I was playing a game of hide and seek with him. I was mortified with what had happened between us, and his rejection didn't help me at all. Something I couldn't forget, even if I could. I battled with three emotions. One moment, my heart would flush when I remembered our heated moment, and the next, the rejection would send me biting down on my lips, and the third, the third was something else. Sadness mixed with confusion? I could still hear his words. Could still feel the pain and sorrow.

The raw emotions in Rogue's eyes twisted my heart. I didn't care. I didn't care what his problem was. It wasn't my problem. He could go to hell for all I care. Well, he did say he was in hell already.

Saturday morning, I strolled through the garden. It was just so beautiful and peaceful, so I ended up sitting in one of the chairs for an hour, basking in the freedom that I got and the sun shining on my face. I was enjoying my day when I heard footsteps, and I turned around so fast, almost giving myself whiplash. I was fully prepared to run out of the garden if it was Rogue. I wasn't joking around with the hide and sleek.

"Hi, darling!" Veronica chirped, waving at me with a wide smile. She had on a big hat with sunglasses that almost covered half of her face. I let my eyes roamed over the red bikini she was wearing with a sheer transparent coverup.

"Hey." I waved back as she strolled to where I sat and leaned down to air kiss both of my cheeks. It was so weird, but my smile stayed plastered. I wondered what she was doing here and if Rogue knew she was here.

She plopped down next to me with a heavy sigh. "I couldn't stop thinking about you, Beth. I knew I had to see you and save you from the boredom and the darkness that crowds the house. I was right to come, wasn't I? You look like you are in need of saving." She lifted her sunglasses and winked at me through her brown eyes.

"Does Rogue know you're here?" I asked, looking around the garden and expecting him to jump out and say boo.

"What is he going to do? Kick me out?" She snorted. "Relax, darling. He can't come in between our friendship."

Our friendship? I didn't remember extending my friendship. She must have mistaken our brief encounter at the party as an offering of my friendship. Nevertheless, I wasn't going to tell her that. Perhaps a company of someone else other than Rogue and Miriam could be what I needed. I liked Veronica's vibe. It was hard to believe she was friends with Rogue.

"Here." The bag she carried with her was dumped on my lap. "I bought you a few things. I thought we could have a pool party. I wasn't sure if you have a bikini, but I got you covered on that. I also brought alcohol. Didn't want to raid Rogue's. He bites harder than he chews."

And she was right. When I stuck my head in the bag, I saw the black bikini and three bottles of vodka. Three? Did she think we were going to drink all of that?

"Is that a vape?" Astonished, the question came out as I arched a brow at her.

Her grin widened. "We can't have a party without a vape. It will take more than alcohol to make you forget Rogue, trust me. Alcohol and vape is the Rogue remedy. Come on." She shot up to her feet and signaled for me to get up. I had no choice but to follow her back inside the house.

We met with Miriam just as she was about to go upstairs.

"Miriam!" Veronica called, halting the woman from taking any more steps. She walked back down and greeted Veronica politely, but I could tell she didn't like her. The way she was looking at her felt like an aged dislike. She was being rude, and she didn't care. I didn't even get that kind of hostility, and I knocked her out! Veronica addressed her, "Can you fix something for me and Beth to eat? We're going to be at the pool."

Miriam nodded. "Sure, Ms. Veronica."

Veronica grabbed my hand and tugged me along before I could steal another glance at Miriam. When we got into the pool house, I told Veronica I was going to my room to change into the bikini that she bought me, but she laughed and told me it was unnecessary to go upstairs. That I could change right here. With that, she took off the coverup and sank in one of the lounge chairs, leaning against the reclined back.

"Beth, hurry up!" she called out.

I quickly took off my clothes and discarded them on the ground, wearing the new bikini. It did fit. I considered asking her if she asked Rogue for my size, but I would rather not know that. Barefoot, I strolled to where she sat and took the opposite chair. She swung her head at me.

"This is nice, isn't it? Us together here."

I nodded, not knowing what to say.

"I'm not really popular with anyone, but I guess you and I have something in common."

Rogue.

I dragged my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around my legs. "How are you not popular with anyone? You're you. You should have so many friends." Wasn't that what rich people do? They keep an endless amount of friends.

"I guess I could have, but I don't vibe with anyone. Everyone's just too perfect. They believe in perfection. They're too much into the plastic. I like real things." She grabbed a bottle and drank straight from it. When she gulped it down, she continued, "Real things can be bent. Real things can scar and get out of shape. Real things are nice."

It sounded like it came straight from her heart, and where things came straight from the heart, came a story. But I didn't want to poke at it, so I decided to choose the lesser evil, "Your husband?"

