“You need to talk to the police,” she advised.
“I will.” It was a lie. I had no intention of going to the police. Not yet. Not until Rusty was dead. I didn’t want him locked up where I might have to worry about him making parole or there not being enough evidence to put him away. He deserved a much more permanent punishment like the one he gave my parents. “Have you seen Carson?” I asked, quickly changing the topic.
She nodded. “He told me what he did.”
I swallowed, daring a look at Kreed. He hadn’t moved a muscle, yet despite his relaxed position, he tensed, and I knew he was listening to every word.
Fuck. This wasn’t going to go well.
“He knows he screwed up, and he feels horrible,” Kenny continued, defending the guy she still loved regardless of his actions. “He didn’t know. How could he? None of us had any idea. I mean, he was your dad’s best friend.”
“Yeah, he was. And Carson was mine. He should have trusted me.”
He should have,” she agreed. “But we do stupid things for the people we love. He thought he was protecting you.”
I couldn’t argue with her reasoning, not after the choices I’d made and the fallout I’d been willing to pay to protect her. How could I? But it didn’t make Carson’s betrayal sting any less.
“From me?” Kreed interjected, speaking for the first time since we entered Kenny’s house.
Confusion swirled in Kenny’s eyes as she glanced from Kreed back to me. “You didn’t tell him?”
Here we go.Shit was about to get complicated. Heat crawled up my neck and into my cheeks. “I haven’t had the chance, and I wanted to see you.”
“Kaylor,” Kreed rumbled, my name carrying a warning.
“Don’t get all alpha male on me,” I huffed. “I was going to tell you…probably.”
“Tell me now, little raven,” he said, his voice dropping into a register that meant he was dead serious. “Unless you want me to pay Carson an unannounced visit.”
I shot him a pointed look. “Keep your ass planted in that seat, Corvo.”
“I’m waiting,” he said, impatience shining in his gray eyes.
I considered stalling, spinning some elaborate excuse, but the truth has a way of coming out. “Promise me you won’t make him bleed,” I said, holding his gaze. “Promise me you’ll let me handle this my way. Enough people have been hurt.”
“This isn’t starting well, little raven.” His jaw went tight, but he finally said, “I’ll consider it.” And I knew that was the best I was going to get from him.
Kenny wantedto come with me, but I told her this was something I needed to do alone. I didn’t want her mixed up with Carson and my drama. It wouldn’t be fair to her, especially with how she felt about Carson. I had enough to worry about with Kreed flipping out. I just prayed there wouldn’t be any more outbursts of confessed love. God only knew how Kreed would react.
The neighborhood felt suspended somehow, like it was holding its breath waiting for a break in the monotony of endless winter. My boots sloshed through the puddles of melted ice and snow. Kreed’s strides matched mine. His hands were shoved deep in the front of his hoodie pocket, but I could see the tension coiled in his shoulders.
“Are you going to tell me what theboyfriend did that has you this twisted up inside?” he asked with a deceptively casual tone, but I caught the edge underneath.
I threw him a sidelong glance, catching the angles of his profile against the moody sky. “You know he’s not my boyfriend. He’s just afriend who happens to be a boy... I think. Maybe. I don’t know anymore.”
The corner of his lips tugged down. “You’ve got a lot of those scattered around—boys who are just friends. My brothers. Carson. Jesse...”
Was he jealous? “I noticed you very deliberately didn’t include yourself in that particular group.”
“That’s because you and I are so much more than friends, little raven. We crossed that line a long time ago.” His eyes cut toward me, silvery and intense. “But right now, we’re not talking about us. We’ll get to that conversation later when you’re ready.” He stopped walking, forcing me to halt as well a step before we came to Carson’s porch. “Right now, I want to know exactly what the preppy asshole did to you.”
I opened my mouth to answer, words forming on my tongue, but I never got the chance.
Carson opened the door as if he’d been watching through the window and waiting. He looked absolutely wrecked, sandy hair sticking up in uneven spikes as if he’d been pulling at it obsessively, eyes rimmed red from what might have been crying or sleeplessness or both. His faded Harvard T-shirt was wrinkled beyond salvation. There was a haunted quality to his expression, causing my heart to twist.
“Kaylor.” My name left his mouth in a rush of relief so profound it was almost painful to witness.
My stomach dropped into free fall, a sickening sensation of plummeting with nothing to catch me. I wanted desperately to hate him, to unleash everything that had festered inside me, the betrayal, the anger, the hurt. But when he stepped forward without hesitation and pulled me into his arms, some small, traitorous part of me cracked open.
