by K. Walker
“No,” he replied quickly, and the grin remained plastered on Lin’s face. “Come on. Let’s go out front.”
I’m going to kill Brody.
I’d already given Lin twenty grand because Brody had fucked up and lost Lin’s package. My dad had almost killed me when Cheryl had told him about that, which he had deducted from my trust. I didn’t give a shit.
But this is the hundredth time I had to save his ass from something, and I was getting tired of him not learning his lesson. If Wes knew for sure about the setup, we would all be screwed.
I stalked angrily out of the room, past the whispered accusations and the snickers, flashing a group of boys a wicked glare that gave them deer-eyes, before I exited the house.
I wasn’t going to stop and listen to what Brody had to say on this one. I was out of there. As soon as I stepped through the door, I headed for the R8, which was parked on the corner.
“Where are you going?” Brody shouted after me.
“Home!” I replied without looking and hit the alarm button on my car.
He ran up to me. “Home?”
“I told you that before,” I replied angrily and shook him off of me. I was going to leave, but then I turned. “Are you out of your fucking mind? Huh?” I chucked him in the chest. He skittered backwards and bumped into a parked car. “Wes is in that house, and you bring Lin here?”
“I didn’t bring him here, Chad. You’ve got to believe me. He just showed up.”
“He just ‘showed up,’ huh? Well, tell me this, Brody. How the hell did he know where to show up?”
“I don’t know, I swear!”
Lin laughed behind us. “Trouble in paradise, boys?”
“You shut the fuck up!” I turned and pointed at him. “You need to get out of here.”
“Not until I get what I came for.” He sneered again. He had that look in his eyes that said he was up to no good, and I released Brody and walked over to him.
“Yeah? And what’s that? Because you’re not getting another dime from me.” I glanced back at Brody, who was still pinned to the car like he hadn’t realized I had let him go.
“Relax, pretty boy,” he said calmly and took a joint and lit it up. He puffed it into the air and looked back at me. “I’m not here for you. Or your boy.” He smiled in Brody’s direction, and I knew that Brody had fucked up and gotten mixed up with him again, even after the fact that I had already bailed him out only a couple of weeks ago.
My hands fell to my sides, instant relief, at the moment, washing over me. My heartrate began to slow, and my fists uncurled. “You know what, I’m so done with this scene. I’m out of here, man.”
“What’s going on out here?”
And just like that my heartrate spiked again when I heard Wes’ voice. Fuck! “None of your concern, Wes.”
“Okay,” he replied and walked past me. “Why didn’t you tell me you were here?” he asked Lin, and my jaw hit the street.
“What is this?” I asked them, already getting concerned that Lin knew Wes.
“You’re not the only rich boy in town,” Lin said and winked as he walked off with Wes, who slipped his hand around the man’s shoulder and winked as he passed me.
As soon as they were out of sight, I hurried back to Brody, who was still gawking as much as me. “Did you know about this?”
He gave me a blank stare. “Why the fuck would I know about this and not say anything, man?”
“Yeah,” I acknowledged. “This isn’t good.”
“No shit!” he snapped and rubbed his head before he shouted like a drunk maniac into the night sky.
I walked around in circles for a couple of minutes, desperate to figure out what kind of business Lin had with Wes. I grabbed my phone and texted the boys to meet me by my car immediately.
In two minutes, they all came barreling out of the house. “What’s going on?” Cody asked, still buttoning up his shirt. Of course, he had probably been fucking Liz. Not my problem.
“And please tell me I didn’t just see Lin and Wes inside,” Zeke said, the same concern marring his voice.
“Yep. That’s why we’re here,” I told them. “We have a problem Houston.”
“Fuck!” Deven replied and ground his teeth. “Do you think Wes knows about…?”
He didn’t finish the question, but we all could fill in the blanks. “No,” I said confidently. “At least, I’m not sure. He didn’t say anything. Wes is not the type of guy who would know something like that and not say anything.”
