Whispers and Wishes (Untouchable Book 4)

by Heather Long

  I wasn’t alone sitting in the living room. Bubba and Archie were there, too. Coop had stayed in with Frankie.

  “Think they’ll arrest her?” Bubba asked, and I shrugged.

  “I hope so. Fuck, Frankie needs a break.”

  “She liked Cheryl,” Archie said. “I have no idea why, but she liked her.”

  And Cheryl served her up to Mitch.

  “Are we done with high school yet?” Bubba stretched his legs out and tipped his head back.

  “Nope,” Archie said. “Soon.”

  Couldn’t be soon enough.

  “She’s going to be okay,” I said. This was a setback. But at least we had a question answered, so maybe it wouldn’t haunt her anymore.

  “Yes, she is,” Archie agreed with me. “Because we’re going to make sure of it.”

  “Damn straight,” Bubba added. At least that little bit of good also came out of the day.

  “Still need to get costumes,” I mused.

  Archie snorted. “I have an idea, and I’m pretty sure it will make her laugh her ass off.”

  After he explained, I had to agree.

  She’d laugh at us.

  But I didn’t mind. We drew straws, Coop got stuck with whatever was left since he was asleep. Lucky bastard on two fronts, but Bubba just chuckled.

  “I can totally be the dog. Maybe it will get me out of the dog house.”

  Maybe.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Every Step

  Frankie

  Archie’s birthday got off to a fun start when the guys pounced him for a birthday pillow fight first thing. I clung to the laughter. It was a much better feeling than the despair I’d gone to bed with the night before. As if conjured by the thought, Cheryl’s tear-streaked face popped to mind. I discounted her. In some ways, I let myself believe that just because she was an ‘air-head,’ she couldn’t possibly hurt me. Hurt us.

  Wow. Had I been wrong.

  “Hey,” Archie said, dropping onto the bed next to me, face flushed and eyes gleaming. “Birthday boy still get his way?”

  I smiled. “Absolutely.”

  “Then you don’t worry today,” he said, touching his finger to my chin before he tilted my head and gave me a proper kiss.

  The slant of his mouth over mind left no room for escape or breathing. I drank in the taste and touch of him, even as Jake whistled and Coop chuckled. Archie didn’t let up until some of the tension cording my shoulders eased and heat flash-fired through me.

  When he lifted his head, he smiled. “Better,” he whispered.

  “Happy birthday,” I told him, and the curve of his lips deepened.

  “It is now.” Then he brushed my nose as he stood. “Need help with your shower?”

  “Not telling you no,” I admitted, and let him tug me up. “Birthday boy gets his way.”

  I locked gazes with Ian for a moment and braced for the hint of rejection. He’d not been thrilled with all the kissing before. Instead of objection, I found sweetness and a smile. Taking that little kernel of hope, I bumped his hip on my way past. I really hadn’t gotten to talk to him about the Sharon thing the last couple of days. We’d literally not had the time.

  But I promised I would make a point of it this weekend. After Archie’s birthday. Archie got his first birthday present in the shower. Or maybe I should say he gave me a present, too. Either way, I was a lot looser and more relaxed after the shower than I’d been when we went in. The fact that he’d pinned me against the wall and made me come until I’d actually screamed had me flushing red the minute I came face to face with Coop’s knowing eyes.

  “I hate you right now, Arch,” Coop told him without an ounce of real heat. “I’m gonna be fighting a boner all day now.”

  “Fighting one? I already lost the battle,” Jake said. “That was hot.” He snaked me close for a hug.

  “It definitely sounded good,” Ian commented, and I glanced at him. “But I think we should be giving Archie hell, not Frankie.”

  “Not giving her hell,” Coop argued, but when I snorted, he grinned. “Okay, maybe a little bit of hell, but I’m dying to ask what he did right there at the end that had you screaming.”

  “Consider it a challenge,” Archie teased while he grabbed a Pop-Tart and dropped it in the toaster.

  “Oh, the make Frankie scream challenge?” Jake perked right up, and I swear, all four sets of eyes locked on me like laser beams.

