by Cassie James
Salma walks in then, immediately freezing and taking stock of what’s happening. “What are you doing here?” she asks her brother. “You said you’d be gone a couple days. I thought you were flying somewhere with your friends?” There’s a panicked quality to her tone, probably because she knows as well as I do that having him here is just asking for trouble. I don’t wait to hear Kareem’s answer, I stride towards the guys.
“Come on,” I tell them, trying to lead them out of the kitchen. Let Salma deal with her pervy creep of a brother. Smith falls into step beside me as Patrick and Ace trail behind us.
“If he’s still here and Jax shows up…” Smith grimaces.
I hold my hands up helplessly, taking a play out of Smith’s playbook since it’s one of his favorite gestures. “It’s not like I can demand he leaves his own house. Plus, Salma needs this. Hanging out with us is the most she’s fit in since she started school here, I’m not ruining that for her by bailing out on her now. You know if you guys aren’t here other people won’t stay, either.”
“That goes for you too now, Jules,” he reminds me, but I just roll my eyes. I don’t like acknowledging my newfound popularity. I’m hoping if I don’t acknowledge it then eventually it will just go away on its own. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.” He doesn’t actually sound so sure of that.
The whole thing is making me uneasy. My only hope is that Salma will maybe manage to run him off on her own, but that hope is quickly dashed when she meets us in the living room with a grim expression. “I swear he’s not usually this much of an asshole.”
“Great, so I just happen to bring it out in him then.” That seems about right. Lucky me.
Salma shoots me a small, apologetic smile. “We can cancel if you want. I know you only agreed because we didn’t think he would be here.” I can tell by the way she’s wringing her hands together that she hates the idea, and for that reason alone I know I can’t ask her to cancel even though I’d like nothing more than to do just that. It’s like I just told Smith—Salma needs this.
“Are you kidding? It would be a crime to deprive people of seeing you in that dress.” She’s wearing a sleek, metallic dress she picked up over the summer while she was out traveling to all sorts of exotic places. I know she’s almost as excited about that dress as she is about the party.
“Thank you,” Salma says emphatically, throwing her arms around me in a tight squeeze.
A couple hours later, I know for sure I made the right choice. Even though the parties are by far not my favorite thing about Patience, Salma manages to slide into her element. She’s a good host, probably because she’s the only one to host a party in this town sober. It means she’s actually making sure everyone’s having a good time, instead of getting shit-faced and letting it turn into a free-for-all.
I hang out on the fringes, letting the boys do their thing while I bounce between them and Salma. People flock to me when I’m with Salma, probably because they realize it’s the one time I don’t immediately try to get away. It’s all for Salma’s sake, so that I can force people to finally give her the time of day. Once people talk to her for the first time, they see how great she is all on their own, and then I’m able to sneak away, leaving her to socialize by herself. All she needed was that little bit of help getting people in the room, after that, there’s just a quality about her that makes people realize they want to have her around. It doesn’t take long before it’s very obvious she’s an outcast no longer.
“I’ve been watching you.” I jump from my spot at the second floor railing, from where I’ve been watching over things for a few minutes. Kareem leans next to me on the railing. “I see what you’re doing for my sister.”
“Yeah, well, people just needed an excuse to give her a chance.” My eyes search out the guys—Jax in particular, who only got here about thirty minutes ago. “You like creating problems, don’t you?”
“Excuse me?” Kareem twists so that he’s only half leaning on the railing and facing me.
“I’ve told you I’m not interested. A better man would take me at my word on that and stop churning up drama.” Salma’s told me some things about her brother, and what she’s told me actually reminds me of Jake’s brother, Brandon. They’re trouble, and absolute heartbreakers if you make the mistake of letting things get that far. Something I have zero intention of doing. I remember the people Brandon hurt. All too clearly, really, because Jake and I were always the ones stuck picking up the pieces of whatever chaos Brandon had decided to cause.
