I shake my head. “It’s my own fault.”
“You know what you need?” she asks. “You need to just get wasted. Let’s go out and trash talk my dumb brother until you feel better. How about that?”
I nod and tighten my grip on her hand. With the wedding approaching so rapidly, perhaps that’s exactly what I need. One night to let loose and force myself to put an end to this.
ChapterEight
Ares
* * *
“I hate you!” Sierra yells from the backseat, before turning to Raven. “Don’t you hate him too?”
Raven nods. “Yes,” she says, before looking at me through the rearview mirror, her gaze unfocused. “I hate you,” she whispers, her voice breaking.
Something about the way she says it hits me hard, and a dull ache spreads across my chest. I know they’re both just drunk, but I’ve never seen Raven look at me this way.
“And why is that, Cupcake?”
She looks away and rests her head against Sierra’s, the two of them cuddled up in the backseat. I sigh and keep my attention on the road as I drive us home, confused. Raven and Sierra mostly keep to themselves, and the last time I caught them drunk or hungover was when they were in college. Why the hell did they drink so much tonight? And what the hell did I do to deserve their hatred when it’s me who picked them up at three in the morning, without a single complaint?
I park my car in front of my condo absentmindedly, and it isn’t until the girls rush out of the car and toward my front door that I realize I should’ve taken them to the main house instead. Shit.
“Open it!” Sierra orders, her eyes still flashing with anger.
“If I do, will you stop being mad at me?” I can’t even recall the last time my little sister was mad at me. Even though I’m ten years older than her, she and I have always been close. I’m not sure what’s going on today.
Raven walks up to me and places her hand on my bicep. “Why won’t you let us in?” she asks, her voice carrying a hint of agony. Oh fuck.
“I will, sweetheart. Of course I will.”
I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her along to the front door, unlocking it with my fingerprint. Sierra throws a glare my way as she rushes into my house, kicking off her heels before running to the kitchen.
“Come on,” I tell Raven, but she shakes her head.
“I don’t wanna walk,” she says. “You carry me.”
I chuckle, surprised by her cute voice and her petulant expression. Raven has never asked me for help, and she’s never acted spoiled this way. It’s kind of endearing.
“Okay, Cupcake.” I reach down and place one hand behind her knees as I lift her into my arms. She giggles and rests her head against my chest as I carry her to the sofa. The way she looks up at me… there’s no hatred in her eyes now, but in the car I was certain that’s exactly what I saw.
“Why are you two so mad at me today?”
I place her on the sofa carefully, and she shakes her head. “Secret.”
“Since when do you keep secrets from me?”
Raven laughs, the sound melodious. “I’ve kept secrets from you foryears.”
“Oh yeah? Tell me one.”
Her eyes roam over my body, pausing on the gray sweatpants I’m wearing. “Every time I see you wearing those, I wonder what they’d look like if your dick is hard. Would I be able to see every contour?”
My eyes widen, and I cough nervously. That isnotwhat I expected her to say. “Youwhat?”
Raven merely shrugs and bends over to take off her shoes, giving me a clear view of her breasts. She’s not wearing a bra.Fuck. Did she go out like that? Silas’s bodyguards better have done their goddamn job, so help me God.
“Don’t ask questions you don’t want answers to,” she singsongs.