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“Oh good. Then you can be twins with matching scars,” Mom deadpanned. “Behave.”

“Make me,” he teased as he shut the door, leaving us to have a girls’ night in peace.

Riley

“Riley,” Mom called out sharply from the other room as I finally trudged into the house after dark. I’d spent most of the afternoon following Luna around, but she’d made it obvious she didn’t want to speak to me. It hurt, but I respected her wishes. She’d told me not to speak to her, but she’d said nothing about following her.

“Yeah?” I called back as I walked into the living room, finding Mom, Hunter, Skeeter, and Marco watching a movie. Mom didn’t look happy as she glared at me with her head on Hunter’s lap, and she sat up to point at the chair beside their couch.

“Sit.”

“Whatever it is, I didn’t do it.” I snorted, doing as I was told.

Skeeter sighed, running a hand through his hair as he assessed me. “We understand you’re dealing with some shit right now, but—” Mom didn’t let him finish, cutting him off as she scowled at me.

“Stop following Luna around. I get it, you’re upset right now, but you need to leave her alone.”

“She called you?” I demanded, but Hunter shook his head.

“No. She knew you were following her home tonight and when Archer found out, he texted your mother and asked us to politely get you to back off.”

“He should be grateful that I’m keeping an eye out. Someone hit her in the face, you know?” I growled, making Marco cringe.

“Her sister did it.”

“What the fuck for?” I spat as anger consumed me. Tempest was always a cunt, but I was surprised she’d used violence.

“She’s blaming Luna for Ryder’s current whereabouts,” he answered smoothly, but I could tell he was irritated by the whole situation. “She thinks Luna lied about it.”

“Tempest’s fucking obsessed with him. Luna wouldn’t lie about something like that!” I exploded, considering getting back in my car and tracking Tempest down to beat the shit out of her.

“Everyone knows that, but Tempest is struggling with some personal shit, I think. I have a feeling she and Ry had a few struggles in common, and he was someone she trusted to talk to about it. Now he’s not here, she’s probably just freaking out.”

“They don’t even see each other much!” I threw back, but Mom gave me a look to shut up.

“I think they text a lot, but Ry’s also been spending a lot of time at parties outside of Ashburn Valley lately. They might be hanging out at those and you just don’t know.”

“She’s probably just trying to get knocked up by him so she can live a comfortable life with lots of money,” I grunted, crossing my arms tightly. “She’s a gold-digging whore.”

“Riley,” Skeeter warned, but I snorted.

“What? She is. She sleeps around, wants all of her shit paid for, and…”

“If I do recall, before you started seeing Luna, you slept around regularly,” Mom cut in, disappointment in her eyes. “It’s unlike you to judge someone for their sex life.”

“I fuck people because I like making people come. Tempest sleeps around in hopes it secures her for life. You watch, she’ll have a baby daddy in no time.”

“Just stay away from Luna, alright? You can’t force her to love you,” Mom said softly, patting my leg. “She’s probably just feeling overwhelmed. If it’s meant to be, she’ll come back to you.”

“Can I go to bed?” I asked, knowing I was being rude, but not wanting to talk about it anymore. I knew I couldn’t force her to love me, but I wasn’t ready to lose hope that she would.

They excused me to finish their movie, and I headed up to my room through the quiet house. It was strange not hearing Maddox or Ryder yelling at their games or banging random girls. Or hearing Beckett working out in the gym. It was just quiet, and it felt empty now that they were all gone.

Obviously, Ryder would be back in a few months, but that wasn’t the point.

I had a hot shower to wash away the day, and once I’d climbed into bed, I checked social media and did one last check of the location app to make sure Luna was safely in bed. I frowned when there wasn’t a marker at her house showing she was home, but my heart sank when I realized she wasn’t in the system at all.

She’d blocked me.