Plus, we were nothing to him in school.

He was a king.

I was nothing but a girl who went to school every day, trying to hide in the shadows.

“I better be going.” I pick up my drink and wander back to my sister, not looking back over my shoulder at the man with great arms and who thinks I am my sister. As soon as I reach her, her hand grabs mine, and she pulls me so we’re standing next to each other.

“I saw you chatting to August,” she whispers while her other hand stays in Noah’s. “I forgot to tell you this party… it’s for him. Noah got him out.”

Now it all makes sense.

“He’s an asshole.” I lift my drink and check over my shoulder. He’s exactly where I left him, staring at his drink as people mingle all around him.

Rhianna bumps me, and I turn to her. “You had a crush on him all through school. If you wanted to…” She glances back at him. “I mean… I bet he hasn’t had sex in a long time.” Her eyebrows wiggle at her suggestion.

“No. Just no.”

“I bet Anderson hasn’t ever made you come,” she finishes.

“Anderson,” a voice says from behind me.

Spinning around, I see August now standing there.

“August, you remember my sister,” Rhianna says.

“Of course, Rylee.” He winks at me, and I narrow my eyes at him.

The damn asshole. He knew my name all along and decided to upset me by using my sister’s name. Well, two can play that game.

“She had a major crush on you during school,” my sister tells him.

Oh, god. My cheeks go red at her words, and thankfully, before either of us can say anything, Noah walks over and taps August on the shoulder.

“You ready?” he asks.

August nods.

Rhianna leans in and kisses my cheek. “We’re going. You going back to mine?”

“Yeah, don’t think I want to head home just yet,” I tell her. I can feel August’s eyes on me as I speak, but I choose not to glance his way.

“Okay. I was going to stay at Noah’s, but I can come with you if you need me to.”

I hold up my hand. “No, don’t be silly. I can crash at yours.”

“I love you,” she says.

Noah waves as they head off. August stepping off first, not saying a word to me as he leaves.

And that’s probably for the best.

Chapter 4

August

The house is empty and lonely. Noah picked me up from the prison and drove me out to my new home. Not hearing voices yelling from another cell, which somehow became something I had expected to hear, made my first night here difficult, to say the least. I hardly slept, and when I couldn’t, I went out to the yard to tackle that. It’s quite clear no one has been here for what seems like forever. I’m glad Noah managed to get the house cleaned. If the yard is anything to go by, I would’ve hated to have seen it before it was tidied and scrubbed. And that’s saying something considering where I have spent the last six years. But then again, anything is better than there.

And I mean anything.

By the third day post-prison, the yard is looking better. It’s starting to resemble something like a normal house again.

“August.” I hear Paige’s voice before I see her. Turning around, my little sister jumps into my arms and wraps hers tight around me.

It’s the first time I have been hugged in a long time.

A very long time.

My hands hang at my sides because I don’t know what to do. Hugging is so damn foreign to me.

I see her father standing next to his car, not taking his eyes off of her for one second as she releases me. I ruffle her long hair as she pulls back.

“You look good, kid. So big.” She was a pipsqueak when I went away all those years ago, and the letters here and there occasionally containing a picture are nothing compared to what she’s like in person.

“I’m almost an adult, you know.”

My lips turn up in the corners at her words. “I’ve missed you.”

She leans back in and wraps her arms around me again.

“I’ve missed you more.” We stay like that for a little while until her father calls her name. “I told him he was either taking me, or I would find my own way to see you.”

“I would’ve come and seen you, squeak.” She’s my top priority of absolutes, but I needed to get my head on straight first.

“August.” Glenn, her father, walks across the yard and nods his head in my direction. “It’s good to see you.”

“Thanks for bringing her around.”

Glenn glances past me to the house. “You’ve done a lot in a few days. This place was starting to look haunted,” he says, then his eyes travel back to mine.

Tags: T.L. Smith Wicked Poison Erotic
Source: readsnovelonline.net