Redemption Hills: The Complete Collection

17. Salem

SEVENTEEN

SALEM

SIXTEEN YEARS OLD

Salem shifted uneasily where she sat with her butt barely hanging onto the edge of the couch cushion. She felt so out of place.

Out of sorts.

Like she didn’t belong.

Okay, there was no like to it.

It was a simple fact.

She was reminded of it when Darius shot her another glare from across the throbbing room where he was huddled with a group of his friends against the far wall.

The party was packed, the lights cut dim, though colored strobes flashed from where the DJ was set up. The pulsing beat boomed at a deafening level, making it almost impossible to hear.

Forcing her attention from the daggers her brother was shooting her, Salem took an uncomfortable sip from her beer and tried to pay attention to Talia who had some random guy flirting with her.

Talia turned to Salem with a salacious look.

“See, I told you it would be a blast,” Talia shouted above the din.

“Total blast.” Salem all but rolled her eyes.

Talia reached out and grabbed her by the wrist, shook it around. “Come on, have fun. Why are you the boringest borer ever?”

Salem couldn’t help but giggle. “I’m not boring.”

Talia looked at her. Deadpan. Nothing but a disbelieving blink.

Salem sighed. “Okay, fine.”

But she took life seriously. Her goals. Her dreams. The fact that she was going to make her mimi proud, go to college, have a home of her own.

She was determined to take care of her grandmother the way she’d taken care of Salem and Darius.

It didn’t leave a whole lot of time for this .

Which was fine because it didn’t feel like her scene, anyway. She’d have preferred hiding out in her room watching a movie with her best friend rather than watching a guy who was clearly too old for Talia feeding her a cheesy line that she ate up like candy.

Or maybe it was just that Salem felt like a third wheel.

A spare.

In the way.

Because no one flirted with her.

Ever.

So she tried to hide her unease behind her cup. To fade into the shadows the way she did.

Only Talia nudged her with her elbow hard. “Look who’s here.”

Salem looked up to find a new crew coming through the front door. Five of them. The air changed when they did. An unsettled charge of unease and intrigue as they walked in.

She wanted to hole up under the weight of it, but she was frozen, locked under the eyes that latched onto her after Carlo had surveyed the crowd.

It was as if he’d sifted through purposefully in search of a wallflower.

Someone clapped him on the shoulder, and Carlo turned to him, and Salem breathed out when she was freed of his piercing gaze.

Her stomach unsure.

Attracted…but…not.

She never could quite put her finger on it.

So, she watched from afar, the interactions that didn’t seem so by chance going down across the room.

The low voice in which Carlo spoke to her brother with their heads tipped together, as if giving instruction as Darius nodded along.

A command of the room.

A deal she realized as there was the shaking of hands.

The dirty kind, she realized just as fast, or maybe she’d just caught on to what she already knew.

The way Darius all of a sudden had money.

The way he moved.

The secrets he kept.

Salem blinked and jerked her attention away, realizing she was staring when Carlo leaned back against the wall with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his dress slacks and stared right back.

She peeked again.

His smile was a challenge.

Heat slithered over her flesh. Salem felt like she couldn’t breathe.

She tapped Talia’s arm. “I’m going to go get some fresh air.”

Talia frowned. “Do you want me to go with you?”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll be out back.”

She didn’t want to be a downer more than she’d already been.

She stood from the couch and worked her way over people’s legs and bodies, angling through the house, pushing through the throng. She heaved out in relief when she made it through the sliding door at the back and onto the patio.

There were just as many people out there, but they were spread out, this crowd not quite shoulder to shoulder the way it was in the house. The volume of the music from inside cut in half.

She crossed the porch and took the two steps down onto the lawn, and she found a close to secluded spot under a tree. She crossed her arms over her chest, contemplated, then decided she’d send Talia a text and leave.

Except the voice whispered over her from behind, “Pupa.” It was almost a tsk as his lips scraped across the back of her neck. “I think it’s time, don’t you?”

She slowly turned, confusion in the knit of her brow as Carlo smiled at her.

Half in affection.

Half condescending.

Her heart hammered. Attraction and fear. “For what?” she managed.

He ran his knuckles along her jaw, cocked his head. “For you to realize you’re mine.”