Sun: She slept over at my place last night and left about an hour ago.
After rubbing my forehead and wondering why the hell she hadn’t messaged me to let me know where she was, I placed my hands on the kitchen island counter and blew out a breath. At least she was safe.
Someone fumbled around with the lock on our front door, and then Athena walked into the room, her long red hair thrown into a messy bun while she wore some of Sun’s clothes. She yawned and dumped her bag on the ground, not saying a word to me.
“Where were you?” I asked from behind her.
She jumped up and placed her hand over her heart. “Charlie! You scared me.”
I stepped toward her. “Why didn’t you come home last night?”
After opening and closing her mouth a handful of times, she shook her head. “I … was …”
“I was worried about you,” I said, closing the distance and grabbing her hand. “You always tell me where you are. You left me in the dark all night. I thought something had happened to you, and I?—”
Suddenly, Derek’s cologne hit me like a fucking brick.
Athena pulled her hand away from me and hurried to the kitchen. “I was at Sun’s place.”
Sun’s place? Sure, Sun told me that lie, too, but Athena could have asked her to.
“All night?” I asked, chest tightening.
She grabbed a glass and filled it with water, her back turned toward me. “Yes.”
“You weren’t at Derek’s?” I asked.
Athena tensed. “No.”
“Well, you smell just like him.”
Athena spun around, her brows furrowed together in anger like I had never seen them before. “Why do you care what I do, Charlie? It’s not like we’re together. We’re just friends. That’s all we’ve ever been.”
Fuck, that stings.
I balled my hands into fists. That fucker could never keep his hands to himself. It was one of the main reasons that I had stayed away from any family function, especially why I shielded Athena from them.
She would have a fucking ball dancing all night at my family’s parties, but I would risk Derek stealing her away from me. He had taken everything from me. And Athena was supposed to be mine and only mine.
After regaining my composure because I couldn’t blurt out that I loved her—she had just made it clear that we were only friends—I straightened myself out and cleared my throat. “I only ask because Derek is a bad influence.”
Her gaze softened for a moment, then turned down. “That’s it? That’s the only reason?”
“Yes,” I lied. “That’s it.”
She stared at me for a couple of silent moments. “I don’t think he’s that bad.”
I pulled my gaze away from her, gritted my teeth, and looked out the windows that overlooked the city. What did he tell her about me? And why would she believe anything that came out of that idiot’s mouth? She’s smart.
“He invited me to be his date at your family’s party,” she said.
“Did you accept?”
“Not yet.”
My heart pounded quickly against my rib cage, and I wanted to whisk her away and never bring her back, take her someplace filled with all her favorite things—lizards and tire swings and making those scented soaps she saw all over social media—so she’d see that nobody knew her the way that I did, so she’d want me and not him, so she’d give me a chance.
I had thought that after she found out about what I did, that after we had sex, that after she watched me jerk off with her panties last night and whisper all those dirty things to her, that she would see I wanted her more than anyone in this entire fucking world.
