12. Ryan #5
He’s building it into a wall, brick by brick, and every brick is one I’d cheerfully climb.
“Getting repetitive.”
“You will not discuss her with your friends.”
Iz sighs. “There goes book club.”
Danny nods. “She was next month’s pick.”
Kaid looks at him. “I didn’t vote for her.”
X shrugs. “Weak second act.” My mouth twitches.
Victor looks at them. “Do you ever stop?”
“No,” all five of us say. The hallway loses it again.
His eyes snap back to me. “You publicly humiliated my fiancée.”
I shrug. “She’ll live.”
“Whether Alison was emotionally wounded by your little performance is irrelevant.”
There it fucking is. Not you hurt her. Not you embarrassed her. Nothing about Ally at all.
Kaid goes still beside me. X’s face empties. Danny’s jaw tightens. Iz’s head tilts.
I stare at Victor. “Then what exactly is the problem?”
His expression hardens. “You made my fiancée look foolish in front of her peers.”
I look at Ally. At the ridiculous diamond on her finger. At the envelope in her hand. Then back at him. “This isn’t about her.” I smile. “It’s about you.”
“Careful, Harrington.”
“Did I get it wrong?”
“When you degrade something that belongs to me, you degrade me.”
Something. The entire hallway seems to hear it. Not someone. Something. Bella’s words from yesterday slam through my skull. Victor doesn’t want a wife. Something that behaves.
Victor’s attention comes back to me. “Alison will carry my name. Her conduct reflects on me. How she is treated reflects on me.”
“You hear yourself when you talk?”
“Perfectly.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
Victor takes one step closer. “You will stay away from what is mine.”
Every violent thought I’ve ever had shows up at once. I smile, because if I stop smiling I’m going to ruin everything. “Fine.”
Victor waits. He wants more. He wants submission. He wants the whole school to hear that Alison O’Toole means absolutely nothing to Ryan Harrington. Fine. I can give him that.
I shrug. “Keep her.”
There. I finally look at Ally. Nothing changes on her face.
Not publicly. But I know her. Fuck, I know her.
And I see it — the tiny hit, the break she buries before anybody else could ever catch it.
Something in me apologizes to her in a language only she’d understand. It doesn’t reach my face either.
Victor smiles. “I intend to.”
My pulse pounds against my skull. Kaid’s shoulder presses into mine. X is right there. Danny. Iz. Five. I smile wider.
Victor studies me for another second. “Don’t make me have this conversation twice.”
“Then make the first one more interesting next time.”
Kaid laughs. Victor’s eyes go cold. Then he turns. And has to walk all the way back across the atrium. Toward the fiancée he left standing there.
The irony isn’t lost on anybody now. Neither is the fact that Bella immediately steps back. One pace. Then another. The exact amount she moved closer when Victor walked away. Distance restored. Like she was never watching Ally at all.
Victor reaches Ally. His entire posture changes again.
Smooth. Polished. Controlled. He says something too quietly for us to hear.
Ally smiles. Of course she does. He touches her cheek.
Then bends and kisses it. I lock my knees.
Don’t fucking move. Ally’s hand rests lightly against his arm.
Victor says something else. She nods. He kisses her forehead this time. Then leaves.
The second he disappears through the administrative hall, the entire building erupts into noise. Everyone starts talking at once. Phones come down only because teachers finally remember they have jobs.
“Enough.” “Phones away.” “Get to class.” “Move.” “Mr. Ellis, your entire class is in the hallway.”
Mr. Ellis looks at the twelve students surrounding him. “Apparently.”
Kids scatter. Slowly. Still typing. Still whispering. Still turning around. GlossX is going to be a fucking crime scene.
I look toward Ally. Cat is already moving. Not running. Not making a scene. She reaches Ally first. Penny joins her. Then Becca. Ally says something. Cat takes her elbow. They disappear toward the back corridor.
I wait. Thirty seconds. Maybe forty. Then Kaid jerks his chin. We move. Not together with the girls. After. Far enough behind. Different route.
The classroom is near the old language wing, one of the rooms nobody uses this period. No windows into the hallway. Thank fucking God. Kaid knocks twice. The door opens. Cat. We slip inside. She locks it.
The second the lock clicks, Ally turns. And I’m across the room before anybody says a word. She crashes into me. Or I crash into her. I don’t know. Don’t care.
My arms go around her so hard she makes a tiny sound. “Sorry.”
“Don’t.” Her arms lock around my waist.
I bury my face in her hair. She smells like herself. Still herself. Not Victor’s cologne. Not that fucking ring. Mine. My girl.
“I’m sorry,” I say again.
“Ryan.”
“I fucking hated that.”
And there it is. The ring. It catches against my blazer when she moves. I look down.
She follows my eyes. “I have to wear it.”
“I know.”
“He’ll notice if I don’t.”
I take her left hand. The diamond is fucking obscene this close. I don’t pull it off. Don’t touch it. I turn her hand over instead and press my mouth into her palm. Once. Hard. Anywhere that isn’t his fucking ring.
