“Yes…”
“Well, he recognized you.” He dropped the gear into second and floored it onto the main highway, away from the city.
“And who is he?”
Bishop looked into the rearview mirror at Nate before bringing his eyes back to the main road. “My dad.”
I SUCKED IN A BREATH and shot from the sofa. Nate’s arm snatched out to me, his fingers grabbing mine. “Madison, it’s not exactly as she—”
I shook my head, my eyes going to my mom. “I don’t even care anymore. Regardless of whatever this bullshit life is.” I swiped the tears away from my eyes, my heart aching in my chest. I was a fucking pity bitch. “It doesn’t matter because I’m used to it.” I glanced at my dad. “Why did you bring me back here? You knew the risk.”
“I love you Madison.” His hands dove into his pockets. “But I have an obligation to this life. I hated it, hated it so bad that I couldn’t be here to watch it unfold.” He sighed, massaging his head. “I quickly recognized the look in Bishop’s eyes. It was obvious his feelings were real, and then I witnessed the way you were with Nate and the rest of the Kings. I knew that something was about to change.”
I was speechless. The words I wanted to scream were caged in my mouth, leaving me parched and pleading for air.
My dad stood and pointed to the door. “Get the fuck out of my house, Elizabeth, and don’t ever come home.” I didn’t entirely understand why he was upset with her because he must’ve played a part in her faking her death, but whatever, I no longer cared.
I marched up to my room, dialed Tatum and sunk into my bed.
“I hate my life.”
“What?” she asked groggily. I must’ve woken her. “I’ll be there in a few.”
“You don’t have to,” I choked out, struggling to contain my pain.
“Fuck,” she cussed, then the line cut out. Dropping my arm to the side of my bed, I let the tears silently run down my face. My life was so messed up. Just when I thought I had something good going, something else was thrown from the left field. My chest tightened every time I thought of how stuck with me Bishop had been, and how he said his dad was one of the main reasons why I wasn’t killed. It all made stupid sense now and I hated it. I wished I was back to not knowing anything. There’s a light knock on my door.
“Mads, it’s me.”
I slid off my bed and opened the door for Tate, then shut, locked, and sunk back to my bed, wiping my tears angrily.
Once the blurs had disappeared, I pointed to the bags in her hands. “Whatcha got there?”
She held up the bags, and it was when I realized she was wearing her cotton pajama pants with little unicorns on them. Fluffy slippers covered her feet, and her blonde hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun. I smiled, grateful, once again, for my best friend. She jumped onto my bed, took my phone from me and turned it off, and then snuggled into the covers.
“This is everything we need for at least a couple days. Thank fuck for summer break, or else imagine having to go to school. It’s Monday tomorrow, by the way.” She gestured at my clothes. “In case you’ve forgotten the day just like you obviously have the shower.”
“Tate!” I scolded her through a laugh.
She shrugged. “What?”
I dug into the bag and took out a bag of potato chips. “I found out some shit tonight.” She didn’t say a word, just sat with a tub of ice cream resting on her thighs as I yapped away. At the end of my rant, she handed me the ice cream and went back to digging into the bag.
“Thoughts?” I was worried. Usually, Tatum had a lot to say. Had I broken my best friend? That was it, she finally had had enough of my crazy life. She pulled out a spliff, and put it into her mouth, lighting it up.
“Tate!” I looked at the door. Usually, I would care, but we were on the other side of the house, and anyway, my dad probably wouldn’t care. I mean, you can’t not bat your eyelashes at murder but scold me for smoking weed.
I took it from her and inhaled. I hadn’t smoked since we were out in the forest.
Tate lay back on the bed. “And you and Bishop?”
I shrugged, handing it back to her. “I don’t know. I got him a present for his birthday, though.”
“Lemme see it! When’s his party?” she asked, sucking on the smoke.
“Tonight.”
“Then we go and fuck shit up.”
I nodded. “We go and fuck shit up.”
I stretched my arms wide, feeling a little better than last night.
Tatum’s ass pressed into me. “Quit it, you know how I get morning horny.”
I chuckled, swinging my legs off the bed. “I don’t forget. What do you feel like doing today?”
“Mmmm.” She pressed her index finger to her cheek. “Avoiding the guys is one, but other than that, whatever you want to do.”
Her mentioning the guys had me slowly drifting back to reality. I was… hell, I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt. I guessed I felt betrayed. None of them thought to mention this to me earlier, which is what hurt. If it never played a big part in Bishop being with me all those times, and us being, well, us, then why didn’t he tell me? I slipped into the closet and pulled down my bikini.
“I really want to go shooting. Maybe go back to the place where I met Katsia.”
“Nope,” Tate muttered, getting out of bed. “That’s way too heavy for today. We can do that next week. Today?” She pulled out a little red bikini from her bag. “We lounge by the pool and day drink.”
“We can’t get day drunk, Tate,
