for hers.
“Come. People will expect it,” I said, and ignored the heat in my hand when she obligatorily took it. I brought her close then and made sure we were in front of my parents who were also dancing.
Dad smiled at me with a nod before directing my mom’s focus over to Squeak and me. Mom smiled too, seriously looking radiant. She and my dad were the perfect pair and complemented each other so well. They found their soulmates in each other.
So many soulmates were on the dance floor now: my parents, Thatcher’s, and all my friends’ parents. They were all holding each other close during the slow dance.
My friends also had their partners out on the dance floor.
Dorian was gazing down at Sloane like she was the only thing he could see, which was probably the case.
Those two were ultimately headed down the aisle, just like Ares and Fawn.
Ares held Fawn in such a mighty embrace I felt intrusive watching them.
I gazed around for an ally, but all I found was Thatcher. I missed him at dinner, but that was probably because I’d left. He’d obviously joined us in the ballroom at one point. He was currently by the bar but was on his phone again.
He was smiling.
He had that sappy look only adoration could bring out, love. He was talking to someone who put nothing but joy across his entire being and only one person could do that. Only one girl could do that.
“Wells?”
The sound of my name burned into me. Especially coming from… her.
“Wells, we need to talk… About what happened?”
I spun Squeak instead of responding to her, my jaw tight.
When I brought her back to me, I noticed I got another approving nod from my dad and something in my soul told me I got what I wanted.
I was in the clear with him, and I didn’t have to try anymore.
I made him happy just like everyone else was on this dance floor.
There were so many happy couples, so much happiness.
“Wells…”
“What do you want from me?” I asked, gritting my teeth. I dared to look down at the small girl who’d spoken in my arms.
I immediately regretted it. I saw those large blue eyes of hers.
The ones that constantly stared up at me with hope and adoration.
I wasn’t an idiot. I knew Squeak had a crush on me when we were younger.
She did, like a fool, and I was a fool for giving her as much attention as I had over the years.
She played me with those blue eyes, that smooth skin…
She touched my arm. “Wells?”
The heat of her hand soldered through my jacket at this point, and I adjusted until she let go. I looked away again. I ignored her, her voice, and the fact that it almost always cracked. Especially when she laughed. I used to make her laugh a lot.
I was an idiot fuck, foolish. I shook my head, my gaze on anything in the ballroom but her. “I don’t have anything to say to you.”
Bru may have egged on what happened between us all, but she’d been the one to start that shit. She had no business kissing me. No. Fucking. Business. Thatcher’s little sister or not, I didn’t let anyone make a fool of me.
She’d done it more than once.
My brain ignored the fact that I wasn’t even thinking about what happened the summer I let that girl drown. That hadn’t been what my mind had gone to and…
“Well, I have something to say to you,” Bow said, and my gaze darted in her direction. She’d never spoken so boldly to me, and her eyes flashed as soon as mine made contact with hers. She didn’t back down though, blinking. She nodded. “At Legacy House, we—”
“No,” I said, firm. She wouldn’t make me relive that day or how it felt. She wouldn’t make me betray my friend again, even if it was just in my head. My throat worked. “You’re making me lie to Thatch.”
Lying to my parents was fine. I was their kid. Of course I lied to them on occasion, but Thatcher was different. He was my brother.
Like he knew he was thought about, Thatcher made eye contact with me from the bar. Perhaps he thought it was unusual I was dancing with his sister, or maybe he just didn’t care. Maybe he was happy I was dancing with her because that meant I truly did forgive her.
On his phone call, Thatcher waved at me with a grin, and my stomach went so fucking tight.
I tipped my chin back at him, forcing a smile I didn’t fucking feel or want. I just wanted this goddamn song over so I could hide out again.
I spun Squeak again before bringing her back. She may have wanted to talk, but I noticed Bru was absent tonight. Yes, I’d gone out of my way to avoid him, but I hadn’t seen him at all this evening.
There were a lot of people at Dorian’s party, and it would be easy to miss him. Especially since I had skipped out on dinner. I could imagine he’d been there…
“I don’t want that. For you to lie to Thatcher,” Squeak said, pulling me out of my thoughts. That stupid flush had returned to her cheeks, the one that made her look innocent, ethereal. Her red lips turned down. “I don’t want that at all.”
“What do you want, then?” I asked, forcing my sight away from that delicate flush in her cheeks. This girl wasn’t innocent. She wasn’t—
“You.”
My gaze zoomed down again, my eyes wide. “What?”
Bow’s throat worked, and, suddenly, it was her who was finding it hard to keep her gaze on me.
Her gloved hand squeezed mine, but soon, she stood tall.
“I want you, Wells. Our friendship.” Her hand moved in mine again, and that forced me to look at them.
How small her hand looked in my palm. She was always so small. “I miss you so much, Archer.”
Archer.
How dare she. How dare she bring me back to a place again where neither of us had been in so long.
It was one thing to talk her off a ledge, but it was another to just up and take us to the place we’d both been before the drama, before the death and the blood that was on my hands.
It was a place where I was her protector again, legitimately. I was her archer.
And she was my bow.
I didn’t want to go there again. I couldn’t because, if I did…
“I just want us to be friends again and for you to forgive me,” Bow said, pulling me close, and this was so not like Bow.
Just like those kisses at Legacy House, this wasn’t like her.
She was standing up and going for something she wanted.
She was going for me, but she couldn’t fucking have me.
Again, I had nothing to give her. She blinked hard over glassy eyes.
“What do I have to do for you to forgive me?”
Something inside me broke when she fucking said that. It shattered like when she said she screwed some fucking dude. I thought it’d been Bru, but I wasn’t so sure now after his reaction when I approached him. In fact, he’d looked just as shocked as I felt the day she told me.
That day…
It was the day in my parents’ bathroom where I first touched her. Stick or not, I’d put hands on my buddy’s sister.
She didn’t wait…
Why do you care?
I didn’t care who Bow had been with. All I cared about was that she made a fool out of me. No one was allowed to touch her, but she figured out a way.
The thoughts were something all my sanity had to believe in. Anything else would make me face reality. I couldn’t forgive Rainbow Reed for what happened in the past, not really.