I sit down between Reece and Carlos. "Xavier showed up at my apartment this morning. He threatened my aunt and Casey if he caught wind of me and Dylan seeing each other." "You guys aren't together, so what's the problem?" Reece ask, frowning. "Dylan had the bright idea to pretend to date Kay while he and Lacey actually date," Derrick answers before I can say anything. Anthony puts his head in his hands. "And you went along with it, Lacey?" "I don't want Xavier and Kay to dictate who I can and can't date," I say in my defense. "At least I want to fight for someone I care about." Whether Carlos takes my jab at him, I don't know. His face holds no expression. "So, he found out about you and Dylan then?" Derrick asks me. "He said he saw my car at Dylan's on Friday and I told him we had a project to work on together." "So, he suspects it, but he doesn't know for sure," Derrick points out. "Right," I nod. "I don't know what to do. He threatened to hurt my aunt and Casey, but Dylan isn't going to take it well if I try to break up with him. He'll want Xavier to be dealt with." All the boys seem lost in thought. Carlos suddenly slams his hands on the table, making me jump. "Dammit, we told Dylan not to get involved with Kay from the beginning. We told him about Xavier and he still didn't listen. At this point, he's gonna get what's coming to him," he snaps. His outburst doesn't appear to settle well with the boys, and it flat out makes me angry. At least Dylan isn't willing to let Xavier run all over him. He's only pretending to be with Kay so Xavier will stay away from me. "What about Casey, Carlos? This is also about Xavier having some weird obsession with her. Who knows what he'll do with her." Carlos hasn't once stepped up to help with Casey's situation and it makes me wonder if he cares for her at all. "Then we deal with that. Dylan can take care of himself. If Xavier wants to kick is ass, then let him," he says, facing me head on. "Dylan is your friend. How can you even say that?" I demand from him. "Dylan has never given a shit about me, why am I going to give a shit about him?" Anthony rolls his eyes. "That's not true. Stop being a bitch, Carlos." Carlos points at Anthony. "Don't call me a bitch. Everyone has to cater to Dylan's needs, and now he's dragged Lacey into all of this," Carlos says as he stands up from his spot. He stares at me before talking again. "You know Dylan never even noticed you before I said something? I'm the one who said you were hot. He would have seen right through you if it weren't for me." He looks at Anthony and Reece. "And you guys know that." "Just sit down, dude," Reece says. "No. I'm sick of Dylan and his bullshit," he shakes his head. "Lacey, I don't give a shit about Casey. I only dated her to get to you." It doesn't make sense, until it all does. Carlos was always around, trying to make Dylan jealous and purposely ticking him off. It wasn't to make Dylan realize his feelings for me, but to remind Dylan that he wasn't the only one after me. And I completely looked it over. I don't know what to say. Carlos isn't the one I have a connection with. That's why it's so hard to just end things with Dylan. We have something special and it doesn't feel right to just walk out on him. "I'm not helping Dylan. He dug himself this deep, he'll have to get himself out," Carlos finishes. He then grabs his jacket and storms out of Raven's. "What the hell was that?" I say first. I still can't wrap my head around it. "Is he telling the truth? He liked me before Dylan did?" Anthony sighs. "Carlos is being dramatic about it. He just wanted to get into your pants." Carlos is a complex person and I never suspected that he had a thing for me. I always assumed he was around because of Casey. Derrick doesn't look amused by Carlos' outburst. If someone said that about my brother, I wouldn't be happy either. "Anyway," I shake my head. Time to get back on track. "I don't know what to do." No one says anything and it makes me nervous. Nobody has an immediately solution. The whole thing isn't just going to go away. "I think," Anthony says slowly, "You need to explain all of this to Dylan and maybe break things off for now." Breaking up with Dylan will be like letting Xavier and Kay win. And win what? The satisfaction of having Dylan to themselves? What about Casey? Will Xavier leave her alone if I leave Dylan alone for good? My heart feels heavy in my chest. The people I care about are being put in harm's way and I can't let it happen. I care about Dylan too, which makes the decision even harder. I need to talk to Xavier. Alone. And I can't let the boys, Dylan, or Casey know that I'm going to do it. I bite my lip. "I need to think," I say. "Thanks for coming, guys." We all walk out of Raven's and Reece leaves with Anthony while Derrick walks me to my car. "You're not going to do anything crazy, right?" he asks me. "No," I lie. "It's just a lot to process." Then I ask him, "Do you think I should break up with Dylan?" He scratches the back of his neck, which reminds me a lot of Dylan. "I don't know. I haven't seen Dylan this happy in a while, but in a way Carlos is right. He brought this on himself." "That doesn't answer my question." "Yes, I do," he nod. "It sucks, but if he really cares about you then he would want you to be safe. Your aunt and Casey too."