by KC Kean
Dropping down into the booth by the floor-length windows overlooking the ocean, Linda is at my side instantly.
“What has my Xavier all in a twist, huh?” she asks, fluffing her hair as she meets my eyes, and I give her a pointed look.
“Linda, when am I ever in a twist?”
“You tell me, Xavier. I was about to charge you for a new door since you almost shattered the glass in that one.” She points over her shoulder and rolls her eyes at me. She always has the ability to ground me.
“I’m sorry,” I mumble, and she grins, letting me know I’ve been played. “Yeah, yeah. Look at me being all humble.”
She steps to the side as Hunter and Tobias slip into the booth on either side of me, both greeting her with a kiss to the cheek before taking a seat. Linda is the closest the three of us have to a true maternal woman in our life, and she fucking knows it.
“What am I getting my boys today?”
“And me,” Archie adds, squeezing her shoulder as he passes, with Eden right behind him.
I watch as Archie sits beside Tobias to my left, leaving Eden to slip in beside Hunter to my right.
“Oh, you brought this little cutie back again, Archie. Nice.” Eden smiles politely at her, and it winds me the fuck up. We’re wasting time here. “Are we eating or just drinking?” Linda asks, scanning her eyes across us all as we answer.
Hunter, Tobias, and Archie call out for food as Eden and I murmur ‘drinks’ in unison, making Linda shake her head at us.
“How about I go and get you guys some drinks, and you can decide if you want to eat when I get back.” She doesn’t wait for an answer, retreating to the diner countertop area before we can even utter what we want.
Silence surrounds us as I watch Eden glance down at her phone for the third time since she sat down.
“If we’re keeping you from something, just say the word,” I bite out, and she rolls her eyes, like I’m not a fucking Allstar and the Knight’s prince of this town.
“My mom is supposed to call me today. Is that an issue?” Her sapphire blue eyes sparkle with challenge.
“If I had a good side, this wouldn’t be the way to get on it,” I respond, sitting back in my seat and stretching my arms out wide on the back of the booth.
“Oh, Xavier. I’ve had what I wanted from you, there is no need for anything else. Besides, we both know you are rotten to the core. I wouldn’t even attempt to go looking for your good side.” Her words strike hard, but I just grin at her with malice in my eyes as my words hang on the tip of my tongue, but Hunter interrupts.
“How about you explain why you aren’t with your mom?”
Her eyes remain on mine for a moment, waiting to see if I will respond, but my friend, my brother, has overridden my bullshit and gotten us back on track, so I won’t derail us again.
She glances to Archie, who offers a subtle nod, and with a heavy sigh, she finally answers. “She said they wouldn’t allow it.”
There is more to the story, I can feel it, the whos, the whys, the everything, but it looks like she’s keeping her cards close to her chest.
“Who wouldn’t allow it?” I ask, and she doesn’t meet my gaze as she answers.
“I’m assuming the woman from last night.”
“That would be Ilana Knight, Xavier’s mom,” Tobias offers, and I want to tell him to shut up, but I know deep down if we offer her a little of the information she wants, we will get everything we need too.
Her eyes flicker to mine for the briefest second before Linda arrives with a tray full of iced teas. Placing them down on the table, her eyes find Eden’s, and the knowing smirk that takes over her face has me on edge for what her mouth is about to say next.
“Eden, you do not look as happy as you did last time you were here. If these boys are giving you any trouble, you just let me know.” She glares at us all quickly before looking back to Eden. “You’re missing your afterglow from last time too. Is Archie not putting out?”
She winks at Eden as Archie spits out his iced tea in a coughing fit of laughter, but all my focus is on staying calm because I feel like my head is about to explode.
She fucked him. She fucked Archie? They didn’t seem to have that kind of vibe going on, but I guess she fucked me and look at us now. Tobias has a napkin scrunched up in his fist as he glares at the side of Archie’s head, and Hunter rubs the back of his neck, confused with the turn of events and how they make him feel.
“Linda!” Eden laughs as Archie waves his hand in front of his face.
“Oh my god, Linda, it wasn’t me. Turns out it wasn’t the collection of toys in her drawer either. It was Xavier.”
