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“I just broke up with her. I don’t want to come home tonight, so can I just stay here? His name’s Cruz. He’s friends with Beckett if you want to check with her.”

“Oh, babe, what happened?”

“We got in a fight and I broke it off. I’m in Cruz’s car right now, and he can bring me home if I’m not allowed to stay here, but…”

“Hold on. I’ll ask your father.” She sighed, and my stomach sank, knowing he wouldn’t let me go. I bit back a groan when Dad demanded I put the phone on speaker. He was going to embarrass the hell out of me.

“Cruz? Can you hear me? It’s Archer,” Dad growled, and I relaxed slightly as Cruz answered politely.

“I can hear you, Sir.”

“Don’tSirme, you fucker. Don’t act like you don’t know me.” That made me pause.

“You know my dad?” I asked with disbelief, and he gave me a grin.

“We’ve met once or twice. I don’t know how much business he tells you though, so I don’t want to put my foot in my mouth.”

“You listen to me, Cruz Lennox. Don’t touch my daughter. She gets her own room, and for fuck’s sake, keep her away from Drake. You’d better get her chocolate, and make her laugh too, or I’ll kill you,” Dad said sharply, and I wiped my tears to pull myself together.

“I can stay with him?”

“Are you fucking him?”

“What? No!” I said with horror, ignoring Cruz’s smirk. “We’re just friends!”

“Good. Keep it that way,” he grunted. “And, Luna? Where’s Riley? Because I’m going to go and strangle her.”

“Leave her alone,” I begged, taking the phone off speaker and pressing it to my ear. “We just had a disagreement and broke up. She didn’t hurt me or cheat on me.”

He was quiet for a second before replying, his voice gentle. “Whatever she did to make you leave means it wasn’t simple. Please stay safe, and if you need me to come and get you, call me. I’ll come running, okay?”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“You’ll always be my first priority. I promise. Get a good sleep, I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you.”

“I love you too. Good night,” I murmured before hanging up, and Cruz gave me a wide grin.

“So, slumber party?” He had no hope of that happening. I was definitely going to sleep the moment we got there.

Riley

“Do you want to talk about it?” Turbo asked as he walked towards me with Luna vanishing in the dark in Cruz’s car. I was glad she wasn’t walking in the dark alone because I knew she wouldn’t have gotten back in my car, but I was mad that she’d left with him.

“We’re not girl besties. Go away,” I said quietly, not having the energy to fight with him. My heart was breaking, and I had no one to blame but myself. This lifestyle I’d created had become an addiction, and I’d just let it ruin my relationship with the one person I could ever love. Turbo stood quietly, and I finally looked at him with annoyance. “Why’d you stop? You could’ve beaten those assholes.”

“Blake will beat them. I was more worried about you. You wouldn’t stop racing unless something was wrong,” he said casually as if it wasn’t a big deal. “You’re more important than a race.”

His words practically hit me in the face, and I fisted my hair tightly out of frustration. “What the fuck is wrong with me?”

I expected a smart-ass remark, but he replied gently, understanding in his tone. “Giving something up can be hard. You didn’t expect her to leave, so you made a choice that you thought wasn’t going to be such a big deal.”

“How much did you hear?” I scoffed, his lips lifting into a smile that looked more like a grimace.

“You two were yelling pretty loudly. We need to get out of here before the cops show up. You head home, I’ll make sure Blake’s alright. She’s probably freaking out that she hasn’t seen us.”

I nodded, silently getting back into my car and driving towards home, trying to figure out how to fix things with Luna. I’d never seen her lose it like that before, so I knew this wasn’t going to be a simple fix.

By the time I arrived home, I was a fucking mess. I parked in the garage, walking inside to find most of the house in darkness. It was quiet, and the pit in my chest only grew when I realized just how empty it was becoming here.