Them Seymore Boys: An Enemies to Lovers Bully Romance (The Seymore Brothers Book 1)

by Savannah Rose

  “Of course! I wouldn’t wish lost and found clothes on my enemies, let alone my friends.” Macy smiled warmly at me as I came out of the stall, looking me up and down appraisingly. “Well the outfit doesn’t really go with those shoes, but you pull it off somehow. You’re always so good at looking good in surprising things, Kennedy.”

  Okay, so she’d passed “surprisingly nice” and was well into “suspiciously flattering” territory. Something was definitely off her. I just needed to figure out what.

  I narrowed my eyes at her, but I didn’t have a chance to say anything before the bell rang.

  Macy and I went our separate ways and she waved at me and smiled without malice. On anyone else, I would have taken it as I got it. With Macy, though, the expression didn’t quite fit. I shook my head, wondering if I had allowed myself to get so cynical that I couldn’t appreciate a moment of genuine warmth from my friends.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  As it turned out, I didn’t need the note and couldn’t have used it anyway. Chris was playing strong interference, aided by Gary whenever their paths crossed. I couldn’t have gotten close to Rudy without blowing our cover. Toward the end of the day I was getting frustrated enough to actually consider doing just that. After all, his brothers already knew about us, didn’t they? Or at least they thought they did.

  And Julianne had been so sweet all day, and so had Macy. I hadn’t seen much of Joan—she’d been in the nurse’s office during history—but she always fell in line with the other two, anyway. If there was ever a time to confess to what we had been doing, it was now. Stupid as it was, I really thought that Chris targeting me was exactly what we’d needed to get past the awkward stage in our friendship.

  By the time I hit the track, I had convinced myself that I’d been judging them too harshly lately. Their renewed acceptance and warmth, which had lasted all day, had reminded me of how good it felt to be embraced into their clique my sophomore year. I couldn’t just throw away two solid years of friendship just because of a stupid little feud, could I? Especially since I didn’t really know all the particulars, and the bit that I did know had come from Joan, who had been known to exaggerate for the sake of drama.

  I brought it up to Rudy as we pulled ahead of the class during the warm-up lap.

  “Chris already knows,” I pointed out. “But you were right, he thinks I’m playing you. If we just got it all out in the open, I’m pretty sure the girls would accept it…eventually. Especially if I talked to Julianne first. They’re all coming over to my place after school—maybe you could come too?”

  Rudy was already shaking his head before I stopped talking.

  “Terrible idea,” he said. “Chris doesn’t know anything except that you gave me a ride home. He already bitched at me about it. He didn’t say anything about us kissing so I know he didn’t see that part.”

  Disappointment hit like a stone in my gut. The idea of all of us hanging out together had become a tantalizing image over the last few hours, forcing me to face how much all of the sneaking around had taken out of me. It started out exciting, but the longer it dragged on the more tedious it felt.

  There were parts of me, I was sure, that were addicted to Rudy. This feud between his family and my friends meant that my addiction roared furious. Something like not being able to pass a note to him had me on edge. As cute and thrilling as it had initially been, I was starting to hate not being able to kiss him in the open, to hold his hand, to have him whisper sweet nothings against my ear.

  “Maybe next time we should just hang out at your place,” I said boldly. “You like me, right? Maybe your brothers would too. And maybe once my friends hang out with you, they’ll see you aren’t so bad after all. You and I could end this feud once and for all.”

  He smirked at me. “Through the power of friendship?”

  I blushed, embarrassed. “Something like that,” I mumbled.

  He shook his head again. “There’s too much bad blood. Having me over there while you’re hanging with your friends would just turn them against you, along with my adopted brothers. That’s not where you want things to end up, Kennedy. Not with graduation still so many months away.”

