Page 20 of Wylder & the Rising Rockstar
He shook his head, the venom in his gaze unmistakable. Where was the boy who’d just told her how amazing her parents were? “No, you don’t want to help. You want to butt your head in where you aren’t wanted or needed.”
“Come on, you know that isn’t true.” Her words lacked confidence. Was that what she was doing? She had a tendency to overstep, to pry.
“Isn’t it? You say you aren’t Logan’s girlfriend, so what’s your stake in this?”
“My stake? Logan is a friend.”
“Friends don’t do this, Wylder. They don’t drive to Nashville when their friend isn’t answering their calls or try to save said friend’s brother. How do your parents know Logan?”
“He came to dinner.”
He nodded as if that confirmed something. “Friends?”
Something rose in her, but it wasn’t anger. It was sympathy. “I’m sorry.”
“You sho—”
She didn’t let him finish. “Not for sticking my nose into your family business. I’m sorry for you, that you’ve never had a friend who would go the extra mile for you, one you could count on when everything is falling apart.” She thought of Nicky and Killian and Diego. Logan. Even if he was nothing more than a friend, she trusted him not to let her down. “I feel bad for you, Luke. I truly do. What a lonely life you must lead.”
He stared at her for a moment, his chest heaving. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“No, that’s true. But I do know the two people you count on most in the world, the ones you’ve always counted on… well, you’re letting them down right now. You did something monumentally stupid in torpedoing your own career with that YouTube video. I won’t pretend to understand why you did it. But shutting Logan and Sebastian out isn’t the answer. I would hate for you to need them one day and realize you’d driven them away.”
A throat cleared, and Wylder turned toward the front door, where her dad removed his hat. “I got a call.”
Ah yes. The Academy. She hadn’t thought of the ramifications of leaving during the actual school day. That teachers would notice she wasn’t there. Security would most likely check her dorm to make sure she was okay.
It was a whole thing.
Wylder sighed, not daring to look at Luke after everything she’d said to him. “Come on.” She hadn’t removed her boots or coat inside, so she brushed right past her dad, angling for his still-running car. “You knew I’d be here?” she said when he caught up with her.
“I checked the diner first where I ran in to—“
“Julian.” The traitor.
They got into the car without another word. They’d made it almost to the bridge before her dad spoke. “Wylder, you can’t keep leaving campus.”
“I know, Dad.”
“You go to a prestigious school that has rules. As much as I love seeing you, it has to be done the right way.”
“I know, Dad.”
“You…” He looked sideways at her. “Why aren’t you fighting me?”
She pressed her forehead to the cool glass of the window. “I just need breaks sometimes.”
When she looked back at him, his expression softened. Her dad could never stay stern for long. She’d have gotten more of a lecture from her stepmom. “What happened?”
“Nothing.”
“Is it classes?”
“No.”
“A boy?”
“Dad!” She was so not talking about this with him.
