I could tell her that, in all honesty, everything that happened was Neo’s doing and we followed along because of the pact we made before taking on The Lawless role. “I’ll admit, we haven’t made things easy for you.”
“Haven’t made things easy?” She barks out a laugh. “How about, you’ve made my life hell?”
And still are.
“Look, Scar. We fucked up. All I’m saying is, take things slow with Crew. There’s no need to rush into things. Not to mention, Maddie is still lying in a coma with no idea Crew won’t be waiting for her when she wakes up.” Immediately, I eat my words.I went too far. I run my hand over my forehead, eyes wide on hers. “Shit. I’m sorry, Scar. I didn’t mean—”
“Don’t.” She holds up a hand, shutting me up. When she turns to walk away, her pain obvious, I grab her by the arm, but she quickly jerks back. “Don’t touch me.”
“Just let her go, man.” Neo walks in the room, sweeping his hand in the air. “She’s a waste of time.”
Scar stops walking, pins Neo with a hard glare, like she wants to say something vulgar. As abrupt as she stopped, she begins walking again, stomping with heavy steps up the stairs.
I shake my head in disappointment as Neo snatches a half-empty bottle of whiskey off the table beside the couch.
“Was that really necessary?”
“More than necessary. We can’t let that girl get too comfortable in our lives.”
He unscrews the top and tips the bottle back, taking a long, slow swig.
“Slow down, man. It’s only 4 o’clock.”
He pulls the bottle away from his lips, smacking them together and sliding his tongue across his bottom lip. His mouth tugs up in a grin. “It’s five o’clock somewhere. Besides, need to build my tolerance before the party tomorrow night.”
“You have the tolerance of an alcoholic. And what’s this party you speak of?”
“It seems the cheerleaders have thrown together a little shindig at The Ruins tomorrow night, so I put together a little something of my own.” The mischievous look on his face tells me he’s definitely up to something.
“Care to elaborate?”
His shoulders rise and fall as holds tight to the still open bottle of liquor. “Party at our house. We’ll call ita housewarming party for our new housemate.”
“Aren’t you the one who just said we didn't want her getting too comfortable here?”
“Oh, she won’t be comfortable. That, I can promise you.”
“Pretty sure if Scar goes to any party, it’ll be with Riley.”
“Like hell she will.” He scoffs. “Part of the deal of her moving in was that she only goes out if one of us is with her. Which we won’t be. Not you. Not me. And sure as hell not Crew.”
My fingertips press to my eye sockets, and I rub vigorously.“Whatever. I’ll let you be the one to tell her that.”
His head shakes and he lifts a smirk. “Nah. Think we’ll let Crew do the honor.”
When I have no response to this never-ending bullshit, Neo continues, “Come upstairs with me.” He angles his head to the right, motioning me to follow him. “Got something for ya.”
Dropping my shoulders, I scratch the top of my head and humor him by following. “I’m not sure I wanna know what that means. You’re not exactly the giving type.”
He huffs out a breath. “After this, you’ll be thanking me. Guaranteed.”
“Doubtful,” I mutter under my breath as we reach the top of the stairs. Neo turns left, instead of right, which is where his bedroom is. “Where’s this surprise?”
When we pass by Scar’s room, I look inside her open door. There are opened boxes scattered around and clothes flung everywhere. Then I see her and Crew lying on the bed. His hand is pinching the skin of her ass that hangs out of her shorts. Her head rests on his bare chest and they’re both smiling, which feels like a punch in the gut.
“I’ve gotta go deal with some bullshit,” I hear him say to her. “It shouldn’t take long.”
Is that what our duties are now? Bullshit? A couple weeks ago, I wouldn’t care less what he refers to our duties as, but lately, I’m really fucking annoyed with anything Crew does or says.