  I still thought he was wrong. Sure, Julianne could flip like a switch, but she wouldn’t attack me for telling the truth about my feelings. Not after she understood how much I liked him and all the reasons why. And, if she was really fighting this hard, forgiving me this much, then… as mad as she would initially be, she’d find a way around it. The Seymores were enemy number one, yes. But I could be convincing if I wanted to. I could apologize and tell her that Rudy and I just happened and that I’m sorry but the heart wants what it wants. Give her all the cheesy little lines I could work up, maybe even shed a tear. Make her feel like this wasn’t a betrayal, but a win for her because she could wipe my tears away and be the bigger person. She could use this as me ‘owing her’ which sounded like a shitty thing for me, but with the walls broken down between us and the Seymores, it wouldn’t matter because we’d have nobody to throw a retaliation at. Sometimes you have to stoop low in order to come out on top and if stooping low would relieve the tension, I was willing to do it. But since Rudy was so nervous about it, I backed off.

  “I won’t tell them unless you agree to it,” I promised as we picked up the pace for the second lap. “There’s one more thing, though.”

  “I already assumed you wouldn’t be hooking up with me under the bridge today,” he said with a grin.

  I shook my head. “No, but there’s tomorrow, too. I have a shop project after school that’s going to take me a while. I don’t know how long, but I want to meet you after if you’re down.”

  He nodded. “How ‘bout six?”

  “Works for me,” I said, shooting him a happy smile.

  Then we saved our breath for running.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  “Your parents are going to pitch an absolute fit,” Joan said gleefully as she stepped into my backyard later that afternoon. “It’s magnificent!”

  “It’s a jungle,” Macy said, her eyes big and bright. “Oh my God, are those fairy lights?”

  “Yep,” I said happily. “And the pools can glow a whole bunch of different colors. It’s the best thing in the world after dark, it’s like being in a whole different world.”

  “I love it,” Julianne said as she wandered along the winding path made of cobblestones dotted with colorful glass. “Did you get a designer?”

  I glowed with pride, looking over the oranges, pinks, purples, blues, and greens of my carefully-selected flowers. “I designed it myself,” I told her.

  She blinked at me for a few seconds before sitting down hard on one of the curved benches. “Yourself?”

  “Well, Joan helped,” I admitted.

  Joan shook her fiery head. “All I did was tell you to get the yellow hummingbird feeder,” she said.

  Macy squeaked and I whirled around to find her leaning over a flat-topped boulder covered in moss and tiny decorations. “A fairy garden!”

  I grinned. “That was all Joan’s idea. I wouldn’t have even thought of it, but she kept looking at the little mushroom houses until I couldn’t help myself.”

  Joan beamed happily. Macy couldn’t stay long—surf ‘n’ turf really couldn’t be put off, she said, though she’d wanted to be here for at least a little while with us—but Julianne and Joan stayed until long after dark. We shared a pizza in the garden, dining on the little white wrought-iron set I’d added to the patio while the scents of autumn blooms and confused transplanted summer blooms whirled around us.

  “My mother is hosting the Halloween party this year,” Julianne announced as we were eating. “It was Joan’s mom’s turn, but she’s had a rough year and we decided to cut her a break. Besides, my mother loves parties. She already has the house all decorated. We should match, somehow, Kennedy—either thematically or by color, but we have to match. You’ll cooperate, won’t you? I know you’ve been into your own styl
e lately and all that, but I feel like we’re so much more connected when we dress as a group.”

  I believed her, and was too happy at her sincere inclusion to argue. “Of course! What did you have in mind?”

  “Oh, nothing yet. I mean, I thought mermaids for a minute, but tails are so hard to move in. We’ll want to be able to dance in them. Nothing too slutty—just a little bit to get the imagination pumping.”

  We all giggled a little and I could feel weeks of pent-up tension rolling off of my shoulders. “What about garden bugs?” I suggested with a cheeky grin at Joan. “Joan can be the spider.”

  Joan paled slightly and flicked my arm. “Don’t even think that!” She shuddered arachnophobically and chomped her pizza.

  “I kind of like it, though,” Julianne said. “Not the spider part, Joan, don’t look at me like that. But maybe a bee, a butterfly, a ladybug, and—are there any other cute bugs?”

  “Grasshopper?” I suggested.

