by A. m Madden
“It sucked balls.”
“Trestan!” My mom rolled her eyes at his mouth, one that mimicked my dad’s. I think Trestan was seven when he was first sent to the principal’s office for calling a classmate a fuckweed.
“Sorry.” The kid looked anything but sorry.
“Shane, didn’t you have that trip to the jazz museum?” Mom went on to ask. “How was it?”
“Boring,” he answered honestly. She laughed at his typical response. Everything to Shane was boring. Waving a hand over his T-shirt-and-jean-clad body, he smirked. “The best part was I could wear my normal clothes.”
“That is a perk of boring class trips. Hungry?”
“Always.” Without invite, he opened our fridge to peruse what he could eat.
“There are homemade cookies in the jar,” Mom offered, causing him to slam the door and beeline for the ceramic jug on our counter. While I helped myself to a bottle of Snapple, I turned to see my mom staring at me. “What’s wrong?” Jeez, what was it with the people in my life constantly calling me out? “You seem upset.”
“I asked the same thing,” Shane said through a mouthful of chocolate chip cookie. “I don’t have a doubt in my mind that bitch… sorry… um,” he said, sliding his eyes to Trestan before amending, “that chick gave her shit today… ugh… sorry.”
“Use nasty girl and crap,” Trestan suggested.
“Thanks, bud.” Shane chuckled. “What he said.”
“I bet that nasty girl probably pissed in her Cheerios,” Trestan piped in. That had Shane cracking up harder until my mother fixed him with a stern look.
“Dude, you’re getting me into trouble.”
“Hey… crap happens,” my brat of a brother said on a shrug. He gathered his homework and grinned. “Video game time. Shane, want to play Call of Duty?”
“Maybe later, dude.”
“Your loss.”
Waiting for Trestan to take off for his room, my mom then returned her focus to me. “Mom, I’m fine. I just have a busting headache. I’ll be right back.” I needed to take something before it got worse. From down the hall, I heard them continuing to talk, but they were a touch quieter.
Since we’d begun dating, for obvious reasons, Shane felt much more comfortable talking to my mom than he did with my dad, even though he’d known him most of his life. Somewhere around the time Shane went through puberty, his relationship with my father had changed. Not in a bad way, in an “I’m watching you, Lair, so don’t fuck up” way.
After popping two pain relief capsules, I headed back toward the kitchen as Shane said, “Liv keeps it all in, refusing to tell me details,” and I stopped at the corner to eavesdrop a bit.
“We’ve all had a Molly to deal with in life,” Mom replied. “Liv knows the best way to handle that girl is to ignore her.”
“It’s hard for me to watch, though.”
A pause came before my mother said, “Shane, Liv knows you want to protect her and make it go away. But take it from me, by doing so you can inadvertently hurt her. Look what happened when you tried to reason with Molly. The best thing to do is support Liv. You guys have a few weeks left, and then you never have to see her again.”
“I’m not so sure it will miraculously stop after graduation.”
“She’ll get bored… and mature,” Mom countered. “Girls usually realize at some point their behavior was childish. Once Molly gets to college and is now the small fish in a big pond, her priorities will shift. You’ll see.”
A long stretch of silence came before he said, “I hope so.”
When their conversation flipped to my mother asking Shane to stay for dinner, I appeared. Sensing my tension, she casually said, “Your father won’t be home until seven. Why don’t you kids go study until then.” Not needing further encouragement than that, Shane snatched a few more cookies on a napkin, grabbed our bags by the door, and headed for my room even before I moved a muscle.
“You heard us?” Mom asked.
“Yeah.”
“He is just concerned. You don’t have to hide anything from him, Liv,” she whispered.
“I don’t trust that he won’t flip out and confront her again.” I told my mom everything, but I wouldn’t tell her what Molly had said today. It would hurt Mom as much as it had hurt me. And except for the Molly shit, Shane was the only other person who knew me as well as Mom did. “Who knows what she’d lie about next time. It could be more than just a kiss. She could claim he forced himself on her.”
