Chapter 4 HOTTIES

CHAPTER FOUR

RILEY MOORE

My body felt unusually heavy as I dragged myself back home. I had spent the whole day ignoring Brian, Jaxon, and Stacy. After everything that happened, I wasn't in the mood to be approached by anybody or attract more attention to myself. All I wanted was to go home, check my diary, and figure out my next move.

“Riley,” Bianca called out, running up to me.

It had slipped my mind that she rode with me sometimes since we lived in the same neighborhood. She bumped her shoulder against mine when she reached me, playfully lifting her eyebrows.

“Jaxon Fisher, huh?”

I rolled my eyes, a small smile tugging at my lips. Even if I avoided everyone else in my life, I couldn't escape Bianca. She had been my backbone for so long. We'd been best friends for as long as I could remember, ever since our mothers decided their children should grow up together and become best friends.

Even after my father died and my mother got remarried, they never lost touch. When we moved, Bianca's mother, Michelle, didn't hesitate to move with us. It was after we moved that we met Stacy and became the unbreakable trio we were now.

I sighed, remembering one crucial detail. We were a trio before I destroyed it all by falling for Stacy's boyfriend.

“Are you okay?” she asked, holding my hands as we walked toward my car.

“I think I destroyed our friendship. Stacy would never forgive me. She would never speak to me again.”

Bianca squeezed my hands gently, comforting me. “I'm sure she'll come around. There's no reason for her to remain mad at you. She already knows you're not after her man.”

I wanted to believe her words so badly, but I had to be realistic. I knew Stacy wasn't easily convinced, and she still believed the letter was written for Brian. Unlike Bianca, she was logical and naturally inquisitive. She questioned everything and always found loopholes. I'm sure she didn't believe us. It would take more convincing for her to fall for the lie.

“I don't know. You know how Stacy is.”

“We'll be fine. I promise. Just give her some time to process things. She'll come around.” Bianca flashed me a bright smile, and I returned it.

It felt like my first genuine smile all day, and I couldn't help but feel grateful for having a lovely friend like her.

We got into my car, buckled our seat belts, and I started driving. I knew a series of questions were about to start pouring out of Bianca's mouth, so I turned on the music to distract her. She was quick to catch my trick and turned it back down.

“Tell me about him.” She smiled wildly, almost bouncing in her seat.

“About whom?” I played dumb.

I really didn't have the strength to continue the conversation, but I knew she wouldn't let it go until I told her everything she wanted to hear.

“Your man.” She nudged me gently, winking.

I found myself chuckling despite the situation. She had this way of making everyone happy whenever she was around.

“There's nothing much to talk about. We just hit it off one day, and he asked me out later.”

“When did this start?”

I paused to think of a believable lie. “At the start of last summer holiday. We met at a summer camp since I volunteered there. It was surprisingly an instant connection.”

There were a few bits of lies in my story, but most of it was true. I actually went to summer sports camp to volunteer, but the real reason I went there was to spend more time with Brian and, of course, watch him shirtless.

“That must have been a dream come true. Girl, I am so jealous. You literally have the two hottest guys wrapped around your fingers. I would move mountains to trade places with you.”

I frowned, wondering who else she was talking about. “Two hottest guys?” I asked, confused.

“Yeah… Brian and Jaxon. I'm surprised you ended up with Jaxon. I always shipped you and Brian. Low-key, of course. I don't want to hurt Stacy's feelings.”

I gave her a strange glance before shifting my gaze back to the road. “You do know he's my brother, right?”

“He is not your biological brother. People really need to stop acting like you share the same parents, geez. There's nothing creepy about the chemistry you both have.”

“We don't have chemistry, Bianca. He loves Stacy.”

Bianca scoffed. “Yeah, right. And I love peanut butter.”

She was allergic to peanut butter. I had no idea why she said that, but I wasn't going to ask. I was better off not knowing. All I needed to do was stick to the plan, and everything would hopefully fall into place.

I stopped at Bianca's place and watched her hop out, wave at me, blow me a quick kiss, and skip into her house. I honked when she saw her mother before continuing down a few blocks to my own house.

I hurried out of my car and into the house, feeling a surge of strength now that I was home. I rushed up the stairs to my room and headed straight for the place where I always kept my diary.

“This is so strange.”

The lock to the cupboard was still in place, so how had the contents of my diary gotten out?

I quickly unlocked it and pulled it open, my heartbeat accelerating. My diary sat neatly on top, looking perfectly normal, as though no one had touched it. But when I took it out and opened it, I noticed that a few pages had been ripped out.

What puzzled me was how the perpetrator had managed to sneak into my room without anyone knowing, unlock the cupboard, and tamper with the pages of my diary without me noticing.

My phone suddenly started ringing, startling me so much that I dropped the diary.

The caller ID was an unknown number, but I picked it up anyway. It could be someone important.

“Hello?”

“Hi, girlfriend.” Jaxon's unmistakable voice came from the other end of the phone.

My mind instantly pictured him with the smug smirk on his face.

“How did you get my number?”

“I have my ways. Besides, it'll be weird if I don't have my Princess's number.”

I huffed, annoyed that he was enjoying this game too much. I really wished I was having this much fun.

“I just checked my diary. It's still with me, but a few pages have been ripped out.”

The other line was silent for a while before his now-serious voice came through.

“How important are those ripped pages?”

“Deadly.”

That was my only response.

Those pages could literally ruin lives.

“Then we need to find the person who took them as soon as possible. If we don't, they're going to hit you with a bigger problem than you could imagine.”

I bit my lip, mentally running through a list of the people who could have taken it to harm me, but I came up blank. I didn't have a single clue.

“Oh, and Riley?” Jaxon called from the other end, breaking my train of thought.

“Yes?”

“Make sure you lock your windows tonight and close the curtains. You don't know who's watching.”

He didn't give me a chance to ask what he meant before he hung up, leaving me stuck in confusion.

Taking his advice, I walked over to my window and found it unlocked.

I vividly remembered locking it that morning, and I knew my mother and stepfather weren't home. There was no one else who could have unlocked it since Brian had gone to school a few hours earlier for practice.

I was still thinking about the unlatched window when my eyes caught sight of a letter lying on my bed. I hadn't seen it earlier.

I walked over, confusion etched across my face as I picked it up to check the contents. Maybe my mother had come home earlier than she was supposed to and left me a note.

But when I opened it, it was nothing like what I expected. Somehow, I knew that my misery wasn't over yet.

In fact, it had just begun.

Written inside was the one secret only I knew.

“Do they know you're responsible for your father's death? I wonder what they'll do if they find out you're a murderer.”