“Unless he planned on using the information to fuck us all up,” Jake suggested.
“Fuck!” I said aloud when I couldn’t think of anything to say. It felt like my entire world was rocking – first Sophia and the Callie shit that involved my dad, and now Wes and Lin.
“But how can we know what he knows?” Cody asked. “We can’t just sit here and wait for him to blow this thing sky high. And we all know Wes is about theatrics.”
“You think that’s why he’s screwing with Sophia?” Brody asked.
I shot him a wicked glance. “You think? That’s the only reason, and I can’t get her to fucking listen, man.”
“Maybe if she hears from one of us, too?” Deven asked and shrugged.
“I don’t know. She’ll just figure I sent you. It won’t work,” I replied.
“Why did you break up with her anyway?’ Cody asked and arched his brows.
I clenched my jaw and ignored the question, much like I had so many times before. I didn’t want them to know the real reason behind it.
“Come on, man,” Deven followed up. “Tell us. We’re your boys, and you know we’ve got you. But we’re not idiots, Chad. No way would you let that fine piece of ass go without a good reason. And don’t say it was because the pussy wasn’t good.”
I snickered. They were right. Who was I protecting anyway?
“You know what? Maybe I should tell you.”
“Got that right,” Cody said encouragingly. “Because I’m ready to beat down that mofo that let you lose your girl.”
“What is it, man?” Zeke asked and inched closer, like he wanted to catch the news first. His dark eyes pierced mine and searched for the answer before it came.
“It’s not what you think. It has to do with Callie.”
“Fucking hell!” Zeke shouted. “I knew it! I’ve seen the way she kept rolling up on you, whispering in secret and all that shit.”
“Would you shut the fuck up and let him talk?” Brody said angrily.
“Turned out she hated the fact that Sophia was my girl, so she called in a favor with her mom.”
“The same mom who doesn’t give a shit about her?” Zeke interrupted again, and I heaved a sigh.
“Dude, if you don’t shut the hell up!” Cody snapped. “Just say shit one more time.”
“Okay. So all uptight,” Zeke lamented softly and stared at the street below him.
“Yeah, well, her mother came through for her that time. Threatened to pull the plug on my dad’s license, ruin him, make it hard for him to get any contracts and shit, if I didn’t break up with Sophia and end it for good.”
“Man, that’s fucked up,” Brody replied sadly. “I get it.”
“But you don’t even get along with your dad,” Zeke said again. “Why the fuck would you care about that?”
“I don’t know, Zeke,” I said sarcastically. “Maybe because he pays the bills and because if he goes down, my ass is grass. Did you forget I have a little sister at home? How about that, dude?”
“Oh shit, sorry man,” he said in acknowledgement. “So what do we do now? Because she isn’t winning this shit with her skinny ass.”
“I know,” I replied. “And then there’s Wes. Even if I get Sophia to understand why we broke up, how the hell do I get her away from that sleaze ball?”
The silence among us thickened like a dismal fog right before a storm at sea. No one said a word. We all sort of looked around – Zeke kicked an imaginary object out
of his path, Jake and Deven leaned against the hood of the car, and Brody walked around in circles, constantly wiping his hand down his face.
“And this is why I never told you guys anything,” I said after a couple of minutes of watching them. “This is my problem.”
“With all due respect, Chad, that’s bullshit. You’ve always been there for us,” Brody said. “Especially me.”
“And me,” Cody chimed in.
“All of us,” Jake replied, too. “Just tell us what you need. Not like it’ll be a burden or anything. I know some guys. We could fuck him up.”
“No, we’re not doing anything to him. Nothing so damaging anyway. He already went away for a year because of what we did. We just need to make sure he doesn’t find out what we did.”
“Which means we have to pay Lin to shut the fuck up!” Deven suggested.
“That won’t work with a greedy mofo like Lin,” Brody said. “He’ll just keep coming back for more.”
“Well, maybe I can get those same guys to fuck Lin up,” Zeke responded again. “How about that?”