  She thought about it for a minute then lit up with a smile. “It’s perfect. It’s your idea, Kennedy, so you pick your bug first.”

  “I’ll be the ladybug,” I said happily. “I like red.”

  “Good! Then I’ll be the butterfly. Joan can be the grasshopper!”

  “Hey! Why do I have to be the grasshopper?”

  “Because green goes so well with your hair,” Julianne said soothingly. “Yellow would just make your skin look green the whole night. Not a good look.”

  “Oh. That’s fair,” Joan sighed.

  Once it was decided—Julianne texted Macy to inform her of the plan and Macy agreed immediately to being the bee—they both decided it was time to go.

  Even after they left the big, empty house didn’t feel so lonely anymore. My friends liked me again, my boyfriend not only existed, but was amazingly hot and completely adorable behind his rough exterior. I had a wonderful garden that all of my friends approved of—and I had been the one to have the fashionable idea this time round.

  I was the happiest I had been for a long, long time. I slept like a baby that night, utterly content. The feeling of contentment lasted all night and through to the next day.

  The sniping back and forth of my group and Rudy’s didn’t even bother me. I contented myself with a few stolen looks at his gorgeous face and minded my own business—until the passing period after lunch.

  The janitor’s closet was open just a crack. Usually I wouldn’t have noticed, but that had become our sort of signal to one another. Nothing anyone else would have noticed.

  An open door, a stolen kiss.

  An open door, a moment won.

  An open door, a world of butterflies.

  I glanced around quickly to make sure nobody I knew was around, then, just as I’d done many times before, I slipped inside. Rudy was waiting for me, wearing that sultry little smile that wouldn’t be wiped from my memory anytime soon.

  “Fancy meeting you here,” he whispered.

  “Shut up and kiss me.”

  He obliged, enthusiastically, pressing his lips against mine like he’d missed me to the sun and back. One hand against the nape of my neck and the other at the small of my back, he held me close, breathing me in just as I breathed him in. Need spread like wildfire through the pit of my stomach, scorching me in all the right ways. If breathing weren’t mandatory, I don’t think any of us would have sucked in air.

  By the time the warning bell rang I was completely riled up and my legs were shaking. Rudy chuckled, leaned me against a shelf, and poked his head outside.

  “Coast is clear,” he said. “Wait thirty seconds.” He kissed me once more, then disappeared out into the hall, leaving me a mess of heat and wetness.

  Thirty seconds wasn’t nearly enough time to get my cheeks to stop flushing or to get my heartbeat down to a normal pace and so I stole a minute more and then two. Nobody would notice if I ran to class, I told myself.

  Still not back to normal, I poked my head out and looked around quickly. I didn’t see anybody I knew, but I wasn’t really looking too hard either. I ran to class, sliding inside just as the second bell rang. Bradley was sitting in his usual seat and didn’t bother looking at me. Chris wasn’t there, which was a relief—until he showed up half a minute later, sauntering in like he was early.

  “Thank you for joining us, Mr. Seymore,” Mr. Foster said wryly, scowling like he expected Chris to give a damn. “Now that we’re all here, let’s get back into it. Pop quiz: what are some reasons why a car won’t start?”

  Chris raised his hand. “Foam in the exhaust pipe,” he said.

  Mr. Foster blinked. “Well yes. But I was thinking more routine wear and tear, not sabotage.”

  “Potato, po-tah-to,” Chris said.

  Mr. Foster just shook his head and took a few more answers.

  Chris and Bradley were whispering back and forth and after a minute Bradley raised his hand. “No coolant,” he said.

  “Because someone drained it,” Chris added with a snicker.

  “No coolant, good, next?” Mr. Foster pressed on without addressing Chris’ crap.

  “A problem with the spark plugs?” someone asked.

  “Yes! Dirty plugs, loose or disconnected leads, any of that would do it. Next?”

  “A bad starter?”

  The answers kept coming. I took notes, my mind on other things. Things like Rudy feeling me up in the janitor’s closet, and what we were going to do later that evening under the bridge.

