Page 191 of Forgotten Rules (Rules 4)

Back to making excuses for him. Back to believing promises he has no intention of keeping.

After Blake, I swore on my life I’d never be that girl again. The one you sweep under the rug. The secret.

And I won’t.

Not even for him.

“Okay?” he asks again.

I cave. “Okay.”

Will

“Man, you’re never going to guess what I found out,” Kendrick says halfway through an arcade racing game. Our movie ended twenty minutes ago, and while Kass, Winter, and Ryder wanted to get coffee across the street, Kendrick, Alex, and I decided to hit the arcades by the theater. Okay, fine, we sent Ryder

on coffee duty.

Consequences of being a newbie.

“What?” I act uninterested, but inside, I’m counting down the seconds to my last breath. If Kendrick found out what I think he found out, I won’t survive the rest of the day.

“Blake fucked my sister.”

I swear when he says that, I squeeze the fake steering wheel so tight I swerve off the virtual tracks and crash into a concrete wall at full speed. GAME OVER, the screen taunts, and the irony isn’t lost on me. My gaze flicks to Alex, who shifts in his seat, eyes glued to his console.

Snitch.

“Really?” I clear my throat.

“Yeah. For six months, too. They dated behind my back. Can you believe this shit? She’s been with two of my friends. Fucking two out of three.”

Looks like Alex skipped the part where he covered for them the whole time and never actually dated Kass himself. How convenient.

“What’s next? She’s going to sleep with you, too?”

Someone kill me now.

“You going to talk to her?” is all I can bring myself to say.

He shrugs. “Nah, last I heard, the asshole broke her heart. Plus, it’s not her I blame. She grew up with a shit dad, so she goes for the shit guys. Oh, except you, man.” His gaze whisks to Alex, who nods in appreciation, playing the part.

This is getting ridiculous.

“So, you’re fine with Alex dating her but not Blake?” I ask.

“Yeah, because Alex is… Alex. Blake is a self-serving asshole with girls. He doesn’t do serious.”

“Neither do you,” I point out.

Kendrick’s only ever dated one girl: Nicole. And it always ended with him hurting her. Always. This time, it was him leaving town overnight with Winter that did it.

“Exactly. I know guys like you and me, man, and I’d die before letting a guy like that anywhere near my sister.”

My stomach twists.

“Mark my word, if the bastard was still here, he’d wish a bullet in the leg was all he got away with.” Kendrick refers to Blake’s injury the night we rescued Winter. “If that piece of shit ever shows his face again, he’s fucking dead.”

I don’t speak again, my mind racing faster than the arcade game’s pixelated cars. The guys go on to talk about an open house party happening tonight, but I don’t give a flying shit about some party.