by Mary Martel
Her excited words cut off abruptly as her eyes scanned the guys now staring at me almost frantically.
Riley laughed, the sound so dark and hostile a thrill shot through my system at hearing it. Something was wrong and the redhead now looked terrified.
She backed up several steps, moving behind the chair as if it would somehow protect her. From what, I didn’t know, but the fear in her pretty green eyes excited me.
And here I’d been kind of dreading coming over here. Especially after what had gone down at the first house we’d visited on our little outing so far. This was way better than my own bullshit drama and grief I had going on in my life. Sitting at home all by myself drowning in my own misery would have only ended with me being drunk and maybe drowning in my own damn pool. Or the lake.
This was way better.
The jockstrap Jason tore his big, wounded eyes off of me and he locked onto the redhead. The wounded look fell away and he snarled at her. “Please, for the love of all that is fucking holy, Monica, tell me you were not just about to say Belinda’s name. You know what will happen to you if you’re still hanging out with that bitch.”
Did it make me a bad person that I got off a little bit knowing bad things came to those who chose to spend time with the wicked bitch that was Belinda?
Sometimes some people got exactly what they deserved, and that nasty ho was going to get hers. Mark my words.
Monica, the redhead, grasped the back of the armchair so hard her knuckles turned white. “She’s my best friend,” she exploded in a rage. “You can’t honestly expect me to scrape off my best friend just because you told me to! Fuck that and” —she pointed a finger at Riley— “fuck you. How could you treat her like that? How could you do this to her? She’s lost one of her best friends and she’s hurting. You’re the worst friend ever, Riley. Gin would hate you for this and we all know it.”
It pissed me off that she was talking about my sister, and it pissed me off even more that I couldn’t argue with her because, apparently, I didn’t really know shit about who my sister really was.
But there was one thing I did know for a fact after reading several more of my sister’s diary entries.
Belinda had been no best friend to Gin.
“Girlfriend,” I said into the tense silence left from Monica’s ridiculous outburst.
They all focused on me. Great, me and my big mouth. I just couldn’t keep it shut sometimes.
“What?” she snapped at me, and I felt Riley stiffen at my side.
“You called her one of Gin’s best friends, but that would be grossly incorrect. From everything I’ve learned about your bestie Belinda, she treated my sister like garbage, sometimes even worse than shit. So, by my standards, they were never friends. But they were lovers who’d been together for a very long time despite the fact your friend is no better than a cheap whore.” I shrugged my shoulders as if the words I spoke weren’t destroying me on the inside.
My mask was firmly in place, and I’d never allow these people to witness my grief and heartache.
“I just think if you’re going to open your mouth and spit shit out of it, you might want to get your facts straight before you do.”
And yes, I was one of those people who could give good advice but never usually took my own.
Riley laughed again as he tugged on my hand, pulling me into his side. I braced my free hand on his hard stomach so I didn’t stumble, and he dropped my hand for the first time since we’d gotten out of his truck.
He wrapped his arm around my shoulders, and I didn’t even attempt to stop myself from leaning into him.
He smelled amazing.
And he was incredibly warm.
So warm I didn’t ever want to move away from him. I wanted to consume him. I’d been so cold since Gin had died, and the only times I seemed to be warm was when Franks was near. And now when Riley was close to me too.
“It looks like you’ve chosen your side, Monica,” Riley sneered at her. “At least Belinda will have one friend when school starts back up.”
“You two’ll have each other,” the jockstrap snapped at Monica, and her body jerked as if she’d been slapped. “And that’s all you’ll have unless some other dumb fuck decides to join your whorish ranks. But not me, I’m fucking done. I thought I made myself clear weeks ago, but apparently I wasn’t taken seriously enough. Now I guess I need to make an example of you to get my point across.”
I wrapped my arm around Riley’s middle and rested my head on his shoulder, enjoying the show they were putting on for me.
Monica ran around the chair and right toward Jason. She grabbed him by the shoulders, clinging to him desperately. “Please, Jason, listen to me. Belinda misses you. She tells me every day how much she just wants to call you and talk to you, but you’ve blocked her phone number. Just unblock her and listen to what she has to say to you. She’s so sorry.”
I caught sight of actual tears rolling down her cheeks. How stupid was it that she was even a pretty crier?
Jason shoved her off of him, and she stumbled back on her cheap flip-flops. The backs of her legs met with the couch and she fell on her ass on the cushions. She bounced and her tits bounced with her.
“Get the fuck out of my house, and make sure you tell that whore Belinda that she’s fucking dead to me and there’ll never come a time where I’m even remotely tempted to unblock her ass. Now get up and get the fuck out. And don’t you dare ever come back.”
I thought this was all a bit harsh, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t getting a thrill out of watching the whole thing go down.
One of the guys went to the door Riley and I recently came through and opened it. He stayed there holding the door open as Riley shuffled me to the side so we were out of the way.
The other guy moved directly to the couch and grabbed hold of Monica’s bicep. He dragged her up off the couch and hauled her toward the door. She started crying again, in earnest now, but no protests left her lips. If it hadn’t been for the tears, then I might have been impressed with her spine.
