Page 121 of The Twisted Beats

“Like hell it was.” Bren rushes to her and holds her in a tight embrace. “We should’ve made you come with us. There was no reason you couldn’t have. No reason at all.”

My pulse quickens with thoughts that my uncle demanded she stay back. He organized her escort for the night. Did he put that guy up to hurt her in order to destroy Livianna and me?

When I asked my uncle if he had my phone and sent the fake messages to Bren, he swore he wasn’t involved. I don’t know who to trust anymore, but one thing is for sure.

I believe Livianna is telling the truth. And the worst part is, I was nowhere in sight to help her. I put my needs above hers.

My shoulders roll forward and I inch toward Bren and Livianna. I tap Bren’s arm and shake my head, trying to send him messages of remorse through my gaze.

“Guns, let me.” I shift him away from her and pull her into my chest as she silently weeps. “I’m sorry, Lily.”

Bren gives me an approving dip of his chin and leaves us alone, taking his breakfast with him. After a moment, she slides her arms around my waist.

“Lily, what did he do to you?”

“Please don’t make me talk about it. It’s over and I’m fine.”

There’s a hole in my chest, but my head fills with evil things I wanna do to this prick. I’ll find out who he is and deal with him. As much as I want all the answers so I can kill him, right now she needs me.

I run my hand down the back of her head and kiss her forehead. “We’ll figure everything out later, but you know I love you, right?”

She steps out of my arms. “Callum, things aren’t okay between us. You’ve been lying to me and I meant it when thestatement went out today. I don’t think we should be together.”

My chest collapses. “Why? You know I didn’t do anything.”

“I saw the entire text thread between you andFaith.” Livianna’s eyes swell with tears. “There was a year’s worth of messages between you.”

“What texts?”

“The ones that are all over the internet.”

“There were more stories other than…?” I try to make the connection. “It doesn’t matter. I didn’t get into any of that other shit after I saw you and that dickface.”

Her phone dings. She steps over to the counter and picks it up. More alerts spill in. She reads over whatever is coming in. Her shoulders shake and her chin quivers.

A growl grows in my chest and rips from my throat. “Fuck this. I’m done with everyone and everything coming between us. Put your phone down and let’s get out of here.”

“I can’t.” She glances at me. “I have to respond to these?—”

“Fucking hell, Lily. You don’t owe anyone anything.” I take the phone, slam it down, take her hand, and march her out the door.

“Where are we going?”

“We need to get out of the city and away from the noise. Away from everyone to work this out between us. I don’t know where but get in my car and we’ll drive somewhere we can be alone and talk.”

“My parents are going down the coast, so don’t go that way. I don’t want to run into them.”

There are a million places they could be, but with our luck, we would run into them, so I pull out of their estate and drive in the opposite direction.

She’s quiet for the first fifteen minutes ofthe ride and stares out the side window as I try to piece together the last few days. One part of my life is finally getting on track while the other seems to be falling into the hands of people who don’t want us together.

She plays with the zipper on her purple hoodie. “Did you get a new cell phone?”

“No. I was on my way to the store with my uncle and stopped to get a drink at the convenience store.” My stomach knots. “That’s when I saw that damn tabloid.”

“You believe me, don’t you? About what happened?”

“Yes. The question is, do you believe me?” I slide my palm on her thigh and rub it.