by Heather Long
It was kind of adorable.
The cherry was when Rachel texted me that a new Torched single had been released. I paused long enough to download it. In the car, Archie synced my phone up to let it play, and I was singing along with it before we hit the first chorus. It was a cover, but Torched did that. They covered a couple of popular songs to tease a new album, then the album would drop and I almost always loved every single song on it.
The girl group had a great rhythm, and I loved their melodies. Even more, I loved their lead singer because she had my kind of voice. Sometimes raspy. Sometimes not. I could dream of having her range.
“We should check their tour schedule,” Archie said as the song looped to play again and he nudged the volume down a little.
“The last time they were near here, the tickets were astronomical.” I’d been desperate to go. They’d actually been on tour over the summer. I sighed.
“So?” he said. “You love them, and it would be a blast.”
I chuckled. “It would be amazing, but they’ve already been here. They’re probably in Europe. The new album is gonna drop right around Christmas.” At least, that was the rumor. Torched never advertised when they planned their releases. They just dropped them.
Like this morning’s cover.
“So, we’ll check it out. Who else do you want to see?” Archie eyed me as we pulled into the parking lot.
“Uh uh,” I told him with a shake of my head.
“Aww…c’mon, you can tell me. I know Broadway is on that list somewhere. Top three shows you want to see.”
“Nope.” I mimed zipping my lips. “You’re already spending a fortune on me.”
He grunted as he pulled into his parking spot. “I have no problems with a challenge.”
I snorted. That was one way of putting it.
“Hey,” he said as he released my seatbelt. I bit my lip as he leaned in close. “You good?”
“Yeah,” I told him. The concern wrapped in affection in his eyes made me want to tell him anything he wanted to know.
“Good,” he whispered. “Before we’re officially out of the car and on school property though…” He nuzzled a kiss to the corner of my lips, cupping my face with one hand and then deepening it slowly as he teased my tongue with his. It was enough to leave me panting and overheated. Nose still brushing mine, he whispered, “You like dance shows, too, right?” The soft whisper made me laugh.
“You think you can just kiss the answers out of me?”
“Maybe,” he said with a grin. “Sure is fun to try.”
A knock on the passenger window made me jump, and he scowled over my shoulder.
“To be continued,” he said as he leaned back, and I glanced over to find Rachel grinning like the cat who caught the mouse and the canary. She wiggled her eyebrows at me, and I groaned.
“Morning, Rach,” I greeted her as I stepped out.
“Morning, hot lips,” she grinned. “PDAs back on the menu?”
“No,” Archie scolded. “Leave her alone.”
“Pfft,” she grinned and flicked her fingers at him before looping her arm through my left. “So,” she continued as we headed toward the school. Coop was already loping toward us from where he’d parked. “Mitch was officially arrested and charged over the weekend after he woke up in the hospital. He also has a broken arm to go with his broken jaw.”
I didn’t gape, but holy shit.
“Also…” She paused for dramatic effect, as though waiting for Coop to catch up to us before continuing. “He’s been expelled. There was an emergency meeting yesterday. Half of the football team is on probation and suspended, but Mitch was expelled, and it looks like Cheryl will be too.” The last part was offered with a grimace. “Sorry about not realizing how truly cracked she was.”
“It’s okay,” I told her. My stomach churned at the news. Not because they’d been expelled, but because the relief was so profound. “I didn’t know either, I just thought she was a little too ditzy.” Which had always seemed dramatically unfair on my part. Looking back, it made me view every interaction we had differently.
And far creepier.
“Still, I like to trust my instincts. She totally bypassed them. Going to have to rethink everything.” Rachel shook her head. Neither Coop nor Archie said a word about it, even to tease her, and that was a relief. She didn’t deserve to catch hell for it, even if she could be epically hard on them.
Not over Cheryl.
That betrayal stung.
I squeezed her arm sympathetically.
“Anyway,” she emphasized the syllables. “There’s more.”
“Oh God, I don’t know if I want to hear more.” We were inside and on our way to the cafeteria. More than one student glanced our way, speculation in their eyes. Yeah, I didn’t need to know what that was about. I hadn’t looked at any social media at all. I had no idea what they were saying about the party or the fight or any of it.
“Drumroll please… Jackson rolled on Mitch and Cheryl, among others, and they were behind condom car.”
I stopped walking and stared at her. “For real?”
“Yep,” she said with a grimace. “It was their way of letting you know they wanted to run a train. Disgusting pervs.”
Coop and Archie’s expressions chilled.
I didn’t think it was possible to loath Mitch more.
I was wrong. I fucking hated what they’d done to my car. How it made me feel.
“It kicks the assault charges up and adds menacing and vandalism to it, so maybe they’ll throw the whole book at him.” Snarky tone or not, Rachel’s expression was nothing but sympathetic for me. “They’re gone. You don’t have to see them again.”
Unless I had to testify, but I’d rather not bring that up at the moment.
“Last, but really not least, the football season here is officially over. All the rest of the games have been forfeited.”
Oh. Shit. My stomach dropped.