He threw her out the door and she stumbled to her knees, and I sucked in a sharp breath. She reminded me of my mother who’d so recently been tossed out on her ass. I’d forgotten about her, which I’d thought impossible.
Riley was a miracle worker.
I rubbed my cheek against his chest like a cat, and I felt his lips ghost across my forehead in a barely there kiss.
The door slammed shut, and then both the unknown guys stood in front of me with serious expressions on their pretty boy faces.
“Word has spread,” the black-haired hunk on the left said, “and we know you’re going to our school for your senior year.”
I nodded without speaking, wondering where this was going.
“I’m Finn,” he said.
“Gem,” I responded.
“I know. It’s weird because I know you’re identical, but I think you might actually be prettier than your sister.”
That was… kind of sweet.
And a little awkward.
“Thanks?” I mumbled, and he smirked at me. He had a dimple and mischievous eyes.
Goodness.
The brown-haired guy shoved him aside and slid in front of me.
“Hey, pretty lady.” He grinned and winked at me. “I’m Colby, and it’s nice to finally meet you. Finn is right, you just might be hotter than Gin, and she was smokin’. You get tired of sitting on Riley’s dick, you just let me know. I’d be more than happy to give you a ride on mine any time you want one.”
I laughed, immediately liking this one. Franks would so totally hate him.
Riley growled and his arm fell away from me. He pushed me slightly back behind him. He lunged forward and tackled Colby to the ground. Colby laughed as he cursed Riley out and they began to wrestle around on the carpet in front of me.
Finn moved closer to me. “Can I have your phone?” he asked in a sweet, innocent voice that I did not believe for one second.
&nb
sp; I raised an eyebrow at that but dug around in my bag until I fished out my phone. I handed it over and he immediately went to town on it, tapping away.
It wasn’t like I had naked selfies in there or anything to hide so I wasn’t too worried about it.
He handed my phone back to me with an easy grin. “There ya go, Gem. I hooked you up with my number, Colby’s number, and Jason’s as well. You should use ’em.”
I smiled at him as I dropped the phone back into my bag. “Thanks,” I muttered, not believing I was thanking him for something I didn’t ask for in the first place.
His smile got even bigger. “You should know I texted myself so that I have your number too. And, not gonna lie to you, pretty lady, I plan on passing it around to these other two dickheads also.”
“Good to know,” I mumbled.
One of the boys wrestling around moaned in agony as Riley’s laughter filled the room. Guessed it was Colby who got the wrong end of the stick on that one. Good for Riley.
I liked thinking of him as a brawler. It was kind of hot. I didn’t think I could be attracted to a guy who couldn’t kick some ass and take names. Franklin didn’t look like a brawler, more like a businessman, but his looks were very, very deceiving.
Riley got up and held his hand out for Colby. Colby swatted his hand away and rolled to his feet without assistance. They stood facing each other, and I worried for a second that they’d start brawling again but for real this time.
Riley wrapped his arm around Colby’s neck and pulled him into his body in some weird bro-I-wanna-choke-you-out-but-not-really hug that I didn’t understand in the slightest. Colby seemed to get it though, and they both laughed freely like they hadn’t just been rolling around on the carpet trading blows.
Boys were fucking weird.
Riley let Colby go and shoved Finn away from me. He grabbed hold of my hand and dragged me toward the chair Monica had been sitting in. He sat down and then pulled me into his lap.
I went willingly enough but that didn’t mean I wasn’t incredibly uncomfortable when I realized all eyes were on me. Not just the two of us, but me in particular.
I wasn’t an outgoing person, and I didn’t make friends easily. I usually didn’t care to make friends at all so this situation was new to me, and I didn’t quite know what to do with myself.
“Stop staring at her like she’s some kind of a freak show,” Riley snapped irritably, making me jump in his lap. His hands dropped down to my hips, and he pulled me back until I rested against his chest. “You’re making her nervous, and we’re gonna leave if you don’t stop.”
Shit.
That got my attention and theirs.
They all sat back down on the couch but didn’t pick up the controllers while I stupidly remembered why we were here in the first place.
I sat up straight, squared my shoulders, and stared down Jason. He was the only one who hadn’t spoken to me directly since we’d gotten here.
“So…” I cleared my suddenly dry throat. Why hadn’t one of these loser boys at least offered me a damn bottle of water? See, boys weren’t just stupid, they sucked too. “You’re the infamous Jason.”
A statement of fact, one I didn’t need him to reply to.
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, obviously uncomfortable with the way things were going.
“We didn’t meet at Gin’s funeral, but I was there. I was also at your house later but didn’t see you anywhere, or I would have tried to talk to you… to at least tell you how sorry I was for your loss. Gin was… a beautiful person. The most beautiful.”
I sighed.
He was hard to hate, I’d give him that much.
This was awkward, and I didn’t enjoy him nearly as much as the other two.
Fuck it. I decided to skip the bullshit chitchat and go right for what I really wanted.