Kareem scoots closer, and even though I want to take a step back I force myself to hold my ground, instead. “I don’t want to be a better man. I want to be a man who wins.” He leans towards me as if to kiss me but I’m quicker than he is. I turn my head as he chuckles. “Oh, c’mon. I’ve probably got more experience than all your boyfriends combined. I could show you a good time.”
“All you’ve shown me so far is that you’re a real asshole. I’m not interested, Kareem. Find someone else to harass.” I start to step away but he grabs my waist.
He frowns at me as I grab his hands and squeeze until he lets go. He starts to protest, “Don’t—”
“She said she’s not interested,” Sadie interrupts in a sharp voice. I’ve never been so happy to see her as I am in this moment. “And now you have an audience.” She gestures to the railing, and a quick look verifies that yep, everyone is staring up here now, trying to see what’s going on. And I can already see the guys making their way through the crowd towards the stairs. Shit.
Kareem puts his hands up like a criminal being stopped by the police. The metaphor feels about right at this particular moment. Shaking my head at him as he just smirks at me, I grab Sadie and make for the stairs.
“Thank you for that. That guy’s a real asshole,” I mutter.
“Yeah.” She glances back. “I don’t trust that guy, Jules. You need to be careful not to get stuck anywhere alone with him.”
Even the idea of it makes me shudder. “Don’t worry, I don’t plan on it.”
We reach the stairs right as the guys are starting to come up. To my surprise, it’s Smith walking in front. All three of my guys are standing in front of Jax, who’s standing behind them with a furious expression on his face. They’re blocking him, I realize. God, I know they’re friends, but this feels like something else. This feels like them protecting him as part of our group, and I’m not so sure how I feel about that considering all the unresolved issues between Jax and I.
For the moment, it’s good they’re looking out for him. I know his father gets him out of all kinds of messes, but he needs to stop pushing his luck. Eventually he’s going to walk himself right into a mess that daddy can’t bail him out of.
“What?” Jax snaps, seeing me staring at him.
“Watch yourself,” Smith turns and huffs at him. That’s a whole other surprise. It’s not often I get to see Smith standing up to Jax. I have to hope that means he’s finally ready to start treating Jax like a regular friend instead of an idol.
Jax looks away from the group, but I swear it almost sounds like he mutters a “sorry” under his breath.
“Please don’t let that asshole up there ruin everybody’s night. Let’s go out back. I heard someone mention beer pong.” Smith’s eyebrows lift. He knows I’m not going to drink. I never do. The one time I slipped up since coming here obviously didn’t work out so well for me. I’m not taking any chances a second time. “You all can play. I’ll be your designated cheerleader.”
There’s a little bit of grumbling, but finally everybody agrees. As the guys start to head outside, Sadie touches my shoulder and tells me she thinks she needs to go home. I fall back with her, letting the guys go ahead.
“Are you okay?” I eye her, looking for signs I might have missed that she’s been drinking or taking anything. Her icy blue eyes are crystal clear as she nods.
“Yeah, I’m just not sure I can handle anymore tonight.” She starts to part ways, but pauses. “Th
ank you for caring. I haven’t had a lot of that.” She smiles at me one last time and then she’s gone. It makes me feel sorry for her. It’s no wonder she’s lashed out at me through the process of getting sober. She’s used to people turning a blind eye—and I chose not to.
I turn the opposite way from Sadie, following the path the boys took to the backyard. It doesn’t take long to find them. They’re rowdy as hell over the game already, the scene that just happened inside all but forgotten for the moment. I stand off to the side, enjoying watching them do their thing. A little bit of a crowd starts to gather as word spreads that the guys are locked in what might be the most intense game of beer pong ever played.
They’re midway into their rematch when my phone starts to vibrate in my pocket. Anyone who should be calling me is here, which means… I yank the phone out as fast as I can. Jan’s name flashes across the screen. I have about four vibrations left I’m guessing before it rolls over to voicemail.
“You guys, this is the nurse. I have to answer it.” All four of them start to follow me. “No, stay. Finish your game. I’ll be right back.” As they go back to playing, I pick up the call, crossing the yard as quickly as I can so that I can get away from the noise. “Hello?”