  “Challenge accepted,” Coop said, clapping his hand down on Jake’s shoulder. His gray-green eyes twinkled with absolute mischief when he continued, “But I’m pretty sure Jake and I are already ahead on that, aren’t we?”

  “Really?” Archie raised his brows. “Already keeping score? C’mon, babe, gotta tell me where I fall. Birthday boy gets his way, remember?”

  “Nope,” I said, shaking my head. “That’s a trap. Not falling into that trap.”

  “You said my ass rated a seven, and you still won’t tell me a seven on what scale,” Coop argued. “If we’re going to have a make you scream contest, we need rules and to know where we stand.”

  “Screaming orgasms?” Jake offered. “Number of?”

  “Overall or per event?” Archie asked. “Because I go for three or four at least every time.”

  I ducked my head to eat my cereal and found Ian watching me with a sympathetic smile. “For what it’s worth, I know what my score is,” he murmured. “But if we play this game, I definitely want in.”

  Frozen, I stared at him as milk dripped off the spoonful of cereal halfway to my mouth. Had he just said…?

  “Oh man, Bubba’s starting in the handicapped position,” Jake mused. “We should account for that in the scoring system.”

  “Boys.” I was so proud my voice didn’t crack. “Do you ever want to get laid again?”

  “Okay, new topic,” Archie said. “We’ll discuss this later.”

  I dropped my spoon back into the bowl and snagged a placemat off the table to whack Archie with, even as he laughed. He wrapped his arms around me from the back and started nuzzling my chin and then my neck until I laughed.

  “Forgive us? We love to compete,” he whispered against my ear. “You know we do. You’re not a prize, though admittedly, I do feel like I won the lottery.”

  “Dude you have more money than the lottery,” Coop supplied, and Archie glared at him. Raising his hands, Coop still grinned, utterly unrepentant. “Just saying. Archie’s right, we’re not counting you as the prize.”

  “We’re counting your pleasure as the prize.” Jake leered playfully, and I groaned.

  “You’re all terrible.”

  “Hey,” Ian argued. “I’m not, Angel. Not yet anyway.” The playfulness in his eyes beckoned to me. I hadn’t lied when I told Jake I wanted to trust him. I really, really did. “But I think they have the right idea. Wanna help me cheat?”

  “Cheat?” All three guys echoed.

  “Sure,” Ian said with a grin. “I’ll be on Frankie’s team. It’ll be us against the three of you. The one who gives her the most orgasms wins.”

  Yep, I was pretty sure I was going up in flames, and I must have lost some braincells in the conflagration, because I was seriously tempted to take him on the offer right then and there. Not appropriate, yeah, I know.

  “Well, this should be interesting,” Archie mused, kissing my cheek. “Now everyone stop picking on her. My birthday, I’m the only one who gets to do this.”

  That elicited more laughter, but at least we got breakfast finished.

  “We need to get moving or we’re going to miss the fireworks,” Jake said.

  “Definitely don’t want to miss those.” Archie’s grin grew. “I personally want front row seats.”

  Even after everything I learned from Cheryl the night before, I couldn’t bring myself to feel bad for Sharon. Honestly, I had—for a little while anyway—felt bad about how things had worked out for her. But that feeling had effectively died in the bathroom that day when she went o
n and on about how she’d only wanted to get rid of me. She’d waited until I was out of the picture to make a move on Ian.

  I still needed to talk to him, but it was Archie’s birthday and I liked to spoil the guys. I’d find time for him though, I had to. At school, we were all at our table in the cafeteria when the video sent. It buzzed everyone’s phones, and I was sipping coffee when the first wave of laughter hit.

  Rachel dropped into the chair on my other side and held out a bag of M&Ms. “Too early for popcorn,” she admitted, and I grinned.

  With Archie’s arm around me, we queued up the video on my phone. Ian and Jake had their own phones out, but Coop had his gaze planted across the room. Stretching out my foot, I bumped Ian’s, and he glanced at me.

