She scoots her chair back. “I’m done here.”
“Aspen, is that true?” her mom asks, incensed.
“What I do with my body is my choice!” she yells.
I scoot my chair back too in defiance.
“Holy shit …” Her dad runs his fingers through his white hair. “I can’t believe it. My kid is in a threesome.”
“Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Alistair chuckles.
“Silas, shame on you,” Aspen growls.
“They needed to know,” he says.
“No, I didn’t,” Felix mutters. “But it’s out there now.”
“You knew?” Her mom looks at him with furrowed brows.
“He announced it over the speakers. Of course, I knew. The entire school knows by now,” Felix replies.
“He’s a Torres!” her mom says.
“Not the same family,” I say.
Now everyone’s looking at me like I dropped a bomb even though they already know this.
“He’s right, though. Ares, Crystal, and their kids have nothing to do with this feud,” Alistair says.
“Atlas didn’t do anything wrong,” Melody says.
“Because he wasn’t there that night,” Silas says. “But Apollo was. You don’t know whose side he’s on.”
Aspen folds her arms. “Sides? We’re taking sides now?”
“Yes. It’s them against us. They killed a part of our family,” Silas replies. “It’s only fair if we kill a part of theirs. Quid pro quo.”
“Fuck this, I’m not listening to this,” Aspen growls, marching off down the hallway.
“Wait.” My phone buzzes, but I swiftly turn it off as I chase her.
“Nice finally meeting you, Grey!” Silas yells, but I’m not listening to him anymore.
She storms out the door and into their lavish yard and sits down on a bench underneath a gazebo. Bringing her legs up to her chest, she hugs them tightly.
I suck in a deep breath as I approach and sit down next to her.
With furrowed brows, she looks up at me, and she reminds me of her mother. She has the same kind of fire in her whenever she gets mad. Beautiful, but scary. “Why? Why would Apollo do this?”
“He didn’t want us to be a secret anymore.”
“God, this is such a mess.”
I gently caress her back. “So is your brother always like this?”
“I don’t remember him any other way,” she responds.
“He’s probably just very protective of you,” I say.
