The Rebel - Kelsey Clayton Page 0,3

engine roars to life before I back out of the space. With one last soft smile at Easton, I drive out of there, never looking back. It isn’t that I don’t care about him. He helped me get through some pretty rough times. But I’ve made it a rule not to let anyone get close enough to hurt me. It’s the best way I know to stay unbroken. The single tear that slides down my cheek is the only one I’ll allow myself to shed.

THE CLUB IS PULSING with energy as the music vibrates through the walls and the floor. I slide my fake ID back into my wallet and wait for my sister and friends to do the same. Knox, Delaney’s troublemaker boyfriend, wraps his arms around her from behind, making her smile. The two of them were the most unexpected couple, being as my sister was practically a nun before she met him, but they work in the best possible way.

“All right, bitches,” Grayson says in his best valley-girl voice. “Someone come with me to get a beer. I’m ready to get shwastey.”

We all laugh as Knox smacks him in the stomach. “Remind me again why I’m friends with you?”

Gray falls into Knox’s arms. “Because I’m your soulmate and you love me.”

“Aye, watch it.” Delaney levels him with a single look.

He stands up and raises his hands in surrender. “Uh-oh. Looks like I made your little Bambi mad.”

Savannah rolls her eyes. “You’re not even drunk yet, and I’m already wanting to take your ass home.”

“Ooh,” he coos, bouncing his eyebrows. “For some hanky panky?”

As Grayson goes in to kiss Sav, she stops him with her hand on his forehead. “Call it hanky panky one more time.”

Knox chuckles and grabs Gray by the arm. “All right, let’s get you that drink before you make Savannah realize how much better she is than you.”

As they walk away, Delaney and Savannah watch them, looking so loved up it almost makes me sick. I’m happy for them, of course, but I just don’t understand how you could feel that much for someone. To let them in like that—giving them the ability to destroy you at the snap of their fingers—it just doesn’t seem worth it to me.

“Is he drunk already?” Lennon questions.

Sav shakes her head. “Nope, high. Knox thought it would be hilarious to convince Gray to smoke a blunt with him before we left.”

“I mean,” Delaney tilts her head side to side, “it is pretty entertaining.”

“No,” I interject. “Entertaining is the fact that you got Knox to agree to follow you across the country.”

Her eyes widen and she looks around quickly. “Shh, not so loud! He’s like a scared animal. One wrong move and he’ll run for the hills.”

I don’t know what’s more amusing—the fact that she referred to the guy who literally took a bullet for her as a scared animal or that she honestly believes he would allow her to move thousands of miles away without him by her side. I personally witnessed the change in Knox as he fell in love with my sister, and there isn’t a damn thing in this world that could keep him from her.

I SIT AT THE bar with Delaney, Lennon, and Savannah, while Knox and Grayson are off somewhere being a bunch of idiots. It was cute at first, watching both their stoned asses make fools of themselves, but it quickly got old.

As I take a sip of my drink, I catch sight of someone over my glass. He’s sitting across the bar, looking every bit like a fantasy of mine—older, muscular, fucking gorgeous. He looks at me with a darkness in his eyes that is exactly my type. Just the expression alone is enough to put every one of my senses on high alert. Unfortunately, another girl steps up next to him and his attention is pulled off me and onto her. Ugh.

“I don’t want you to leave tomorrow.” I lay my head on Delaney’s shoulder, letting my buzz control my level of honesty.

“I know, but you’ll be okay. Besides, you can come visit any time you want.”

I huff. “You better be available whenever I want. You’re supposed to be my ride or die and you’re leaving me.”

Savannah, being the brat she is, looks over Laney and at me with a smirk on her face. “Are you actually sad because Delaney is leaving, or because you broke up with Easton?”

Fuck. Of course Laney told her about that. Meanwhile, I hadn’t gotten