Page 152 of Forever Relentless

“Hey.” I showed her my phone, and she looked up at me in question.

“Briar read it.”

“Oh.” She moved away and looked at Dustin, who was watching us. “Shit.”

“Yeah, and then she called her brother.”

Hadley’s eyes were wide.

“And then she told him I was there, and he did not take it well.”

“Fuck.”

“What the fuck is happening?” Dust asked, moving forward. “I feel like I’m missing out. Why am I missing out?”

Hadley and I exchanged a look. She wrinkled her nose and then gave a very quick recap, where I don’t think she paused for breath, but she told him everything.

“You did what?”

Yup. That was the reaction we expected. Dustin glowered at me. It was the thing to do this morning, it seemed.

“You did this behind my back?” he asked me.

“We did,” Hadley tried to defend me.

“No,” he didn’t look at her as he shook his head. “You, I expected this from. You?” He was frowning as he turned to me. “You did all this with my girl and Mason without telling Dante or me? Are you for real?”

“I was already benched, I had nothing else—”

“Do not fucking say ‘to lose’ or I will punch you. I don’t care how fucking big you are, I will fucking punch you.”

Fair. He was right. I’d done exactly what I always did — made the decision alone to protect everyone from the fallout. And they’d both paid for it.

“You need to leave.” Dustin headed to the door.

Hadley made a squawk of protest. “Dustin! This is my—”

“You and me, we’re fighting next, but for now, this one leaves,” he told her coldly.

“Fine.” I left them to it.

By the time I got back to the dorm room, Dante was there, up to date, and clearly waiting for me.

“I can explain,” I said with a sigh. I’d been dreading this confrontation the most.

“Please. Do. I can’t wait.”

And my day was just getting worse.

Chapter 29

Briar

I took a long shower, fumed internally at the fuckery of it all, and then blow-dried my hair with a vengeance.

I called my brother back.

He didn’t answer.