“I know, sweetie.” Mom nodded. “Then tell him enough that he’ll stop worrying about you.”
“Liv… bring me a Snapple, please,” Shane called out from my room.
My mother moved to grab a bottle for him, placed it in my hand, and said, “Go.”
With his and my drink in hand, I did as she asked and found Shane lounging on my bed. I almost laughed at the difference in him when my dad wasn’t around. Mom was always cooler than Dad at giving us privacy.
So much so he smirked when I kicked the door shut. “I know how to relax you.”
I shook my head. “It’s not happening.” I put our drinks down on the end table as disappointment caused that smirk to fall off his face.
“Don’t you want to be adventurous?”
“Not even a little bit.”
“Now I have to deal with you cockblocking me too?” The pout and his question caused me to laugh, and I loved him more for the brief distraction. Jumping on the shift in my mood, he reached for me until I fell over him. “There’s my girl. I haven’t seen that smile since yesterday after I ate your pussy.” He untucked my white polo from the waistband of my khakis and slipped his hands under it. “How about a finger fuck?”
“Shane.” I shoved at his chest.
“What? I’m just trying to help.” We lay entwined for a few minutes before he cut right to the chase. “Tell me what happened today?” The way he twisted an errant curl around his finger reminded me of the hurtful things I’d heard about my appearance… and that led to the hateful thing Molly had said in chemistry.
My emotions got the best of me, and like an idiot I asked, “What do you see in me?”
He released the strand and scowled. “What the fuck are you talking about, Liv? No…” He shook his head in disgust, and amended, “Where is that coming from? As if I didn’t know.”
“I’m just curious. I know we’ve been in each other’s lives forever, and us falling in love was inevitable, but if you had met me yesterday, would I interest you?”
His anger only deepened as he cupped my cheek. “Yes, you would interest me. Look at you. Everything about you is gorgeous.” He searched my face, waiting for a response. What he received instead was a shimmer in my eyes from emotions that had nowhere to go but out. “And besides your beauty, you are the best person I know. Even my own mother, who is a saint on earth, comes second to you in my heart. So, yes… if I had met you yesterday, I have no doubt you would’ve caught my attention.”
I felt like a fool voicing one of my biggest insecurities out loud. And with our history, it was hard to believe him. Still, I remained silent, drowning in the insecurities that constantly simmered beneath my surface.
“I love you, Liv,” Shane went on to say. “Nothing will ever change that.”
I responded with the only thing I could say. “I love you too.”
Chapter Five
Shane
Alivia had been off for days. She blamed her period and stress on studying and the rainy weather. I finally got her to give me a quick rundown of more of the same—snide comments said loud enough for Alivia to hear. I knew there still had to be more that I didn’t know. For my girl to be so stoic about it meant it went beyond petty name-calling.
I wasn’t buying it.
Normally, Alivia was confident and headstrong. She had never asked me outright what I saw in her, as she’d done last night. That question indirectly filled in some of the blanks of what had been bothering her. Something had prompted th
at… or someone.
The entire situation infuriated me. Fuck Molly for making my girl insecure in any way. Alivia didn’t have a conceited bone in her body. More times than not, she had no clue how stunning she was, how everyone near her paled in comparison… and that made her even more beautiful.
Once home, I called Kim. After swearing me to secrecy, she reluctantly told me what Molly had said to Alivia in chemistry yesterday, and I saw red. Kim felt it was a guess, and I did as well. There was no way Molly would definitely know what had happened between Alivia and me. Still, I had had it with her bullshit.
But Alivia was right: confronting Molly would only fuel her to continue being a bitch. And after our last encounter, who knew what lie she would tell to hurt Alivia more. There was only one way to deal with someone as nasty as Molly.
Beat her at her own game… and I had a plan.
