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by Ashley Jade
She muttered God must have gotten his wires crossed and gave Liam all the compassion…and me all the evil.
So I asked her where Liam’s compassion was when he secured a rope around his neck and left his family to find his corpse hanging in a closet during breakfast.
Then I smiled when she ran off crying.
“Good chat,” I bite out as he wanders down the hall. “I’ll make sure to tell Oakley to come over for breakfast around nine. Maybe you can make everyone pancakes…just like old times.”
His response is a somber shake of his head and a middle finger.
Jace will never admit it, but I know exactly what he’s thinking.
The wrong twin died that day.
Chapter 4
Sawyer
“I don’t know what to do,” Dylan whispers from our seats in the stands.
After the football game, Jace went off to talk to his brother—the asshole who shall not be named—and I asked Dylan if everything was okay because she looked stressed.
Poor girl practically came apart at the seams, which is alarming because Dylan’s not one to lose her shit.
It’s how I know things are bad.
“Should I tell my uncle about the affair?”
Wincing, I shake my head. “I think that will only make Oakley’s problems worse. He’s avoiding his dad because he can’t face telling him the truth, remember?”
“No, he’s avoiding Crystal because she’s pregnant and Oakley still has feelings for her.” She makes a face. “He’s turning to drugs because he doesn’t have the courage to tell his dad what happened.”
Can’t say I blame the guy. I’m not sure I’d be able to deal with the guilt or have the guts to drop that bomb on my dad either.
Given Crystal’s baby isn’t Oakley’s, I can only assume it’s her husband’s. Which means he or she is Oakley’s little brother or sister.
A brother or sister he might not ever see if his father disowns him.
A brother or sister who could end up with a broken home, and without a parent if his dad divorces his wife.
Talk about a rock and a hard spot.
However, drugs aren’t going to fix any of his issues. If anything, they’re only going to create more.
“Look, I know it’s hard to hear, but if Oakley’s using drugs, you might have to give him some tough love and keep your distance.”
“No.” Determination flickers in her blue orbs. “I didn’t give up on Jace when he took his grief out on me, and I’m not giving up on Oakley for trying to numb the pain my aunt caused.”
Swear Dylan has more perseverance in her pinky than most people have during their entire lifetime.
It’s one of the many reasons we clicked and why I love her so much.
The girl doesn’t take any shit and gives it back even better than she gets… but deep down, she’ll never truly give up on those she loves.
Even when they don’t deserve it.
“I know, and I’m definitely not saying you should. But I do think you need to set some boundaries and make it clear you don’t want to be around him if he’s high.”
Well, high on anything other than weed. Because Lord knows that boy smokes more than a chimney.
Rubbing her palms on her jeans, she nods. “You’re right. I just don’t want him to think I don’t care and push him away.”
“You won’t. If anything, it will show him how much you care and how worried you are. Kind of like a mini intervention.” I clutch my cup of hot chocolate. “Oak’s a big softie deep down, and he loves you. I’m sure hearing how scared you are and how much he’s hurting you will make him stop.”
I hope.
To be honest, I really have no experience with drugs or dealing with addicts.
All I know is they tend to hurt the people they love…over and over again.
I really hope for Dylan’s—but more importantly, Oakley’s sake—he turns it around.
“I suppose it’s dumb to ask if he ever contacted you about tutoring, huh?”
I hate that I have to crush the hopeful look on my friend’s face. “No, but I can try texting him again if you want.”
She lets out a heavy sigh. “No, it’s okay. Oakley’s a big boy. If he doesn’t graduate again, it’s on him.”
Her words might’ve been convincing if it wasn’t for the distraught look in her eyes.
Reaching over, I grab her hand. “He’ll be okay.”
“What if he’s not?”
“Then we’ll keep trying to figure out a way to make sure he is.”
Giving my hand a squeeze, she smiles. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Being you.”
She doesn’t have to thank me for being a friend.
“Jace is…” Her voice drops to a whisper. “Let’s just say he’s not as supportive as you are when it comes to Oakley’s problems. He’s really angry with him.”
That doesn’t surprise me. Not only is Jace a straight edge like me and Dylan, he doesn’t have a high tolerance for bullshit.
Something Oakley brings a lot of.
The two of them being close friends always struck me as strange. Oakley has way more in common with a certain asshole who shall not be named.
The one who drinks like a fish and parties like the world is ending every weekend.
As if on cue, I spot the evil queen and her knight in shining armor. Or as I like to call him—her cocky dipshit in tin foil—standing on a makeshift stage along with the rest of the homecoming nominees.
As if everyone doesn’t already know who the King and Queen of RHA are.
Rolling my eyes, I turn my attention back to my friend. “I can’t be the only one who thinks this is ridiculous.”
“I know. Usually sophomores don’t get nominated for homecoming princess.”
I have no idea what she’s talking about. “Huh?”
“According to Bianca, the homecoming princess is supposed to be a junior, and the one” —she makes air quotes— “’the queen’ anoints to take her place after she leaves. Sophomores are usually duchesses or some crap, but apparently Casey threw a fit and fought for Bianca to be on the ballot for it.”