I actually actively thought about that suggestion. It eventually seemed like a bad idea. “That would just be like adding more to a list of wrongs. Lin doesn’t know anything. He sold you some shit, that’s it. It’s his word against ours. Who are they going to believe, a bunch of high school students or a fucking drug dealer?” I told them. “He can’t prove shit. Let me handle it, and if I need your help, I’ll let you know, all right?”
“Cool, man,” Brody replied.
The others nodded. “Now go back in there and fuck shit up,” I grinned at them. “I’m out of here.”
“See you tomorrow,” Cody said and slapped me on the shoulder.
“Yeah.”
I got into the car and drove off, for a short distance, and then I stopped where they couldn’t see me. I could feel the rage swelling inside me. I didn’t want to show how angry I was around them – I knew they would do something crazy, like attack Wes or crash the party, and end up getting arrested, or expelled, or both.
I punched the steering wheel to release some of my frustration. What’s the point of trying to win Sophia back when I might be headed to jail?
No way was I going to let Brody take the fall for Wes. We had all been a part of it, and Robby had died because I had been too slow to get him out of the car. I glanced at the burn mark on my arm again—one that would always be seared into my memory and shuddered.
I couldn’t let Wes take one more of us! Somehow, I had to stop the bleeding. I needed to come up with a plan to get rid of all of them.
But how? I started the engine again and clenched my fingers around the wheel so tightly I could feel my body pulsating as the blood flow was restricted.
I hit the pedal and the car shot forward as I headed home. I’d had enough for one night. One thing was for certain, if I didn’t come up with something soon, I could lose everything.
And I don’t lose.
Chapter 14
We all cracked up when Alexi showed up at school on Monday morning looking like she had been run over several times at a roller derby.
“What the hell is up with your makeup?” Stacey giggled.
“My what?” Alexi asked, like she was hard of hearing.
“Makeup. You’re a mess,” I told her. “Get over here.”
“Is it that bad?” she asked as she crashed onto my shoulder. “I spent all day yesterday cleaning up the place, and then I had to go to work. I barely got any sleep.”
“Well, it shows,” Amanda smirked. “Sorry. It’s the truth.”
“You’re lousy friends,” Alexi scoffed and showed Amanda her middle finger. “But there’s no time to fix this, so let’s get to class. Not like I have anyone to impress.”
“It doesn’t really look that bad,” Stacey said after a while. “Just a little touch up and you’re good.”
Alexi stared blankly at her. “Yeah. Because that sounded so much better the second time around.”
She rolled her eyes and walked off. “Alexi! Don’t be mad,” I called after her.
She stuck her middle finger in the air and kept walking. I wasn’t sure what that meant – I had never seen that side of her. “What’s that? Shouldn’t one of us go after her?”
“And make it worse? She’ll be fine by lunch,” Amanda told me, her face cool and calm like it was something she was indeed used to.
“You sure?”
“Positive,” Stacey added.
“Okay,” I said tentatively, not certain I shouldn’t go after her still, but trusting that they knew her better than I did. And were, more than likely, right.
Their theory was proven correct when Alexi joined us for lunch, her face all smiles and her makeup a whole lot better.
“See?” Amanda said when she sat.
“See what?” Alexi asked and looked from me to Amanda confused.
“Told her you were just your cranky ass self this morning,” Amanda explained, like she was talking about the weather.
“Whatever, bitch.” Alexi snickered. “Sorry for spooking you, though.” She looked at me and apologized. “I’m usually fucked up when I don’t get enough sleep.”
“Oh, I can identify with that,” I smiled and began to breathe easier. “Maybe we…”
“Babe!”
I looked up to see Wes and the other members of the team in the middle of the cafeteria. “Hey!” I replied and waved.
“Uh-oh,” Amanda mumbled and instantly slipped the straw into her mouth.
“Uh-oh, what?” I asked playfully, the grin on my face getting wider the closer Wes came to our table.