Determined, I squeezed Alivia’s hand in mine as I led her toward the chemistry lab’s doorway. Once the audience that I wanted had her eyes on us, I met that bitch’s stare just before I cupped Alivia’s face with my free hand and kissed her long and hard. Predictably, she tried to pull away, not comfortable with the public display, but I only held her tighter. Fuck that.
“Shane,” she whispered against my persistent lips. “Not here.”
“Yes, here,” I countered. I was sick of this shit.
“Okay, class… take your seats.” Hard-ass Hardy sauntered into the room, and his eyes landed on me. “Mr. Lair, do you belong in this class?”
I released her face and shook my head. “No, sir.”
“Then stop distracting my students.”
“Yes, sir.” He turned his back to begin writing on the whiteboard, prompting me to lean closer to Alivia. “I’ll be here before the bell rings.”
“This is stupid. I don’t need you as my bodyguard,” she whispered back.
“Too fucking bad.” After another shameless kiss that prompted snickering behind us and Hardy to twist and glare at me, I raised my palms, saying, “I’m gone,” and turned to leave.
Normally, I spent my lunch hour in the music lab, playing bass. But today there was someone I needed to see.
The halls were empty as I stormed through them, until a surge of chatter breached the silence when I opened the cafeteria door. Many sets of eyes focused on me while I stood searching for the person I’d come looking for. I found Jett Baxter in the far corner, surrounded by his loyal followers. Who the hell named their kid Jett? An airline pilot, that was who.
The closer I came, the more I heard of their ridiculous conversation about the play that won a playoff game. Thing was, that game happened six months ago.
I’d gotten along fine with Windsor-Horne’s star football player. I think having Alivia in my life had created the noncompetitive relationship we’d had over the years. I was off limits to all the girls in our class, and that had them all chasing him instead of the rock star spawn. Except for one.
Molly had no interest in me; she only pretended she did to get to Alivia. It was Jett she really wanted. I knew that because Jett had no problem bragging in the locker room of the times he had hooked up with Molly, but it never went beyond that, because he claimed she was too clingy.
For a while I felt bad for Molly, until I remembered they were both nasty, shallow, self-absorbed assholes.
Not until I stood at the end of the long metal table did he finally stop talking to address me. “What do you want, Lair?”
“I need to talk to you.”
His flat brown eyes stared at me for a beat, probably debating if it would be worth his while. He then stood and waved a hand toward the closest door leading out. “Okay… let’s talk.”
Without waiting for him, I turned and headed outside, pushing against the metal bar with such force the door swung open and slammed shut before he came close to stepping through it. I then folded my arms, waiting for him to appear.
Jett had come to Windsor-Horne for one reason, to try to get a football scholarship, of which he didn’t get. I also knew, thanks to the loose lips in his circle of friends, that his parents couldn’t afford the tuition for Windsor-Horne and had taken out a loan to pay for it. I also knew that because of that financial burden Jett couldn’t go to the university he wanted to and was enrolled in a community college this fall.
My idea had come to me last night. But I didn’t have much time and needed to set the wheels in motion ASAP.
The first step had been to pitch it to my parents. They’d listened intently to the reasons I felt Jett had been cheated out of his dreams. I’d praised his talent and his academic abilities, saying the only thing stopping him was money. None of that was a lie, and I didn’t feel bad cheating someone else out of the opportunity, because our school was filled with spoiled rich kids.
By the end of the conversation, my parents had agreed to help Jett out by setting up a formal scholarship program under JLL Productions. My mom had always wanted to begin an educational division of the foundation she had started years ago, and now Jett would become their first recipient. I hadn’t convinced them to do anything they hadn’t already done repeatedly. I merely suggested a new way to do it.
Having grown up by donating my time running food drives, helping at soup kitchens around the city, or volunteering at grammar schools’ sport functions, my suggestion hadn’t seemed out of place. So many times, my parents would randomly help someone in need to better their lives. Their generosity always went beyond the charities they started under their recording label. It was no different from how I came to be their son. They’d become aware of my biological mom’s illness and, when she passed, had adopted me without hesitation.
