Series: Webs We Weave Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 126927 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126927 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Rocky drops his voice. “What’d they say?” He’s asking Nova, too.
“It’s our responsibility to figure out how to wrap it up. We’re to contact Everett if we still need a fifth man.”
I try to let go of the uneasiness. As we’ve gotten older, they have given us more responsibilities and jobs of our own. Being treated like an adult with more decision-making feels good. Maybe after rejecting my idea of pledging to a sorority, this is my mom’s way of saying, I trust you, bug. You’re capable and ready.
But is that just a façade? Is that what they want us to believe? Rocky’s faith in our parents has waned over the years. Maybe if I was the child of Addison and Everett, I’d start doubting, too. But my mother has a gentleness and love for me that has never felt fabricated, and I refuse to let Rocky’s own issues with his parents shade my view of mine.
Rocky angrily steps into his boxer briefs. His back facing me, he pulls a collegiate tee over his head. “They’re not here,” he says with heat. “If this blows back, we’re all done. Us. Not them. You all know what happens if we get caught.” A heaviness weighs the room, and I’m sure we’re all picturing prison bars. Rocky adds, “We should be deciding when it’s time to pull the rope.” Pull the rope. It’s what we call it when we’re ready to persuade the mark after the principal has gained their confidence. Roped them in.
For this job, we’re supposed to pull the rope after an intense bout of hazing.
The Original Plan: Rocky and I are initiated in round 1. Oliver is initiated in round 2. Rocky, already a member of the society, is set in a power position where he controls the hazing doled out to Oliver.
The Problem: Rocky and I haven’t been initiated yet. So no one will be standing beside the president of the Firefly Club, Matthew Wentworth, during this secretive ceremony.
The New (Worse) Plan: The three of us will all be initiated at the same time in round 1, and we’ll all be hazed by Matthew. In this scenario, we have way less control. It’s definitely not ideal.
“They’ve done this longer than us,” Nova counters. “If they think it’s time, then it’s time, and they understand nuances that we don’t—that we can’t.”
“You know, I see your lips moving, Winchester, but all I hear is my dad,” Rocky growls. “He feeds you so much bullshit these days and you can’t even see it, man.”
Nova scowls. “Or maybe you’re just blinded by your own oversized ego. You wanna prove so badly that you’re better than them—”
“Because we are!” Rocky shouts. He takes a step closer, and quickly, Oliver slams the window shut as Rocky’s voice escalates. He snuffs the cigarette out on the windowsill and shares a silent look with me. We know where this is headed.
Nova glowers. “Don’t make this about us. This petty bullshit with your dad has always been about you. You wanna cry and act like a petulant child with daddy problems. Boo fucking hoo.”
Something dark flashes across Rocky’s eyes, something unreadable. Nova takes a threatening step forward, and this is where I rush in. Oliver darts between them in a snap. Faster than me.
“All right, all right.” Oliver pushes their chests. “This stopped being fun, like, ten minutes ago.”
“Agreed,” I say and instantly regret opening my mouth. Nova and Rocky stare down at me again like I’m the judge about to determine which one caused the murder.
My stomach roils. It’s not a fair choice.
I trust Rocky with my life. Christ, I would trust Rocky with my nine lives if I were a cat and had extras to lose. Of the four of us in this room, he’s the one who can rework the con and salvage what we’ve done here.
I take a short breath. “Are we really going to walk away with nothing? The past three months will have been a waste, and honestly, Matthew Wentworth is a prick. He sent his buddies nudes of his girlfriend.”
He even sent them to Rocky, who’s his new “cool” friend. Partly, Matt has warmed up to Rocky’s Cole Miller persona so quickly because Cole paid for Matt’s two-grand dinner bill like it was nothing.
Matt realized Cole Miller was loaded and born from an affluent family who owns textile factories. He realized he’s a friend worth having in his circle.
I continue, “But maybe you three don’t care as much about what he’s done.”
“I care,” Rocky says sharply, hotly.
“We care,” Nova tells me.
“So why can’t we still do this?” I ask Rocky.
Nova scrapes a hand across his tensed jaw a few times. He eyes Rocky, knowing he’s the one who can reconstruct this mess.
There’ll always be a part of Rocky that seeks to prove he doesn’t need our parents. If they say do this now, a little voice inside his head might be screaming, Do it later! Yet, for all his pushback against the godmothers, Rocky hasn’t ever abandoned us to carve his own path.