Ride or Die (Rejects Paradise 4)

Sebastian puts on his signal, and I watch him begin to make a turn, only when I go to drive straight past, Kairo is there, forcing my hand until I turn the goddamn wheels.

They’re leading me somewhere, and I honestly don’t know if I should be okay with this. But knowing these guys more than I know myself, I stop fighting it and allow them to lead me around until we’re all coming to a stop in an empty parking lot in the next town over.

I watch as Sebastian gets out of his car and glance in my mirrors to watch Kai and Eli do the same. They start making their way toward the Audi, and unless I want them to break the window to get me out, then I better behave and do as they want.

After unlocking the door, I swing it open and slowly get out, unsure of what I'm about to be faced with. The door closes, and I stand right by it, not ready to move. The three of them crowd me, completely blocking any way of escape, each of them with the same look of disapproval and disappointment shining brightly in their eyes.

I glance around at each of them, really not sure what I’m supposed to say. “I, uhh …”

“No,” Kairo says, holding up a hand to cut me off. “We speak. You listen.”

I clench my jaw, wanting to let him know exactly what I think of his shitty tone, but I know better than to make matters worse right now. So I nod and wait to hear what they have to say, knowing that no matter how much they must hate me right now, they’ll never hurt me.

Each of them remains quiet, and I realize that this isn’t exactly a planned trip. None of them know what they want to say to me. All they know is that it has to be fixed.

Kai continues staring, shooting daggers at me while Eli just looks broken and sad, so I turn my stare on Sebastian, knowing that he’ll be the first to break.

“You fucked up, O,” he says, the betrayal thick in his tone. “You turned your back on us and went to the fucking Wolves. How could you do that? You’re like a little fucking sister to me. You’re supposed to be family.”

I shake my head. “I am still your family,” I tell him. “Apart from Mom and Colton, you three are the only family I have, which is exactly why I had to do what I did. I didn’t fuck up. If only you knew—”

“That Nic killed your father?” Eli questions. “Yeah, we already fucking know.”

My brows shoot up as the betrayal sinks in hard. They knew about this and didn’t tell me. How could they? “You know?”

“Yeah,” he scoffs. “We had to find out from your little boyfriend after you disappeared and joined the fucking Wolves. I was with you all morning. You should have been the one to tell me. You should have been honest.”

“Are you kidding me?” I scoff. “You three have done nothing but lie to me since the beginning of time. What was I supposed to do? Come and tell you that your big bad leader fucked up and killed my daddy, only to have you fuckers tell me it’s just Nic being Nic and still stand by his side? You wouldn’t have chosen my side, and you know it. You would have tried to talk me out of it, and Nic would have gotten away with it, but I can’t just stand by and let that happen. Nic is going down, and you three are going to stay out of my way. Otherwise, you'll only end up going down with him.”

Kairo steps into me. “Is that a threat?”

“No,” I snap back at him. “I’m just telling you like it is, and you know that. It’s a fact. The Wolves are going after Nic, and if you get in the way, they won’t hesitate to take you out. Don’t act so surprised. You know that’s how it works. I would never threaten you guys. I told them to keep you all out of it, but they don’t play by my rules.” I let out a sigh and push off the side of the car, stepping in closer to my boys. “I know it doesn’t seem like it, but you really are family to me, and I really hate the disgusted way you’re all looking at me.”

Sebastian shakes his head. “Can you blame us? You went to the Wolves. We would have handled it. We saw how hurt you were after your dad died.”

“Really?” I scoff. “You would have helped me even though my father was a Wolf? You would have gone against Nic?” All three of them give me guilty expressions, and just like that, I know the truth. “And that right there,” I tell them. “Is why I had to go to the Wolves. You’re all stuck so far up Nic’s ass that you can’t even see what’s right in front of you.”