“Nothing,” Amanda lied, but I already knew what she was thinking.
“Are you going to sit here, or come and hang with me?” he asked, giving me a crooked smile. Cutest smile ever! It warmed everything in me, down to my toes, yet I shivered when he touched me on my shoulder in the slightest way.
I glanced around at them. Liz’s eyes were indifferent, Alexi’s said she didn’t care, and Amanda’s said, ‘Whatever you want to do’. They had basically given me the go ahead. Worked for me. I didn’t want to ditch them and be told later what a bitch I had been.
“Sure,” I told Wes and reached for my tray.
“Nah, you don’t need to do that,” he told me and turned back to his boys. “Hey, Sean, grab this, will you?”
Sean jogged over and took my tray, and I took Wes’ hand and strutted across the room like Mrs. Peacock. It was impossible not to notice the hateful stares I received from the cheer squad, or the wicked daggers from the football team that knifed my skin.
I didn’t care. Chad could stare at me to death all he wanted – it wasn’t going to change a thing between Wes and me.
“Hey, Sophia,” Oliver flashed me a grin when I got to the table.
“Hey,” I said and pretty much nodded to the entire table so they didn’t feel the need to say hi one by one. It was already uncomfortable enough sitting with them while the entire cafeteria watched us.
I guess anything Wes or Chad did was Madison Falls High newsworthy. It didn’t help when he pulled me down onto his lap and tossed me back to kiss me in a dramatic way.
Or when he did the same thing the following day.
And the next.
Nor when he slipped his jacket around me the next day after that. It had become a thing for me to always be at his table with him for lunch. I began to feel like one of them.
A week had flown by when I walked into the cafeteria after fourth period, and headed straight for his table.
“Ahem!”
I spun and came face to face with Amanda, who was scowling at me. “Hey.”
“Remember us? Your girls? At that table over there?”
I twisted my mouth as embarrassment riddled me. “Uh, yeah,” I replied and glanced back at Wes’ table. “I thought you guys didn’t mind me eating over there.”
“I don’t, but I didn’t think you would be there every da
y, Sophia. It’s like you’re one of his groupies now.”
I stared blankly at her. “Really, Amanda? His groupie? I’m his girl. Nothing’s wrong with me eating lunch with him if he’s my boyfriend. That doesn’t make me a groupie.”
“I’m sorry,” she apologized quickly. “That’s not what I meant.”
The fact that she had said it put the word in my head. Did everyone think of me like that? I looked around the cafeteria, but no one was looking at me. Not really. Guess they had gotten used to seeing me eating at Wes’ table.
Except for Chad, who wasn’t even in the cafeteria. He had disappeared after my second day of joining Wes last week.
“It’s okay,” I told her. “If it means that much to you, I could eat with you guys.”
“Would you? I kinda missed you this week.” She grinned as her eyes begged.
“Aww.” I bumped into her. “Okay, let me get a tray.”
“Sweet.”
Wes wasn’t at the table as yet, but I doubted he would have a problem with me sitting with the girls. They were ecstatic to see me – you would think they hadn’t seen me in days.
“It wasn’t that bad,” I told them as I sat.
“Really?” Stacey said and slurped her drink. “Nice jacket.”
I looked down. I had totally forgotten I was wearing Wes’ jacket. “Oh. This is…this is nothing.”
“Mm-hmm,” Stacey drawled. “Is that why he’s coming over here now?”
“What?” I turned and saw Wes barreling toward the table like someone had died.
“Sophia?” he asked when he got to the table. “You coming?”
I looked back at the girls, who had stopped what they were doing to observe my reaction. He was putting me on the spot and I didn’t like it. I stood and took his hand, pulling him aside so as to not make a scene.
Or a bigger one. Eyes followed Wes wherever he went, and that moment, they were on us. “Wes, I don’t have to eat with you every day. I have friends, too.”
“I know, babe. I just like having you with me all the time. And it’s kind of a thing now. People expect to see us together.”
