Page 81 of Wicked Brutal

“He sees a pattern.” His eyes flick to mine, and I lift my eyebrows before he can spiral.

He exhales. “Right. Pattern. Not proof.”

“Thank you. Don’t get smug.”

“Too late.” His mouth twitches, then flattens again. “What did he say about us?”

“The five of you keep showing up around families when things fall apart.”

“That’s not entirely inaccurate.”

“No. He’s worried about you specifically.”

Ryan doesn’t look surprised. “Why?”

“Walter’s connections. You’re smart. You’re curious. You dig into things that don’t concern you.”

“Aw. He noticed.”

“Ryan.”

“What?”

“This isn’t cute.”

“I know.” The smile disappears. “What did you tell them?”

“That you’re an asshole.”

His head snaps up. “Excuse me?”

“And that I don’t spend time with you.”

“Less offensive.”

“Dad told Victor you barely acknowledge me.”

That shuts him up. For a second, the bookstore disappears and Wednesday morning sits between us instead. Ryan’s expression changes. “Ally—“

“I know.”

“Still.” He looks like he wants to touch me. He doesn’t. Not here. “What else?”

I tell him about Victor. His hand on my back. Holding mine at dinner. Marriage. The way he talks about where I’ll live and what I’ll do like I’m already his. When I tell Ryan that Victor called my writing a hobby, his face twists.

“He can go fuck himself.”

“I thought you’d like that.” I take a breath, because this is the part I’ve been dreading telling him. “There’s something else. He said—“ My voice catches, and I make myself keep going. “He said he and my dad have understood each other about me since I was thirteen.”

Ryan’s hands go completely still over the phone. “Thirteen.”

“Dad didn’t correct him.”

He doesn’t say anything for a moment. A muscle works in his jaw, and when he speaks his voice has dropped somewhere low and terrible. “You were thirteen. He looked at a thirteen-year-old and made an arrangement.”

“I know, Ryan.”

“And then he sat at a dinner table and called it patience.” His knuckles have gone white around the phone. “Like you’re something he put in a fucking cellar.”