Page 44 of Broken Promises

The anger vanished from his face, his shoulders dropping as he stared at me. “What?”

“She wanted to hook up with Michael for some reason, not realizing it was a trap. Raven’s smart as fuck, but when she’s angry, she doesn’t think things through. You guys hurt her, and that’s not my fault. When I heard about her and Zavier being run down, I got here as fast as I could so I could help. What did you guys do? I know she won’t speak to you, so what the hell did you do to her?”

“She’s living with you?” he asked as if he didn’t hear anything else I’d said.

“Yeah. Lopez stayed last night too. What the fuck did you do to make her hate you?” I demanded, not expecting Riley to be the one to answer.

“This dickhead lost his shit at the hospital when he found out Raven had been pregnant. Flipped out at her, called her names, then got in a fist fight with Logan for knocking her up. Logan bragged about fucking her, and Raven obviously snapped and threw them out. I don't blame her for cutting them off. I wasn’t there, but I heard Mom talking about it to my dads. It was super messy.”

Reid winced, not defending himself in the slightest. “I was blindsided and hurt by the fact that Logan and Zavier had been dating her behind my back. I was an asshole.”

That answered a bunch of my questions about what had happened between them all. I was a little surprised that Raven had agreed to date both of them, but I was even more surprised that Reid hadn’t been included.

He’d wanted her for forever.

“I know you were a kid too, but you fucking raised those two. How could you say cruel shit to her when she was thatemotional?” I growled, wanting to snap his neck. “You need to get over yourself. If she wanted to be with Logan and Zav, then you should’ve just been happy that she was with guys who’d look after her.”

“What if it was Blake, huh? You’d cut anyone’s hands off for touching her!”

“Don’t bring Blake into this.”

“Why? Don’t want to hear the truth?”

“I don’t want to be reminded that I lost her, you dick,” I answered, taking a step back from him before I could punch him in the mouth. “We’re over. End of story. I’m not what she needs, and she leaves every time she comes back. You don’t see me tearing the countryside apart to make her stay. She’s better off without me.”

He shook his head, believing his own delusions. “Raven isn’t better off without me though.”

“Isn’t she?” Riley scoffed, having no issue calling him out. “You hurt her more than anyone.”

“They were all lying to me!” he barked, raking a frustrated hand through his hair.

“Because you’re too much of an asshole for them to tell you!” she threw back. “You can’t blame them for keeping it to themselves. Look how you fucking reacted when you found out.”

He went silent, muttering something about going outside for a cigarette on his way out the door, and Riley motioned for me to go with him. It would most likely end in a fist fight at this rate, but I followed him anyway.

“I feel like I’m dying without her,” he said without looking up from where he sat on the steps the second I joined him. “I hate not knowing if she’s okay.”

“Some girls might find the possessive alpha bullshit cute, but Raven isn’t that type of girl,” I reminded him as I sat beside him. “Gotta show you care by letting her lead.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“It is. Give her space, and trust that she’ll go to you when she needs help. Smothering her and dictating her life only makes her resent you. Trust goes both ways, dude.”

He finally looked over at me, questions filling his eyes. “Where the fuck have you been, man? I thought Lopez was going to jump off a damn cliff when you cut him off.”

“He was fine. He had you guys.”

“That’s what you think?” he snorted, shaking his head as he looked away. “He’s been a mess. We were all worried about you. You honestly didn’t bail and leave Zav to take the fall?”

“No. I thought I was steering them in the other direction. I didn’t know they’d come here looking for him. They think I told him things that I shouldn’t have. I’m going to fix it, I just need time.”

We sat in silence for a few minutes before he spoke, his voice quiet. “Devon and Michael didn’t hurt her?”

“I wouldn’t say that. She was smacked around a little and probably felt violated by Michael’s lies. He conned her into bed. They were messing around when Devon joined them and ruined it. She’d planned on sleeping with Michael, but not Devon.”

“Did you?—”

“I killed them,” I said honestly, putting my forearms on my knees and leaning forward. “No one fucking touches her without her permission. She’s safe with me, you know that.”

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