The Outfit Clash: I'm Told to Strip novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: Tyler

I opened the door with the chain on.

"It's midnight, Tyler."

"I know what time it is." He looked up and down the hall. "Can I come in?"

"No."

"Please."

I had never heard that word come out of him.

It sounded rusty.

Across the hall, Maddie's door opened two inches.

One eye and half a red curl appeared in the gap.

"Is that who I think it is?" she said.

"Go back to bed, Fenn," Tyler said.

"Don't tell me what to do in my own hallway."

"It's fine, Maddie," I said. "Leave your door open."

I took the chain off.

I let him in, and I left my door wide open too.

Tyler stood in the middle of my room.

He looked at the boot print still in my laptop screen.

He looked at my mother's jacket on its hanger.

He looked away fast.

"That wasn't me," he said.

"Who was it?"

He cracked his knuckles.

"I drove," he said. "I didn't go in."

"You drove who?"

"Hunter. And one of the guards. I sat in the car." His voice went thin. "I didn't know he was going to cut it. I swear to God. He said he wanted to scare you."

I sat down on my desk chair.

I didn't offer him the bed.

"Why are you here?"

He pulled a phone out of his pocket.

Not his usual one. An old one with a cracked case.

"Every order since last fall," he said. "Patrice texts me sizes and dates. I pick up at the lab on Fridays. I drive the boxes to the outlet in Hartford. I sign the van sheet. I took a photo of every sheet."

He held it out.

I didn't take it.

"She signs them too," he said. "Her initials. P.S. Every single one."

"And you kept it all."

"Because I'm not an idiot." He laughed, short and ugly. "Mr. Sterne pays my tuition. He pays for my car. He can stop any day. I wanted something he couldn't take back."

"So what do you want for it?"

He finally sat, on the very edge of my bed.

"A pass," he said. "You're the chair. You make the police thing go away for me. No charges. I keep my spot on the team. I graduate in May like nothing happened."

← Chapter 13 · All chapters · Chapter 15 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend