by Mina Thorne
His green eyes sparked even greener with jealously though, and he still wouldn't look at me as he faced Whitt.
"I'm good," Barrett replied slowly. "Thanks for bringing the jacket back."
"Did you get your car home?"
"One of the drivers went out right away. It's being detailed today to get the blood out."
"Shit, man," Whitt said with his deep, rich voice. "I'm sorry I threw hands last night, man."
"Me too, brother," Barrett replied and clapped his hand on Whitt's shoulder. "We've gotta remember bros before hos, right?"
At that, Barrett did look down and threw me a look of derisive dismissal.
My heart fluttered and my stomach lurched at the venom in his words and his glance. I wanted to leap up and tell him Whitt was just here as a friend, that there was nothing going on and that I was only interested in him. That Barrett was the only guy for me.
But the problem was that I didn't even believe it myself.
I was so conflicted that I couldn't defend my actions and reassure him that there was nothing between me and Whitt.
Because maybe there was.
I wasn't sure of anything anymore.
"There's my princess!"
Dad's voice came booming across the back patio towards the pool.
He took no time at all to cross the space between the house and where I was. He shot both boys an evil look that let them know they'd better stay away from his daughter.
It worked, because Barrett and Whitt shrunk away from him when he got to my side.
"I have something for you, princess," he said with a broad smile. "But it's just for you, not these two…who look like they’re bothering you."
"I was just leaving, sir," Whitt told my dad.
"Good plan, Jason," my dad said and it took me a moment to clue in that he meant Whitt. Jason Whittaker, that was his real name. “Looks like you boys got in a little tussle last night…again.”
Barrett and Whitt both had the good sense to seem a little guilty over it and mumbled a couple things about their fight, thankfully leaving me out of it.
Whitt finally said his goodbyes and stalked off, a little sullen at being excluded from the family I supposed.
But Barrett wasn't free of my dad's heavy handed tactics either.
"You can get Tex to drive you to the detailers," Dad told Barrett. "Your car must be ready by now, and the shop will know to put it on my tab."
"Okay, thank you," Barrett said and even though he seemed like he wanted to argue with dad, he didn't. He knew it was a losing battle.
After he walked away, dad put his hands on my shoulders and asked, "What's the one thing you seem to need most right now?"
I wanted to tell him friends, a life, for people to leave me alone...maybe to go back home...but I didn't say any of it.
"I don't know, maybe a new handbag?" I said.
"Follow me," Dad replied and took my hand. He led me through the mansion back past the three kitchens, formal dining room, informal dining room, breakfast room, and through the grand foyer and finally the front door.
We stood on the steps and he looked down, pointing at a sleek little Audi parked in the driveway. It was hot pink and had a massive white bow on the top.
"A car!" he said with such joy that it was catchy.
I grinned like a fool and said, "Wow, thank you. But one problem."
He frowned, looked at me and asked, "What is it?"
"I don't know how to drive."
"You don't know how to drive? That's outrageous. Why didn't you ever learn?" Dad asked, and I didn't think he'd every looked as scandalized as he did now.
"Mom wanted me to earn enough money to pay for lessons and buy a car," I said. "It's not a big deal."
"Not a big deal? Why didn't you ever ask me for money? I could have paid for a car and driving lessons. Now you're a year behind," he replied.
"I never talked to you at all, what was I supposed to do? Call you up after years of no communication and say hey dad, give me money?"
"I wanted to talk to you more, I promise. I didn't want to step on your mother's toes though. I respected her demands to keep our contact to a minimum," he said and his handsome face showed a brief glimmer of emotion. I saw myself just then in his face. We didn't look that similar, physically, but his skill at hiding his emotions was probably where I'd picked it up.
Mom wasn't like that at all, she was an open book with an honest, genuine face that showed everything she was thinking. I'd always wondered where I'd gotten my need to keep my emotional world far from the public, and now I knew.
I was David Montgomery's daughter after all.
“I just want to make sure we’re close from here on out, okay?” he said and put his arm around me, giving me a squeeze. “You’re my princess, after all. And my only biological child. That means more to me than you’ll ever understand.”
I smiled and leaned against him, letting his fatherly affection warm my heart and give me that little confidence boost I’d needed.
I might not ever be close to him, not in the way that I was with my Mom, but he was my dad. And biology wasn’t everything, but sometimes it was the one thing that made the most powerful connections.
Sometimes blood was thicker than water, and that made my place in the Montgomery household secure and solid.
Chapter 21
The rest of the day was quiet enough, Dad had to go find Elaine wherever she was and Barrett had taken off again.
I had no idea where he'd gone. There could be another party tonight and I wouldn't know about it. I was spending the night texting with Maddy and Brie, ignoring Mom and Reg as they sent stupid meme after stupid meme to our, "Family Time" group chat, and lying in bed with a book.
The book couldn't hold my attention though, and grew restless in the silence of the huge house. It was strange, having everything I'd ever wanted but without a single person I could share any of it with. I missed the sounds of my old house, and maybe even missed my small en suite bathroom with the mildew smell in the tile and the green bathtub that was just a little too short so I couldn't completely cover myself with water.
