“How …? Why are you saying this?”
“Because I’m trying to protect you.”
“You’re being vague.”
“I know. And I’m sorry about that. For now, I just need you to trust me on this.”
Confusion webs through me. “What about West? We said we’d help him.”
“And we’re going to,” he assures, “by giving these papers to my lawyer friend and letting him handle this the legal way.”
“You’re keeping something from me,” I state with annoyance.
“I know. And I wish I didn’t have to, but for now, it’s for the best. Maybe one day, after this is all taken care of, I’ll tell you. To protect you, I’m going to keep what I know to myself.” He offers me an apologetic look.
“Does this …? Does this have to do with West, too?”
“No, just Loraine and Eli. Like I said, I have nothing against West.” He loosens his tie. “In fact, after seeing you with him at dinner, I’m kind of glad you’re hanging out with him.”
“Really?” I ask in doubt.
“Yes, really.” His brow arches. “Should I not be glad?”
I push away from the doorframe. “No. I’m just wondering what you saw that made you think that.”
He pulls off his tie. “You seemed lighter.”
“I did?”
“Yeah.” He tosses his tie onto the bed. “And while I don’t want to put more heaviness on you, we need to talk about what happened at school.” He crosses his arms. “Why did you cut class?”
I crinkle my nose. “I wasn’t really cutting class. I was just late.”
“Yeah, but why?”
“Because I needed to talk to West about something—something private—and he wanted to talk about those papers, so we went out to his car, and the conversation ended up going for longer than I expected.” I offer him the partial truth, not wanting to tell him about how I made out with West after the conversation.
He rubs his hand over his jawline. “What did you need to talk to him about?”
I shrug. “A bunch of drama that’s going on between Masie, Blaine, and me.”
He eyes me over. “What sort of drama?”
I grimace. “Masie and Blaine are dating, and Masie knew I liked Blaine, so it kind of feels like she stabbed me in the back, especially because Masie told Blaine that I liked him.”
He hesitates. “Can I be real with you for a moment?”
I nod. “I’d rather you be real than lie.”
He slants forward and rests his arms on his legs. “I’ve never thought Masie was a good friend to you. She always treated you so poorly. So, while I wish I could say this is a surprise, it’s not. And I also hope that maybe after this, you’ll let the friendship fade out.”
“It’s already faded,” I assure him. “Although, that kind of leaves me friendless.”
“You’re not friendless. You have your brothers and sisters. And I know for a fact Zhara would love for you two to be close again.” He fleetingly pauses. “It also looks like you have West. Though, no more hanging out in your bedroom while no one’s home, okay?” He gives me a firm look.
I give him a salute. “Yes, boss.”
He rolls his eyes but smiles. “I’m not going to ground you for getting detention, but only because you’ve been behaving better over the last handful of days. As long as you keep it up, I think having detention is punishment enough.”
He’s letting me off the hook? Seriously?
“Okay … Thanks.” I’m so confused, but it’s not like I’m going to argue.
“How did painting the store go today?” he asks as he turns back to the papers on his bed.
“It was fine. The owner wasn’t a total douchebag, so that’s a plus.”
“Good. I just hope you learned your lesson.”
“I did,” I promise. In more ways than I can ever explain.
The last thing I ever want is to put myself in another situation where this blackmailer can get more dirt on me. Or where they can corner me in an alleyway and try to scare the crap out of me.
“I hope so,” he mumbles, getting distracted by his papers. “I want to start having family dinners again. I also think you and I should set a time and date when we can sit down and discuss what you want to do after graduation.”
Ugh, the dreaded G word. It’d be fine, except I have no clue what I want to do.
I chew on my thumbnail. “What if I don’t know what I want to do?”
“That’s fine. Maybe us talking about it will help give you some ideas.”
“Um … Okay.” Doubtful. But again, I’m not about to argue.
I start to walk out of the room to go take a shower, do my homework, and then attempt to draw that tattoo I saw on that guy’s neck.
“And Lex?” Loki calls out, causing me to pause. “Thanks for talking to me and for … well, being cooperative about this.”
“Thanks for not grounding me. And for fixing my car.”
“That’s what I’m here for.” He wavers. “Well, I’ll still ground you if I need to.”
I laugh softly then walk out of the room. I grab some clothes, take a quick shower, and then get set up in my bed with my pencils and sketchbook. I’ve just drawn the first line when someone knocks on my door.
“Come in,” I call out as I draw another line while attempting to visualize the tattoo on the guy’s neck.
“Hey,” Zhara greets as she walks into my room.
“Hey,” I reply, setting the pencil and sketchbook down on the bed.
Her gaze tracks the movements then her brows rise in surprise. “You’re drawing again?”
I give a dismissive shrug. “Not really. I just saw this tattoo today that looked kind of cool, so I’m trying to draw it.”
“Oh.” She drums her fingers against the sides of her legs. “Are you getting a tattoo?”
“Not now. Maybe one day, though.” I scoot to the edge of the bed. “I’m just drawing it up so West can see it.”
“West, huh?” Interest sparkles in her eyes. “I heard a rumor around school that you two are dating. Is that the fake dating think you were telling me about?”
I scratch my arm. “No …”
“So, you guys are really dating now?”
I nod.
“Really?” A smile breaks across her face. “I knew it.”
“Knew what?”
“That he liked you.”
“Since when?”
“Since forever.”
I gape at her. “Why does everyone in this house keep saying this?”
She laughs, stepping farther into my room. “Because every time West would come over, it was pretty clear he liked you. He always would stare at you and flirt with you.”
“He didn’t flirt with me,” I correct. “He teased me and annoyed the crap out of me.”
“He teased/flirted with you,” she insists. “Like when we were in grade school and Jay would pull your hair because he had a crush on you.” I try to keep my expression neutral at her mention of Jay, but I must fail since she says, “What’s wrong?”