Page 17 of Vicious Desire (Fallen Royals 4)
Her scowl fades, and puzzlement overtakes her. “What are you doing here?”
I stride into the apartment, and she moves out of my way.
Good thing, too, because I’m not in any sort of mood to slow down. “Where’s Caleb?”
“Sleeping,” she grumbles. “Like I was just a few minutes ago—”
I shake my head. “Sleep is for the weak.”
Caleb opens the bedroom door. As soon as he sees me, he rolls his eyes. “The fuck, dude?”
“I dropped out,” I announce. I fall onto their couch.
The apartment really is quite cozy. It’s a blend of their styles, and it feels like they both have equal footing here. An interesting change to Emery-Rose’s halls.
“I’m going back to bed,” Margo grumbles. “You deal with him.”
Caleb sits. His gaze is fastened to me, and he waits.
The bastard is good at waiting me out.
“I just couldn’t do it,” I say. “It was too much.”
“Was your dad pissed?”
“He wants me to get a job.” I cross my arms. “I’m rethinking everything. And now that I’m back in Rose Hill…”
“Riley?” Caleb asks.
“I can’t scrub her out of my mind.” And it’s pissing me off. Only a small part of me wants to forget about her—the part that applied to college in Maine and actually went there—but the rest of me hums with electricity around her.
Not that she knows I’ve been around her, per se.
He sighs. “Me telling you what to do has never ended well. So… what are you going to do?”
I avoid his gaze. “Find a job. Figure out what the hell I want to do with my life. And… Yeah, maybe I want to see Riley suffer a bit after what she did.”
He snickers. “Maybe, huh?”
Is that my main reason for coming home?
“I hate that she betrayed my whole fucking family right under my nose, and we didn’t find out for months. What kind of fuckery is that?”
“Maybe she wanted to hurt you,” Margo offers from the door. “Since you hurt her first.”
“I didn’t hurt her.” I scowl. “Is that what she said?”
“That’s what I know,” she says. “She wouldn’t tell me what happened.”
I raise my eyebrow. “Even now? You have no idea. I’m supposed to accept that?”
Caleb makes a noise in the back of his throat. “Easy, man.”
Margo narrows her eyes. “What did she even do?”
I stand, not ready to admit Riley’s treachery to her best friend. I am coping with a weird combination of emotions, and they twist like fighting snakes in my stomach. I need to get home and work out this anxious energy.
“I need to talk to you privately,” I say to Caleb. I eye Margo. “Don’t you have class or something?”