The Fighter and His Tiger (Unexpected Love #1)

36. Friday Week Fourteen

Sorry for the late update amazing people! I literally went out and didn't come home for three days so.....yeah. My parents were v v pissed and not the good kind :/

36. Friday Week Fourteen

Only last week, Kiara had forced me to attend a house party against my will but seeing as I had actually ended up having a good time, I had decided to relent and join her this week also.

"So, you fell out of bed?" Kyle asked in a yell over the blasting music for about the fifth time.

I rolled my eyes, "yes, Kyle, I had a bad dream and I rolled over in my sleep, fell out the bed, and hit my cheek on my bedside table."

The deception flowed easily off my tongue and I was thankful that none of them knew that I didn't have a bedside table or even a bed frame. Rolling out of bed was a common occurrence for me but it rarely ever hurt me. Luckily, the only people I had encountered this week were Kiara, Kyle, Arik, and Jasper so I had yet to need a reason to change my lie.

However, I was forced to reconsider my poorly crafted fabrication when Kins, Tori, and Lana all came into the dark lounge which was littered with red cups and couples making out.

I knew the exact moment each of them saw my face; Tori gasped; Lana swore under her breath; Kins looked furious.

Tori was the first to rush over, cupping my cheek gently in her hand, "Rei, oh my god, what did you do?"

I shifted nervously and my eyes flickered to Kyle who was now, fortunately, chatting up a brunette and so paying no attention to us, "I slipped in the shower and hit my head on the edge of the bathtub."

Lana cocked her hip out, looking as sassy as ever, "really?" She drawled, "because Jasper seems to think that you hit your head on a bedside table that we all know you don't have."

"What's going on, Rei?" Kinsey asked softly, "you can tell us."

Sweat coated my hands making them clammy and I felt my ears ringing. The lying to my friends was becoming too much, I didn't know what I had told them and what I hadn't. What I could tell them and what I couldn't. All the lines were becoming blurred and I didn't know how to bring them back into focus.

I shrugged them all off and stood to my feet, "I'm fine, don't worry about it."

"Don't worry? Rei, it looks like you've been hit around the face with a baseball bat!" Kins admonished.

My flinch was imperceptible but I noticed Tori narrowing her eyes at me as she caught the movement. Then my eyes flickered over to the door where I noticed Eli striding in with a tall and slender blonde girl hanging from his arm. This time my flinch wasn't so imperceptible and the girls picked up on the action.

Lana followed my line of sight and she looked furious when she saw who I was staring at, "did he do this to you?" Her voice was low and quiet, barely discernible over the loud blare of dance music that wafted through the house but the hardness in her tone was terrifying and I never wanted to hear her talk like that again.

Vehemently, I shook my head, "no, of course not, Eli would never hurt me like that."

Tori began fiddling with her hands like she did when she was anxious, "are you sure, Reillyn? He has quite the temper on him."

Shocked by their words, I reeled backwards and stumbled in my black heels, "I can't believe you guys are saying this."

Worry etched onto her soft features, Lana reached out to me but I pulled away from her grasp. I couldn't believe what they were saying.