I was happy to say I had that with my friends. These boys were truly my brothers. Bow was in our circle too, but we’d have to keep our knowledge of at least my grandpa away from her. We couldn’t risk her wanting to alert the parents, and that’d been the only reason we kept the Mayberry stuff from her.
Rainbow Reed was ride or die as well, but if she thought anyone, i.e., any of us, were in danger of anything, whether physically or mentally, she went for the greater good. She could often be jaded by that, but I didn’t consider that a flaw. It just meant she cared and kept her pure. She should never lose that.
It wasn’t so easy to get back.
“You’re going to have to let Bow know to stay away from Sloane,” I growled. “She can’t be trusted. Tell her that and everything with the arrest, but don’t let her know my grandpa is back in town or his place in it. She’ll just worry.”
“Yeah, she will,” he said, but his voice sounded hollow. It was in that moment I remembered he’d wanted to tell me something too before I unleashed all this shit.
“What did you want to tell me before?” I nudged his leg. “You said you had something.”
The way he blinked, it seemed like he’d forgotten. “It was nothing really.” He opened his hand, smirking. “I was just being a little bitch. Was going to tell you how worried I was about you.”
“Worried about me?”
He eyed the room, probably easier than looking at me. He shrugged. “You going off the grid, I guess, freaked me out.”
He said that with his hug before.
Wolf got up, his smile soft but tense. He was definitely putting it on. I didn’t know if it was for me or what, but I didn’t say anything about it when he pounded my fist. His next move was to give me a hug again before he left the way he came. Nah, my buddies and I weren’t good with emotions.
Our actions, our bonds, always spoke far louder.
Chapter Five
Sloane
My text messages to Dorian had gone unanswered last night, my calls straight to voicemail. I wasn’t sure if he had his phone off or was simply shutting me out.
Yesterday hadn’t made sense.
He’d accused me of leaking his location yesterday. Initially, he’d demanded if I snitched to the cops myself, but I hadn’t. I mean, I’d called for reinforcements to get him out. Of course, I hadn’t wanted him arrested.
I supposed he could believe that considering I’d made calls for him, but he also could believe I may have simply slipped something to someone, Bru or someone else, and that had gotten around. This was a town where people seemed to like to get in each other’s business, but I hadn’t done that either. I’d never do that to him, betray his confidence…
He clearly didn’t believe me, and unfortunately, I couldn’t justify blowing up his phone outside of the few messages and calls I had made to plead my case.
His family was going through some epic shit right now.
The news had his family and the Prinze name all over it. My brother Bru and I had spent most of last night watching everything go down. Dorian’s family was being harassed, and it was only by the grace of God Principal Mayberry’s kidnapping had all but disappeared in all this. The media was talking about the viral video, yes, but not much surrounding who’d done it. They didn’t seem to be concerned with that.
I mean, the woman was dead.
All this was fucking crazy, the added layer that Dorian believed I’d betrayed him on top of that. I hadn’t. I had no idea how the cops had found him to even arrest yesterday.
I tried him one more time when I got up that morning, but when I got voicemail instantly again, I couldn’t help my frustrations. This was probably completely selfish of me feeling frustrated, and there was a strong possibility that his life was chaos right now and he simply didn’t want to deal with his thoughts about me on top of it.
I’ll talk to him at school.
That was if he was at school. I hadn’t received any messages that classes had been canceled again, but that didn’t necessarily mean he would be there. In fact, I wouldn’t blame him for taking the day off if those thirsty pricks known as the media were still cluttering his neighborhood. My brother, Callum, and I watched them literally broadcast outside of the gates of Dorian and his family’s cul-de-sac.
Callum really had been a godsend in all this. After I got back home, I’d found him there with Bru in front of the television, but the older man hadn’t been watching TV. He’d been on the phone looking into the situation with Dorian, but not for the same reasons as the media.
“Just want to make sure the boy and his family are faring well since he’s your friend,” he’d said to me. “I figured you’d want some actual news and not this chaotic drivel.” His expression had gone serious. “That is one thing I don’t miss about living here. This town is small enough where everyone wants to know everything.”
I was starting to see that, all of this a mess.
I’d been shocked to see Callum making calls on his own and on my behalf. I hadn’t asked him to do that, but I couldn’t be more grateful. His news updates had actually kept me sane last night since Dorian hadn’t texted or called me back. He was able to confirm the media was only talking about Mayberry’s murder, and with the updates he and the news did give me, I was able to see that Dorian and the guys would not be implicated for her viral confession. That had been my biggest worry.