Kian(102)

I didn’t believe her.

“But,” Felicia gave me a bright smile that looked hideous, “that’s all over now. The public loved Kian before, but the investors didn’t. All that’s changed now. I mean, he got you to go on national television and proclaim that all he did was save a girl. Is that how you put it? Damn. With an endorsement like yours, you just handed Kian the family jewels again.

“The investors met last night. I was coming to play with Kian a bit, tell him he needed to do better than that, but he should be hearing from our dad soon.” Her eyebrows pinched together. A speculative gleam formed in her eyes. “There might even be a message on Kian’s phone right now.” She nodded behind me, toward the bedroom. “Check his phone. The code to get in is two thousand twelve. Kian’s dark humor. That’s the year he went to prison. I bet you anything, once Daddy and the board members let him back in, he’s going to change his code to two thousand fifteen, the year he got back his life. That’s how he views it anyway.”

“You’re lying.” But even as I said it, there was a look in her eyes. I grew up with liars, and there was something truthful coming from her. And I hated that. I didn’t want to wonder what part was true. I refused to believe all of it was.

Still. I didn’t have to take her condescension with a smile.

She laughed, saying, “I can see it in your eyes. I’m not, and you know it.”

She moved past me, but I moved so I got to the door first. She paused, a question in her eyes as she watched when I grabbed the door handle, but I opened it, a nice fake smile plastered on my face. Her eyebrows knitted together. She wondered what I was doing, so I stepped back even more. The path was open. She could exit freely.

Her eyebrows cleared then, and she moved forward a few steps. Once in the hallway, she turned around. “I’m a lot of things, but right now, I’m being the best friend that you’ve never had. Leave him. Don’t let him use you anymore—”

I shut the door in her face, and I slammed it hard enough to make a bang.

Then I stared at it. She was Kian’s sister, and a part of me felt obligated to let her talk, but after hearing what she said, I didn’t like it. I didn’t like her. I didn’t like how she drove a knife into her own brother’s back. Justin raped her. I felt bad for that, but the rest of her actions, I crossed my arms over my chest. Hell no. I did not have to feel sorry for the kind of person she had become. A bad past doesn’t make a bad person. She could’ve done better, but even as I was thinking all of that, a nagging voice was in my head.

Kian wasn’t using me. There was no way. I remembered what he said earlier. “You are good.”

But then I heard her parting words. “Don’t let him use you anymore.” And I remembered another thing he said. “My father is the last person who would help me.”

Snark’s words were next. “Don’t trust anyone.”

My stomach dropped to my feet because I knew, right then and there, that I was going to read that message. I had to. I had to make sure I wasn’t being used, but as I went to the bed, my body started to shut off. I wasn’t sure what I was going to read on his phone, but whatever it was, I couldn’t let it break me.

Kian was still in bed, sleeping. Sprawled out, lying on his stomach, his head was turned toward my empty spot. He had an arm out, as if he searched for me but fallen back asleep before realizing I wasn’t there.

The room was warm, but I didn’t feel it. A full-fledged shiver wouldn’t stop going up and down my spine, and my teeth were damn near chattering, but my focus was on that phone and whatever the message said.#p#分页标题#e#

My hands were slick. I rubbed them off on the robe and picked up the phone. My hands were shaking, too. I willed them to stop, as I keyed in the code. The phone unlocked, and I hit the unread message. It had been sent from Carl Maston. I paused for a second, my eyes flicking to Kian once more. I felt a pang in my chest, but opened the message. I had to know.



It worked. You’ve been voted back in. Call me ASAP to go over everything.



A second message came through as I was holding the phone. I almost dropped it but tightened my grip.

It was from the same Carl Maston.



Well done, son.





I left.

I called Snark, but he couldn’t come pick me up. He suggested not going to Erica and Wanker. They were known as my friends now, so the media would be on them. When Snark asked why I needed another hideaway, I didn’t answer. He just heard a slight sniffle from me and said I should go to the one place no one would think to look for me.