“No. Drew knew nothing until they took you to Parkhurst, and then I confided in him. It’s one reason he’s pissed with me. Why I’m on the outside now.”
“You knew there would be a face-off that night at the party.”
“I did, and I knew it would get messy, so I’d pulled Oscar aside earlier that day and explained. He agreed to stash his car near the old rear entrance and to get you to safety until I could come for you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I couldn’t tell you without admitting the full truth, and it’s always been safer if you didn’t know.”
And here we go with the broken record again. “I swear the next person who says that is gonna get a bullet in the brain.” I’m seething as I glare at him. “And how the fuck was it safer keeping me in the dark?” I hiss, standing and pacing. “You enabled them to bully and humiliate me!” I lunge at him, and a loud crack echoes around the room as my palm impacts his cheek. “You facilitated everything by working with them behind my back.”
“I deserve that,” he calmly replies, giving nothing away.
Something else occurs to me, and I narrow my eyes. “Did you know about the pregnancy plan?”
He vehemently shakes his head. “I didn’t even know you were pregnant. Neither did my father. Turns out, Atticus wasn’t as forthcoming as we’d been.”
“That’s how the guys knew their way around my house. How they knew there were cameras in the main living areas. How they knew about the safe.” I climb back onto the bed, resting my back against the headrest and pulling my knees up to my chest. “Your father told them everything.”
That fucking son of a bitch. I inwardly seethe. I knew his compassion was too good to be true. That he wasn’t doing it out of the goodness of his heart. I’ll add him to the list of cruel, ruthless, self-obsessed bastards, alongside my father and the Montgomerys.
“He did, but Atticus abused his trust by hiding the true nature of his plans.” He twists around so he’s facing me. “My father loves you like a daughter. I hope you know that. And he’s always known how deep my feelings ran. He’d never have agreed to partner with Atticus, Wes, and their associates if he’d known they would use you as a pawn.”
“But you knew what the new elite were up to.”
“It was planned so they’d arrive when we were away in Parkhurst. They were supposed to manipulate you to earn your trust so they could gain access to the house without suspicion. I was furious when I found out what they were doing to you. Sawyer had promised you’d be treated with respect, but he’s a fucking liar because he did nothing to stop his friends from abusing you.”
My head is on overload, and I’m trying to decipher the myriad of threads floating through my mind. I recall Sawyer’s obvious disgust the day Kai made me kneel at his feet in the cafeteria. His annoyance when he came into my living room to find Kai and Jackson groping me. His frustration with them the night they used me to help them break into my father’s office.
“He tried,” I admit. “But no one tells Kaiden Anderson what to do.”
“And yet you still love him.” He grinds his teeth, and his jaw flexes. “Maybe I should bully you and treat you like shit. Perhaps you’d fall for me then.”
“He doesn’t treat me like shit, and there’s so much more to him than that.”
“He’s continually lied to you, Abby.” Frustration thunders through his tone.
“So have you. So has pretty much everyone. I should hightail it out of Rydeville and let my father kill all of you. I don’t know why I’m loyal when it’s not shown to me in return.”
“But it is,” a familiar voice says, and I jerk my head to the doorway, jumping up when I spot Drew. “All the guys in your life would take a bullet for you. They would die before letting anything happen to you.”
I race across the room, throwing myself into his arms, way too happy to see him to be mad. He pulls me into his warm embrace, and we hug it out for ages. I rest my head on his chest, and he presses a kiss into my hair. “Missed you, A.”
“Missed you, too, D.”
When he tilts my chin up, forcing my gaze to his, I smother my shocked gasp as I take in the state of him.
His usually coiffed hair has grown out, curling around his ears and down the nape of his neck, and it’s messy on top, in a similar fashion to Jackson’s hair. A thick layer of stubble covers his chin and cheeks, and bruising shadows linger in the curves under his bloodshot eyes. “You look like shit.” My gaze drifts to the jagged scar over his lip, and there’s another similar one just over his eyebrow.
“Feel like shit too,” he says, surprising me. I expected a snappy retort.
“We have lots to catch up on.” I take his hand, dragging him over to the couch.
“I should go,” Charlie says, standing and rounding the end of the bed.
“You should.” Drew’s cold tone matches his critical expression.
“I’ll collect you in the morning for school,” he tells me. “And we can swing by here after to pick up the rest of your stuff.”
“Okay.”
He leaves, and Drew walks to the door, checking the hallway before closing and locking it. “I don’t trust him. We’ve frozen him out, and I expected him to push back, but he hasn’t, and I’m suspicious.”
“I don’t trust anyone, and I’m suspicious of everyone.”
“That’s fair.”
“I’m glad you agree.” I purse my lips.
“Abby.” Compassion splays across his face. “I’m so sorry for what that fucking bastard did to you, and if I hadn’t been almost comatose in the hospital for two weeks, I’d have gone after you. It probably wouldn’t have made much difference, but I would’ve tried.”
I want to believe him, but…
“Are you okay?” I run the tip of my finger over the scar across his lip. “He did this?”
Drew bobs his head. “I thought he would kill me this time. I fought back, but he pulled in four of his guys, and five against one are never good odds.”
“We need to get rid of him, Drew. I can’t live my life like this. I won’t live my life like this.”
“I’m with you, A. I have been for a long time.”
“You have a plan.” It’s more of a statement than a question. He nods. “You’ll share it?” He nods again.
“I hope you mean that, because I don’t want to be on opposing teams, Drew. We won’t succeed unless we work together, and that means you have to stop shielding me.”
“I know.”
The truth radiates from his every pore, and I think we might be able to get somewhere. “You won’t get another chance, D. You get that, right? If you let me down again, there is no coming back from it.”
“I won’t fail you again.” His eyes flash with steely determination, and I sincerely hope he means that, and that he’ll stick to it.
“How did you get back in his good graces?”
“I told him I was double-crossing the new elite. That I recorded the theft, and I intended to use it to put them behind bars. That they were meant to bring the documentation to me, and I’d safeguard it. I told him I wanted to prove I could handle things without running to him. Thank fuck, my cell was smashed beyond repair during the shootout so he couldn’t confirm or deny it.”