Page 32 of Pretty Lies (Watch Me Burn #1)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

JENSEN

“ W here’s Rory?” Josie’s question almost caused me to flinch, but Caden glanced up at her from the couch with a shrug.

“Pretty sure she’s at a friend’s house. You know how girls are.”

“She’s making friends at the academy? That’s wonderful!

I hope you boys are looking out for her.

I won’t lie, I was a little worried she’d struggle to fit in.

I know how catty some of the girls can be,” she answered, my eyes flicking to Lukas, who was glaring at Caden.

They were going to come to blows soon if Rory didn’t resurface.

I was terrified she’d run off and gotten herself into some kind of trouble, and Lukas thought the same thing. He’d crashed at mine again last night after we’d spent hours driving around Ashburn Valley, and we were both really starting to worry about her.

What if she’d been taken? The skin trade ran rampant around here, and a seventeen-year-old girl would sell for a lot of money.

Those men loved breaking kids and women, and Rory was so fucking stubborn. They’d have a field day with a girl like her and end up killing her before being able to successfully break her.

The only reason we’d hurt her so badly was because she’d let us in and made her believe we cared.

It might have started off that way, but I did care about her, the regret eating me alive as I watched Caden easily convince his mother that Rory was fine. We hadn’t seen her since breaking her heart yesterday morning, and it was now late the following night.

It felt like a lot more time had passed than less than forty-eight hours.

“Yeah, I spoke to her this morning, she’s having a blast,” Caden sighed. “Mom, give her some space. This whole thing with you and Max really tipped her over the edge, so I think a few days to relax is what she needed.”

The lies rolled off his tongue so easily, and I almost called him out for his bullshit.

Almost.

“I’m so glad she has you boys looking out for her.” She looked at her watch, letting out a gasp. “I’m late for a meeting. I’ll be in my office if you need me.”

She quickly left the room, my eyes narrowing on Caden. “What if she’s not okay? If the cops get involved, you just put yourself in a shit position.”

“If anyone’s kidnapped her, trust me, they’ll bring her back,” he snorted, but I knew him well enough to notice the tension in his shoulders. He was starting to worry too.

“Do you know if she’s been home at all? Maybe she snuck in?”

The thought that she could’ve snuck in and been hiding out in her room hadn’t crossed my mind until now, so I got to my feet and started towards the door.

“She’s not here, dude,” he grunted, but they all followed me from the room anyway.

Max was out having drinks with some of the guys in Josie’s company, not giving a shit where Rory was. He hadn’t even asked us, letting Josie worry about her.

I made my way up to Rory’s bedroom, letting myself in slowly in case she was in there and decided to throw her knife at me, but the room was vacant.

“Told you,” Caden said in a bored tone, crossing his arms as we all stepped inside and shut the door behind us. “She’s probably just hiding out in the Heights at her old place.”

She wasn’t, we’d already checked there, and it seemed the place was under renovations.

I noticed that some of her drawers were open in her walk-in closet and a bunch of clothes were missing, dread pooling inside my stomach.

What if she’d actually run away? She could’ve hitch-hiked out of the fucking country for all we knew, and no one would report her missing because her own father didn’t give a fuck that she was gone.

Lukas joined me in the closet, his eyes taking in the drawers too.

“She left? This could be a good thing, right? She’s obviously been back here to get stuff which means she’s probably okay.”

“Someone could’ve hurt her though,” I pointed out as I wandered into her bathroom, worry slamming into me when I noticed the bloodied cloth on the sink. “Shit, do you think she’d hurt herself?”

“Doubtful. If Max hadn’t pushed her to that point, we wouldn’t have. He really twisted her up. Maybe someone hurt her? Now that you dicks turned on her so publicly, the girls at school might have done something to her.”

Accusation burned in his eyes, and I gave him a shove.

“Stop acting like you didn’t help. Just because you weren’t there, doesn’t make you innocent in all of this.”

“If I’d gotten involved, I would’ve lost you guys as well as her,” he hissed, getting in my face.

“I thought staying out of it would’ve given her a better chance.

You know Holloway would’ve taken it out on her if I turned my back on him over this.

Why didn’t you fucking help her then?” I grimaced, making him snort.

“Exactly. You knew it would make things worse. It would be like the situation with the last new girl.”

Caden’s vendetta against that girl had been bad, but I hadn’t been innocent in that either. All of us had bullied her to the point that she just didn’t come back one day.