She coughed out a laugh and glanced at me, even though I couldn't see her eyes. "He's a tool," Veronica said, surprising me. "Don't mind me for saying that, but it's the truth. I married Pete because I had no choice, but we have no connection. He's boring and serious. We are not compatible, Beth. He doesn't get me. People who don't get me stay. People who get me run."

I wondered where I would end up falling, but I didn't know her, and I could tell that she had been hurt by people. She had tasted pain, and she was trying to venture far away from it.

"How long have you been in America?"

Her question was simple, so it was easy to reply. "A little over a year."

"Do you like it?"

I shrugged. "I guess so." Apart from missing my family and friends like hell, America wasn't so bad, actually.

"Your family?" she asked, going for another sip of her vodka. I noticed that she was drinking from the bottle excessively. Did she want to get drunk?

"They're still in London."

"Got siblings?"

"Two."

"Lucky you. I'm an only child. I'm telling you, that shit ain't fun." Veronica increased her volume a little higher as she said it. She crossed her long legs and put her arm behind her to support her head.

"How did you and Rogue meet?"

If I weren't paying so much attention to her, I wouldn't have caught the moment where her jaw hardened, and then she smiled. "Which one do you want to know? The real one or the fake one?"

I sensed I was approaching a difficult subject, but I decided to proceed anyway. "The real one." And why would they need a fake story of how they met?

Veronica pulled down her glasses an inch and gave me a narrowed eyed look with lips that had stretched into a broad smile. "Beth? Most people want to hear the fake story first. It's usually the one that gets people to laugh."

"And what does the real one gets people to do?"

She looked away and grinned, but she didn't elaborate. Her non-answer was answer enough for me. I moved on to another topic of interest. "Is Rogue close to Taylor Sinclair? Do you know him?"

In all the months that I had spent with Hanna, I had only briefly met her brother at her parent's anniversary, and when he dropped by her flat. There had never been a mention of Rogue Slade, not even a claim that she knew him. It was weird why Taylor would go straight to Rogue and ask him for help, not come to me instead. It was something that had been bothering me for a while now. Veronica had to know him if he was Rogue's friend.

"Can't say I heard of him," she replied.

Did she just lie to me? There was no way she wouldn't have known Taylor. Their parents were rich and popular. His mum was a renowned judge, and they owned a 500 fortune company. Scratch them being rich and popular. If he was Rogue's friend and she was his childhood friend, they had to have crossed paths somehow. Rogue might have dropped the name to her. There was no way I was going to believe her, but why would she lie to me?

"If you want to know about Rogue, ask Rogue. He will tell you everything he wants to tell you himself."

I gave her a frustrated look. "Like that's easy."

"You're right." She laughed softly, then removed her glasses. "What do you want to know about him? The good, the bad, or the ugly?"

"Surprise me," I said calmly, as though I was not annoyed inside by her lie.

The small screech from the door had me turning my head around, expecting to see Miriam with the food.

It was Rogue.

I shot up before I knew what I was doing. I didn't realize how stupid that was until I realized he was giving me a slow look from head to toe, and I remembered that I was wearing a bikini. My cheeks flushed. His face was so intense that I involuntarily took a few steps back, his breath deep and even.

The fact that this was the first time that I saw him after our heated moment was not lost on me. I felt like crawling into a hole to die there. We stared at each other, letting the memory sink back into our minds. The only sound that could be heard was Veronica's loud inhale.

"Veronica, you didn't tell me you were dropping by." His tone implied that he was pissed about it and wasn't hiding it. It was a weird thing to say about a close friend like that.

Without looking at him, she replied, "Didn't feel like it. I came to meet Beth, anyway. You didn't allow us to say goodbye to each other at the fundraiser." This time, a meaningful look past between them.

"Don't smoke in here," he growled when he glanced at the vape in her hand. His voice penetrated my senses, making my body danced to his tune.

"Don't be like that, darling," she whined, stretching her legs again.

Rogue's eyes blackened as the brewing storm broke and raged harshly. "You're not going to smoke, nor are you going to offer anything to my guest," he countered, stepping closer to where we sat. It seemed with every step, he pulled energy toward him until everything felt gloomy.

I watched as Veronica swung her leg to the ground and sat up, shifting her body to look at us. "Is that what she is? Your guest? You're so funny." But there wasn't an inch of humor in her voice.

"You wouldn't want me to call Pete to pick you up," he said, holding her gaze with his, an unreadable expression on his face.

I saw her grit her teeth. "Don't be a bastard. It isn't like you."

"Really?" he goaded. "How about I pull at the necklace around your neck and strangle the fuck out of you?"

What the fuck?