Her fingers curl against my cheek. “He said I belonged to him.” Her voice gets quieter. “I wanted to throw up.”
I pull her back against me. “You’re not his.” I slide my hand to the back of her neck. “Look at me.” She does. “You are not fucking his.”
Her eyes fill. “I know.”
“He can put a ring on you. He can hire ten wedding planners. He can buy every flower in Switzerland. I don’t care.”
“Ryan—“
“He is not taking you. I don’t give a fuck what he thinks.”
“You don’t know that we can stop him.”
“Yes, I do.”
“How?”
“Because I fucking will.” The room goes quiet around us. Not completely — phones are vibrating everywhere — but nobody looks at them. Yet.
I cup Ally’s face. “Listen to me.” She swallows. “Victor Tremblay is not taking you to Switzerland. He is not touching our baby.” My hand drops between us. Flat against the small curve hidden beneath her uniform. “He is not getting Tobias.” Her eyes close. “Your father is not winning.”
“Ryan.”
“I will burn every fucking thing they built.” Her eyes open. “I mean it,” I tell her.
“I know you do.”
“No. I don’t think you do.”
Kaid says quietly behind me, “Ry.”
I don’t look away from her. “I will burn every bridge my family has. I’ll tank every plan I have after graduation. I’ll get arrested. I’ll get expelled three months before we’re fucking done here. I don’t care.”
“Don’t say that.”
“Why?”
“Because you have a future.”
“So do you.” That shuts her up. “So does Tobias.” Her mouth trembles. “So does our baby.” My thumb moves beneath her eye. “And if Arthur can’t fix this with the law, my dad can’t fix it with politics, my mom can’t burn them in the press, and every adult in our families somehow runs out of ideas?”
Ally looks at me. I smile. Not the smile I gave Victor. Hers. The one that means I love her enough to become extremely fucking unreasonable. “Then we stop doing it the nice way.”
X exhales behind me. Iz whispers, “There he is.”
“I will commit an international fucking atrocity for you.”
Kaid sighs. “Technically, Switzerland has an extradition treaty.”
X says, “Let him cook.”
“I’m letting him cook. I’m saying maybe don’t announce the crimes before we commit them.”
Danny finally looks down at his phone. “Also international atrocity is probably not the phrase we want preserved in writing.”
“I didn’t write it.”
“You say things that become evidence.”
“Fuck all of you.” Ally laughs again. Actually laughs. Tears still in her eyes. I pull her closer. “You. Tobias. Our baby.” I touch each word to her. A promise. “You’re my fucking family.”
Her breath shudders. “Nobody takes my family.”
I kiss her forehead. Hard. Then her temple. Then the corner of her mouth. Quick. All we have.
Her fingers twist in my blazer. “I love you.”
“I love you more.”
My phone vibrates. Again. Again. Again. Somebody else’s starts. Then another. The room suddenly sounds like a fucking electronics store.
Iz finally pulls his phone out. “Oh.”
Kaid looks at him. “What?”
Iz scrolls. “Oh, we’re fucked.”
“That narrows nothing.”
“Dad.”
Danny checks his. “Mine too.”
X looks down. “Gideon.”
Kaid groans. “My dad.”
I reach into my pocket. Dad. Mom. Dad again. Mom twice. Fuck.
Cat looks over Ally’s shoulder. “Do they have the video already?” All five of us stare at her. She lifts both hands. “Right. Stupid question.”
Penny checks GlossX. Her eyes widen. “Oh my God.”
“What?” Becca asks.
“There are so many.” She scrolls. “Different angles. Someone filmed from upstairs.”
Danny takes her phone. “That’s creepy.”
“It’s Edgewood.”
Becca checks hers. “Somebody has the entire Xander part.”
X smiles. “Good angle?”
Penny looks. “Unfortunately.”
I finally open Dad’s messages.
Dad: Call me.
Dad: Now.
Dad: Arthur has already called.
Dad: Your mother has seen the video. I suggest emotional preparation.
I close my eyes.
Ally peers at my screen. “What?”
“Mom saw it.”
Mom’s messages are worse.
Mom: Ryan.
Mom: Ryan Walter Harrington.
Oh, fuck.
Mom: Do not do anything else until you speak to us.
Mom: Also I love you. Still furious. Call your father.
Kaid checks his messages. “My dad says Arthur thinks this is useful.”
“What?” I ask.
Kaid reads. “Video proves Tremblay abandoned Ally in a public setting to confront five high-school students because Ryan refused to obey him.”
X’s eyebrows rise. Danny looks at me.
Kaid keeps scrolling. “Arthur says not to respond to anyone, don’t delete anything, and send him every angle we get.”
Iz immediately starts forwarding. “Finally. My moment.”
“Your father said every angle, not become TMZ.”
“GlossX archivist.”
X looks at Kaid. “Anything else?”