by B. B. Reid
“Ever wouldn’t do that.”
“He’s not exactly Jax’s biggest fan. You sure you trust him with your fur baby?”
“Jax?” she echoed.
“Oh, yeah. I renamed him, too. Jax sounds more intimidating, don’t you think?”
I could tell she was fed up with me when she crossed the kitchen and yanked the coffee pot from the holder. “Thanks, but no thanks.”
I shrugged as I stood up and placed my bowl in the sink. “Suit yourself. It’s no skin off my balls.”
She paused from pouring her coffee and squeezed her eyes closed. “It’s nose,” she said after opening them again.
“What?”
“The saying is ‘it’s no skin off my nose.’”
“But that doesn’t make any sense. Who the fuck cares about a nose when balls make babies?”
“Is that why Bee broke yours when you were kids?” she teased. “Because she knew you’d give her beautiful babies one day?” Four’s eyes sparkled at me over her cup as she took a sip of her coffee.
“For your information, Barbette didn’t break my nose. Ever is such a goddamn liar.”
“It wasn’t Ever,” Four corrected. “Tyra told me. Vaughn told her.”
Jesus fucking Christ. My friends were such dicks. “She didn’t break my nose,” I repeated needlessly.
“Seems to me she did since you’re being a little defensive,” Four teased.
“Eat a dick, kitten.” Snapping my fingers, I grinned at her glare. “Or is that part of your relationship still one-sided?” I couldn’t count how many times I’d caught Ever’s head between Four’s legs but never the other way around. Ever was clearly a better man than I could ever be.
I didn’t miss the heat creeping up Four’s neck as she looked away. “That’s none of your business.”
“There’s nothing to be nervous about, kitten. It’s really not that complicated. You just suck and swallow.”
I expected her to get mad and storm away, but instead, she began chewing on her lip, telling me she was thinking.
Holy shit. I didn’t give a fuck how patient Ever was willing to be. I had the feeling he was about to owe me big time. And I’d be damned if I wouldn’t make him pay up.
“What if I’m bad at it?”
I raised a brow because I’d only kissed her once, briefly, but it was enough to tell me she wouldn’t be bad at it at all. If she blew Ever even half as good as she kissed, they’d have no problems.
“What if you’re not?”
“That’s not an answer, Jamie.”
I sighed as I hopped on the counter and held her gaze. “Look, he’s not expecting you to be a pro. In fact, I’m pretty sure that would only piss him off.”
“Why would that make him mad?”
“Because if it were me, I’d be wondering how many dicks you had to suck to get that good.”
“Jamie, that’s ridiculous.”
I shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not.” Reaching behind me, I plucked a banana from the basket of fruit and held it out to Four. “Practice makes perfect.”
Her phone buzzed, so she checked it, ignoring the banana. Peeling back the skin, I ate half in one bite while she typed. When she was finished, she glanced at me and rolled her eyes.
“You had a problem,” I said around a mouthful of banana, “and I’m pretty sure you’ve just found yourself a solution.”
She seemed genuinely confused when she frowned, making it really hard to believe she wasn’t a virgin. “What do you mean?”
“You need someone to take care of your dog, and Ever needs a blow job from his girlfriend.”
“That’s your advice?”
“Nope. K.L.S.S.”
“What does that mean?”
“Keep life simple, stupid.”
Her phone buzzed again, and she glanced at it before pocketing it. “Ever will be here any second,” she announced. “The three of us need to talk and not about blow jobs.”
“Then no can do, princess,” I said, calling her by the pet name Ever had given her. “I’ve got somewhere to be.”
“Can’t you cancel?”
“Nope,” I answered as I hopped down from the counter. I was meeting Jason today for whatever fucking reason. He claimed he had some important information, but I was pretty sure I’d just end up kicking his ass instead. I didn’t like him period, I never have, but I especially didn’t like the way he was always leering at Bee.
“It’s about Barbette,” Four announced, and I hated myself for being tempted.
