I’m too tired for his fucking metaphors. So I ignore the squatters and drag myself up the stairs to my bedroom. The floorboards screech under my boots as I dig into my pocket and take out my phone.
What is Berkeley hiding?
Luka
?
Find the fuck out then.
I head to my bedroom on the eastern side of The Barrel, separated from Hugo and Kane’s by a long, creaking hallway. I step into the dimly lit room, hurl my gear onto the recliner, and pull off my T-shirt as I reach for the light switch.
“Fuck!” I shout.
My hands freeze in midair when I see a silver-blond sprawled across my bed in her lingerie—Charlotte Pike. Hugo’s sister.
“Jesus fucking Christ! What the fuck are you doing here, Lottie?” I put my shirt back on in one swift movement, before she gets a good look.
She sits up, chest heaving, flashing the black glittery fabric of her bra that barely covers her nipples.
“Come on, Mason,” she coos. “I’m swiping you before someone else gets their paws on you.” She lies down, propped on her elbows, and arches her back.
The fuck is wrong with these girls?
“You aren’t swiping anything, Lottie,” I fume, then grab her clothes from the floor and throw them at her. “Now, cover yourself up and get out of here before your brother sees you and puts me in the ground.” I point at my door.
She shrugs off her clothes, standing in her bra and panties with her hand on her hip.
For the record—nothing.
Not even a cock twitch. The only thing I feel is fucking annoyance.
“I know you dumped Hannah. What’s stopping you?”
“The fuck is Hannah?”
“Hannah Wickham. You ended it with her, right?” She crosses her arms over her chest. When was I with her? Her brows furrow at my confusion.“I’m not losing you to any other bitch. So, fuck me already.”
I run a hand over my face with a long groan.
“Does your head still hurt? Should I call Mum?”
“No,” I spit.
Beth is an Emergency Nurse Practitioner. Our go-to person when one of us cracks open something. Though treating injuries outside hospitals is not in her job description. She did me a big favour and saved me some trouble with the doctors and likely coppers, which would have definitely gotten my father involved. But with how much Lottie has been hanging around since then, I wish Hugo had just dumped me outside A&E.
“If you are worried about Dad or Hugo, I can handle them.” She takes a few steps toward me, swaying her hips, then juts her chin out. “I’m not a kid anymore.”
“I can see that.” I wave towards her. “In fact, I never thought I would see so much of my friend’s baby sister. Now, get dressed and get the fuck out, or I’m calling Hugo up here, right now.”
Her face pinches at my tone. She makes a face as she slides into her clothes. “Just so you know, I’m not giving up,” she chirps as she walks past me.
I hear the footsteps slither down the stairs, followed by the creak of the back door as it opens, then closes.
Only then do I let out a deep breath, exhaling the weight of what feels like more than fatigue, and collapse on my bed. The sheets stink of powerful, flowery perfume that strangles mylungs, but I’m too tired to drag myself off the mattress to change them.
The scar on my skull throbs. Beth did the best she could at short notice. Still, it’s been days, and my head still thumps, my brain a cloud of fog after a long night. The lack of sleep probably doesn’t help.
When I woke up the next day, I wanted to strangle her for betraying me, defying me, daring to push me away. Just for having the fucking audacity to think she could.
