Page 65 of Wild King

I reach out to touch her shoulders, but Salem pushes my hands away. “Don’t touch me. I swear to God, Kellen, I’m trying my damnedest to convince the world you’re not what everything thinks you are, but right now, I can’t imagine having to do that face-to-face with anyone because not a single soul would believe me after this.”

“Salem, I’ve known Ava all my life. We were in the same classes every year in school. She was best friends with my brother Theo.”

Before I can say the rest of what I planned to tell her, she asks, “And this is how you honor his memory? By making his best friend cry?”

“No! That wasn’t my intention at all. I just disagree with her being with Matthias because it was Theo who was in love with her. It wasn’t anything big. Just two people who’ve known one another for their entire lives disagreeing about something.”

For a few moments, Salem looks confused, like she’s trying to process who all the people are in that story. At least she’s not yelling at me.

Finally, she shakes her head. “Whatever. It doesn’t matter what that was. You made her cry, and then you let her leave here without smoothing things over. You’re going to deserve whatever Matthias does to you after that. I’d fully expect him to come over here and knock your head off.”

That’s a definite possibility. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. Matthias and I have been pissed at one another for months. Maybe it’ll be good to have an old-fashioned brotherly slugfestlike when we were kids. It never failed to make things better back in the day.

Salem spins away from me and storms back into the house, leaving me standing there wondering if I went too far this time. I didn’t want to make Ava cry. I’ve always cared for her. I just don’t think what happened between her and Theo was right.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Kellen

The visitfrom Matthias never came, which meant neither of us had a chance to beat the hell out of the one person who’s been on our nerves for far too long. I thought he’d show up that night, but a quick call to Eleanor on the pretense of thanking her for the cookies let me know he left town for a few days.

Then I thought he’d come over when he returned home, but that never happened either. Add him to the list of people not talking to me, which for the past week has included Salem.

Not that I haven’t tried. I’ve attempted to strike up a conversation with her a few times each day since she called me a monster, and every time she’s simply glared at me and then walked away. I tried explaining myself again to make her see I didn’t try to make Ava cry, but Salem only let me get a single sentence out before slamming her office door in my face.

Suffice to say, it’s been a grand week here at my little prison.

Like I do every day, I plant myself out on the chaise lounge on the patio to get some sun, which has become my chiefoccupation in life. The weather has gotten hot with highs in the nineties for the past few days, so since I have nothing else to do, I’ve taken advantage of the abundant sunshine and I can say my tan looks pretty damn good, if I do say so myself.

I thought about calling Ava and seeing if she’s okay, but I never did. Maybe we just need some time to cool down.

Flipping my sunglasses down onto my face, I lean back and hope the boredom doesn’t finally get to me today. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever spent this much time doing absolutely nothing. It’s not my nature to just sit around and work on my tan, but what else is there to do, especially now that Salem isn’t talking to me and Nathan has rarely spoken to me since he arrived here?

The sound of footsteps on the patio alerts me to a visitor, and I silently pray to God it isn’t Ava again. I consider just lying here with my eyes closed until whoever it is announces themselves, but if it’s Matthias, he’s likely to start beating the hell out of me if I’m not paying attention.

So I turn toward the sound of the footsteps and open my eyes. To say I’m stunned at who I see would be an understatement.

I quickly sit up and say, “Marius, what brings you here? I didn’t expect to see you when I opened my eyes. Why aren’t you on a beach somewhere taking pictures of beautiful women?”

The middle King sits down on the chaise lounge beside me and sighs. That’s not a good sign. Something tells me he isn’t here to say he’s missed me.

“So this is what you’ve been doing when you aren’t completely fucking up with every member of our family?” he asks with nothing short of pure anger in his tone.

“Nice way to say hi. Good to see you too. What do you want, Marius?”

“I want to know why you insist on making Matthias and Ava miserable. Dude, she’s going to have a baby soon, and you’re being a dick to her. What the fuck is wrong with you? Ava has been a friend of our family all our lives. She’s practically like a sister.”

Titling my head right and then left, I crack my neck since I can already feel the tension begin to grow. “I know. It wasn’t as big a deal as you’re all making it. She got upset when I told her how I feel about what happened with her and Theo and Matthias. Am I not allowed to have an opinion now that I’m exiled here?”

My older brother simply stares at me like he doesn’t care what I have to say. I don’t know why he bothered to come here if that’s the case.

“Let me give you some advice, Kellen. Whatever idolizing you’re still doing with Theo, stop it. You’re wrong when it comes to what happened with those three.”

“I don’t think so. I know he loved her. I know he would have given anything to be with her. Those things are indisputable.”

Marius nods, giving me the impression he agrees, but the next words out of his mouth tell me it was a mistake to believe he was on my side. “I think you’re remembering things that didn’t happen. How about thinking back to what actually happened instead of whatever fantasy you’ve created to make Theo perfect? Think about every time you were with Theo and Ava growing up. Let’s just stick with high school, okay? Every time they went to a party or a football or basketball game, what did he do?”

I roll my eyes, already tired of this little game Marius is playing. “I don’t know. Buy her popcorn? What the hell is this all about?”