Page 32 of Hide From Me

X shook his head and went back to his drink, swirling the ice.

“She got under your skin the day you saw her crying on those steps with a fucking suitcase and a little tattered jewelry box. Maybe we were young and dumb then, but if she was important to you, then she mattered to us because you are the closest thing we have to family.”

The beer just wasn’t hitting right now.

“X, when did you become such a deep thinker, you stupid fuck?”

I didn’t need to see him to know where this was all going.

“When it comes to family, I will be as deep as the ocean for you, you little bitch. Do we need to hug it out now?”

I smirked. I couldn’t stay completely grumpy, not until I saw a text come through on my phone that I’d left sitting on the bar in front of me. The notification that there was motion at her door shot adrenaline spiking through me just like Rylee’s pussy and the way she screamed my name. This time it wouldn’t be that, I was sure.

“Fucking hell.”

X stood up as I sprang to my feet.

“Cas, what is it? Ravens on our turf again?”

I took a deep breath.

“Worse. Rylee left her fucking building.”

He eyed me and that just sucked because I felt like I’d broken the trust by not telling them all the lengths I’d gone through to protect or control Rylee.

I showed him the text.

“It’s from your gran. How does your gran know what she is doing?”

My neck was starting to fucking hurt from the tension there. At least I could come clean to my brothers, mostly.

“I set up the apartment next to the coffee shop and made it an offer Rylee couldn’t refuse.”

He was staring wide-eyed at me.

“What? You just said you’d fucking back me up.”

A slow smile spread over his mouth.

“Yeah. Except if you’re stalking Rylee, you’ve got a shitload more explaining to do, you creepy fuck.”

I punched him and walked out.

Stalking implied that I was unwanted and maybe she wasn’t exactly aware of how much she wanted me. She would realize just how intertwined our lives had always been. And I was the only one that could protect her.

THIRTEEN

rylee

Cali didn’t disappointwhen it came to knowing how to party. She might have liked the dead nearly as much as me, but she had life figured out. Or so it seemed.

I already regretted my shoes more with every block we walked. I was not in the habit of wearing dresses, let alone those that I was spending far more time pulling up, making sure my boobs stayed tucked away. Why did I even own this? I remembered why I owned the shoes, even if I’d never actually worn them. They were super cute, and I had this vision of myself wearing them and going out and finding someone who couldn’t take their eyes off of me.

Or maybe I’d had some dream of being a badass bitch who could kill in heals. I had dreams. Instead, I just played it all safe and had an electronic pet, electronic boyfriend, and a plant.

I’d had all kinds of plans in my head, and at the end of the day, I wasn’t actually good at manifesting them. I’d always thought that the guys I’d seen were disappearing, but really it was probably the giant fuck you I seemed to send out to the universe. I had trust issues, and they hadn’t gotten better over the years. In fact, I was certain I had more nightmares now than I had as a child.

My mother had run from a lot of demons that I’d only gotten a glimpse of. My father had been one, that was certain.