“I did what I did. I’m not going to take it back.” His voice is sharp.
All I hear is Aaron Wells, and I go cold. “What did you do?” Aaron is not someone I ever want to see again.
Rose mutters something under her breath that sounds like vandalize.
“I just talked to him,” Lo says.
I look to Ryke for verification. Clearly he was a part of this plot, which only makes me more nervous.
“Yeah, we just talked,” Ryke says. “All of Aaron’s texts were deleted, which was suspect.”
Lo nods in agreement, and then he leans closer and kisses my cheek. “Okay?” he whispers to me.
I don’t think that’s the right word. I stare at the rug with a faraway gaze.
“What about Ryke?” Rose asks. She holds a small teacup between her tight fingers. She offered me a glass earlier, but I declined. I’m not sure my body can handle ingesting anything else today. I’m already bloated with fear.
“Not this again.”
“You know about Lily’s sex addiction. You could have told someone.”
Ryke glares. “So do you.”
“Be real. She’s my sister. I’m not going to backstab her.”
“And she’s my brother’s girlfriend,” he snaps back. “Why don’t you focus your attention on the guy who could easily spill this information for a fucking price?”
“Don’t you dare.” Rose points a warning finger at him.
“Why? Connor came into the picture around the same time I did. He learned about her sex addiction at the same exact time as us, and he has more to gain than we do. And he has less to lose.”
“He would lose me,” Rose retorts.
I never wanted to believe that Connor could turn on me like that. I still won’t entertain the thought for longer than a second. He’s too nice （in his own way）。 But Ryke…
Lo scrutinizes his brother for a long moment. “Maybe Rose has a point.”
“What?” Ryke leans forward. “You can’t be serious.”
“You may be my half-brother, but you’re also a liar. I think we established that the moment we met.”
“Oh come on.”
“Let’s go back a few months. You came into my life, told me you’re some student wanting to do a fake project on heirs to billion-dollar companies—”
“Lily made that lie up,” Ryke interjects.
I gape. Way to throw me under! But I already came clean to Lo about that, so there is only a morsel of shame.
Lo rolls his eyes. “Whatever, you knew the whole time that I was your brother, and yet, you never said a word to any of us.”
“You have to be shitting me,” Ryke says. They must have had this argument multiple times while Lo was in rehab. I wasn’t allowed to visit him, but under some strange guidelines, Ryke was. I’m a little confused how their relationship has developed since I’ve been away from Lo—but clearly bitterness has festered.
Lo lets out an unhinged laugh. “I’m the bastard. I tore apart your parent’s marriage when I was born. You should hate me. I would hate me.” He takes a small breath. “And then I would build an elaborate scheme to tear me down. Piece by piece. Starting with Lily. So forgive me if I’m having a hard time trusting you one-hundred-and-ten percent.”
I can’t tell if Ryke is angry or upset by Lo’s declaration, but I know this goes beyond my silly accusation. Deep hurt fills Lo’s words.
“Really? Even after everything I’ve done while you’ve been in rehab?” Ryke asks.
“You mean keeping your cock away from my girlfriend. Yeah, thanks.”
My eyes bug. I would jerk away from Lo if his hand wasn’t pressed so tightly to my hip. Something’s wrong. I can sense it. We handle stress differently. I fuck and he drinks. Now that we can’t do either, we’re both trying to learn how to deal with it in a healthy manner. Trying is the key word here.
“You know that’s not it,” Ryke refutes.
“Sure.”
This one word makes Ryke look more livid than the past twenty, and I think this is it. Ryke is about to throw up his hands and leave. Lo tenses beside me, probably expecting the same thing. We alienate people. It’s what we’re good at.
“If I wanted to hurt you by creating some elaborate plot, I would have already screwed Lily. And I sure as hell wouldn’t bother spending time with you.”
I want to trust Ryke, mainly because he’s the only family Lo has for support, but he’s a good liar like Lo said. He even fooled me.