Page 89 of Pretty Secrets

“We both know it was more than talking. What the hell’s going on?”

I don’t know if it was me, or if it was his dumbass cousin, but something has his panties in a bunch. “Keegan and I have unfinished business regarding my sister. He was there the night she died, and I needed to know more.”

“Like what?” Leo growls, prowling forward.

I stand my ground, but all that does is put us in very close proximity, which never does anything good for me. “Like ask him how she was feeling that day. Was she excited? Did he see her right before she died? Did she say anything about me?”

“I thought they weren’t on good terms,” Alaric questions.

“Except he says they were. He says he loves her,” I pant, before throwing my hands in the air, trying to work out everything in my head at the same time I tell them. I never thought Keegan would come around to a doting fiancé, but I also trust my instincts. He wasn’t lying when he told us that.

Oliver sighs, addressing the guys. “Which is why he looked like shit yesterday.”

“He could barely walk.”

I shrug. “He was heartsick.”

Leo shakes his head slowly. “You’re not fooling me.”

“I don’t really care what I’m doing to you, Leo. Ornotdoing to you. You’re in my Knight group. That’s it. You’re an asshole who only thinks with his dick. Don’t you have any girls to ravage? Or shitty little errands to run for your dear old Granddad? You wouldn’t know a thing about what I’m feeling.”

His cold stare never wavers. He blinks, and I expect him to throw me over his shoulder, walk me to the house, and lock me in my room. I expect him to reply with how he can think of me doing something more useful with my mouth other than bitching, but he doesn’t.

He just leaves.

He doesn’t stalk away. He doesn’t march. He doesn’t do it with his head down or with any emotion whatsoever. He doesn’t look back or spit any parting words. He’s just gone.

And I’m left in a flurry of angry bitterness with a bit of a hitch in my breath from the surprise departure. I rub my chest as he crosses the parking lot and gets in his stupid sports car. He exits the university campus the same way he walked away. No fanfare; no loud motor noises or squealing tires.

He. Just. Leaves. It’s about as uneventful as it gets, but it takes a toll on me.

I don’t know why. He’s just some guy the Knights grouped me with, right? Someone I shouldn’t even trust?

Alaric breathes in deeply as soon as he’s out of sight. “Okay…”

“Okay?” I snap.

He shrugs. “What do you want me to say?”

Fuck if I know. My breath rattles around in my chest as I start toward Jarvis Hall. The stupid name above the door seems to mock me as I let myself in, then press in the alarm code.

I walk into the living room, antsy as hell. It’s all of this sneaking around. It’s owing people favors and not knowing what it’s doing to the other people in real life. It’s pretending to be anyone but myself.

Alaric checks his phone, then sits on the couch. He’s quiet for a moment until he peers at me. “He’s the one who found his dad, you know?”

I suck in a breath. Fuck me. And I’d just told him he’d have no idea what I was going through.

“He might understand more than the rest of us.”

“Since when are you on Team Jarvis?”

“I’m not.” He shakes his head. “But I’ve also never seen him just leave a conversation like that. Usually when people yell at him, they’re sprawled out on the grass straight after or he leaves them an emotional mess. I don’t know how you did it, but you may have actually gotten to Leonardo Jarvis, Eden.”

“Hooray for me. I’m going to bed.” I start for the stairs but spin around when I hit the bottom step. “Don’t follow me. Either of you.”

Oliver frowns, but he does what I ask. In his blue gaze are questions he doesn’t want to ask out loud, so I nod once before racing up the stairs.

I spend the next couple of hours talking myself into the fact that Leo can’t be trusted while I go through Dee’s boxes. I don’t find anything that can be considered useful, but I do find her metal Knights box—a match to the one that contained the invitation to my first Knights of Arcadia meeting.

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