“Please… I already told them you’re coming.”
“We aren’t a couple, rich girl. We are just two people who enjoy each other’s company and who fuck.”
“I want more than a fuck.”
“Then you are shopping in the wrong store.”
“But am I?” I ask, sashaying over to him. “Because you seem to be enjoying me as much as I am enjoying you.”
He lifts his hand, his muscles clenching when he does, and he runs it through his hair and shakes his head.
“Mistake number one, thinking that.” He turns and prowls to the power switch, shutting everything off. “Now, unless you’re here to fuck, I think it’s best you leave.”
“You don’t want me to stay?” I ask, confused, and now a little hurt.
“No, you should leave.”
I’m taken aback by his words. He doesn’t look my way as I step out of the shed or even come out front when I walk out there to get in the car. I drive home, wondering what the fuck is wrong with him. And how we went from okay, to broken, to fucked in two-point-one seconds.
“Ry.” My door opens, and Rhianna sits next to me in the passenger seat. “You okay?”
“Mom came to see me today,” I tell her. “She told me not to press charges against Anderson.”
Rhianna grinds her teeth at my words.
I don’t tell her about August because, honestly, I don’t even know what’s going on.
“Of course she did. That would ruin her squeaky-clean reputation.” She leans over, placing her hand on my leg. “But you have to do it. You know that, right?” The same eyes as mine are staring back at me. “I met that girl he knocked up. She’s young, only a little older than Beckham. Think of all the ways he would manipulate her.” I cringe at her words. “You know I’m right because he did it to you.”
“I’m going to do it,” I state.
“Good. So, how is August, and why are you sitting in your car?”
“He told me to leave.”
“Awww, yes, those feelings have hit him hard.” She laughs. “I saw it play out on his face. It was like watching a musical with no music.”
“He doesn’t want me the same way I want him.”
“Yes, he does, but that man is confused as hell.” She gets out of the car and gestures for me to as well. Following her inside, she throws her arm around my shoulders, kicking the door shut once we’re inside. “I’m pretty sure he loves you, but maybe just give him time. He hasn’t had anyone care for him all of his life. His mother is a drunk, his father never existed in his life, and his so-called friends used him.”
“How do you know all this?”
“Noah,” she says, giving me her explanation. “Noah likes him, says he’s a good man. It’s the reason he fought so hard to get him out of that place.”
“But what is good anymore?” I say with a heavy sigh. “I never thought Anderson was evil, and I was so terribly wrong there.”
The door to our apartment is kicked open and Beckham’s gaze lands on me, his eyes red as he makes his way over to me.
When did he become a man?
“You’re okay?” he asks while scanning me up and down.
“I’m fine.” I reach out, pulling him in for a hug.
“Hey, how come she’s the favorite? You know we’re twins, right?” Rhianna jokes.
I pull back, smiling at Beckham. “Who told you?”
“I heard Mom and Dad arguing. Dad was going off.”
“What about?” Rhianna asks.
“Mom said she told you not to press charges, and Dad said she was a silly idiot for telling you that, and if you didn’t do it, he’ll do it for you.”
“Go, Dad,” Rhianna says. “I don’t think he’s ever gone against what she wants.”
“Rylee, you are the golden child to him,” Beckham says.
“Yeah, don’t we all know it,” Rhianna says with an eye roll, then she nudges me. “Ice cream and donuts?”
Beckham takes off his baseball hat and nods.
How can anyone say no to that combination?
Chapter 24
August
Noah tells me how Rylee is, and she called me last week. I haven’t seen her since the night I told her to leave.
What does she expect from me? I’m not a man who can give her what she wants. I have nothing to give. It’s not who I am.
“August.” I hear my name being called as I am finishing up the third coat of varnish on the final of the ordered desks. Turning off the music, I head around to the front of the house. My mother is standing on my porch, peeking in the window through the open blinds.
“What are you doing here, Carina?”
She turns fast and offers me a guilty smile.
Yes, guilty.
“You’ve done this place up nice.”
“Are you drunk?”
Her eyes go wide at the accusation. “No.”
“High, then?”
“No. Look, August… I know you hate me.” I harumph at her words as she walks down the steps to where I’m currently standing. “But I’ve come here as your mother.”