I rolled over, dropped the book on the bed and although I knew I shouldn't have, I checked online, I just couldn't help myself. I did some light stalking of Barrett's Instagram profile and a little after ten that night he was tagged in one of Becca's photos.
She was hanging off him, her arms around his neck and her lips on his. Well, not exactly fully on his, just the corner really. But the look on her face was pure triumph. As if she knew I'd be scanning it just moments after it was uploaded. As if she was marking her territory.
I clenched my hand up into a fist and threw my phone across the room. I let out an enraged scream but did it into my fluffy pink feather pillow so it would mute the sound.
And then I rolled onto my back and thought I caught the waft of Barrett's scent as I moved over the covers.
I closed my eyes and remembered him there with me, his breath on my neck and then his mouth on mine. And his tongue and teeth playfully teasing my pebbled nipple.
"God," I exhaled and sat up, slid off the bed and went in search of my phone. It wasn't broken, that was a small miracle considering how many screens I normally went through in a single year, and the Instagram pic was still up.
I looked at Barrett, but he was almost in profile with his eyes looking somewhere off camera. I couldn't get a read on how he felt about the situation.
And then, horror flooded me as I realized that I'd somehow liked the image while in the midst of my phone tossing.
It wasn't like I had a secret account that I could deny was mine. In spite of it being locked down, my screen name was, "Cali_Girl_Stephanie."
I'd thought it was so cute and clever when I'd made it a few years back and now it just seemed stupid and immature. And so fucking obvious.
I unliked the pic and was about to close the app when my phone buzzed. I looked down and Becca had tagged me in a comment.
> "Nice try, stalker whore. You'll always be his skank ass sister and I'll always be his girlfriend. PS Change your name to BJ_Queen so we know it's you next time, bitch."
I was going to respond, but decided against it. I was shaking when I took a screen shot and sent it to Maddy and Brie. They wanted to comment on Becca's account but I begged them not to.
It wasn't worth it, it's not like two friends would weigh everybody's opinion in my favor.
Maybe if I'd been more popular back home, but as it stood, I had nobody in my corner.
So I curled up with my pillow, searched for Barrett's sent in my sheets, and fell asleep.
Sunday dinner rolled around and Elaine and Dad finally came out of their room just in time to demand that I eat at the dining table with them.
They'd been holed up all day, and by the looks of it, they'd been fighting. Elaine looked like she'd been crying and my dad was extra touchy feely with her. He came into the room holding her hand, then guided her to her chair gently, his hand on her elbow.
Barrett arrived after all of us, he rushed in and slumped in his seat across from me and wouldn't make eye contact.
Dad and Elaine made small talk until after the first course when Elaine finally pounced. It was like she'd been holding in all her pent up feelings and anger towards Dad and decided to let them all out at once.
On me.
I knew something was up from the first moment she said my name.
"Stephanie," she said as I was sipping from my water glass. We weren't allowed wine at dinner, so I drank water out of fancy crystal.
I sputtered and swallowed and replied, "Yes?"
"I heard a nasty rumor at the club this morning. Do you know what kind of rumor I might have heard?"
My stomach dropped out from my body, I swore, and my heart began to beat faster. I did my best to remain calm, using the gift I'd inherited from my father to hide my inner turmoil.
"I can't imagine what kinds of things you'd hear at the club," I replied evenly. "I've never even been there."
"Yes, that's right. You should come with us some time," Dad said, still oblivious to what Elaine was going to tell him.
Elaine took immense pleasure drawing this out, I could see it on her face as plainly as the nose she'd had done. She leaned forward, smiled like a cat about to eat a canary, and said, "I heard you had some trouble on Friday night. At a party."
"Oh, did I?" I blinked a couple times to add to the pantomime of innocence.
"What are you talking about?" Dad asked, setting his own wine glass on the table with a clunk. "Are you okay? Did somebody hurt you, princess?"
"You might say that. Should you tell him or shall I?"
Elaine's face was pure glee. She sat up straight and set her piercing eyes on me, waiting for my response.
I could practically hear my pulse in my ears, the stress was so high as it shot through my body. My mouth dried out and I tried to move my tongue against my pasty lips, but I couldn't find the energy to finish the action.
I was frozen in time, my brain racing and my body shutting down.
Elaine was trying to play my hand. She wanted me to humiliate myself in front of Dad and I hated her for it.
"Somebody leaked that video of Stephanie at the part in California. Some asshole played it on the side of Mason's mansion. Kids laughed, but it all blew over within minutes because Tyler Reynolds puked in the pool and freaked everybody out," Barrett said suddenly, breaking the standoff between me and Elaine.
"Who did it?" Dad yelled and slammed his fist on the table. "Who would fucking do that to my little girl?"
Elaine's face fell as she realized she'd just lost her power move. Barrett had basically cut her off at the knees and it was glorious. Dad wasn't mad at me for it happening, he was angry with the person who had done it.
I was so relieved.
He was on my side. He really was choosing me and it felt incredible.
"I don't know who it was," I said and dropped my eyes. "Somebody doesn't like me at the school I guess."
