Blood

Twelve

The journey to my flat was filled with general conversation, but I remained silent, staring out of the window and reflecting on the events of the morning.

I couldn't stop thinking about Blake.

I knew that once upon a time he had feelings for me, but I thought they went when we decided that us in a relationship wouldn't work out. Had he felt this way for all of this time? For all these years? And now here I was, staying in his flat, in his room, with another man, after he had been helping my brother to locate our not so dead mother.

Guilt started to creep up on me.

Eli's hand on my thigh brought me back to reality and he raised his eyebrows at me. "Stop it."

"Stop what? What's that look for?"

"Don't feel bad for him," Eli murmured. "You have nothing to feel bad for, princess."

"Don't tell me how to feel, Eli," I sighed. "You don't understand."

"I understand you, trust me," Eli said. "You have nothing to feel bad about."

"He's been in love with you since I've known you. If he's not gotten over it by now then that's his problem." Kyle spoke up from the front seat, looking at me in the reflection of the mirror.

"I'm sorry, when did this become a group discussion?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.

"When you decided to wake everyone up by shouting this morning," Kyle said with a sarcastic smile.

"That was not my fault," I snapped, sending a glare to Eli who rolled his eyes.

"Thanks, Kyle, you just had to bring that up again so soon," Eli muttered.

"Sorry, man," Kyle shrugged. "If you don't want everyone to know your drama pick a better location to start a shouting match next time."

"You're annoying," I said. "How are you and Jasper friends? You can be quite rude."

"So can you," Kyle countered.

I raised my eyebrow at him. "You're lucky your Jasper's friend," I warned.

"You're lucky that you're his sister."

"Why are you even here? I didn't ask you. You don't have to be here."

"Yes, I do. For Jasper."

"Don't take it personally. Jasper is the only person that Kyle is actually ever nice to," Joey said with a teasing smile.

"Kind of like you with Eli," Hampson spoke up. He smirked at me when my eyes widened.

"Hampson! That is not true!" I gasped. "Gosh, I've saved your life. You're betraying me."

"Yeah, you're wrong, she's not even nice to me," Eli said.

"You are still on thin ice, Eli Reynolds!" I warned, pointing my finger at him.

Eli chuckled and kissed my temple. "Kyle, whether you want to be here or not, we're grateful for your help," he said honestly.

Kyle shrugged his shoulders. "As I said, I'm here for Jasper and you're his sister so I'll always be here to help. Whether you want it or not."

I furrowed my eyebrows and shook my head. "I can't work you out," I admitted.

The corner of Kyle's mouth turned up and he focused back on the road as we turned the corner and my university accommodation came into view.

"So, what's the plan?" Joey asked as we parked outside.

"We go in and I'm going to try my hardest to maim the annoying twats that live there," I said and opened the car door, stepping out.