It’s only then I notice Bianca standing on the other side of Casey. “Damn. You’re more in the know than I am, and you don’t even go here anymore.”
This time, Dylan rolls her eyes. “Trust me, I don’t want to be, but Bianca came over last Friday.” Her lip curls. “And then invited herself to spend the night.”
Wow. To be a fly on the wall during that sleepover.
At first, Dylan tried to be understanding of Bianca’s hatred toward her and gave her time to come around, but six months later she’s reaching the end of her fuse.
“Judging by the murderous look in your eyes, I’m guessing it went really well.”
The murderous eyes in question narrow. “Every time Jace tried to kiss me, Bianca would make a noise, knock over her glass of water, drop something, or sneeze obnoxiously.”
“As far as Bianca goes, that’s not so bad.”
She holds up a finger. “That was only the start.” She turns to me. “You know how gory movies really freak me out?”
I nod in understanding. Truth be told, I find it hysterical how she covers her eyes and ducks her head like a five-year-old at the first sign of blood splatter.
“Bianca insisted on having a Saw movie marathon,” she continues. “I figured I’d be fine because I could just hide behind Jace during the gross parts, but nope. She stole him.”
“What do you mean she stole him?”
“I mean she literally hijacked Jace and used him as her shield.”
A laugh flies out of my mouth. “Wow.”
Annoyed, she huffs. “Right? And it’s not like I could complain because she’s his little sister. Although…” Her expression fills with disgust. “Never mind, it’s super weird and I’m probably overreacting.”
Dammit, she can’t do that to me.
“Co
me on, Dylan. You can’t leave a girl hanging like that. It’s in the best friend handbook. If you have good gossip or a conspiracy theory, you have to share it.”
“Fine.” She shudders. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Duly noted. Now spill.”
Picking up her cup of hot chocolate, she takes a lengthy sip. “She walked in on us while we were in bed.”
“Oh, God. Don’t tell me she wanted to sleep between you two like a little kid because she was scared.”
Her expression sours. “I wish.”
When my eyebrows shoot up, she whispers, “She walked in while Jace was going down on me and we were about to have sex.”
My mouth drops open. “Oh.”
“We thought she was asleep in the spare bedroom.”
“That’s…why would she do that?”
She shrugs. “I have no idea. After we scrambled to cover up, Jace asked her why she didn’t knock. She claimed she did, but he was so busy he didn’t hear her. Then she said she was feeling sick because of the dinner I made and Jace needed to take her to the hospital for food poisoning.” She punctuates the air with her finger. “For the record, there was nothing wrong with my spaghetti.”
I believe her. “You make awesome spaghetti.”
She chews on her bottom lip. “I do, dammit.” Her voice lowers a fraction. “The thing is, I distinctly remember locking the door when we turned in for the night because I was…well, you know.”
“Feeling frisky.”
Her lips twitch. “Yeah, Grandma. Or as us crazy kids call it these days, horny.” I start to laugh, but her face turns serious. “I swear the brat picked the lock and specifically chose the moment I was about to come to barge in.” Blowing out a breath, she closes her eyes. “But that’s not the worst of it.”
My stomach sinks. What else could the girl have done?
Dylan swallows hard, looking all kinds of uncomfortable. “The next morning, after she made Jace stay up with her half the night for her fake food poisoning, we woke up to find her making breakfast for us.”
“Oh. Well, that’s not bad.”
“Actually, it was pretty terrible. However, it’s what she was wearing while prancing around my kitchen and cooking for my man that really ticked me the fuck off.”
“What was she wearing?”
“Remember our Victoria’s Secret trip with Oakley?”
How could I forget? Oakley leading us through racks of bras and panties and telling us what guys liked while flirting with all the workers and trying to guess the bra size of every girl we passed…was memorable.
“Yeah.”
“She was wearing the silky blue teddy I bought.”
Holy shit. “Whoa…that’s…”
“Fucking weird.” Her nails dig into the Styrofoam. “When I asked her why the hell she was wearing that, she said she found it hanging up in the laundry room and didn’t think I’d mind because she puked all over her pajamas and Jace told her to borrow something of mine.”
“Why would Jace lend—”
“He didn’t,” she snaps. “He said he gave her one of my old concert t-shirts and a pair of sweatpants.” Her brows furrow. “Ever since that night, I’ve been wracking my brain trying to come up with a logical, non-creepy explanation for her behavior.” She looks at me. “If anyone can make sense out of this and talk me off the ledge before I cut a crazy bitch, it’s you.”
Yeah, I’ve got nothing.
“Come on, Sawyer. I need you to tell me I’m overreacting, and my boyfriend’s sister isn’t trying to steal my boyfriend.”
I can’t, because best friends don’t lie to each other.
“Well,” I say slowly, searching for a ray of light in this mess. “How did Jace react to all this?”
What Bianca is doing is disturbing enough, but it would be a whole lot more disturbing if Jace was…reciprocating.