Ian and Jake had gone to practice this morning, and they hadn’t texted yet. While they’d already discussed being good with the season being over, I hated the thought of what they might be missing out on.
“That’s pretty much the rumor. I figure it will be announced later today after they inform the remaining players,” Rachel continued while I got lost in my thoughts. We’d made it to the cafeteria, and the gazes turning in our direction were numerous. Coop slid up beside me while Archie fell in on Rachel’s other side.
It was kind of sweet.
Ian and Jake were already at our table.
“And on that note, I will leave you with the boys. You good for today?” Rachel said, thankfully in a far quieter and less abrasive voice.
“You don’t have to take off.” I didn’t want her to think she wasn’t welcome.
“It’s good. I actually need to go do a make up test, so I’m going to get that out of the way. I’ll see you in French.” She winked.
Archie handed her a coffee before she could leave and she stared at it a beat then smirked slowly. “This does not make us friends, Rich Boy.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he drawled.
“Good.” She took a sip, then nodded. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
With a chuckle, she strolled off, coffee in hand.
And it didn’t even kill them to be polite. Coop snickered as he dragged out a chair for me. Sitting, I glanced between Ian and Jake. “How bad is it?”
“Eh,” Jake told me with a shrug. “No more crack of dawn practices.”
“No more staying late Wednesday and Thursday,” Ian added.
“And no more games on Friday,” Jake said as he toasted us with his cup. “I for one am fucking relieved.”
I wasn’t the only one who looked at Ian, but he scooted his chair a little closer to mine as he said, “Ditto. More time to hang out with you and work on my music. Coach was right, half the team is gone, and those of us left weren’t really feeling the love. He’s going to
start tryouts for next year early, keep the junior and sophomore players in the rotation, and let them figure out how to be a team before they have to work together.”
“I’m sorry,” I told him.
“It’s fine, Angel. Really. I used to think this was all I wanted to do, but priorities change.”
“Well, here’s to everyone having their Friday nights back,” Archie said, kicking back in the chair. “It’s still mine though with Frankie, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
They all laughed.
“Speaking of which,” Coop said. “We are seriously behind in our gaming schedule. With the new free time, we can set up a game night.”
That turned into a debate on what game to play, which inevitably led to shit-talking each other over who was better. It was…nice. Normal. Despite the sudden cessation of football, Jake and Ian were both relaxed. Ian’s leg rested against mine, and he kept shooting me these glances with a hint of a smile pulling at his mouth.
I got Coop to dig out one of my books for lit so I could read, because I was firmly neutral on what level of chaos they were going to get to in their gaming war. I was also out of it with my wrist still broken and a cast on. Archie kept one-upping Jake, who in turn issued flat challenges to Coop and Ian, both of whom retaliated in kind.
The good mood buoyed me through the day. Even if I was definitely hurting by lunchtime, I’d had fun in government with Archie making a list of bands and performances where I could see it, then studying me as he added each name. Trying to keep my face neutral became a true challenge, especially since he was cracking me up.
Ian helped with everything in math, including taking notes to share with me. When the teacher hit us with a quiz, he made a face. Fortunately, she gave me a pass on taking this one since my grades were high, but that wouldn’t work when it came time for an actual test.
The best part was when he walked me to French, he carried my bag with his arm around my shoulders and we didn’t have to thread past anyone. They all got out of our way. “I think they’re afraid of you.”
He shrugged. “As long as it means no one is hassling you, I’m fine with it.” He left me at my desk with a wink.
Rachel moved to grab the desk next to mine in French, snagging me for a group project like she knew it was coming. You know, considering Rach, she probably did. Madame included another cooking component with this project, and I had to roll my eyes. What was it with her and cooking assignments? Mathieu grinned when he passed out the pages with the recipe suggestions.
Opera cake was on the list, and I snorted at him. He winked and kept moving.
“Down girl,” Rachel snarked. “You threw that one back, remember?”
I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at her. She snickered. We spent the rest of the hour divvying up the project and setting up a time for her to come over so we could cook. Well, in all likelihood, she would cook and I would direct.
And referee, because no way would the guys miss out on a chance to tease Rachel.
Maybe I really had gone crazy, because that sounded like fun, even if they all ended up aggravating each other.
After school, we reconvened back at my place, but homework planning wasn’t the number one item on the agenda. No, apparently, the date schedule was.
“Okay, with Bubba back on the board,” Jake said, flashing a grin at me, “we need to iron out our days.”
I groaned. “How about we work on making sure we’re all caught up?”
“Actually,” Archie said. “We need to discuss the master bedroom.” He gave me a look. “We need to clean all of that out.”
That was another thing I really didn’t want to deal with. “I can’t just throw her stuff out.”
“Fine, I’ll have movers take her shit to her. But I want you to get any items in there you want out first, fair?”
It was enormously fair. Tiddles wandered back and forth under my left hand as he demanded pettings. Tabby had settled in Coop’s lap like she owned it, and Tory kept a wary eye on all of us from the hallway. I think she was really getting used to having all the guys there, but she still got jumpy when we were all being loud.
