Her phone chirps. She looks at it and groans.
“Who is it?”
“Crew.”
I smile. “Go. Get your man.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to leave you alone.”
“Honestly, I want to be alone.”
She quickly texts Crew.
“I love you. You are amazing. And Declan will figure his shit out. It’s not up to you to do it for him.”
I walk her to the door, hugging her before locking up behind her.
I’m glad one of us is going to have a good night.
Chapter Nine
DECLAN
Iwake up to someone shaking my shoulder and a headache that feels like my skull is being split open with an axe. My hand throbs, and there’s an ache in my ribs.
What the hell?
"Get up."
Ashton's voice. Too loud. Everything is too loud.
I groan and try to pull the pillow over my head, but he yanks it away.
"I told you to get up. You need to see this."
"See what?" At least that’s what I try to say. My tongue feels glued to the top of my mouth. "What time is it?"
"Almost noon. And you need to see what's all over social media."
“I don’t care.”
“You’re gonna care.”
I force my eyes open, immediately regretting it when the light stabs directly into my brain. Ashton is standing over me with his phone. He looks pissed.
He shoves the phone in my face. I close one eye to try to focus on the screen.
It’s a video of the fight. I expected as much.
The videographer got it all, from the first word to the last punch. The whole ugly mess.
"Keep scrolling," Ashton says.
I do. There are more videos. Different angles. Another shows Sutton's expression—the horror and disgust written all over it.
The comments are worse than the videos.
Hayes is losing it.