“Then I really don’t give a fuck.”
“Do you honestly expect me to believe that?” she fussed. When I started for the door without a response, she rushed to block me from leaving. “Let up on her,” Four pleaded. “I know you’re hurting, but her side of y’all’s story is just as valid.”
“Yeah?” I taunted around the smoke I’d shoved between my lips. I flicked my lighter, getting even more pissed off when it refused to light. “Well, I don’t exactly know her side, do I?”
I wasn’t about to sympathize with Bee’s imaginary plight. She’d pulled the wool over Four and Ever’s eyes just like she’d done me all those years ago.
My triumph when a tiny flame finally appeared was short-lived when Four snatched my lighter and the fag before pocketing them both.
“Give it back,” I growled.
She propped a hip against the doorjamb before crossing her arms. “Make me.”
Suddenly, I was transported back to the day I met Bee and the moment I fell for the very first time. She’d stolen my cookies because I wouldn’t share and dared me to take them back. It was either then or when she pushed me into the goddamn pool.
“I don’t have time for this.” Spinning on my heel, I headed for the door leading to the family room, but Four somehow beat me there, too.
“If there’s a part of you,” she continued, “even a teeny tiny microscopic part that still wants to be with her, Jameson, then you have to find a way to forgive her.”
I curled my lips at Four’s plea. “Just like that, huh?”
“No. But you can start by not treating her like she’s the devil.”
“Impossible. Even before all of this, she was a goddamn nightmare.”
And my wettest dream come true.
“Jamie, please stay. We can figure this out. Ever is on his way to get Bee right now.”
“Then he’s wasting his time,” I said as I lifted Four by her waist and set her aside. “Because there’s nothing to figure out.” After last night, I wasn’t interested in hearing a goddamn thing Barbette had to say. As per usual, she’d opened her mouth and reminded me why I hated her openly and loved her in secret. No one else had the power to cut me as deep.
After escaping the manor as Four called it, I hopped inside my Jeep and floored it all the way to the country club.
Part of my training for one day running the family business included learning how to play golf.
Golf…
Fucking golf.
Not only was it boring as hell, but my dick was too big for these tight-ass chinos. I had to go commando to even get into these pants or risk playing with my boxers shoved up my ass like a thong.
The fucking things I do for unrequited love.
I rotated my neck to release some of the tension there, but my gut was telling me it had nothing to do with this goddamn game. I could still hear Four’s voice in my head, telling me to find a way to forgive Bee. Rearing back, I swung my club, hitting the ball and watching it soar through the air before bouncing and rolling straight into the hole.
Never.
“You’re getting better,” Jason complimented—as if I’d asked for his fucking opinion. He patted my shoulder like we were friends, and it was all I could do not to bend his fucking wrist back and make him scream like the bitch he was.
I handed my shit off to a caddie, and then we made our way down the hill. I could feel my feet dragging with each step. This was so not my fucking scene.
I couldn’t help but think how better suited Ever would have been for this job.
Down the hill, I politely waited for Jason to sink his ball before getting to the reason, the only fucking reason I’d agreed to meet him. He’d reached out to me. I wasn’t about to pretend to be cordial.
“Tell me what you had to tell me before I beat it out of you with this club.”
“Damn, bro, where’s the love?”
I blinked at him. “Are you fucking serious?”
“Are you serious?” he spat back. “That was my fucking sister Ever played, and you all treat me like I’m the one who fucked up!”
I scrubbed a hand down my face because I wasn’t prepared to deal with this heavy shit. Ever had broken the code, and somehow, we’d all ended up with a target on our back. Those stars in Olivia’s eyes had only been for Ever, and it had only been a matter of time before he took notice. “You came back here looking to get even, J. What did you expect?”
“Some fucking compassion!” he screamed with tears in his eyes. “Livvy tried to kill herself. She almost died.”
“I know, and I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry, but you didn’t even know she was sick, and you’re her goddamn twin. How can you blame Ever for not noticing?”