“That’s easy, we can do that tonight. We’ll help you go through while we box all that shit up, and Archie can wave his wand and get the stuff removed while we’re at school tomorrow.” Coop gave a little wave. “Poof. Last vestiges gone.”
“We can decide what you want to do with the room after,” Jake tacked on.
“If you want to do anything at all with it,” Ian suggested from where he sat on the floor right in front of me. He had pulled one of my legs over his shoulder and he gave my foot a squeeze.
“Well, my vote is bigger bed,” Archie drawled. “We can put it in there or…” He pressed on, even with me making a face. “We can shift stuff so that we can make like, a study room or something, and put your old bed in there and the bigger bed in your room.”
“A bigger bed in your room would be a tight fit,” Coop mused. “You thinking queen or California king?”
“Actually,” Archie said as he leaned forward from where he sprawled on the sofa and held up his phone. “I was thinking this.”
Jake burst out laughing when he saw it, and Coop’s eyebrows climbed. By the time he passed the phone to Ian, I was curious and leaned forward. Then I just stared. “That’s not a bed, that’s a football field.”
“Hardly,” Archie said with a grin. “But there’s more than enough room for all of us and your cats.”
Heat flooded my face. “Okay, before we discuss new beds and sleeping arrangements.” Because yeah, the thought of all of them sleeping there regularly and not just spread around the room with two in bed with me was insanely hot and distracting. “We still need to do rules.”
“Rules?”
“We got no bean burrito rule,” Coop teased, and I flipped him off. Unrepentant, he continued, “What rules specifically do you want to make? The rules on our screaming orgasm competition?”
Yeah, okay. My face caught on fire as both Jake and Archie chuckled.
“He kind of has a point. Angel.” Ian shocked the shit out of me when he tipped his head back to eye me. He had an ice pack held to his face at my insistence. “You will, of course, be the final judge of that contest.”
“Et tu, Brute?”
He grinned. “I know I’m behind, I’ll take any advantage I can get.” I didn’t think my face could flame any hotter. Particularly with our recent make-out session punctuated by little bites of pain or not. “Not that I’m rushing anything. I’m just a big believer in how thorough you like to be in your research.”
“Fuck me, that is the nerdiest flirting ever,” Jake said. “I don’t know whether to be disgusted or impressed.”
Archie snorted. “She’s red as a beet. I think impressed, because he’s definitely getting to her.”
“I hate you all,” I muttered.
“No you don’t,” Coop chuckled. “Not even a little bit.”
Asses.
“Rules,” I said, ignoring that last bit. “We need rules because I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or, you know, run into what we did before.”
“That was my fault,” Ian reminded me as he squeezed my calf as though an apology.
I stopped petting Tiddles for a moment and ran my fingers through Ian’s hair. “You had rules before, right?”
“Yes,” Archie admitted. “Not sure those are the kind of rules you’re talking about.”
“What are they?”
The fact that no one answered right away and they looked at each other only served to make me more curious.
“C’mon, spill. You made rules about me. What were they?”
Jake made a face. “Only if you promise to not get pissed if you don’t like what the rules were.”
I stared at him, and he didn’t back down for an instant. “Fine,” I conceded, more curious than irritated. “I will not get pissed if I don’t like what the rules were, emphasis on the word
were. If we’re establishing new rules that get my input, that means I can veto an old rule and toss it out so it no longer applies. Fair?”
They did another one of those long looks at each other, and I didn’t even have to see Ian’s face to know he was in agreement with me right now. Maybe we were both going to be trying too hard for a while, and I was okay with that. I was just damn happy to have him back. I didn’t want to screw it up, and neither did he.
“Fair,” Archie said as both Jake and Coop nodded. “They didn’t start out as more than some loose guidelines,” he admitted. “Rule number one—don’t text us when on a date. Whoever was with you deserved to have your undivided attention.”
That wasn’t so bad.
The corners of Jake’s lips tipped up in a half-smirk, and that coupled with his bruises added to the bad boy element he rocked without trying. It also sent a shiver up my spine when he focused on me, like I was the only one in the room. “Rule number two—Sunday nights are mine.”
“Rule number three,” Coop chuckled. “Don’t step on another guy’s date.”
“How is that different from rule number one?” Wasn’t that the point of the no texting rule?
“I don’t have to text to show up when Coop is over here,” Jake said flatly. “That steps on another guy’s time. Same with when you go out to eat with Archie or I take you to the drive-in. That’s our one-on-one time.”
Okay. “Fair.”
“Rule number four,” Archie said, stretching forward to snag his coffee off the table. We’d stopped for fresh on the way home. We all had a lot of homework. With Halloween behind us, the race to the holidays was on. Thanksgiving in three weeks and the winter break two weeks after we got back from that. Every single class had a major project due, and we’d have all the tests. Yay. “No competing with each other.”
That jerked me out of my homework musing, and I stared at him.
“What? No competing?” I glanced from him to Jake, to Coop, and then down at the back of Ian’s head, before looking at Archie again. “Seriously? You four? No competing?”
“We managed,” Coop actually sounded offended. “But the important one was you, so we all focused on our own strengths, not trying to one up each other.”