She thinks about this for a moment before she answers. “He didn’t seem to catch on to what she was doing during the horror movie. But he was definitely annoyed when she walked in on us, and he looked completely grossed out the next morning when he saw her. In fact, after he dropped her off and came back, he told me I had to either burn my teddy or torch his eyeballs if I ever wanted his dick again.”
Lovely. On the bright side, she has nothing to worry about on Jace’s end.
“That’s good.” A thought occurs to me. “Unless...”
“Unless?” she squeaks. “No unless…what’s unless?”
Dylan’s a smart girl, I’m surprised it didn’t occur to her. “I’m pretty positive Bianca doesn’t want Jace. I think she’s doing this to screw with your head so you’ll break up with him.”
She’s also clearly trying to assert her dominance because she feels threatened now that she’s not the only female in her brother’s life, but that’s another issue entirely.
Dylan chews on her thumbnail, pondering my statement. “I can’t believe she thinks doing something like that would work.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to point out that it is working since she’s so riled up about it, but I go with something more constructive instead.
“She’s trying to plant creepy seeds that will end up putting Jace in the awkward position of having to choose between you and his baby sister. But you’re right, it won’t work. You guys are rock solid.”
“It still doesn’t change the fact that it’s a really fucked up thing for her to do.”
I stifle the urge to remind her that the Covington siblings are the epitome of fucked up.
“I’m not saying it’s right, but she’s probably jealous Jace left. Co—the asshole who shall not be named—isn’t exactly brother of the year, and from what you’ve told me, their father is a piece of shit and barely acknowledges them. Jace is the only stable person in her life. Heck, he’s basically her father figure. Him leaving undoubtedly feels like losing a parent and a sibling all over again.”
“Shit. When you put it like that, I feel kind of bad for Bianca.” Her face falls. “I’m not trying to take Jace away from her. I’d never—”
“I know that and Jace knows that. Eventually Bianca will too, and she’ll stop trying to sabotage your relationship. For now, just hang in there and hide your underwear.”
She smiles. “Thank you. I feel like I just had the world’s best therapy session.”
“I’ll send you my bill in the mail.”
We both look up at the same time an administrator declares Bianca the homecoming princess and tries to place a small crown on her head.
Shooting her an irritated glare, Bianca dismisses her and puts the crown on herself.
Dylan looks around. “Jace said he went to talk to Cole, but Cole’s been up there for a while. He should have been back by now.”
“Maybe he’s down there taking pictures?”
“Doubtful.” Looking at her phone, she mutters a curse. “Col—sorry, thou who shall not be named—and Jace got into an argument and he’s been sitting in the car.” She pops a quick kiss on my cheek. “You okay if I leave?”
I wave a hand. “Of course. In fact, I should get going too. Elijah needs to leave work early, so I told him I’d come in and close for him—”
And I’m talking to myself, because Dylan’s already trudging down the stairs.
I’m happy for her and all, but there’s a small part of me that resents Jace.
Not only is he her boyfriend, he was her best friend long before I was.
Which means he’ll always come first.
And there’s a small nagging voice in my head taunting me that I’m never going to know what it feels like to be someone’s first priority.
People around me stand up and clap and I glance at the stage just in time to see the homecoming king and his queen get crowned.
They look so perfect together. Like something out of a fairy tale.
I hate that deep down—below all my layers of fat, false confidence, and self-pity—I’d give almost anything to k
now what it feels like to be pretty and thin like Casey and to have Cole Covington look at me like I’m the most beautiful thing he’s ever laid eyes on.
But I know it will never happen, because all he sees—all most people see when they look at me—is a fat virgin who loves Jesus.
And girls like that don’t get the fairy tale.
Chapter 5
Cole
“Cole, wait!” Casey screeches behind me.
Crown in hand, I trek out of the stadium.
I have nothing to say to the cheating slut.
“Cole, please.”
People are starting to stare, no doubt wondering what’s going on with RHA’s most prestigious king and queen.
I shove down the urge to inform them their beautiful queen is an ugly, traitorous whore.
And their king despises each and every one of them for being sheep and buying into all the bullshit I serve them on a platter.
They all worship me because they think I’m better than them.
But I’m not. I’m just better at being fake.
I’m almost to the parking lot when there’s a sharp tug on my arm.
I can feel the cord growing tighter with every second that passes.
“Don’t fucking touch me.”
The few people within earshot freeze. Casey looks positively petrified.
Good. She should be.
We had an agreement and she fucking broke it.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, she made me look like an idiot in front of my entire football team.
With Todd Harris of all people.
“Everything’s fine,” she declares to the herd through a forced smile. “Just some leftover testosterone from the game.” She thrusts her pom-pom in the air. “Go Knights!”
A few people cheer, and I give her a look that conveys what I’m really thinking.
Eat shit and die.
By the time she steers me away from the small crowd, I’m seeing red.
“What part of don’t fucking touch me, don’t you understand?”
She looks around nervously, making sure no one else is within earshot. “Calm down before you do something you’ll regret.”