He had to be joking, right? He had to be joking.

I felt so confused and out of place right now. Like a damn fool, I kept looking back and forth between them, trying to read into the situation. In the next seconds, Veronica had abandoned her place and padded across the floor barefoot, stopping in front of him.

Rogue looked down at her while she looked up at him intensely. Watching, she leaned and whispered something to him, something I couldn't catch because she was talking in a low voice. But Rogue's mask slipped, his eyes widened, and then he whispered something back to her. They were so close their chests were practically touching. I couldn't stand it. Hell, watching them right now was torture.

I slipped out of the pool house before they could notice, and I was about to start heading down the hallway when a hand grabbed my elbow. I yelped as I spun around to face Rogue. I didn't hear him following me, but I was trapped between him and the wall behind me. There was only a foot of space between us, but it was not enough room to allow me a full breath.

Suits turned him into a sharp, merciless weapon that hid a monster, but casual clothes stripped that mask and laid the monster bare. However, anything he wore demanded complete submission.

His gaze was fierce, and despite my fear, despite my nervousness, I found annoyance rising inside me. I stayed quiet, waiting to see what he would do. I wanted to know what the fuck his deal was, and what his relationship with Veronica really was because less than three minutes ago, he threatened to strangle her.

I wanted to unravel his secrets. I wanted to know what pushed him and what kind of demons he was dealing with. I wanted to know why he wouldn't leave me the hell alone when it had been so easy for him to leave my room two days ago. I ached to know so much. Being in the dark sucked. It wasn't fun.

Finally, he spewed out his order, "Cut off Veronica." His lips pressed into a hard line.

I frowned deeply. "Why?" Did he not want me to be friends with his friend? Was that it? I wasn't a threat to him. The only reason why I would even talk to Veronica was that there was no one else I talked to besides Miriam...and him.

Rogue's eyes narrowed as he leaned even closer, looming over me. "She's not good for you."

Staring up at him in disbelief, I countered, "Funny. That's exactly what she said about you."

He went still instantly, his body tight with tension. I could see his jaw clenching and a vein near his temple pounding a steady rhythm. "She's both a snake and a chameleon." His words resonated in the air. It felt like the truth or a lie.

Did he really hate that Veronica liked me that he would consider lying to me? I was disappointed and annoyed. He didn't get to have a say in what kind of person his friend was when he was the shittiest person I had ever met, someone who could be borderline psychotic.

"And what are you?" I challenged, trying to draw the line. To weigh each one of them based on how they had treated me, and look at fucking that....Veronica won. Veronica deserved my friendship.

"The most real thing you can find."

"You're just bothered that I'm friends with her."

A slow smile spread across his face. "No, I'm just trying to be nice and keep you out of trouble. Cut her off."

"No," I stood my ground.

"She's not what you think." He had a tortured look on his face while mine remained neutral.

"That's also what she said about you," I retorted, my face screaming for him to tell me the truth and not speak in riddles, or order me around. His desire to control everyone was annoying and unattractive.

"Stop listening to what she's saying about me. They're all true, but what is she saying about herself?"

That made me pause. He was right. I didn't know much about her, only that she was married, didn't like her husband, and she wasn't popular with people. But I wasn't going to let Rogue know his question had paused my mind.

"She's more stable than you." The ice in my tone was unmistakable.

Rogue surprised me when he threw his head back and erupted into a fit of laughter, so dark that it chilled me as it bounced across the walls. "Veronica? Stable? Sweetheart, we're practically cut from the same clothe. Why do you think we're still friends?"

He's lying. He's lying. He's lying. He's lying.

"She tolerates you because friendship matters to her." Why I was hellbent on defending her, I had no idea. Rogue knew her better than me, but to imply that she was like him, what, a twisted person? A monster? Haunted by demons? Wasn't that what Veronica had said about him? Who should I believe? The man who looked practically unstable all the time, or the woman who sought out to help me?

Rogue stared at me like he wanted to hit me. "You're bullshiting me, aren't you?" His voice verged on menacing, shooting horror into my heart. Then he rolled his eyes and stepped back to allow us more room. "Fine. Go ask her about Halloween." His smile was wicked now.

"What happened in Halloween?"

"Ask her. If she tells you, keep her. If she doesn't, well, it's not too late to close the door on her."

I glared at him. "Fine. I'm going to ask her, and I'm only doing it because I don't trust you, and I think she's not as bad as you make her out to be. The only person I need to stay away from is you, but unfortunately, that decision isn't up to me."

He laughed, not the least bit put off by my snarky attitude. "Have fun, Beth." When he turned and walked off down the hall, it took all my self-control not to slide down the wall and plant my ass on the floor.