“North Star,” I said. I stepped forward.
North wrapped me up into his arms. He brushed the hair from the side of my head, dropping his lips to kiss me close by the ear. “Be good. Listen to Nathan. Don’t let Kota give you any grief about last night. Don’t get into any trouble tonight.” He kissed my forehead before releasing me. “I’ll be back for you.”
I was still blushing as I backed off, realizing the others had witnessed North kissing me. North started up the bike, kicked off and rolled down the drive. Soon, he disappeared around the bend.
When I turned back to Nathan and Gabriel, they were both gazing at me with expressions I didn’t understand.
Gabriel tilted his head toward Nathan. “So... when do we get to kidnap Sang and take her to the beach overnight?”
THE LINE
BETWEEN BETRAYAL
AND HONESTY
I followed Gabriel into the house. Nathan went back to finish the lawn.
The family room was clustered with the furniture brought in from the living room. There was a large red stain on the carpet by the fireplace in the back.
“You should have seen it this morning,” Gabriel said. “Nathan and Kota cleared out all the beer cans and shit.”
“Where did they get them from?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “They won’t talk to us.”
There was noise coming from the living room, so I followed the sound. Victor was on the floor on his knees, painting along the baseboard in the living room. His Armani shirt, the sleeves rolled to his elbows, was splotched with paint, too. He was in a pair of jeans that may have been Kota’s or Gabriel’s as they looked a bit long for his legs. It was an unusual sight to see him in something so casual.
“Victor?” I called to him. He didn’t budge. He kept applying the brush to spots along the wall.
It stunned me for a moment. Was he ignoring me? I glanced at Gabriel.
Gabriel clapped his hands loudly. “Oy!” he shouted at Victor.
Victor blinked and then sat up, turning. When he saw me, he stood up and yanked headphones out of his ear. “About time,” he said.
I nearly skipped over to him. He wrapped his arms around my waist, hugging me tightly.
“Hi, Victor,” I said in a quiet voice. He smelled of paint, and the fumes from the room were overwhelming as it was. I ended up holding my breath.
“Hi, Princess,” he said. “Did you have fun?” He leaned his head back and looked at me, a brown eyebrow rising above his fire eyes. “Looks like you did.”
“The bike ride messed up my hair. But I brought muffins.”
Victor laughed. He kissed my cheek once before he backed off, still holding on to my hand. He turned to Gabriel. “Are we done?”
“I’m fucking done,” Gabriel said. “Painting rooms white is shit. Remind me not to get a job painting. Ever.” He leaned over snagging my hand and tugging me toward the kitchen. “Except your room. I want to paint your room. And what kind of muffins are these?”
“Chocolate chip cappuccino,” I said. “I think they’re my new favorite.”
They both seemed to perk up at this. Gabriel opened the bag, dumping the muffins onto the kitchen table.
Victor picked one up, gazing at the rest. “How many did he buy?”
“All of them,” I said.
Gabriel laughed. “I think North is now in the lead as to who is spoiling you the most.”
“Not quite,” Victor said with a quiet smile.
I sat on the counter, opening one of the muffins. Seeing them again and remembering how good the first one had been, I found new room in my stomach for another.
Victor climbed up beside me, sitting close enough that our thighs were pressing together. He leaned over me a bit and watched as I took a bite. “Is it good?”
I was going to hand it over, but he caught my wrist and drew the muffin to his mouth. He kept his eyes locked on my face as he took a bite.
I tried to smother the loopy smile on my face at this.
He pushed my hand back, releasing me and chewed, then licking his lips. “Not bad,” he said.
Gabriel snatched one up from the table, opened it and started eating. “Man, I didn’t realize I was starving.” He cocked his head, his eyes shifting like he was thinking about something. “Hang on a second,” he said and he passed the muffin to Victor. “I have new vitamins for you.”
I groaned.
“Doc’s orders,” he said. He walked out, heading toward the stairs. He must have placed his things in my room.
