Page 67 of Wicked Minds
And she just had to come in and tear it all down.
Rip away all the walls I carefully constructed around myself.
So many universities in the country and she justhadto pick mine.
I’ve never believed in a higher power, but if there is one, he fucking hates me.
Slumping lower in my chair, something falls out of the pocket of my sweatpants, and I lean forward to pick it off the floor, my fingers curling around the soft cotton of a pink hair scrunchie. I stare at it for a long moment. For some reason, I’ve been carrying the damn thing everywhere with me lately.
My memory flashes back to a teenage version of Riley. She was wearing this scrunchie the day she walked into my life, all wide-eyed and luminescent smiles as she introduced herself.
“Hi, I’m Riley. I’m really hoping we can be friends and this isn’t going to be like it is in some of the books I’ve read where you hate me purely out of principle.”
All I can do is blink at the dainty girl in front of me, her wild, auburn hair restrained in a ponytail and hazel eyes radiant as she holds out her hand expectantly. It’s at that moment that I discover I’ve been trapped in the Arctic my entire life, and she’s the sun finally come to melt the ice encasing me. I’m instantly captivated, unaware that from this moment on, she’d be the center of my universe around which everything else would revolve.
Realizing I’ve been silent for too long, staring at her like a creep, I smile, slotting my hand into hers. Sparks zap up my forearm, a jolt of electricity going straight to my heart.
“I’m Grayson,” I tell her, “And I’m pretty sure the last thing I could ever do is hate you.”
I’m jolted from my memory at the sound of the front door opening, hushed whispers reaching my ears as I blink back into the room. I stumble to my feet, my gait unsteady as my head spins from too much alcohol.
Blinking away the lightheadedness, the room comes fully into focus. Royce and Logan are standing in the doorway, staring at me with expressions I can’t decipher in my slightly inebriated state.
“Where the fuck have you been?” I bark, glowering at the pair of them.
“The Depot,” Logan answers, but there’s something off about his tone that makes me narrow my eyes on him.
“We went to Leon’s afterward,” Royce adds.
I grunt out a response.
“Dude, maybe you should go to bed,” Logan says, and when my gaze snaps to him, it takes a few blinks before I’m able to see the worry etched onto his face.
“I’m fine.”
He scoffs. “Yeah, getting drunk at home, alone… you’re the picture offine.”
“I wouldn’t have been drinking alone if you’d been herelike you were supposed to be.”
“Shit,” Royce hisses, looking chagrined as he swipes a hand through his hair, brushing a loose strand back from his face. “I’m sorry, man. I forgot.”
I scoff. “Too busy balls deep in that whore, I imagine.”
Royce’s expression hardens to steel as Logan snarls, “That’s enough. If you’re just going to insult Riley, then you can take your drunk ass to bed… or anywhere else but here.”
“Whatever,” I say, the words slurring, only I’m way past caring. I stagger toward them, the whiskey bottle swinging from my fingers. “I’m done waiting around for you two to pull your dicks out of her.”
Logan growls in warning, but it’s Royce who reaches out to stop me on the threshold. “Gray. Look, I’m sorry, but we’re here now. We could… talk.” He frowns, giving me a once-over. “Or just chill for a bit.”
Fucking exhausted and in need of sitting, I’m about to agree when Logan shifts and I catch a hint of something sweet and fruity. “I thought you were at The Depot?” My voice is deceptively calm, blanketing the raging flames of chaos flaring inside me.
“We were,” Logan throws back defensively.
“Then why do you both smell likeher?”
I watch as both of them stiffen before Logan shakes it off with a shrug of his shoulders. “None of your fucking business.”
My teeth grind, the noise like nails on a chalkboard in the otherwise soundless room. Eyes snapping to Royce, I say in a dead tone, “At least now I know where your loyalties lie.”
