Thrive (Addicted, #4)(65)

After the girls are gone, Julian says to Ryke, “You want to fuck her, that’s fine. Just stop getting in my way.”

Ryke charges forward, “You motherfucking…” And then Connor steps between them.

“We’re in public,” he announces.

“Let’s go outside then,” Julian says. “He wants a fight—”

“You’re not fighting my brother, Julius. Leave it alone.” I grab Ryke by the arm. “We’re going.” I drag him towards the exit.

“How can you put up with him?” he growls at me, turning his back on them with rigid joints.

“I can’t,” I say. “That’s why I’m heading out this door. I walk away from fights all the time. You should try it once in a while.” I push open the door and squint at the bright sun.

“Yeah?” he says, shielding his eyes with his hand.

“Yeah.”

Between Scott and Julian, I’ve reached my limit on dealing with people I don’t like.

That’s Connor’s game, not mine.





{ 29 }

0 years : 08 months April





LILY CALLOWAY


Lo and I curl on the couch, rereading Avengers: The Children’s Crusade together.

Even though this is our fifth read-through, Lo flips the pages so slowly, allowing my mind to take mental detours.

Not the sexual kind.

The wedding infiltrates my brain, especially since Rose asked me what color bridesmaids dresses I preferred this morning. Like always, I told her to choose.

I can’t believe I’m just twenty-one, on the path to marriage when all I really wished was to walk down the aisle with my head on straight.

Emotionally ready for something so serious.

My wishes have not come true.

Everyone fears I’ll become the runaway bride. No one says it, but I see it in their eyes. But it could just be my own fears, my own reflection staring back at me.

The front door blows open, and dressed in his usual button-down and slacks, Connor shuts it behind him. At the same time he sets his sights on the staircase, Rose’s heels clap down it. She latches onto his wrist, her eyes pulsing with hot fury.

I thought if Rose lost her virginity to Connor, their relationship would be less volatile, filled with even less verbal sparring and wit that tosses my brains. Wrong. They still fight in French, and she still looks at him like she could rip off his balls.

I crane my neck over the couch to watch them, too curious.

Connor pries her gingerly off his wrist. “I think I know where the bedroom is.”

“We’re not having sex right now.” She doesn’t even attempt to lower her voice.

So the fight is about sex?

“All I meant was that I can lead myself upstairs. I said nothing about sex.”

Oh. Never mind.

Connor slides past Rose mid-stair and disappears out of my view. Shit.

Rose huffs and says, “We don’t have time to accommodate your ego.” She stomps upstairs behind him, out of earshot.

I sit up, untangling myself from Lo while he continues to read the comic. I check the internet on his phone, popping up Twitter, and Lo watches me out of the corner of his eye. When I search #LilyCalloway, brutal messages appear.

@NorthGuy77: Do you know how many diseases #LilyCalloway must have? I wouldn’t go near that twat.

@DaniellaESP: #LilyCalloway’s vagina has to be huge.

A lump rises to my throat. I have to switch to a different hashtag.

@RealityTV89: Lily and Lo are the absolute cutest AND sexiest couple on TV. If you’re not watching #PoPhilly, you suck.

It’s a bit disheartening that people don’t like me, by myself, but when they talk about me with Lo, they gush. But I’ll take the good with the bad. I’m not that choosy.

“Lil,” Lo says, closing his paperback comic. “Stop going on Twitter. It’s not healthy.”

“That’s the first time I checked it all day,” I defend before logging off. I pull up Celebrity Crush and my heart does an extra pump at the headline: RE-POLL: Who Should Lily Calloway Be With? Loren Hale or Ryke Meadows? by Wendy Collins.

Great.

Of course I remember the poll months ago where Lo lost to his brother. Wendy Collins most likely wants to see if opinions differ after the show aired. I swallow the lodged pebble in my throat and click into the article.

I scroll down to the poll and vote for Loren. The minute I click his name, the current results fill the screen.

Ryke Meadows: 12%

Loren Hale: 88%

“Ohmygod!” I flinch back, nearly jumping on the cushions, and hit Lo’s arm repeatedly. “You’re eighty-eight percent!”

Confused wrinkles crease his forehead. “Eighty-eight percent what?”

I frown, not sure how to phrase it. “Eighty-eight percent of a winner against your brother…”

He tosses his paperback comic onto the coffee table and leans into me to read the article. He laughs and meets my eyes. “I guess those rumors will start ending now.”

I didn’t even realize…but yeah, they will. If people are starting to believe that Lo and I are an actual, real couple, not for appearance or for publicity but because we’re in love, then they’ll forget about Ryke as a three-way option.