“Is everyone still spending the weekend here?”
Victor smirked. “That’s our plan?”
“I think so,” Gabriel said.
“Well, if nothing else happens,” he said. He focused on his shirt, poking at one of the paint spots.
“How’d the massage class go?” I asked.
“Besides Adam trying to hit on me a few times, it wasn’t bad. Learned a few things.”
My lips parted, and my tongue darted around, looking for the question I wanted to ask—Adam hitting on Victor? How? I could almost picture it. Did he play with Victor’s hair?
Victor’s eyes sparked and his smile fully formed. He leaned over, his hand flat on the counter slid close to my butt as his chest met my arm. He whispered close to my cheek. “How’d you like the hotel on the beach?”
“It... was nice,” I said quietly.
“If you like it,” he said, “maybe we should go next time.”
My heart flipped. “Us?”
He dropped the muffin on the counter and brought his hand around to my face, sliding a fingertip along the edge of my jaw. “If you want. There’s a nice one in Isle of Palms. Or we could rent one of the beach houses in Kiawah.”
“We don’t need to,” I said. And then I felt guilty about how I said it, because I made it sound like I didn’t want to, but there was another reason. “We don’t need to spend money on...”
His finger slid over until it crossed my lips. He pulled his head back until I could catch the amused flicker of the fire. “Do I have to get someone to get into a fight with Rocky on your front lawn to take you somewhere nice?”
“No,” I said quickly around his finger.
“I wouldn’t suggest it if I couldn’t do it,” he said. He released my lips and then traced his finger down to my chin, tilting it. “If I said I’d rented a house for the weekend and wanted you to come with me, would you?”
“Yes,” I said. And it was true. For Victor, I’d go wherever he wanted. I’d go where any of them asked me to go. I wanted to make them happy.
He bit his lower lip, like he was holding back a grin. He leaned in and kissed my cheek, close to my mouth. It was a slow kiss. His lips were puckered and he held there for so long, I thought he wasn’t going to move again.
And I was tempted in the moment to turn my head. It was all it would take for our lips to meet. The thought nagged at me for so long, it was like he was thinking the same thing, and remained as still as he could while I tried to figure it out.
Or he was stuck there, because the Academy told him he couldn’t. This was as close as he dared.
I moaned softly, frustrated again by the limitations. And he thought we could go somewhere together for a weekend? Silas had said I was killing him, and now I knew what he meant.
It was killing me, too. And I didn’t even know what I was up against.
“Hey, hey,” Gabriel said. “No fucking around in the kitchen. That’s how we start fires.”
Victor pulled away from me and smirked, keeping his eyes on my face. “Too late,” he said.
Gabriel’s crystal eyes slid from Victor to me and back to Victor. “Something going on?”
“No,” Victor said quickly and then slid off the counter, picking up the muffin.
Gabriel turned back to me, and then shot me a thousand silent questions: Was I okay? What was he doing?
I picked up my own muffin again instead of answering. I didn’t know how to
bring this up and since Victor dodged it, I thought I was supposed to as well.
Gabriel rolled his eyes and shook a bottle of new vitamins at me. “Take one of these.”
I took one of the pills with some water and then started eating my muffin again. I’d taken a few bites when Kota walked in, trailed by Nathan.
Kota was wearing jeans and a green polo, with a blue zip-up jacket. With his tanned skin and his build, he was extremely handsome. I had to admire the thickness of his arms, nowhere near Nathan’s mass but plenty noticeable with what he was wearing now. The only thing missing was his friendly smile, because his face was strained with worry.
Kota took one look at me on the counter and his eyes narrowed.
My heart skipped at seeing him and the concern from his face, and then dropped again when I caught that he wasn’t happy.
“Where’s North?” Kota asked in a low voice.
I took another bite of muffin just to find more time to think of what to say. “He... had to go clean up before going to the diner.”
“You were gone all night,” he said. “I just wanted him to get you away from the party.”