“Did you hook up with Belinda the night before my sister died?” I blurted out.
The air in the room stilled as everything and everyone froze. Jason’s eyes rounded and he looked like he was in danger of crying.
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
“I don’t understand why you’re asking me about this,” he whispered in a choked voice.
Honestly, I didn’t quite understand it myself. I just knew that I wasn’t going to stop asking questions until I felt some type of closure or I maybe ran out of questions to ask.
Riley’s grip on my hips squeezed almost to the point of pain. Finn and Colby were watching me curiously, but they both looked strangely alert.
“Just fucking answer the question, man,” Riley demanded.
I was learning Riley had my back in all things. Even when it came to his beloved mother.
Bless his soul.
“Yeah,” Jason croaked out. “We met up at a party and hooked up in one of the bedrooms upstairs that night. I remember because I was pissed at her because she took off right afterwards, and I couldn’t figure out why she was so obsessed with keeping our relationship a secret. But that night had been different because she had really freaked out right after we fucked. She cursed me out and ran out of the room crying. I still have no idea why she lost her shit, but I decided that night I was done with her. Then Gin died and Belinda needed me, so I couldn’t exactly dump her ass right away after that.”
Jason slumped back into the couch and scrubbed his hands over his face.
I knew it. I fucking knew it.
Gin had seen the two of them together and Belinda had known. Then my sister had lied to me saying it had been Riley.
Fuck.
I still had questions. Stupid fucking questions that didn’t even matter anymore, but I felt the need to ask them anyways.
“Did you ever have sex with my sister?” I asked in a voice that made it clear if he said yes, I just might rip his balls off so I could ram them down his throat in hopes he might choke to death on them.
Jason gasped, and both Finn and Colby turned to glare at him. I liked that.
“No,” he rasped out in a hoarse, pain filled voice. “Never.”
I nodded thoughtfully. I would accept his word on this because he seemed so genuine. But that didn’t mean I’d trust him completely, because we certainly weren’t there and likely never would be. I didn’t let people in easily, and I wasn’t about to start with Belinda’s jockstrap of a boyfriend.
The other two… we’d see.
Riley’s lips brushed across my ear, making me shiver. “Do you need anything else from him, princess?”
I didn’t, and I was ready to get the hell out of here, but I didn’t think it was smart to leave just yet. School was going to start soon, and I would need as many people on my side as I could possibly get.
“What video game were you guys playing before we got here?” I asked with fake enthusiasm.
Riley groaned and shoved his face in my neck. “Fuck, you had to go there, didn’t you? Now they’re going to be obsessed with you more than they already are.”
That didn’t actually sound like a bad thing to me.
My mother had minions, and I’d been envious of them until this moment. Now I saw the first prospects to build my own army, and I wanted it more than I wanted anything in that second.
Riley and I spent two hours in that apartment above a garage playing video games, and even though I could tell Riley wasn’t into it, he never complained.
Perhaps he knew it was more than what it really appeared to be to me.
Jason and his two buddies chugged beer after beer, but Riley and I both remained boringly sober. I had expected Riley to at least drink a beer or two, but he declined every time they offered, and he didn’t even seem upset or disappointed that he wasn’t drinking but was hanging out with idiots who were working toward getting shit-faced.
By the time we left I was annoyed, ready to smoke another joint, and then maybe buy some pool floats so we could spend the rest of the night floating in my pool.
That was right, I said we.
But first I had R
iley drive me to my dad’s house so I could pick up my car, which was why I didn’t drink while we were at Jason’s house.
Riley, I’d learned, didn’t drink at all and drive.
He also didn’t mind driving us to get my car.
I just wished I didn’t have a sinking feeling in my gut about the thought of actually going back there.
Chapter Eighteen
You Think She’d Pick Me Over You
Riley
The third house we visited today was much different from the previous two. Gem got us in through the gate, and the huge house looked far more welcoming than the one where Gin had lived in with their mother.
There was just something about this house that didn’t exactly scream “welcome,” but was far warmer than the other house. Gem didn’t seem to think so, because from the moment we pulled through the gate, she’d been on edge and she kept glancing at the front door like she expected some sort of monster to come tearing out at us.
She directed me down the driveway and around the back where she claimed the garages were. Yes, that was right, where the garages were. Plural because there was apparently more than one.
I shouldn’t have been surprised, but sometimes the amount of wealth people had caught me off guard. What type of seventeen-year-old girl owned her own house on the beach?
A filthy fucking rich one, that was who.
Like Gem.
It was weird that we were so different, and I hadn’t actually thought about it until just now. It had never bothered me with Gin, but then again I didn’t want to fuck Gin. Gem was different.
There were two garages right next to each other. One had four bay doors and the other one was larger than the first and only had one bay door.
Gem pulled out a little boxy remote from her bag and pressed a button on it. The door in the bigger garage slid open, and she directed me to park just off to the side in front of it.
She sighed heavily before her hand shot out and she wrapped it tightly around my wrist. I paused getting out of my truck and looked at her, really looked at her. Her eyes were shifting around every which way and she looked extremely uncomfortable.