  ‘You okay?’ I mouthed the words more than spoke them. His whole expression softened, and he nudged my foot back as he nodded.

  The video opened with a close-up of Sharon coming out of the bathroom. Dude, I did not want to know where that shot came from. But the voice over was all her.

  “You know what’s the worst part? I would have done anything he asked but he’s only got eyes for her. He could have me anywhere, anytime, but nope. No dice. What the hell does she have that I don’t?”

  The word self-respect flashed across the screen. Followed by #justsaying.

  I bit my lower lip as Rachel cackled. I’d been there while Archie made the video, splicing all the different pieces together, but I hadn’t really watched it so much as him.

  The next bit was splices from her earlier videos about me before it hit some shaky cam footage of me stalking toward Sharon in the hallway. She had her phone pointed at me and I got right in her face. Oh crap. That was the day I’d decided I’d had enough of her doing that shit to Ian.

  “I’m ready for my close-up,” I told her, and then lifted my middle finger. “Just in case you wanted a real message for your next little puff piece.”

  A scattering of giggles went up around us, and Sharon lowered her phone the rest of the way. “You really think you’re funny.”

  “Oh, honey, I’m not the one obsessed by me and every step I take.”

  A little woo went up around us, and red flushed Sharon’s cheeks. “You know, sooner or later, they’re going to figure out you aren’t worth it.”

  “Maybe,” I agreed. “If that day comes, I guess I’ll look to you for all your experience with it and what I really shouldn’t do after.”

  The camera froze on Sharon’s face as I walked away. Her mouth open, her eyes hot, and her face scarlet. #BURNED flashed over her face.

  A narrator’s voice that I swore had to be Jeremy asked crisply, “Do you know what she’s doing wrong? Because clearly, she hasn’t figured it out.”

  Then the videos from that day outside the school filtered in. Every single word she spat at Ian and those Ian gave her back.

  Girl, he is just not that into you. Let. It. Go.

  I put my good hand over my mouth as Rachel snorted. “This is gold.”

  Finally, the last clip was a close-up of Sharon as Ian and Jake walked away.

  #PATHETIC

  The next voice over was definitely not Jeremy, and I flicked a look to Coop.

  “So what did we learn? Only time will tell. But let’s be honest here. Sometimes you need to call people on their behavior. No one is perfect. Let’s count all the ways…”

  Images flashed by rapid-fire and in nearly every single one, Sharon was doing something—laughing at people, throwing things, scowling, and her voice echoed over that last clip of her vicious expression. “I don’t care what I have to do. But I’m going to make her miserable. It’s all I have left.”

  Had she really said that? I cut a look to Rachel, who shrugged. “I did my part,” she murmured. “Girl needs to remember that when she is sticking knives in people, they are going to pull them out and might stab her back.”

  Across the cafeteria, Sharon stood up from a table, shell-shocked eyes and red-faced. She glared at us, and I did my best to look innocent. But I didn’t start this war. I would happily, however, participate in ending it. The rise in conversation hushed abruptly as she took one step in our direction. Ian never turned around, and Jake wore a faint smirk, like he was just waiting for her to do it. I glanced away from Sharon to meet Ian’s gaze.

  He gave me a small smile and bumped my foot again. A flash of movement had me looking across the room again in time to see Sharon marching out of the cafeteria—alone. None of her ‘friends’ went with her.

  “Too bad, so sad, mean girl,” Rachel said as she mimed and explosion with her hands and added a sound effect. “You play with fire, you’re going to get burned.”

  I snorted. “I almost feel guilty.”

  Five voices in unison said, “Don’t,” with such vehemence that I raised my good and wounded arms at the same time.

  “I said almost.”

  “Good,” Jake told me firmly, but it was Ian who leaned forward and stretched his hand out to me. When I laid my hand in his, he locked his gaze on me.

  “It wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t fun. It was necessary,” he told me. “She only understands social power. So, we had to take that away from her. She also knows we’re not going to pull our punches a second time. If she leaves you alone from this point forward? Worth it.”