"Or somebody is out to dirty the Montgomery name," he bellowed and stood up. "I won't stand for this. I'm calling the dean, Dr. Adams right now. I don't spend that much money at Westview Academy to have the student body treat my only daughter like garbage."
"Please, Dad. Just don't. I'll handle it. Maybe if I ignore them they'll go away."
"That never works," he said. "You have to come down on them, hard. Make them pay so they'll never come at you again."
"This isn't an international trade war," I laughed. "I can handle it. I promise. I'll figure out how to deal with anybody who makes fun of me."
"And I'll help her," Barrett said, shooting me a goofy smile. "I'll be right there with her, getting to the bottom of everything. Okay?"
"Oh good. I guess that means I don't have to worry about gossip at the club," Elaine said, but her eyes were still glittering with anger as she glared at me. I might have Dad and Barrett on my side, but Elaine would never stop coming for me.
I wasn't sure why she hated me so much, whether it was because I looked too much like my mom or that I was another woman in the house.
But I did know she wasn't happy with Dad and Barrett supporting me.
Chapter 22
"They're gonna be at you today," Barrett said in the car on the way to school Monday morning. "They're gonna try and break you."
"I know. I'm not going to let them though. They don't know who they're dealing with," I replied.
I was wearing my school uniform, complete with the boring black flat shoes, but I'd done dramatic make up and had run product through my hair to make it look like a lion's mane.
My first instinct had been to pull it back into a tight chignon and wear no makeup so I looked modest. So I couldn't possibly be the BJ Queen, so what were they even talking about. But I realized that nothing I did would change their minds, so I might as well look fucking hot while I stared them all down and stood up for myself.
I was a Montgomery, after all, and we didn't back down apparently.
"You look good," Barrett said as he drove. His car was freshly detailed and didn't show any signs of the blood drips from Friday night even though he still had fading bruises around his eyes and his lip was just slightly swollen. "I'm glad they didn't scare you into becoming a meek little mouse over this. I'm glad you’re embracing your strengths, Steph."
"Thanks. That means a lot to me," I replied. "Did you ask Becca about the video on Saturday night?"
"I did and she claims she knows nothing. But wait a minute, how did you know I saw her in Saturday? You were creeping her profile," he said and threw me a smug grin. "She said you were but I thought she was just being a jealous drunk bitch."
"I wasn't creeping hers," I blurted. And then after a moment I smiled and added, "I was creeping yours."
"I knew it. You were stalking me."
"How can I stalk you when we live together?"
"Good point. I guess it’s convenience stalking then."
"I guess so,” I laughed and then added, “why didn't you tell me there was another party last night?"
"After what happened on Friday? No way, man. I was there getting information. Trying to figure out who knows what about what they did to you."
"Is that it?"
"Yeah. Are you worried about me and Becca? Maybe I should be worried about you and Whitt."
As much as I wanted to let my jealousy rage over him and Becca, I wasn't ready to give up Whitt.
Not yet anyhow.
"Maybe we shouldn't worry about each other hanging out with other people," I said.
He tapped the steering wheel like he was annoyed, but he couldn't do anything but agree with me.
This morning he didn't stop to let me out, he drove to the parking lot, slid into his spot and cut the engine.
"You're not booting me out at the front steps?" I asked and raised my brows in mock surprise.
"I figure I'd better walk you in. This is probably going
to be rough, no need to send you into the snake pit alone."
I exhaled slowly, emitting a long breathy sigh. "I'll be fine if it feels too weird for you."
"Not weird. Just letting them know I'll kick anybody’s ass if they try to fuck with you."
"Thanks," I replied as we crossed the parking lot and started up the stairs.
Whitt appeared on my other side and walked with us.
No words were exchanged, just Barrett nodding towards Whitt in recognition and Whitt nodding back. They knew what they were doing, why they'd flanked me to keep me as safe from the jeers of my classmates as possible.
We got to the front doors, Barrett it open for me, and I stepped inside.
My instinct was to avert my eyes and hug my arms around myself, but I had to remember what my father had said. About how Montgomery family was strong, and how we would strike back harder to keep people in their place.
And I thought about how I got not only my ability to tuck emotions away from him, but also my fighting spirit.
And so with Whitt on one side and Barrett on the other, I strode proudly down the hallway towards my locker with my head held high and defiance in my footsteps.
The whispers began immediately. It felt as if every single student at Westview was staring right at me, talking about the party and laughing about the whole thing. It felt like they were laughing at me.
"You've got this," Whitt said and walked closer to me, his arm touching mine. "You look fine as fuck, by the way."
"Thanks. For being here too," I replied.
"I already told her she looks hot," Barrett told him from the other side, pressing up against me as well until we formed an impenetrable wall, three people wide.
It was hilarious to me, how the two of them argued over who told me I was hot, but it was amazing too.
And everybody gawked, students rubber necked as we turned left down another hallway and headed straight for my locker.
That's when the laughter started in earnest. It broke out, like the spatter of raindrops at first, but by the time we reached my locker it was loud like a torrential downpour.