Angrily, he swiped the tears that fell from his face. “He shouldn’t have slept with her in the first place, and you know it, man. Sisters were supposed to be off-limits.”
He sniffled, and even though I found myself feeling sorry as hell, I couldn’t let it show. Regardless of his reasons, Jason had turned into a fucking snake, and I couldn’t forget that. Any sign of weakness would be a grave mistake. Besides, I couldn’t make this shit right with Jason. Only Ever could do that. If it hadn’t been for his mom leaving and his dad starting a new family, Ever probably would have handled the situation better. Needless to say, my cousin hadn’t been very pliable. And now all he wanted to do was protect the ones he cared about from someone who was openly hostile. So no, as much as Jason had lost, he was still partly to blame for how his return to Blackwood Keep had played out.
“If Ever was willing to sit down with you without breaking your jaw, would you be willing to hear him out?”
The muscle in Jason’s cheek jumped as he stared down at the ground. Eventually, he sighed. “I don’t know, man… maybe.”
Clasping his shoulder, I realized the concern in my voice when I spoke was sincere. “I really am sorry about your sister,” I said, sounding like a broken record. What else was there to say, though? “How is she?”
Sniffling, he seemed to pull himself together as he squared his shoulders. “Better now.”
I frowned because the haunted look in his eyes said otherwise. There was so much I wanted to ask, but I doubted Jason was ready to divulge information about his sister. For the first time since meeting him, I felt like I understood him. If it had been Adara, I would have tucked her away in a tower where no one could ever hurt her again. And knowing my sister, she’d break free and kick my ass for locking her away. At only seven years old, she could easily run circles around all of us. She was going to give me—and quite a few others—hell when she grew up.
“About Barbette,” Jason said, pulling me from my thoughts. I was suddenly alert and dangling off a cliff with sharp rocks at the bottom. However this conversation went, it couldn’t possibly end well. “Did you know that her father’s company has had a high turnover of investors over the last few years? In the last twelve months alone, Elliot lost over a third when MontGlobal began hemorrhaging money. No one can figure out why.”
“Does this have anything to do with why he’s sold off almost all of his personal assets and half the companies under his umbrella?”
Jason seemed surprised as he studied me for a few seconds too long. Yeah, I’ve been doing my homework, but nothing ever quite added up. Or perhaps I was just too stubborn to believe the lengths that Bee would go to. Her actions didn’t align with the girl I once knew.
So maybe it’s time I accept that Bee is gone.
I gritted my teeth, refusing to believe that.
“Seems to me like you already have all the puzzle pieces. You just need to believe what your gut is already telling you,” Jason advised.
“The Montgomerys are broke.”
“Yes,” Jason confirmed without hesitation.
I didn’t trust that fucking gleam in his eye, but my gut also told me that he wasn’t lying. I wasn’t blind. I’d noticed the missing paintings, their lack of servants, and most recently, the sale of their summer home in the Hamptons.
“What the fuck does that have to do with Bee and Ever dating?”
“Elliot is looking for someone with a large enough cash flow to keep his company afloat and pull them out of debt.”
My fists balled at my sides. “So you’re telling me Bee was after our money?”
All this fucking time, that was what she’d wanted all along?
I wasn’t sure if finding out that Bee was a gold digger pissed me off more than thinking she’d been in love with my cousin. I would say the two were running about neck and neck.
“Aw, don’t be too hard on her,” Jason said while clasping my shoulder again. I shrugged his hand off even while my mind was busy racing. “This lifestyle of ours is hard to give up once you’re used to it. Our Bee’s a survivor. Always has been.”
Hearing that, for some reason, pissed me off. Bee had played me, used my friends, and ripped my fucking heart in two again. When I got through with her, fighter or not, she wouldn’t be surviving me.
