“Asshole,” I grumble.
He laughs and we fall silent. Then after a while, I feel his gaze on me.
“I know it’s killing you,” he mutters after a while. “But you’ve never been the type to roll over and accept defeat. Don’t start now.”
I clench my jaw and refuse to look at him.
“She’s safe, that’s all that mattes now.”
“You think so?” he fires back, giving me a pointed stare. “He’s out there. He’ll be back.”
Shane.
That’s just the thing.
That motherfucker will be back, and I might not be here to keep her safe. But then, she got in this mess because of me so if I step away…
“Either way, I’m with you, every step of the fucking way.”
I just shake my head.
“You know, sometimes I think you have a death wish.”
He’s silent. Then, “You have no idea.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Mia
I have no idea how long it is until Nicky, I mean, mom, agrees to leave so she can go shower and bring me stuff to also shower and change.
I had to practically beg her to leave after we both saw that the police took Nathan downtown. I was as safe as I could be but still, I had a sense that there was more no one was telling me, especially with the number of cops that were milling around after I woke up.
I heard whispers of the Matthews but no one was upfront about it.
I need to find a way to ask about Kristine and her baby. What happened to them? Where are they? Are they safe? This is a hospital after all, I can only imagine that they had to rush me here so it must be the closest to where those idiots had me captive.
I need to know what happened to Shane and Sean. I couldn’t ask because well, that would reveal my fake amnesia.
I need answers and there’s only one place I can get those answers, even if I won’t be able to get anything else.
I have no idea what time it is as I slowly get up from the bed, but I know it’s pretty late.
My hospital door is open, and I think I see a guard out there, but I try not to be suspicious with my movements.
If I can slip out when he’s not looking, I can just blend in with nurses and doctors passing the hallway and go find Julian myself.
I’m halfway to getting down from the bed when I hear a new smoky, sultry voice.
“You know, that was quite a scene today,” the new voice says. Startled, I snap my head up and look directly into the most unlikely pair of eyes. “But it makes sense, you have always been the girl who commands attention no matter where you go.”
“Roxy?” I whisper. “What are you doing here?”
She shifts on her feet, looking slightly uncertain then she steps in the room.
“Are you trying to escape to go see Julian?” she asks softly, a smirk on her face. I don’t say a word, not knowing what she knows. “Oh yes, that’s right. You don’t remember him, do you?”
I bite my inner cheek, my little heart pounding hard against my ribs.
“I remember you.”
“Of course you do, silly,” she says with a nice, haughty laugh that turns so many heads when she does it in public. “We practically grew up together, Ice Queen, though I have no idea how we drifted apart.”
I do.
“You were always with your sister, Roxy.” Her eyes harden and grow a bit darker as soon as I mention her sister. “And the rest of your girl gang.” This time, her smile is as sharp and faux-sweet as ever.
“You were supposed to be part of that girl gang,” she says. “But you were always closed off and expressed yourself through ballet and you always had to be the best at everything.”
I study her.
“You sound bitter.”
She laughs. “On the contrary, I’m fucking proud of you.”
I frown. This bitch is always full of surprises. You just never know with the RACK, but their leader, Roxy, she’s another breed altogether.
“Why do you say that?” I mutter, uncertain of her genuine smile.
“Well, I know you don’t remember but babe, you’ve been all over the news the past well, weeks.”
Time to shine!
“What?” I ask with a strangled gasp. “What do you mean I was all over the news?”
“Aww babe, no one told you?” she whispers. “I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news and all that, but let’s just say you landing in here was only just a matter of time. Honestly I thought it would be the cemetery.”
“Gee, thanks Roxy.”
“Oh no, I don’t mean to make you feel bad it’s just, your entire situation was fucked right from the beginning when they said Julian Fitzgerald kidnapped you.”
“Who?” I mutter. “What did you believe?”
“I knew you left to go to Paris after your mother died because you couldn’t handle the grief after all the years you spent caring for her in secret and that sexy god, followed you.”
“What?”
“Oh Mia, you had the most interesting summer, I promise you that,” she says with a wink at me. “You even auditioned for that ballet gig.”
Auditioned and failed like the fucking bag of bad luck and nightmares I am. I’m still in character though. I have to act accordingly.
“I did?” I croak.
“Oh yeah.”
“And?” I ask, my heart in my throat, asking what I already know. “Did I get in?”
She stares at me for a long moment, then she looks over her shoulder and steps into the room some more, closing the door a bit behind her, but not all the way.
“The truth is, Mia, you were supposed to get in,” she says softly. “You more than deserved to be there.”
This is new.
I stare at her, feeling like Nancy’s ghost is in the room with me as a chill sets into my bones.
I was supposed to be accepted but I wasn’t? And she’s the one telling me that? The bitch with two left feet?
“You look like you know why that is,” I whisper, staring at her as a roar starts in my blood. “What do you know, Roxy?”
“Do you love Liam?” she asks instead.
Oh my God! Holy fuck.
It takes so much for me to keep in character as I frown but God, I want to gasp in surprise at the look of pure vulnerability and blazing jealousy in her eyes. Roxy and Liam? I thought it was Kendra and Liam? What the actual fuck is going on between Liam and these incredibly different pair of twins?
But I have to act like I don’t know Liam!
“What?” I frown. “Who are you talking about?”
The sweet, hell raiser who has the smile of an angel and a devilish smirk that rivals the devil, that’s who.
Damn, Liam is good.
“I know you don’t remember him, but honestly, of all the things, I thought you would definitely remember Julian and Liam Fitzgerald.”
“Why? I don’t even know them.”
“But you are familiar with the name, Fitzgerald, yes? The incredibly popular brothers who rule Palos Verdes?”
“I think I might have heard it before.”
“Yeah, well, you have a, well, you had a complicated relationship with them,” she grits out. “At least that’s what I thought until the night of the race.”