“He kind of did that.” I didn’t mean to play like this, but I couldn’t help it. It was probably rude and I felt guilty the moment I said it.
“By taking you all the way out to the beach? What happened to you? Why do you look like you’ve been up all night?”
I cringed. I couldn’t lie but I didn’t want to tell him the truth. I held out the half muffin I had left. “Muffin?”
Kota did a small eye roll. “Please tell me he at least had you wear a helmet.”
There was a right answer to this, and I knew it but I didn’t want to start talking about one thing and then get roped into answering questions about the whole evening. I wanted North to be here because I wasn’t sure how much he wanted the others to know. Dodging felt safest. “It’s chocolate chip cappuccino.”
Kota strolled forward and planted his palms on either side of my thighs, gazing at me intently. “Sang, don’t get cute with me. What happened?”
I blushed, lowering the muffin. I sighed. His eyes were relentless, firing off questions. I couldn’t not answer him, because I wanted him to be happy with me, but I was concerned he wouldn’t like the truth. “We rode out to the beach. He showed me the lighthouse. I fell in the water.”
“Whoa, hey,” Nathan said. “You fell in?”
“I wanted to touch the water but I didn’t know about the riptides.”
Kota placed a gentle hand on my knee. “Then what happened?”
“He fished me out and we were both soaked. So we stayed the night at the hotel. We got muffins for breakfast.” And then I remembered the most important detail. “We spotted Mr. McCoy.” There. That had to be more important than where North took me and being mad about it.
They all flinched at this. “What?” Kota asked. “You saw McCoy? Where?”
I described the cafe, when I saw McCoy, and how he’d seemed to disappear.
“The lady he was talking to,” Kota said. “Could you describe her?”
I did. “But you guys said he was gone,” I said. “I thought you had him somewhere. But if he’s out there...”
Kota frowned. He tugged at my hips to get me to slide off the counter. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders, holding me to him. “I told you not to worry about him, and I meant it.”
“Hendricks wants to talk to him.”
“That won’t happen.” He stepped back, rubbing my arms. “Look at me,” he said, pausing until I did. “When Hendricks asks, you’re going to tell him you thought you spotted him but you didn’t catch him, so you don’t know where he went.”
I stared at him, and his green eyes locked with mine. There were heavy shadows under his eyes, like he’d been up all night.
I felt guilty now. Not that I shouldn’t have said something, but North and I had escaped the chaos and at least had gotten some sleep. These boys stayed up all night to fix a mess that wasn’t theirs. Now I just gave them another problem. How could they be so sure Mr. McCoy wasn’t going to come after us... or me?
Kota frowned, as if he’d been able to read my thoughts. His hands slid up slowly until he was cupping my cheeks between his palms. He forced me to keep my eyes on his face and focus. “You’re safe with us,” he said. “Stay with us and you will be. You know I’ll make sure.”
I couldn’t answer him. I wanted to. I trusted him, or I thought I did, but a thousand ‘what if’ scenarios played through my head. There was always a time when I couldn’t have them next to me, or they all had to disappear. What then? And it wasn’t just Mr. McCoy, it seemed everyone lately was out to get me, us. Would any of us be safe?
I tried to push those fears aside. It wouldn’t do any good. Mr. Blackbourne said not to worry about what ifs. I tried to believe Kota. “Won’t Hendricks go to Folly Beach to look for him?” I asked.
“Maybe. This might be a good thing. We’ll give him someone else to chase for a while.” He looked up, nodding to Victor. “We need to go.”
Victor frowned. “I want to stay.”
“We’ve got work,” he said. He turned to me. “Are you okay?”
“I’ve got muffins,” I said quietly.
Kota smiled. He picked up the muffin I’d set aside, taking a bite out of the edge. He licked his lips. “Actually, these are pretty good.”
“I’m staying with Sang,” Nathan said.
“Me, too,” Gabriel said. “We’re going out tonight.”
“Not until she talks to her sister,” Kota said.