“Juliet?”
“Miss Jan? Is everything okay?” My voice wavers, nerves I’m sure coming through clear across the phone line.
“Oh, I sure didn’t mean to worry you, dear. You asked me to tell you if your aunt mentioned anything peculiar about her brother Hollis?” She sounds uncertain now, as if she’s remembering wrong. It’s been weeks since I brought that up.
I nod, then remember she can’t see me. “Yeah. Yes. What did she say?”
“Well, I’ll admit I think I missed some of it but—Uh, let me check here. I wrote down what I could make of it just in case you didn’t answer.” She makes a couple of shuffling noises before continuing. “Ah, yes. Here it is. Oh gosh, look at my handwriting.” In about thirty seconds I’m going to wring stand-in Grandma’s neck “Hollis married everything he ever loved.” God, I can’t believe I let this woman get my hopes up.
“Okay, thanks for letting me know. I don’t really think that’s probably significant. Pearl was probably just thinking about Hollis’ wife.” She died before he did. I’m sure he did love her, the pictures of the two of them are all pretty sweet. He used to look at her the way—well, the way I think Patrick looks at me. Like we’re partners. Equals.
“No, wait!” More shuffling. “Buried. Hollis buried everything he ever loved.” That changes fucking everything.
“Are you sure?” I croak out. “She said the word buried?”
“Yes. Yes, I’m sure of it now. Is that helpful?”
“Yeah,” I tell her. Quietly, mostly to myself, I add, “And also, not at all.” Before she can ask any questions, I say goodbye and hang up on her. I don’t want to hear anymore.
Hollis buried everything he ever loved. If he buried a treasure—what are the odds anyone ever actually finds it?
“That sounded intense.” Kareem’s voice makes me jump. Where the fuck did he even come from? I really need him to go back to wherever he came from. I’m pretty sure he was in college the last time Salma talked about him, and I’m pretty sure he wasn’t graduating, so I’m not sure what it is exactly he’s doing here. He should have gone back to school by now.
“Were you eavesdropping on me?”
“Not on purpose.” Somehow, I don’t quite believe that. At least this time, he’s making no move to get into my personal space. Instead, he leans against the exterior wall of the house, his whole body relaxed. Either he’s not planning to follow me if I walk away or he’s assuming I’m not going anywhere.
Joke’s on him. I slide my phone into my back pocket and start heading back to the party. A few seconds later, I can hear him start to move to follow me. Dammit. I look over at him just as he tries to fall into step beside me. I come to a screeching halt. If I walk back around the side of the house with him next to me, it’s going to cause problems.
“What part of not interested do you not understand?” I frown at him.
“The part where you’re the one saying it.” His mouth spreads into a wide grin that I’m sure he thinks makes him look more endearing, but it’s just further proof that he’s trying too hard. There’s nothing natural about it. “Oh, c’mon. You’re open-minded enough to have a whole harem’s worth of boyfriends, but not enough to give a new guy a chance?”
He takes a step closer to me, getting into my personal space again. This guy is a real jackass. “I’d be more than happy to give a new guy a chance—if that guy wasn’t you.”
A flash of anger crosses over his face before he hides it behind another too-wide smile. Now, though, I see the way his eyebrow twitches ever so slightly. I managed to get to him, he’s just not going to dare let me know it. Hoping it’ll be enough to get him to back off, I turn the corner back toward the party. As much as I hate risking more problems with the guys, I don’t want Kareem to think he can manipulate me by using that to his advantage to trap me alone. Sure enough, when I risk a glance back, he steps around the corner after me but doesn’t follow past that.
Not that it matters. As I rush back across the yard toward my guys, I see them all look past me to where Kareem is standing. No one makes a move in that direction. That’s something at least.
“Did that guy just fucking approach you again?” Patrick’s voice is a low growl. I’ve gotten somewhat used to his displays of jealousy, but this is on a whole other level. And because Kareem makes me so uncomfortable, I can’t even blame him for it this time.
