Page 45 of Atone

“Prepping for some fun tonight, babe?” A smooth voice that used to make me melt comes from my right.

I set the bottle on the counter and glare at Marco. “Not with you.”

“That’s too bad, I was hoping we could have a little party. Just the three of us.” He winks at another girl as she walks by, insinuating he wants to involve me in whatever threesome he’s concocting this evening.

“Charming.” I take another sip, swallowing more this time.

If I thought Marco was insufferable when he was trying to win me back with lies, then his trying to make me jealous is worse. Not that I’ll let it show.

Marco spins so his back is to the bar, his elbows rest behind him while he looks down at me. “You gonna pour me one, beautiful?”

The smile that stretches his face draws out his chiseled jawline. He’s good-looking to a fault, with dark eyes that nearly match his pitch-black hair. Not a girl in here would consider him physically unattractive. But when I look at Marco lately, all I see is the ugly layers beneath.

“Pour your own.”

Marco starts to slide closer when an arm reaches between us.

Electricity sends a cool chill down my arm as skin brushes against me. Without turning, I know it’s Alex. Only one person vibrates every molecule in the room with his presence.

And I hate that almost as much as I hate him.

Glancing up over my shoulder, I offer Alex an even worse glare than I gave Marco. He ignores it entirely as he steals a shot off the bar.

Like always, he’s wearing a plain T-shirt. But unlike at Montgomery, tonight I consider how it puts his scars on display. He wears his scars like a badge of honor in the place that inflicted the pain.

A statement I respect, regardless of my feelings for him at the moment.

Alex watches me with a face that, a month ago, I would have considered expressionless. His lips are a firm line, and there’s not so much as a furrow to his eyebrows. But in our time together, I learned how to read the shadows in his eyes. And right now, his pupils drink all color.

He’s irritated.

“Should you be drinking on your medication?” My tone has bite.

Alex answers by drawing the glass to his lips, downing it in one swig, and not breaking my stare.

Maybe he’s not actually on anything. Why should I care?

“Okay then.” I roll my eyes and take another drink of vodka straight from the bottle. “Good to see you too, Alex.”

This man is infuriating without saying a word. At least with Marco, he gives me plenty of reasons to be pissed off. With Alex, it’s nothing.

A blank wall.

Alex backs up, but Marco doesn’t try to come any closer. Marco’s glare confirms he doesn’t like Alex any more than I do right now, but since Alex is sitting on the new Sigma House Council with Declan, Kole, and Maddox, he won’t say anything.

“I almost forgot…” Setting the vodka bottle down, I pull my phone out of my pocket and turn to Alex. “Your sister wants proof of life.”

Without asking permission or caring, I hold my phoneup and switch to my camera app. Alex doesn’t try to stop me from taking the picture. But he does dip his chin the slightest, forcing his dark-blond hair to fall over his eyebrows as his gaze avoids the camera.

He didn’t seem to mind getting his picture taken when he was younger, but maybe that’s another thing that changed while he was in a psychiatric ward.

Opening my texts, I send the picture to Patience.

Mila

Your brother is fine.

Even if he wasn’t, I’d be a good friend and say he was. She deserves a summer of not worrying, especially when there’s nothing she can do about it.

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