“Celeste.” She gave Chloe a tight smile.
“So you’re Harleigh’s half-sister?”
She nodded, keeping one eye on her date and Zane. “Did you know Harleigh, from before?”
“Yeah.” Chloe looked at me with a sad smile. “I’m Kye’s sister. We weren’t friends exactly, but I liked her.”
Fuck this.
I didn’t want to stand around and get to know the half-sister and her guy. And yet, questions teetered on the tip of my tongue—questions I had no fucking right to ask.
“We can go,” Celeste said, noticing my expression. “This probably isn’t a good idea.”
“Worried your guy will get his ass handed to him by Z?” My words were an icy cold warning, but it was hard not to resent her. To hate her for the simple fact she got to be around Harleigh day in, day out, when all I had were a bunch of hazy memories.
“N-no… that’s not…” She rolled her eyes, moving away from us to watch the pool game.
“What’s that about?” Kye asked me while Chloe went to talk to her. No doubt fishing for details about Harleigh.
“You didn’t notice the weird vibes between her and Z?”
“Z?” He burst out laughing. “You have got to be shitting me. Z would rather cut his dick off than ever touch a girl from DA.”
I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”
“Nah, she’s…” He glanced back at her. “Not Z’s type.”
Zane didn’t have a type. He had needs, and he chose a certain kind of girl to service those needs. But I could count on one hand the number of times I’d ever seen him actually talk to a girl beyond asking her to hook up with him. And I got it. He had abandonment issues ten times worse than I did. Sometimes I wondered how Kye had ended up part of our fucked-up little trio. He was too normal. Too laid back. Still, I loved him like a brother, grateful for his easy breezy outlook on life. Even if half the time I wanted to smack him upside the head.
The blare of someone’s cell phone pierced the air and the half-sister dug around in her purse, flustered.
“Harl— Nate, what is it?” The blood drained from her face, and my heart dropped. “Oh my God, okay. Okay… yeah. We’ll come now.”
“What’s happened?” I was in front of her immediately.
“I don’t know the details. But Harleigh is at Nate’s house, and he says she’s locked herself in the bathroom and is totally freaking out.”
“Where does he live?”
“W-what?”
“Miller,” I barked. “Where does he live?”
She murmured his address.
“Z, we gotta go.”
“What?” She grabbed my arm. “You can’t go. Harleigh doesn’t—”
I glared at her. “Do I look like I give a shit about what Harleigh wants?”
“It’s okay,” Chloe said, getting in between us. She gently pulled Celeste’s hand off my arm. “Let us help. Harleigh is… We can help.”
“Fine.” Defiance burned in her eyes. “But you can’t cause any trouble. Nate doesn’t know you’re here. He won’t—”
“Don’t really give a fuck,” I snapped, the words rough against my throat.
I needed to get to Harleigh.
The rest could go to hell.