Series: Webs We Weave Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 167
Estimated words: 162520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 813(@200wpm)___ 650(@250wpm)___ 542(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 813(@200wpm)___ 650(@250wpm)___ 542(@300wpm)
“To what?” I asked.
She struggled to verbalize it.
I ran a hand through my wet hair. “Phoebe.”
“To just pull out and leave,” she finally said.
“Come here.” I grabbed her elbow, breaking apart her crossed arms. I wrapped her in a tight hug and whispered, “If you say, ‘Miami,’ I won’t scurry away from you like you’re fucking diseased. I’ll pause for a second, check in with you, and then we go from there. All it does is ensure I don’t hurt you.” I stroked the back of her head while she clung tighter. “That city doesn’t mean abandon and forsake to you, does it?”
Her face heated. She chose the safe word for a reason. That place holds meaning for her and me.
“No,” she murmured. Her fiery eyes met mine, and I wanted to take her all over again.
Phoebe being drugged this time has been harder because she’s still unpacking so much trauma. And unlike with the Melon Drop, Hailey was intertwined in this mess last night.
We’ve all been smacked in the face with so much at once, it’s strange as fuck we’re leisurely at the beach right now. I take a swig of beer, then press the cold can to my throbbing cheekbone. Because I was literally smacked in the face.
Jake sets his consoling blue eyes on me.
I glare. “Redirect that look on my sister.” I lower the beer can. “And just so you know, your brother probably has two black eyes and a fat lip this morning. Go send him a sympathy basket if you’re dying to comfort someone.”
“Me being fake nice to my brother would help us how?” Jake asks in seriousness.
“It wouldn’t,” Hailey pipes in with a page flip. “Trent wouldn’t believe you.”
I lift my beer. “She’s calling you a bad liar, sweetheart.”
“Okay, jackass.” Jake has this overprotective expression on me now. “You’re not patching things up with Trent.”
That wasn’t a question. I drill a more aggravated glare at him. “Maybe you should go be a lawyer since you love laying down the law.”
“Grey.”
“Jake,” I retort with the raise of my brows. “To repair the damage that I did with your brother could take months. He’s already blocked me on socials, and if I tried calling, I’d bet he’s blocked my number, too. So rest assured, I’m not going to be his best fucking friend anymore.” To work my way back into Trent’s good graces would involve me bending a knee and sucking his fucking toes, and I’d rather swallow several buckets of sand and salt water than act like his lapdog. “Varrick called and told me Trent is trying to get me kicked out of Stonehaven.”
Hailey closes her book for a second. “Really?”
“It’s not working. Varrick says he’s not playing favorites. So we’ll just have to not kill each other in the hallways.”
“Jesus.” Jake curses into a cringe and looks me over, examining my ticked-off face. “I just thought you’d be happier about it. You’ve hated being his friend.”
“Happier?” I lift and lower my brows. The word so foreign to me. Down by the glittering water, I catch sight of my little brother knee-deep in the ocean with Sidney Burke. He splashes her, and I can’t hear her giggle. I just see the sound in the way her lips part and body buckles. His slanted smile grows to rarer heights.
Seeing Trevor so emotive over a girl and not working a con does make me happy. Being with Phoebe for real makes me happy. Everyone I love being protected and safe—happy. But that last part isn’t a reality. It’s a fucking fantasy right now.
Still, it’s easy to acknowledge the most happiness I’ve ever experienced in my life has been in this town in the past year.
I look back at Jake. “I’m happy I don’t have to stoke your brother’s overinflated ego or bite my tongue in half when he even utters Phoebe’s name. But I’m not happy I lost…”
I lost control.
And it felt good. I hate how freeing it’d been. The only time I ever feel that wildly undone is when I’m with Phoebe.
Jake frowns. “Lost what?”
I lower my voice. “Being in his ear gave me power. Severing that rope is not good for any of us. I have no influence over him anymore, and with Hailey being the crux of this job…it just makes it a bigger risk.”
I don’t know what Trent is thinking. He’s not venting to me about what happened. He’s not even venting to Oliver. For one, Oliver is Phoebe’s brother. For another, Trent views him as a hedonistic, coke-fueled fuckboy. He’s a party friend. I’m sure he’s not someone Trent would confide in unless it were a group setting and booze were flowing.
My fuckup is just so bad.
I feel like we went fifty steps backward in one night.
The good coming out of this—he now knows I will kill him if he tries anything with Phoebe. But that doesn’t even matter if we can’t secure Jake’s full inheritance. Trent owning half this town means it’s not worth it to stay here.