Color Me Pretty: A Father's Best Friend Romance

It was Ren who said, “Why wouldn’t you? She’s right. This place has become a hellhole for you, and if what you told us about Sam and her dad is true, then it’ll only get worse. You don’t need to be around to see that.”

I went to argue but couldn’t find the words. Were they right? I didn’t want to see the downfall of another trial, even if a new one showed my father wasn’t all that bad compared to the people who pinned it on him. Had he been involved in the crime he was charged for? Yes. It wasn’t only him though, and he didn’t deserve to be killed so he wouldn’t name anyone else.

I stared down at my hands. “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” I admitted in a whisper. I never thought about what it’d be like to leave because I never thought it’d be possible. My family and friends were here. Theo. His business.

Swallowing, I sighed and looked up as Sam and Gina were approaching. Chills crept down my spine as I held off from frowning. After what Kat told me, I didn’t want to be anywhere near Sam, and Gina was no better. She was the yes woman, doing anything Kat and Sam told her to without thinking.

I thought I heard Ren curse under his breath and get in front of me like he was going to use himself for a shield if it came to that.

“What do you want?” Tiffany asked Sam.

Sam ignored her and kept her cold eyes directly on me. We were never close. We hung out because she was friends with Kat, but I had no reason to believe she hadn’t liked me until the day I’d gone to Kat’s house all those weeks ago. Why would she when I did nothing to her? “Have you seen Kat?”

I peeked around Ren’s body some more to get a better view of her deadpanned expression. “No. Why?” Looking around the room like she’d be there, I shook my head slowly before seeing Gina standing off to the side biting nails that already looked rugged and torn. “What’s wrong with her?” I already knew the answer. She was acting like Kat was when I met her here, the sickly tone to her skin and eyes being a dead giveaway.

Gina was the one who was snorting the coke and not caring who was around to see it when I’d hung out with them. It made my stomach hurt.

“Don’t worry about her,” Sam snapped at me, stepping closer. “I know for a fact Kat was seen here with you yesterday. Where did she go after?”

“How am I supposed to know?” Stepping around Ren, I crossed my arms over my chest. Ren stayed close by my side and Tiffany even came closer. “I left before she did, Sam. I told her to get help. Just like I’ll tell you and Gina. You all—”

“I don’t care. I need to know where Kat is. If you don’t know then I’m out of here.” She grabbed Gina’s arm and yanked her away, shoving past a few girls huddled in their path while Gina protested.

Ren and Tiffany looked at me. It was Tiffany who asked, “You saw Kat yesterday? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Us,” Ren corrected skeptically. The disapproval was thick in his tone and I didn’t appreciate it. “You said Kat told you shit about Sam and her family, but I thought you meant over the phone. You two used to talk for hours that way when we were younger.”

What was I going to tell them? I wasn’t about to admit what I’d kept in my purse, or how I’d gone home crying until I fell asleep because I was upset over how bad Kat had been. It didn’t matter that I walked away freely, willingly, or that I handed her the drugs without much of a fight. It still hurt.

“We got into a fight. Sort of. I don’t know where she went afterwards. The bartender that was working isn’t here today, and I doubt he would even know.” I could try calling her, but if she wasn’t picking up for Sam and Gina, the girls that were closer to her than me, then I doubted she’d answer my call.

“I’m sure she’s okay.” Ren pulled me into him, squeezing my arm. “She’s almost as scary as Lauren. Determined, too. I’d be more willing to fight her though. Like Sam.”

“Yeah, what was that?” Tiffany snorted, setting her drink down. “No offense, but you’re not really built to fight.”

Ren did take offense to that. “For the right people, I would.”

She didn’t reply. Or blink. I knew how she took it the second her face drained of any expression. He hurt her feelings. Again. “Ren is protective of all his friends if he needs to be,” I tried telling her.

“Friends,” she murmured, downing her drink in one long gulp. “I think I’m going to head home. My mother is bringing a few new trainers by to help get me ready for the tour.”

“Tiff, wait. We can go together.”

She waved me off. “I’ll get a cab. Don’t worry about it. You and Ren have fun and try not to think about Ribbons or any other professor. You don’t need to anymore. While you’re at it, screw Kat and those other bitches. Trust me, girl. They’re not worth your time.”

I frowned when she weaved through people without looking back. When she disappeared out the front door, I smacked Ren until he whined and rubbed his arm while looking back at me. “Really?”

“What the hell did I do?”

“You upset her!”

“You’re the one who emphasized the friend thing, not me.” He dropped into a seat again and sighed. “She’ll be fine. She’s hard-headed.”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t worry.”

“Only you,” he mused. “I know you’re not supposed to think about school, but I’m curious, and this has nothing to do with Ribbons. What ever happened to that project you said Ambrose had offered you? You never brought it up again after you mentioned it a while ago. It was about that class that starts this summer, right?”

That class. The one where she wanted me to model naked in front of a bunch of strangers I didn’t know, who probably knew me through newspapers and TV reports casted from the trial since they decided to televise the event. I hadn’t told anybody but Tiffany about it because I was worried about what they’d say. Not even Theo knew more than the basics.