  One of these days I’d be brave enough to take him home with me—maybe. My parents and friends all had a bad habit of showing up unannounced whenever I wanted to do something they wouldn’t approve of. Like that time I decided to try out a karaoke machine. But there were ways to work around that, weren’t there? I mean, we’d gotten pretty good at sneaking around. One, or both of us, could deal with the added heat of hiding under a bed or in a closet.

  Class progressed as usual and for once Chris wasn’t giving me shit—not until the end, anyway.

  “And since you’ve all finished taking your engines apart, next class we’ll start putting them back together.”

  Chris raised his hand. “The girl didn’t finish taking hers apart,” he said with a nasty grin in my direction. “Do we have to wait for her to catch up, or can we just keep going?”

  I was absent the day they dismantled everything, and it was Chris’ fault. I glared at him, but he just grinned.

  “Worry about your own work,” Mr. Foster said. “Kennedy will be caught up with the rest of the class by the time she needs to be. She’s got a natural affinity for this kind of work. You should study with her sometime, it might do you good.”

  There were a few snickers around the class and Chris’ face blazed bright red, as though working with me was an unbearable kind of insult. Great. That would definitely come back to bite me in the ass later. Even then, I couldn’t help but glow from Mr. Foster’s compliments.

  As the class gathered up their things and filed out of the room, Bradley quietly teased Chris. I wondered if he and Mr. Foster had any idea how much anger they were building up in Chris, or how that fury would inevitably explode in my direction.

  I tried to get out of the tangle of students and over to the locker rooms before Chris could get out of the room, but it was no good. The intersection between the auto shop and the dressing rooms was one of the busiest in the whole school and there was a crush of traffic as people scrambled to get from third to fourth. I was just around the corner from the locker rooms when the little twerp caught up with me.

  He grabbed my bag from behind and jerked it, making me spin into the wall.

  “You shouldn’t even be in that class, little miss priss. What’s a girl like you need with auto anyway? Don’t you have people who call people when your cars break down?”

  “Like roadside assistance agents?” I asked, cocking my head to one side.

  He punched the wall next to me, far enough from my head that I didn’t feel like I was in danger, but
close enough that a few people watching gasped.

  Glowering, he ground his teeth. “Drop the class,” he said, a threat etched in every single word. “You’re holding the men back, just like every feminazi before you.”

  “Feminazi, really? Why, because I want to be able to change my own damn oil, or because I’m better with cars than you are?”

  He made a sound that was supposed to be a laugh, but it just sounded like he was straining. “Better than me. Right. You couldn’t even take an engine apart in time, you think you’re going to be able to put one back together?”

  “As long she can stay out of lockers during third period,” Rudy said as he walked up behind Chris.

  I smiled at Rudy gratefully, my dark knight in obsidian armor. Chris’ face darkened and he lowered his head to glare out from under his eyebrows.

  “Back off, Chris,” Rudy said firmly.

  “Why, because you’re fucking her? You’ve been interfering with justice for years, Rudy, why don’t you just let nature take its rightful fucking course, huh?”

  Chris had barely gotten that last word out before Rudy had a hold on his shoulder, spinning him around as quick as a whip. “Don’t you dare fucking talk about her like that,” he growled.

  “Like what, like a fucking slut with penis envy?”

  The words stung. The flash of anger in Rudy’s eyes stung even deeper. With everything in me, I really thought Rudy was going to hit him. Instead, he fisted Chris’ shirt tight in his hand and hauled him off by the scruff of his neck. There was a thump as he tossed him into the men’s locker room. Not that I was keeping track of his schedule, or anything, but I was pretty sure Chris didn’t even have gym this period. Good. Maybe he’d miss a class, then we’d be even. Sort of.

  “Oh my god, are you okay?” Macy and Julianne’s voices rang through the air as they rushed to my side, concern all over their faces. Julianne linked her arm through mine and started for the locker room, still talking. “We saw Rudy and Chris cornering you, we tried to get here faster, but there were a bunch of kids in the way. What happened?”