Reluctantly, I nod. I’m not going to start lying to them about it. “It’s fine, I took care of it.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Jax raises his voice. Whatever they’d done to calm him down before, obviously the spell has worn off. His whole body tenses as he paces a few steps away from the beer pong table. “You all really want to just ignore the way he’s openly eye-fucking her from across the yard? This is bullshit. I’m ending this.”
He starts to cross the yard fast enough that I barely manage to catch up to him. I yank at t-shirt, sure that I’m stretching it out, and I say his name, trying to force his attention to me instead of Kareem, who’s now smirking like he’d be more than happy to go toe-to-toe with Jax. This can’t happen. I don’t want anyone to get hurt or in trouble, especially not over something as stupid as a guy who can’t seem to get it through his skull that his creeper act isn’t the slightest bit appealing.
“Jax, stop!” I finally snap at him.
He rounds on me so suddenly that I have too much momentum to stop. I smack into him with an oomf. His hands loop around my waist, steadying me as I nearly bouncing off of him from the impact. People are starting to stare. But I have to figure, if it’s between people talking about this or people starting rumors about an otherwise inevitable fight—I’ll take the option where no one ends up bloody or bruised.
“Let’s go inside. All of us. Salma showed me how to get into the spare bedroom, we can go there.” His eyes flash with expectation as I lose a fight with the blush trying to creep up my neck. “Not like that. Just so that we can take a quiet minute for everyone to chill out.”
“Too bad,” he murmurs, his teeth skating over his bottom lip.
But he lets me lead him back to the other guys, where I pitch the same idea to them. Soon, they’re abandoning their game and following me upstairs, the five of us disappearing into the guest bedroom together.
Yeah, I really should have thought that one through.
Chapter Eleven
The rumors are running rampant the next day. If I thought it was bad when people were whispering about me dating two different guys, it’s nothing compared to the rumors that start after my classmates see me disappear into a bedroom at a party with four guys. And not just any four guys, either, but the four most well-liked seniors at The Patience School.
Of course, no one comes to say an
ything directly to me, but by second period on Monday Salma admits she’s already had several people ask her if she knows what my deal is. By lunchtime, she confirms the rumors are only growing.
I can’t help but wonder if maybe this will be the thing that lets me give up my imaginary Queen Bee crown. That would be one hell of a silver lining.
“Lexington.” I’ve only half turned at the sound of my name before Jax is grabbing me by the elbow. He grabs me hard enough that I wince, dragging me the opposite direction of where I was headed. I just finished Photography with Ace and we’re supposed to be heading back to the cafeteria for study hall.
I shoot Ace a confused look as Jax drags me away, but he only shakes his head and shrugs helplessly. He doesn’t know where Jax is taking me, either.
“Jax, you’re gonna make me late,” I whine as we get further and further away.
“I got permission for us to study elsewhere.” That’s hilarious, since he’s not carrying a single thing with him to suggest he’s planning on studying. I feel my heart-rate skyrocket as I realize where we’re going. The study rooms by the library.
I haven’t forgotten what happened the last time I was alone with him in one of those rooms. He kissed me on the desk in a way that fucking ruined me, and then not long after that he was actually emotionally ruining me. I’ve got a lot of mixed feelings about these rooms.
I shouldn’t go in there with him. Not when I haven’t decided what I’m even going to do about Jax. But my brain and my feet are on two very different pages. My feet don’t so much as hesitate as Jax pulls me into one of the rooms—the same one he kissed me in—and slams the door shut behind us. There’s a serious feeling of deja vu as he backs me against the desk and then lifts me so I’m sitting on the edge of it. He steps in between my legs and I swear to god my lips part for him all on their own.
He raises an eyebrow. “I didn’t bring you in here to grope you.” He looks down at my bare legs as he drops his hands on my thighs. It’s still warm enough I haven’t started wearing tights with my uniform. His voice is thicker as he adds, “Though I’m sure it could be arranged.