The girls had been ruthless too, one of them lighting her hair on fire in the science lab. I couldn’t even remember why we hated her, but I was pretty sure it had something to do with her father fucking with Josie’s business.

I didn’t give a shit about that girl, but I did care about Rory. I’d fallen for her hard, and I was missing having her around.

I’d do anything to have the chance to apologize and beg her for forgiveness, even if I had to get on my knees.

“She probably talked shit and got a smack in the mouth,” Caden supplied, looking to Tyler for backup, but Tyler didn’t say anything. He was feeling guilty too.

Caden didn’t know, but Tyler had been trying to call her last night when we’d all had too much to drink. When I’d caught him, he just laughed and said he was trying to order a pizza as if I couldn’t see her name on the screen.

If she’d texted one of us back and told us to fuck off, I’d relax a little, but it had been radio silence.

“What if—” I started, but Caden growled.

“The fuck is the problem? We wanted her gone and now she is. The trash took itself out, and she’s probably just crying herself to sleep right now like a little bitch. Jesus Christ, where’d your balls go?”

My balls were in her fucking pocket, just like my heart.

“I’m going home,” Tyler announced, Caden’s eyebrows dipping with confusion.

“I thought you were staying tonight?”

“I’ve got homework to catch up on.” He was full of shit, but no one called him out on it. “I’ll text you later.”

He walked off without another word, and Caden gave me a knowing look. “I suppose you’re leaving too?”

“Wasn’t staying in the first place,” I grunted, jerking my head at Lukas. “C’mon, it’s late, so we should head off.”

“Let me know if Rory shows up,” Lukas said sharply as he went to follow me, making Caden laugh.

“You really are a little fucking bitch, you know that? You’re seriously pissed at me about this? She’s just a girl, a trashy one at that. Her pussy’s not that good.”

“I’m so close to knocking you the fuck out,” Lukas snapped, clenching his fists.

“She’s the only girl that’s ever snagged your interest. You claim to like the premium pussy, but they bore you to death.

Rory’s far from boring. She challenges you, and doesn’t take your shit.

Face it, Caden. You fucked up, and now you don’t know how to fix it. ”

“I don’t want to fix it. Now I know she’s been on Dad’s dick, I—” Lukas punched him in the eye, cutting off whatever he was going to say, leaving Caden staring at him in disbelief.

It had been a long time since they’d thrown hands.

“She was thirteen, Caden. Your dad tore her apart and destroyed her. I don’t care if you want to be a dick, but never make it out like she wanted it. Just be glad you didn’t have to see it with your own fucking eyes because that shit haunts me to this day.”

He stormed off, and I gave Caden a dirty look, shaking my head.

“You’re a real piece of shit sometimes, you know that?” He didn’t reply, and I didn’t add to it as I went after Lukas, having to jog to catch up. “Hey, slow down.”

“I can’t believe he fucking said that,” Lukas spat, clenching his fists before jerking to a stop. “I’m going to go back and?—”

I scruffed the back of his shirt to stop him from storming back up the stairs, pulling him towards the door.

“Don’t even bother, let him sulk with his black eye. If you two get into it, it will be like freshman year all over again,” I warned, making him huff.

“Yeah, except there’s no teachers around to stop me from beating his face into the ground this time.”

We walked outside to find Tyler leaning against his car, apparently needing a minute before taking off. He took one look at Lukas and snorted. “Whatever you did to him, he deserved it.”

I hated being the one to point it out, but someone had to.

“I know we’re all pissed, but we were all involved. Maybe if we’d all said something?—”

“I didn’t think she’d fucking leave,” Tyler mumbled, raking a hand through his hair. “I thought she’d come back here to sulk where we could keep tabs on her.”

“Look, we give her a few days to calm down, then we tell Josie the truth,” I said firmly, both of them nodding in agreement. “Good. Let’s get out of here. See you at school tomorrow.”

“Sure thing, man.” He bumped knuckles with me and Lukas before climbing into his car and speeding off, leaving us to drive to mine.

Lukas

Knowing Rory had been bleeding when she’d left the house amped up my panic.

She wasn’t the type to self-harm, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized everyone could have that breaking point.

I’d been there myself before, the temptation screaming at me constantly, and the only reason I’d kept my shit together and not gone through with it lately had been because I’d had Jensen there.

Rory had no one.