BRYNWOOD’S SENIOR CLASS HAD BEEN plagued with a fever. In exactly one week, we’d be accepting our diplomas. While many of them, even the ones attending college in the fall, weren’t thinking past their summer plans, I was thinking much farther ahead. In two weeks, I’d be eighteen. I’d also be far away from my father, Jamie, and Blackwood Keep. Forever. Today was just one more step closer.
It was also our senior breakfast day.
The entire senior class had been loaded onto two school buses to prevent the rowdiest of the graduates from skipping breakfast altogether and finding trouble somewhere else. The country club my parents frequented every weekend had graciously given Brynwood access to their ballroom and renowned chefs.
Finding an empty bench on the musty bus, I sat my bag down on the seat next to me. No one would be sitting there, anyway. It was ironic that I’d been crowned queen of the school only to be treated like a pariah. It was only when Ever was around that anyone bothered to bow and scrape, which was fine with me. I’d prefer not at all, but I was no longer interested in changing anyone’s opinion of me.
I’d just pulled out my journal filled with poems, keeping it hidden from view, when my bag was lifted from the seat. A body too long for the cramped space took its place, and when I turned my head, I was surprised to find Ever smiling nervously at me. I hadn’t spoken to him in almost a week, not since he sent me a text Sunday morning saying that he was coming over. His only explanation when he never showed up was that something had come up.
“Mind if I sit here?” he asked over his shoulder. His back was half turned to me as he stretched his long legs out in the aisle. “Four snuck onto another bus with Tyra, and Vaughn said it was either his lap or nothing.”
Sure enough, I spotted Vaughn two rows ahead, lying on his back with his feet planted in the aisle, forcing people to step over his legs to get by. What an asshole. Of course, no one dared bitch about it to Brynwood’s star quarterback. I wanted to ask where Jamie might be lurking since he was technically still a member of the senior class, but when I remembered the last thing I’d said to him, I swallowed the words.
“So here you are,” I said instead.
“So here I am.”
Shrugging, I refocused on my journal. I wasn’t sure how long I stared at the empty page before flipping it shut. No longer alone, I felt too self-conscious to express my most secret thoughts and desires—especially when I could still feel Ever’s gaze boring into me. Sig
hing, I slipped the book back inside my bag where it was safe. His attention, however, was now fixed on my left hand and the pear-shaped diamond ring. I should have taken it off right then, but as meaningless as it had always been, it still had its use.
Knowing Ever wasn’t going to ask for it back, I turned away to stare out the window and the trees passing by.
A few seconds passed, and I could still feel him watching me, so finally, I broke the silence. “Don’t look at me like that, Ever. I’m fine.”
“Yeah, I hear that from you a lot, so here’s me being honest—I didn’t believe you then, and I don’t believe you now.”
“What do you expect me to say?”
He didn’t respond right away, and when I finally met his gaze, I could see the apology in his eyes. Ever had nothing to be sorry for.
“I’m sorry that I can’t be there for you like I promised. If you hate me, I understand.”
Rolling my eyes, I gave him the first real smile I’d offered all week. “I’m not sure that’s possible.” Ever, just like his cousin, but in different ways, had put a mark on my heart a long time ago, and there was no erasing it. Still, he didn’t seem convinced, so I added, “Have I told you lately that I can take care of myself?”
With a frustrated growl, he shoved his fingers through his dark hair with dusty ends. “Jesus, you’re as bullheaded as Four. I can’t believe I’d forgotten how much.”
“I haven’t exactly been myself lately.”
He shot me a look that was full of disbelief. “You call five years lately?” After a rueful shake of his head, he added, “How did everything get so fucking screwed up?”
“I’m not sure,” I blandly admitted.
Once again, Ever pinned me with that golden gaze of his. “Maybe it’s not too late to fix things.”
I frowned at his cryptic statement. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, when you turn eighteen in a couple of weeks, don’t run.” He took a deep breath and exhaled. “Please, Bee.”
After everything Ever had done and all that he’d risked, I would have kept any promise he demanded, but not this. He wasn’t the boy I wanted to beg me to stay. And even if Jamie had known, I wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t.
