“The Lost Boys,” I said, wiping away dried blood. “That’s what Evelyn Gonzalez is calling the three of you.”
Ronan didn’t comment, but I thought he didn’t mind the name so much. He was quiet for a minute, then said, “I looked for you.”
My hands on his skin jumped, and my cheeks heated in an actual blush.
He looked for me?
“I…I didn’t go. I can’t drink, and that’s pretty much the main point of a rager.”
“Why can’t you drink?”
“I have some weird allergy to alcohol,” I said. “Even a sip of beer can make me drunk as hell and instantly hungover.”
“That’s fucked up.”
“Those kinds of parties aren’t my scene anyway.”
But he looked for me.
I gave my head a shake and focused on the work, not those words or how his low voice sounded when he said them.
“Same. I was there for Miller.”
I’d finished cleaning the cut and took up the antibiotic ointment. Ronan watched me smear the greasy stuff on his wound, though he was capable of doing it himself. And we both knew it.
“I’m beginning to think I should’ve been there for Violet.”
“Yeah?”
“We’ve been BFFs since we were kids. But I don’t know. She seems to be doing okay with Evelyn.”
“She and Miller—”
“Are complicated.” I opened the gauze and moved Ronan’s arm closer to me on the table. “But we shouldn’t talk about it behind their backs. They need to figure it out themselves.”
“He’s in love with her,” Ronan said.
My head snapped up at the softness in his rough voice.
His gray eyes met mine, and he shrugged. “He is.”
I quickly averted my gaze to concentrate on my work. “I know. And she loves him too. But she has her reasons for keeping things as they are. To keep herself safe. I can appreciate that.”
“Why?”
I raised a brow. “Are you always this direct?”
He shrugged. “Not a fan of bullshit.”
“Neither am I, actually.”
“So?”
“So I can appreciate Violet’s caution, because I don’t want to get involved with anything or anyone that distracts me from my goals either,” I said. A declaration of independence that needed to be said in Ronan’s presence.
“Your goal is the jewelry,” he said.
I nodded. “I’m going to open my own business. Which isn’t easy for a woman and even less so for a woman of color. So I work really hard, not just to make it happen for myself but to prove to everyone I can do it.”