Jack and Leila Lair had good hearts, and all I wanted was to use that reality to protect my girlfriend.
But first I had to be sure Jett was on board with the stipulation part of my plan.
“What?” he barked. We may have been civil, but that civility went only so far.
“I have a financial proposition for you.” My family’s wealth had always been a bone of contention between us, and no doubt my statement piqued his curiosity.
Sure enough, one brow rose in interest as he mimicked my stance. “I’m listening.”
Finals were hell, but we got through them. It was time for seniors to have fun, beginning with Senior Cut Day. This year’s event was being held at an amusement park in Jersey. Except Alivia really didn’t want to go.
The decision had stemmed from a chain reaction. Without Chase, Kim had no interest in being a third wheel to Alivia and me. And without Kim, Alivia would rather spend the time alone with me. Since I had no interest in spending a day with people I merely tolerated, that made it an easy decision for me.
The other most important reason I didn’t care if we attended was what would happen for the entire school to see. Unbeknownst to Alivia, Jett and Molly would be making their first appearance as a couple.
He had accepted my offer—an academic scholarship in exchange for asking Molly out and dating her through the summer. This chick needed a distraction, and if one came in the shape of a willing dick, then fine by me.
Once fall came, if Jett wanted to continue to see her, that would be entirely up to him. Personally, I thought they were a pair made in heaven, and I was merely pushing them together. Jett just needed my incentive to help him see that. Helping Jett out made me feel good about my hidden agenda. It really was a win-win for all.
There wasn’t a doubt that Alivia would be livid if she found out. At some point, I needed to be the one to tell her. And at that time my line of defense would be that I had seen a solution and shamelessly taken it. I wouldn’t apologize for wanting to make her happy or stress-free. Eventually, I knew she’d forgive me.
When Alec pulled the car onto the pavestone driveway, I sighed in relief. “I thought we’d never get here.”
My parents were having a huge bash at the beach house this weekend. It was their birthdays, as well as their sixteenth wedding anniversary, a
nd the entire band plus their families would be there to celebrate it all with them.
Things got crazy when you put Devil’s Lair together in one place.… ten adults and eight spawn, not including Alivia and me. There would be people everywhere, in the pool, on the beach, in the movie theater, at the kitchen island. Really just a typical weekend, but now that Alivia and I had entered a new phase of our relationship, the weekend would be even more torturous than normal.
“Feels like we’ve been in this car for days,” Alivia said, stretching once we stepped out onto the pavestone driveway. The tiny Hello Kitty T-shirt she wore rose to reveal that taut, tanned stomach, and bam, my cock woke up after the long drive.
We had the house to ourselves, and I could actually do something about it.
The only upside to hitting traffic so early on a Friday morning was that it would worsen with time, which would delay our parents’ arrival. Since Alivia and I didn’t have school, Alec had picked us up earlier that morning, giving us quite a few hours’ head start over our families. Personally, I wanted to drive us down myself… but I was all about picking my battles these days.
As was, Trey miraculously didn’t kibosh our plan, because having a house full of guests meant the place would be fully staffed… aka plenty of chaperones. My dad had insisted Edna and her staff be there as well so my mother, who usually preferred to do everything herself, could relax and have a good time.
Without delay, I grabbed our bags and bolted toward the front door. “Where’s the fire?” Alivia called out, having to run to keep up with me.
“You’ll see.” Two steps into the house and Edna quickly greeted us. “Hello, kids. Lunch is set up on the patio. If you need me, I’ll be in the kitchen.”
“Sounds good, Edna. We’ll get these bags out of your way first,” I said to her, taking our overnight bags from the foyer to carry upstairs.
“Thank you, Mr. Shane,” she said distractedly before rushing back to whatever she’d been doing before we arrived.
As Alivia and I climbed the stairs, I quietly asked, “Are you done with your period?” That was the reason we hadn’t fooled around the past few days, which further added to my misery of not having fucked her since prom weekend.
