Page 64 of Brutal Reign
“Don’t ask,” she grumbles.
“She said to just ignore them,” Hayden chirps, grinning right at me as she says it.
Yeah, this girl’s gonna be a problem.
I glare back at her, stabbing my fork into a piece of broccoli. “We just wanted to catch up with Riv since we’re her oldest friends,” I say before stuffing it into my mouth, smiling around my fork.
Hayden rolls her eyes. “Yeah, then where have you been for the past three years when she’s beenmybest friend?” she scoffs, picking up her fork to tuck into her own meal.
“It was complicated,” Ace grumbles.
Hayden turns her attention to Ace, shrugging a shoulder as she sets her fork back down with a soft clink. “Well, let’s hear it then,” she says, pushing her plate out of the way to rest her arms on the tabletop. “I’ve got time.”
River snorts a laugh, and I turn to face her again, leaning in close. “I don’t like her,” I growl under my breath.
She finally flickers a glance in my direction, the corner of her mouth tugging up in a little smirk. “You’re free to leave, then.”
My jaw clenches in frustration. “No,” I force out through gritted teeth.
“Then deal with it,” she remarks, flipping her long ponytail over a shoulder. “She’s my friend, and up until recently, you guys weren’t. So, if you wanna get on my good side and actually be friends again, you’ll play nice.”
I make a scoffing sound in my throat.
Riv narrows her eyes on me in challenge. “Dare you.”
I stare back at her, my heart tripping over its valves as I get lost in those hazel eyes. Well shit, Ididsay I’d do whatever it took to earn her forgiveness if she just told me what it was. She’s got me by the balls here, so I turn back to River’s purple-haired friend and force a fake-as-fuck smile to my lips.
“Hi, Hayden,” I grit out, no doubt looking goddamn deranged while both smiling and glaring.
Her smug grin widens as she lifts a hand, wiggling her fingers in a teasing little wave. “Hi, Seb. You’re looking extra surly today.”
My fauxsmiledissolves on a dime.Who the fuck does this girl think she is?
“Is it because your girlfriend left you for Jake?” she asks, batting her lashes while feigning sympathy. “It’s gotta be a blow to the ego when even the resident tramp gets sick of your shit.”
My hands curl into fists atop the table. This girl is obviously trying to bait me, but I’ll be damned if I let her.
Hayden clocks my reaction, a satisfied smirk curving her lips. When I don’t respond, she doubles down, hissing in a breath through her teeth and shaking her head. “Hate to break it to you, babe, but you’re barking up the wrong tree here. My bestie isn’t interested in Chandler’s sloppy seconds.”
I shove up from the bench, biting my tongue against firing off a retort that’ll put me right back in the doghouse with River. I need to walk away before I say something I’ll regret– or worse, put Hayden in her place by telling her that fate hand-picked herbestieforme. Snatching my half-eaten plate of dinner off the table, I turn and stomp away, pacing over to the nearest wash bin and tossing it in with a clatter. Then I continue to the exit, my movements stiff from the tension bunching up my muscles.
If this isn’t an exercise in self-restraint, I don’t know what is. I’m not known for backing down– quite the opposite, actually– but I’m not about to blow this whole thing over a few bitchy comments made by that purple-haired princess. She’s inconsequential. River’s opinion of me is the only one that matters.
Not that it’s great currently, but I’m fucking working on it.
The heat of the day is still clinging to the air when I push through the main doors of the complex, storming outside and flinching as they bang closed behind me. I’m wound up tighter than a goddamn bowstring, seconds away from losing my shit. Too bad Jake isn’t out here right now to release some of this aggression on. Nobody is, and that’s probably a good thing.
I pace along the side of the building before stopping to lean back against it, stabbing my fingers through my hair and releasing a growl of frustration. Then the doors open again, and I snap my head around to see who it is, a relieved breath fizzling from my lungs when Ace steps outside to join me.
He doesn’t say a word as he starts toward me– just flips his hood up over his head and reaches into the front pocket of his sweatshirt to pull out a joint and his lighter. He leans against the wall beside me and sparks it up, the two of us passing it back and forth silently. After a few hits, the tension in my muscles starts to dissipate, my aggravation waning.
“This sucks,” I grit out.
“I know, bro,” Ace sighs, flicking ash off the tip of the smoldering joint. “But she’s worth it, right?”
“Of course she’s fucking worth it,” I snap, snatching the spliff from him and taking another hit. I drop my head back against the wall behind me as I exhale, allowing my eyes to close for a few seconds.
Ace plucks the joint from my fingers, raising it to his lips for one last drag before tossing the roach to the ground and stomping it out. “Wanna go for a run?” he asks.