Reveal (Wicked Ways #2)(8)
“Stop saying you’re fine when you’re obviously not.”
“It was just a fight,” I lie, needing him out of here, Ryker out of here. “Just . . . just please don’t start anything.”
He runs a hand through his sandy-blond hair and blows out a sigh as if he doesn’t quite believe me. “I don’t like him.”
A self-deprecating laugh falls from my mouth. “Right now, I don’t like him much either.” Tears threaten. “Lucy’s ready to go. She just needs to get her shoes on.”
“Vaughn.” His hand grabs mine as I turn to go back into the house, and the mask I’m trying to hide my emotions behind threatens to crumble. He waits until I face him to speak again. “I . . . you know I’m here for you, right? Not just with Lucy, but . . . we’ve become friends through all of this, and if you need help, all you have to do is ask.”
“I know. Thank you. It’ll be—”
“Fine. I know,” he says.
I give his hand a squeeze and push back open the front door to find Ryker kneeling down and finishing tying Lucy’s shoes. “You ready, Lucy?” I ask, ignoring Ryker as he turns my way. “Come and give me a hug. Joey has to get you back. You’re having a special movie night tonight.” I infuse enthusiasm in my voice to match the smile plastered to my face.
Lucy’s arms slide around my waist, and those bright-blue eyes look up to meet mine. “Can Mr. Ryker come to the movie night?”
For some reason, that simple question throws me off and has me stumbling for a response. “Um . . . not tonight, Luce. Mr. Ryker has plans.”
Her cheeks turn pink, and she makes kissy-kissy sounds that cause a lump to form in my throat. “Can you make sure he’s on my list of people who can come see me?”
“Lucy—”
“Please, Auntie?”
“Yes. Sure.” Anything to get you to leave before I break down.
“Tell Joey that it’s okay for Mr. Ryker to see me,” she pleads and squeezes me tighter.
“Lu—”
“I don’t have a lot of friends, and he’s my friend and makes me happy and—”
“Fine. Yes.” I nod and then look up to Joey. “Please add Ryker to her visitors’ list.”
“Vaughn?” Joey asks, and I can see Ryker physically bristle at him for questioning me.
“I’m serious. Ryker can visit her.”
“Sure. Yep.” Irritation laces Joey’s every syllable. “You ready, Luce? We need to head out.”
We say our goodbyes—the awkwardness less so as we all try to shelter her from the obvious fight between Ryker and me.
CHAPTER TWO
Vaughn
The door closes behind them, leaving us bathed in a tense silence. But the minute I hear Joey’s car start, I speak.
“It’s best if you leave, Ryker.”
“I’m not going anywhere until I explain.” He reaches out to grab my hand.
“Don’t you dare touch me!” I shout at him as I yank my hand away and move to put distance between us. My glare holds his as he opens his mouth and shuts it, most likely trying to decide the best plan of attack. “You don’t get to say what you said and then come here and pretend like it never happened.”
It’s only been a day—the hurt so raw, so real—and when I look at him, I feel like it’s my heart beneath his foot where he stands.
“There’s an explanation.”
“No. There’s not.” Those three words sound like every emotion I have has been scraped up and used to utter them. “There will never be an explanation good enough to excuse what you said about me. To me. To him.” The first tear slips over and slides down my cheek, and I hate my body for betraying me. For showing him that he has in fact hurt me. “Please leave.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Vaughn. You’re going to listen to me, and you’re going to listen to me now.”
“There you go again, thinking I care about anything you say when you were offering me up to Carter. You don’t own me. You don’t have the right to say a goddamn thing to me, and I don’t owe you shit that I have to listen.”
“You were never supposed to hear any of it.” His voice is low, his own emotion raw in the sound of it.
“Am I supposed to apologize for that? The door was open. I simply walked in. It wasn’t some planned eavesdropping. Am I supposed to say I’m sorry that I did?” He shakes his head, but I continue before he cuts me off. “I can only imagine what else you would have said if I hadn’t interrupted you.”
“I was setting him up, Vaughn. I was recording the whole thing on my phone, and—”
“You were what?” I screech, my mind spinning over the fact that somewhere in some digital cloud my name is being linked together as Vee and Vaughn, and there’s nothing I can do about it.
“I was doing it to use against him,” he says. “To—”
“What about it being used against me?”
“That’s not—I wouldn’t—c’mon, Vaughn,” he struggles to explain. “I already deleted it.”
My laugh is low, unforgiving, and automatic, and as feasible as his explanation could be, I reject it immediately. “And that’s supposed to make me feel better?” I shake my head in disbelief. “You broke my trust. You outed me. You acted like what we had was all a lie to a person who I despise. You—”