Page 135 of The Secrets We Bury

“I’m so glad you guys came,” I say as Nolan takes a seat across from me and Gio to the side.

“We were going to come for you even before the invitation came,” Nolan states. “How did you manage to set this up?”

Letting my finger trace the scorpion tail along the side of the mask, I answer him. “An old friend helped me. Morpheus waskeeping me on a tight leash, but he let Roquel come over and he even let us go out.”

“Out where?” Gio asks, leaning closer as if he, like Lex, wants attention.

With a smile, I reach out and he takes my hand immediately, holding on as if for dear life. “To the city,” I answer. “To a club that my friend’s family owns. I managed to get away from the bodyguards Morpheus usually has following me and?—”

“Bodyguards?” Nolan interrupts. “Are they here with you tonight? Could anyone have seen where you went?”

“They’re here,” I admit. “But Morpheus is also here—they seem to be more focused on him when he’s around. Plus, Paris said he’d distract?—”

“Paris?” Gio cuts in. “Is that your friend? You don’t mean Paris Troyan, do you?”

“Yeah, he’s?—”

“From one of the richest fucking families in America.” Gio releases my hand in surprise and shoves both of his up his face and over the top of his head. “Holy shit.”

“He’s a good person,” I assure them. “He’s the one who organized this charity ball so that I could meet you guys. I gave him your names and he promised that he’d invite you.”

At my back, Lex tightens his hold around my waist. “He’sjusta friend, right?”

I roll my eyes. “Yes,” I say, petting the arms wrapped around me. “He’s just a friend. Nothing more.” Always so protective and possessive. Even if I’m annoyed, I know I kind of like it now. Belonging to someone feels good because they belong to me too.

“We’re grateful he was able to speed up our meeting,” Nolan says. “We weren’t sure how we were going to get you out, but now that we have you here, we can wait a bit and then sneak you out once the party downstairs has calmed some.”

My petting of Lex stills and all at once, all of their eyes are on me. “About that…”

“You’re not going back to him.” The words burst from Gio’s lips before I can continue. “Don’t even fucking think about it.”

“No, no.” I shake my head. “I don’twantto go back, but?—”

“No buts,” Lex growls. “If he tries to take you from us again, I’ll rip him to shreds.”

I huff out a breath. “Listen to me,” I snap, reaching up and yanking on a strand of his long, dark hair. “I want away from him, for sure, but we still have to think about the reason I went back to him in the first place.” I grimace, releasing Lex’s hair and looking to Nolan. “Your mom’s accident…”

Nolan holds up a hand to stop me. “We figured things out ourselves,” he tells me. “What happened was not your fault. It was his. My mom is being looked after.”

“But your families are all in danger because of me,” I say. “He threatened you and I didn’t know what else to do at the time.”

“You should’ve talked to us,” Nolan says. “You should have told us the truth.”

I lower my eyes to the black-and-red fabric of my dress. “I didn’t want you to hate me for what I brought to your doorstep,” I tell them. Truthfully, I couldn’t bear the thought of finally finding people who would stand by me, protect me, love me… and that I would be the reason they suffered.

“Prep Girl…” Gio retakes one of my hands, holding on when I would pull away. “Look at me,” he commands.

I tug my hand again and when he still doesn’t release it, I raise my head to glare at him. He smiles back at me. “We don’t leave each other,” he says. “Never. No matter what.”

“Morpheus is dangerous,” I insist. “He’ll fucking ruin you. He’ll?—”

“Get what’s coming to him,” Nolan interjects again.

“How can you be so calm about this?” I demand, whipping my attention back to him.

“Because we have an ace up our sleeve,” Nolan answers.

I stop. I frown, confused. “What?”