“Wait, what’s happening?” Ryder asked, dragging his attention from his phone.
“Tell them,” Wes demanded.
“Why are you being like this?” she asked. It wasn’t cool to out her animal.
Weston turned and addressed the Bloodrunners. “Avery is a raven shifter.”
The crew stilled, and none of them spoke a word. Avery couldn’t lift her gaze from the ground if she tried. Angry and tipsy as hell, Avery clutched her empty glass and said, “You’ve been really mean to me, and it’s really fucked up, Weston.”
“Is it? Is it as fucked up as what you did?”
She dared a look at him because he was wrong. Wrong in whatever he thought about her. “You hurt me so badly. So badly! You dropped me like I was nothing, you pompous asshole. You left me with no outlet, no friends, left me to compare everyone to you. You left me with an empty life and no explanation, and you think you have a right to treat me like this?” She shoved him as hard as she could in the shoulder. He didn’t budge, the monster. “Outing my animal is a fucked up move, Novak. You’re not the boy I knew.” Cheeks on fire, she looked around at the Bloodrunners. “It was nice to meet all of you,” she said quietly before she bolted for the exit.
There were too many people in here, and Ryder was yelling something behind her, but screw it. She was done with the games. Done hoping that Weston would magically think she was good enough to be nice to. In her escape, she bounced around like a pinball as she ran into a man with a biker vest and a lady in high heels.
She shouldn’t have come here to Bryson City. She shouldn’t have gone hunting for a life that could never be hers. Weston had embarrassed her. He’d shamed her in front of the Bloodrunners, and for what reason? She’d already been nervous coming in here tonight, and now this? For a minute—for one single, glorious minute—she’d almost felt normal. She’d almost felt accepted, and then Weston had taken that away. Again!
Twin tears stained her cheeks as she shoved open the door, but she angrily wiped the moisture away. That man didn’t deserve the emotion. He didn’t deserve her hurt.
“Avery!” Weston called, jogging across the concrete behind her.
“Fuck off.” Whoa, she couldn’t believe she’d just told the Novak Raven that. Whiskey was liquid courage.
“Avery, wait!” He grabbed her arm, but she yanked it out of his grip.
“Don’t touch me.” Stupid tears wouldn’t quit falling.
“What did you mean back there?” he asked as she fumbled for her keys. “What did you mean I left you with no outlet?”
“I mean you were awful when we met in Saratoga. You were rude to me. You would barely look at me, and stupid me, I’d been counting down the days until I got to meet you. I loved you! I know I was nothing to you, but for me, you meant everything. You were mine, and I was finally going to get to meet you and touch you. I was finally going to hear you say that everything would be okay instead of writing it in letters.” She let off a sob and yanked open the door to her Civic. “You treated me like I was invisible instead, just like everyone else in my life, and I went home feeling like my heart had been ripped out of my chest. I wrote you after and waited for a response, but you never gave one. And I get it. I wasn’t pretty enough, so your feelings changed when you saw me. I understand it, but it still doesn’t change how much it hurt.”
“Wait, wait, wait!” he barked, as she slammed the door beside her.
Weston reached for the handle, but she was faster. She locked it in a rush.
“I’m not taking your shit anymore, Weston. Maybe that was the girl I used to be, but I’m not her anymore.”
Avery pulled out of the parking spot and gassed it onto Main Street. When she dared one look in the rearview mirror, Weston was standing there with his hands out, his eyes wide and shocked as if he didn’t know what just happened. Welcome to the fucking club, Novak.
Tears blurred her vision, and she squeezed her eyes to clear them as she gripped the steering wheel. She didn’t know what she would do, but she couldn’t stay here and keep her pride.
And right now, pride was all she had left.
Chapter Seven
What the fuck just happened?
Either Avery was very good at twisting things, or he’d been completely wrong about what had actually gone down when they were fifteen. Weston debated bolting for his truck, but Ryder was yelling at him again as he stomped out of Drat’s.
“What the fuck, man?” Ryder yelled. “You know her? And you didn’t tell me?”
“We were pen pals,” Weston gritted out as the other Bloodrunners filed out of the bar.
Ryder’s face was as red as his hair right now. “You had a fucking pen pal? Dude, we grew up together. We told each other everything. Why would you keep that from me?”
“Because she was mine! She was just for me. I didn’t want any of you giving me shit over her because I was having a hard enough time figuring out what she was to me. My mom and Avery’s mom decided we would be good pen pals. I could learn about raven culture, and she could have someone outside of their community to talk to. Something was wrong with Avery. Something big, but no one ever told me. Her mom just said she needed something outside of Raven’s Hollow to hold onto. And that was me. But then…”
“Then what?” Harper asked softly.
Weston shook his head for a long time, stared off in the direction Avery had gone. “I don’t know. I thought she betrayed me.”