I groaned. I really didn’t feel like a confrontation. There’d been too many.
“Please?” Kota asked. That struck me hard because I’d never heard him beg, so the way he did now made me want to jump up and do anything for him. “This throwing parties thing has to end. You’re the only one who is able to stand up to her.”
Except I didn’t want to do that. I never went looking to fight with Marie, and I was sure this would lead to one. Still, he was right. I nodded slowly at Kota. I wasn’t happy with the idea, but I’d do what he asked.
He turned to Nathan, handing him the rest of the muffin. “Make sure she does.”
“Okay, boss.” Nathan took the muffin, finishing off the rest in two bites and licking the smudges of chocolate from his fingers.
Kota’s hand wound around the back of my head. He bent his head, dropping a quick kiss on my brow. “Be good,” he said.
“Why does everyone tell me that?” I asked. “When am I ever not good?”
The guys laughed. Victor moved in, gave me a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek and then followed Kota out the side door.
After they left, Gabriel turned on Nathan. “So when did everyone get to kiss Sang?”
Nathan’s eyebrows went up. “What?”
Gabriel held up his fingers, counting off. “North, Kota, Luke and Victor.” Gabriel turned to me, snapping. “Oy. Get over here.” He pointed to his cheek. “Where’s my kiss?”
I took a half step forward, but Nathan planted himself between us, his back to me. “No,” he said. “You can’t do that?”
“Why not?” Gabriel asked. “She was going to. She’s already done it to the others.”
“We’re not allowed to...” Nathan glanced over his shoulder at me. “I mean we can’t...”
I sighed. There were the words. Can’t. Shouldn’t. It didn’t sound right coming from their lips. “Funny,” I said. “I thought Academy guys could do anything.”
I walked away toward the stairs, secretly enjoying the stunned expressions on both of their faces. Had I made a point? Had I shown that I knew about their rule and that I thought it was stupid? I hoped so.
Upstairs on the landing, I knocked at Marie’s door. I wanted to get this part over with.
I heard footsteps and readied myself. I flinched when Danielle poked her head out from the open door. She looked me over once and then up at my head. “Someone had a wild nigh
t.”
“I need to talk to Marie,” I said, my voice a little shaky.
“We’re busy,” she said.
“Now,” I said, in a tone much stronger than before. Kota’s begging motivating me. I wanted to make sure to get this over with so he had one less thing to worry about.
Danielle smirked as she backed away from the door, opening it. “Marie, your sister wants you.”
I stepped in, stopping short. There were heaps of clothing piled up around the edges of the room. Marie’s school books sat in the corner, unused. There were paper plates and soda cans overflowing from a trash bin in another corner. The closet was open, nothing hanging up, and all the clothes and other things were piled on the floor inside.
Marie sat on the bed, flipping through a Cosmopolitan magazine. Where did she get that? Had Danielle brought it over?
She glanced up at me. “What?”
“No more parties,” I said.
Marie narrowed her eyes at me. “You can’t tell me what to do.”
“If there’s another party, and the police get called, they’ll call our dad. They’ll ask questions.”
Danielle stepped over a pile of clothes to sit on the corner of the bed. “No one called the cops. We were fine.”
“The house was destroyed,” I said. “The boys worked all night and morning to clean it. They even had to repaint the living room.”
“Isn’t that nice of them?” Danielle flicked a smile. “At first they were really irritating, but I see why you keep them around. We didn’t have to pick up anything.”
From the state of the bedroom, I wasn’t sure they would have. “We got lucky last time,” I said. “But don’t throw another one. Not unless you want to end up in foster care or...”
“No,” Marie said, pointing in my direction. “You’ll end up in foster care. I’ll stay here. I’m only a few months away from turning eighteen.”
“You still have a few months,” I said. “They can still—”
“They won’t do anything to me,” Marie said. “When I turn 18, if my mom isn’t back yet, I get to take over the house. It belongs to her, so it’s mine.”