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Shoving her aside, I strode into her living room. Fortunately, if she had a guest, he was occupied upstairs. I wasn’t in the mood to vomit on my new shoes.

“Ryder,” she said in what she thought was a sultry voice. I’m afraid she sounded as if she was pushing out a particularly large shit. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“You know why exactly I am fucking here,” I snapped, unable to handle any more pretenses of nicety. She didn’t deserve that.

Eyeing me with feigned innocence, she shrugged a shoulder, the strap of her nightgown sliding down with the movement. It gifted me with more skin than I ever wanted to see on her.

“Whatever do you mean?”

“I got your message.”

Smiling serenely, Liz folded her legs.

The bitch wasn’t wearing underwear.

Ugh. And I was trying not to vomit.

“I swear to god, if you threaten her again-”

Liz cut me off with a lilting laugh.

“You’ll what? Tell me, Ryder, what would you do?” She clasped her hands together, the perfect image of a composed, calm woman. It was for that reason alone that the world failed to see the psychopath lurking beneath the exterior. She wore her mask effortlessly.

“I don’t want to play games anymore, Ryder Baby. I looked the other way when you fucked around with Tallia, Lacey, and Elena, but I’m afraid I can’t turn a blind eye towards this one. What makes this girl so special? Why do you go out of your way to see her so often?”

“Leave Adelaide the fuck alone,” I snapped before I could reign in my feelings. I paused, afraid that my outburst would reveal more to Liz than I had intended to. Instead, the crazy bitch merely laughed.

“Ryder, I accept your apology. Now come up to bed.” Without another word, she sashayed back towards her staircase. She might’ve thought she was being sexy, but I only had eyes for one girl now.

A girl I would never be allowed to have, but one girl all the same.

“Liz, we have never and will never be a couple. Stay the fuck away from me, and stay the fuck away from Addie.”

With that, I stormed from her house. It was a solid ten on my dramatic-exits scale.

Only when I was back in the car, did I replay the entirety of my conversation. Shit. Had I made things worse by talking to her? Should I have just stayed away? Should I have told someone?

I told myself that whatever happened next, I could handle it by myself. Never again would I drag my brothers into the shit-storm that was Liz.