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Caleb turned to leave, then paused, glancing back over his shoulder.

“I’ll see you later, Blaire. You need to come home soon. My bed is awfully cold without you.” He laughed as he left the diner, the bells banging against the door signaling his departure.

Suddenly, Lukas choked as the force of Blaire’s fear ramped up tenfold and slammed into him. She gripped his shirt, her nails digging into his stomach as her body shook. Caleb’s words had sent her into a deeper panic, and Lukas could barely breathe.

He put his lips against the top of her head and held her close. “Shh, he’s gone. I promise I won’t let him hurt you.” He had to stay calm and collected for her sake when all he wanted to do was go and rip her stepbrother’s head off.

Aiden jumped up and started to chase after him, but Kai pulled him back to sit down.

“Stop. You just told your sister to not make a scene. Blaire clearly needs us right now. We need to figure out what’s going on and why she’s so upset.”

Kai and Mera didn’t know. They weren’t there when Riley told Lukas and Aiden what happened to Blaire at the hands of her stepbrother. Lukas didn’t even know the stepbrother’s name until now.

“Fuck!” Aiden slammed his fist on the table and Blaire jumped.

Lukas tightened his hold on her body to anchor her. “It’s okay…” he whispered before glaring at Aiden.

Aiden ran a hand through his hair. “Sorry…”

They sat in silence until Charlotte showed up with their food.

“I am so, so sorry, Blaire. I didn’t know he was coming. If I’d noticed him sooner, I would have warned you. Ricky must have called him.”

Blaire turned her head against Lukas’s chest, calmer, before sitting up enough to reach out and distract herself by playing with her fries. She stayed plastered to Lukas’s side, and he kept an arm securely around her waist.

He sensed on a deep level she needed him, but even if she didn’t, he would still be there.

“It’s not your fault,” she said softly, finally acknowledging everyone for the first time since Caleb had arrived. “I’m not surprised Ricky called him. He always tracked me through Ricky.”

Riley asked, “Why would he show up here like that? Is he really that obsessed?”

“Oh, he’s obsessed alright,” Charlotte said, her words dripping with disgust. Ricky called her name, and she sighed, giving Blaire another apologetic look before moving to another table.

Kai glanced over his shoulder, and then back to the table. “Who is this Caleb even?”

Riley sighed. “Blaire’s stepbrother. A piece of trash who beats Blaire up when she doesn’t give him her money, act the way he wants her to, dress the way he wants, or basically anything he deems ‘unacceptable.’” She air-quoted the last word with a sneer. “He’s a disgusting pig of a molester, and I want to rip his throat out.” She stabbed her fries into ketchup.

Lukas hit the table, causing Blaire to jump again and pull away from him. He pulled her back into his body as he glared at Riley. “What the fuck do you mean ‘molester’? You sure as shit didn’t mention that before.”

Blaire’s eyes watered, and she tried to pull away from Lukas again, but he wouldn’t let her go, so she stayed silent, looking down at the table.

“Shit. He hasn’t like… raped her.” Riley looked around awkwardly, clearing her throat. “But he’s… he’s done other—”

“Stop!” Aiden said loudly. “We get the picture.”

“I… fought back. I didn’t let him.” Blaire met Riley’s eyes with determination on her face. “I couldn’t just let him.” She swallowed audibly. “Maybe that’s why he’d never gone that far…”

Lukas looked ready to commit murder as he spoke harshly, glaring at Riley. “Maybe some of that shit should have been kept to yourself.”

Blaire shook her head quickly. “It’s alright at this point… you’re all my friends.”

Mera smiled at Blaire and Kai cleared his throat, looking like he wasn’t sure how to respond to something like that.

Blaire spoke up softly. “He’s… wanted us to be more than siblings from the start.”

“Wait, he touched you as a small child?” Kai said, looking horrified. It was a strange expression to see on his face, as he usually maintained such a calm and collected demeanor.

Blaire immediately shook her head. “No, we didn’t meet until I was fifteen, and I didn’t know about his feelings for me until later, after our parents died when I was sixteen. He was a normal stepbrother before then. He never touched me that way until a few months before I came to Blackthorn, but he told me he had always wanted me to be his. That’s why he spent the last couple of years trying to mold me into what he wanted, he said.”