Savage Little Lies: Chapter 22

Dorian

Wolf’s house was dark when he finally dragged his ass home. It was dark because his parents were supporting my family. They were still back at the cabin, and he should have been too.

I kicked back a beer on his front stoop. I’d actually gotten here a couple of hours ago, driving all around town. I needed to fucking think, and I assumed it had taken him so long to come home because he’d been out looking for me. He’d followed me when I’d left Sloane’s house today, but I turned off my phone so he couldn’t track me.

Sloane…

Her very name charged me up like a goddamn bull, my fingers gripping my beer bottle. When I’d tracked Wolf to her house, I hadn’t known what I’d do. I hadn’t known what I’d expected to find, but it wasn’t him answering her door.

He’d stayed at her house.

The beer soured in my mouth. It twisted in my gut when I forced it down, and that wasn’t the only thing I tucked away when I stood. Wolf’s Hummer pulled into his parents’ circle driveway, and he must have seen me on the stoop. He normally would have rolled around back and parked in the garage. I’d parked back there and came around.

I waited, patient. I respected my buddy enough not to break into his house as I waited for him tonight. I could have. He always left the window open for me.

We both did.

We were brothers, blood without the biology. I would die for this motherfucker if I needed to.

My insides seared, splitting in two when I watched Wolf pull his ass out of his ride. Hating the feeling, I tossed back another drink. I didn’t know how many beers I’d had, but the bottles were in my car. I’d driven over here drunk, completely stupid.

I was getting all up in my head, and for what? A girl who’d fucking betrayed me? She was in cahoots with my grandfather.

So why are you here?

Finishing off my beer, I wiped my lip.

“D?” Coming around his ride, Wolf eyed me. He pocketed his hands. “You drunk, man?”

What the fuck did he care about it?

The only thing keeping me from tossing the bottle at his ass was my god dad and Brielle. I didn’t want them to have to deal with the exploded glass.

I jerked my chin toward the back of the house, leaving him and heading there. I heard him sigh behind me, but he did follow.

His cadence heavy, he kept up. I opened the gate that led to the backyard, easy since I knew the combination. Wolf closed it behind me after he came through, and that was when I tossed my bottle to the grass.

I took my varsity jacket off, cold tonight.

Wolf’s mouth parted, his eyes narrow. “Dorian, what are you doing?”

My buddy appeared fatigued in the moonlight. He had bags under his eyes like he hadn’t slept or anything, and that had to be a joke.

He’d slept with my girl.

Noa Sloane was mine, mine, and regardless of what she was up to. In fact, since she had betrayed me, that only made it more so.

I controlled her. I owned her. Her fate and what happened to her was mine to decide.

Mine.

The haze hit me after that, fucking blind, and I saw myself unravel from a bird’s-eye view. It was like I was out of my body when I tossed my jacket on the lawn.

It was the same when I hit my friend.

I clocked him clear across the jaw, and it was like he’d let me. He stood there, like he was ready to just fucking take it. The second time I reared back, he just blocked, and that only pissed me off.

“Fight back!” I spat at him, and when he blocked me this time, we went down. We tumbled on the lawn, me throwing punches and him just blocking them.

“I’m not going to fight you!” He roared, guarding his face. “D, I won’t fight you.”

He should. He’d been bold enough. He’d betrayed me today. He’d betrayed all of us.

“I don’t want her like that,” he called, and hearing the words only unfurled more rage through my veins. I shouldn’t care if he wanted her or not. He’d admitted he was playing her for information. Maybe that was this, and I definitely shouldn’t care about that. If anything, I should be celebrating it, get off on it even.

My vision red, I threw a fist so hard I questioned if I broke my hand and my buddy’s jaw, and at this point, Wolf grabbed my shirt. “Stop it. It’s not like that with her.”

He said that, but he was lying, lying. I’d seen him with her with my own two eyes. The two had had a fucking pajama party. Noa’s shorts had barely covered her ass, and Wolf’s hair was all over the fucking place like when he screwed bitches in the computer lab. They liked to put their hands all through it.

She’d put her hands through it.

In my distraction, Wolf got me off him, taking his own corner and holding up his hand. His face was already changing color on the right side. “Dorian…”

“You betrayed us,” I snarled. “You betrayed me, your boy, knowing she’s with my grandfather.”

“You don’t know that.”

“And you do?”

His gaze fell to the ground, his hands in the grass. “I don’t, but…”

“No.”

His head shot up.

My mouth dried. “You don’t, but it definitely didn’t stop you from going after her, you fucking asshole—”

“You’re one to talk about betrayal.” His nostrils flared. Eyes wild, they cut in my direction. He put a finger out. “You’re one to talk about people going behind people’s backs.”

“The fuck you talking about—”

“You brought this bullshit into our lives, Dorian.” He raised and dropped his hand. “You brought your grandfather in when you fucking knew better. You knew.”

I bared teeth. “I didn’t have a choice.”

“You didn’t give any of us one.” His expression sobered. “And now, we all have to worry about it. You, me, and the guys. Your mom and dad?” Wolf shook his head. “And Sloane. Sloane and her brother could be victims in all this, but you’re too fucking blind to see it.”

He’d said something like this before, standing up for her. My throat tightened. “Well, if you don’t want her so bad, why do you keep coming to bat for her, then?”

He forced fingers into his hair. “I just don’t want her hurt. She can’t get hurt. She…” He stopped on his own accord.

But I think me stepping back definitely had something to do with it.

Angling my head, I held up a hand.

Wolf frowned, getting up. “D…”

“I’m done, Ares. Done with this,” I huffed. “Done with you.”

He cringed. “It’s not what you think.”

But he couldn’t offer me anything else. Even now, he just let those words sit between us.

They filled the fucking air.

I lifted my hands. “I said I’m done.”

He did call after me. He did a couple times, but I noticed he didn’t follow. In fact, I didn’t see him again until I closed the gate. Who I’d called a friend and a brother was down to his knees on the lawn.

He had his head in his hands.