Her eyes narrow. “Just tell me what’s going on with your brother and we’ll call it even.”
“There’s nothing going on.”
“You’re lying to me. Why are you protecting your brother? I heard you on the phone to him.”
“Are you spying on me now?” I say, my eyes becoming slits.
She shrugs. “Not just you. I don’t trust anyone.”
“You trust Quinn.”
“She earned it.”
“And I haven’t?”
“Quinn would never drug me,” she snarls.
She’s got me there. “Look. I’m going to deal with Kristian,” I say, clenching my jaw.
“Are you? Because it sounded like you’re going to let him do what the hell he likes.”
I look at the girl who has my heart in a vice, and shake my head. “Just stay out of my business. It’s my fucking problem to solve. All of it.”
“Meaning?” She comes further into the room, arms folded across her chest as she stares at me, waiting for me to reveal more.
“I talked to Lor before. I’m going to accept the charges, plead guilty.”
“Like fuck you are,” she hisses.
I frown at her. “You’d rather Jude go down for something I did?”
“Something I did,” she snaps. “You didn’t do anything. And we wouldn’t be in this mess if fucking Dante hadn’t decided to cause problems. If anyone should be going to prison, it should be me.”
“There’s no way we’re letting you take the fall,” I say, shaking my head. This is not up for discussion.
Thankfully, Saskia calls to give us the update—Lor is awake and asking for me.
“I can’t get hold of Jude,” Sas says, down the phone.
I sigh, glancing at Viola who’s staring at me like I’m the biggest kind of asshole. “He’s probably off drinking somewhere,” I say offhandedly.
Saskia makes a hmmm sound. “Sounds like him. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Look, I’ll head over. Tell Lor to take it easy.”
I convinceViola to trust me to drive her back to the hospital. On my phone is a slew of missed calls from lawyers trying to fix this shit. But I’ve already made up my mind.
When I was younger, there were things I did that I shouldn’t have gotten away with. Now it’s the time to face the fucking music. I already told Lorcan that Jude isn’t going anywhere near the station. I know their game. They want Jude to be sent to rehab like his cousin, so they can fuck with Kristian’s plans. But there’s only one person who can do that, and that’s me.
Lorcan is a fucking mess when I see him. But he’s awake and that’s all that matters. His eyes narrow as I step inside. I asked the girls to give me some time alone with him. Viola saw him first but it was brief. I get the impression she despises hospitals just as much as I do.
They always remind me of my bitch mother.
“It’s over,” I say, as soon as Lorcan’s eyes lock onto mine. I’ve seated myself at his bedside in one of the armchairs there. There’s a loose thread on the arm and my fingers keep coming back to it, unraveling the fuck out of it as I try to explain what’s going on in my head. “All of this is my mess to clean up. I’m not letting you or Jude handle it anymore.”
He snorts. “You know that’s not what we’re doing. Last year you cracked. You nearly fucking killed yourself with that stunt with the car.”
He’s talking about the car crash I was in last year. The one I caused. Kristian blames Lorcan, but it was me. I’m a coward. Hiding behind my fucking friends. Well, no more.