  I squeezed his fingers and sighed. “Agreed. I want her to leave you alone, too.”

  “Not a problem.” His eyes warmed. “She’s not even a blip on my radar.”

  “Did you sink her battleship?” The question prompted a round of groans, and Rachel stood up with a laugh.

  “Okay, nerdette and her merry band of dicks, I’m off. Be good. That was fun. The next time you want to take someone down a peg or four, lemme know. I’m all in.” She took a step, then pivoted and looked at Archie. “Happy birthday.”

  “Thank you,” he replied, and they both did this incline of their heads followed by the cheesiest of grins.

  “Nice, right?” Rachel asked me, and I laughed.

  Yes, it was nice.

  The rest of the day went better than I could have expected really. Even with so much to think about and obsess over, I focused on Archie. I had a few hours before I got to give him his present, and the closer we got to then, the more I focused on that.

  Math was probably the most relaxed class it had been in weeks. Ian slid into the desk next to me, and it was like he was right back to where he belonged. That awkward strain between us had eased, or at least lessened. Unfortunately, Jake and Ian weren’t at lunch—they had their anger management meeting with Diane that both claimed was going well. I didn’t ask for details though, and they didn’t offer. That seemed pretty fair, considering they weren’t asking me about my session with Erin.

  In fact, pretty much the only question asked so far had come from Coop. Did I like her?

  When I said I’d said yes, he’d just hugged me and said good. That was that.

  We ate lunch at the sushi place because Archie’s birthday and that was what he wanted. The guys had a game that evening, but Archie and I were going to have dinner with his grandfather. I offered to let him have the time with him on his own, but he said no. He wanted me there with him. Plus, Ted liked me.

  Birthday boy gets what he wants.

  So after school, I bribed Rachel into helping me fix my hair, since we were going out to some nice place for dinner and Jake was at football. No, I did not tell Rachel or anyone else that Jake would have been my first choice to do my hair. I figured that was fair. Besides, he and Coop were getting really good at scalp massages. I might never go back to doing my own hair again.

  I debated what to wear on and off all day. The thought of dress shopping kind of nauseated me. Too soon. I didn’t think Archie would care if I wore one I’d worn before, so I went with the little black dress. It was classic and sleeveless which meant I didn’t have to worry about the cast. Rachel helped me get dressed, then eyed me critically when I stood in front of her. She’d done somet
hing with my curls to tame them, piled them up, and now they spilled down one side of my head. It was a little complicated and looked a whole lot pretty.

  “What?”

  “You need jewelry.”

  I glanced down. “I don’t have that much, and a bunch of my stuff is still with the cops.” My charm bracelet for example. I needed to call them and find out when I could get that back. Surely they didn’t need it the whole time, right?

  “Hmm. What do we have in here?” She pulled a jewelry box out and flipped it open. My stomach dropped. It was a gold necklace with charms on it. Real charms.

  Like the ones on my bracelet.

  There was a present on the necklace, a birthday cake, roses, four heads—which was the only way to describe them—and each one had a name inscribed, one for each of my guys. There were also three cats scattered on it. And keys.

  Four keys.

  One for each head.

  “Rachel, what did you do?”

  She gave me a saucy grin. “I wish I could say I did it, but I’m totally just the messenger. Feel free to kiss the messenger. I don’t mind.”

  “You’re terrible.”

  “I know.” She winked. “Read the note.”

  There was a note folded and tucked into the top of the jewelry box. I opened it while Rachel got the necklace out of the box.

  Frankie,

  It’s my birthday, which means it’s the birthday boy’s choice. These are all charms meant for your bracelet, but at the rate we’re going, we’re going to fill it up so I started a necklace, too. I’m pretty sure you can figure out the meanings to all of them, but in case you need a hint, I’ll be there soon. Wear it for me?

  Archie

  I bit my lip.

  “Don’t cry,” Rachel ordered as she unhooked the necklace and helped put it on me. “That mascara is good, but let’s not push it. Besides, rich boy did really good with these. Look, I’m even on here.” She tapped the roses and I grinned.