In the commotion, someone shoved me from behind. I stumbled forward, and before I could regain my balance, a stinging slap landed across my face.
My right car rang. My cheek burned. I blinked away tears of shock and pain.
Blake didn’t even look my way. He was entirely focused on Claire, cradling her face in his hands, examining the scratch on her cheek.
My heart twisted painfully in my chest. It felt like someone was squeezing it, watching it bleed.
“Blakey,” Claire sobbed into his chest. “She stole my solo role. I just wanted to dance the lead again,
and she refused to step aside.”
Blake stroked her hair. “Shh, it’s okay now.”
Claire looked up at him with tear–filled eyes. “Blakey, I can’t go back to Seaside Manor, and now the company doesn’t want me either. Am I so annoying?”
My mouth fell open at the blatant lie, but Blake’s expression had already darkened. His security team was efficiently handling the situation–one man escorting the injured dancer to seek medical attention, another negotiating payment with her parents.
“Let her dance whatever she wants,” Blake told the company manager coldly. “If someone gets upset
or hurt, we’ll pay. That’s not a problem.”
As they prepared to leave, Blake finally acknowledged me with a glacial stare. “I’ll deal with you
later,” he muttered as he passed.
Claire reached toward me. “Blakey, can you drive Anna home too? I don’t want our family separated.”
Blake closed his hand around hers. “Don’t worry about her. I’m taking you home.”
Our family. Home. The words echoed hollowly in my mind. I let out a bitter laugh as realization. crashed over me like a wave. They were family. They were going home. I was the outsider. The
obstacle.
I watched them walk away, Blake’s arm protectively around Claire’s shoulders. He’d stood by and let someone hit me. Maybe he even wanted it to happen–a lesson for me.
Outside the theater, I blinked against the sunlight, my eyes blurry with unshed tears. A familiar figure leaned against a car across the street.
Seth.
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Chapter 23
“Claire is over there,” I said flatly, gesturing vaguely in the direction Blake and Claire had gone.
“I don’t give a shit about Claire,” he replied. “You’re enough trouble for me already.”
I scoffed. “Playing big brother now? You’re only seven months older than me, Seth.”
He stepped closer, frowning. “What the hell happened to your face?”
I turned away. “Nothing.”
“That’s not nothing.” His voice hardened. “Did Blake do that? Or did Claire? Who the fuck hit you?”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s none of your business.”
Seth grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. His eyes were blazing with an intensity I’d
never seen before.
“I’m going in there right now to settle this,” he growled. “All those years we fought, I never once slapped your face. What gives anyone else the right?”
I stared at him, confused by the fierce protectiveness in his voice. This wasn’t the Seth I knew–the one who’d tormented me since childhood, who’d abandoned me on a street corner less than an hour
ago.
“Just take me home,” I whispered.
“This needs to be treated,” he insisted. “I’m taking you to the hospital.”
I stared at him, completely bewildered by this unfamiliar version of Seth. I raised my hand to his forehead as if checking for a fever.
“Who are you and what have you done with Seth Price?” I asked, only half–joking.
He immediately swatted my hand away, scowling. “Don’t flatter yourself. I just can’t stand looking at you being so ugly.”
“I don’t need your help,” I said firmly, wincing as a sharp pain shot through my cheek,
“Too bad, because you’re getting it,” he replied.
Suddenly, Seth’s expression changed. His eyes widened and he grabbed my arm. “Watch out!”
2/3