All eyes fall to me, except Eden, who places her head in her hands, and it takes me a second to catch up. Her shoulders shake with laughter as her blonde, wavy hair frames her face.
Why does my body suddenly relax at the knowledge that she didn’t sleep with him? I feel my chest puff out as the sticky feeling of jealousy washes away.
“Ah, well then. Maybe dick her again, Xavier, she was practically glowing. It does wonders to a woman. Am I right?” She rubs Eden’s arm, and she reluctantly nods with her head still in her hands. “I’ll give you a few minutes to decide on food.” With a wink, she floats over to the next table, continuing with her job.
I hate that I feel a smile wanting to stretch across my lips. Knowing she was so noticeably fucked the day after is a massive fucking ego boost.
“I want my seven minutes in heaven now,” Tobias says, and Eden chuckles as she pulls her hands from her face. She looks anywhere but at me as she takes a sip of her drink, her cheeks stained red with embarrassment.
“Your mouth is annoying as shit,” she mumbles to Archie, but he just wiggles his eyebrows at her in response. “And you are getting way off topic. Plus, you guys cheated, so no rules stand,” she states giving a pointed look to Tobias, who pouts like he always does when he doesn’t get his own way.
“Where did you see Ilana before?” Hunter finally asks, but I don’t miss him readjusting himself as he does. Eden is fucking bewitching them all, and it’s ridiculous.
“After my dad’s funeral, she showed up at the house and was talking to my mom outside.” Biting her lip nervously she looks to Hunter at her side.
His arm rests on the back of the booth, his fingers close to her shoulder, and I wonder if he’s contemplating touching the bare skin on display. That pisses me off. It’s my need for control because I refuse to feel any jealousy, ever. It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him to switch places, but he cuts off my train of thought as he asks her another question.
“Did she say anything to you?” he asks, holding her attention, while the three of us stare on.
“Not to me specifically, but she was warning my mom. I didn’t understand at the time, but when I woke up the next morning, all my belongings had been packed into my G-Wagon and my mom was hysterically crying for me to get in and drive, while an SUV was parked across the street watching us. The GPS led me here.”
I’m too focused on the brush of his fingers against her fucking tanned skin to fully process what she’s saying. I can literally see her leaning closer into him, letting him pull her story from her lips so willingly. Hunter’s sense of stability does that to people. Makes them feel like they can tell him anything in the world, and it’s always for our own gain. He spits them out easier than I do, and it causes me no stress.
“Did your mom say what they were threatening her with?” Hunter asks, not taking his eyes from hers, and she nods in response.
“She said if I didn’t do as they say, they would kill us both, just like they killed my dad.”
The pain of her statement darkens her blue eyes, reminding me of the soul that drew me in that first night I saw her.
“And what do they want you to do here?”
“Go to school and graduate while living with Archie and his dad, other than that, I have no clue. My mom has said nothing too. But I want answers. None of this ma
kes sense to me at all.” Her eyes fall to Hunter's fingertips stroking her shoulder, and she suddenly moves back as if remembering herself and focuses on the drink in front of her.
“Hey, at least you have an awesome roommate now,” Archie interjects, trying to boost her spirits, and the softest smile graces her lips, and she looks like a completely different person.
“I need to know—”
“Hey, boys.” Whatever Eden was about to say is cut off by the arrival of Roxy and KitKat in their matching miniskirts and cropped tops. “We aren’t interrupting anything, are we?” Roxy asks, running her tongue over her bottom lip as she looks at us. Until she sees Eden at the end, and her facial expression morphs into utter disgust.
“Actually—”
“We were done here. Eden was just leaving,” I interrupt, cutting her off again, but as annoying as they are, Roxy and KitKat have created the perfect distraction. There is nothing else Eden knows that she hasn’t already told us, and I need space from her because the longer she sits there, the more she gets under my skin, and it’s a foreign feeling I have no interest in.
“No, I need to know—”
“Don’t be silly, Nafas. This was for our personal gain, not yours. You’ve told us all we needed to know.”
The hurt that crosses her face as she realizes I won’t be telling her shit has me wavering for a moment, but this is who I am, and it’s one of the many lessons she needs to learn.
I hear Tobias mumble something about never getting his fucking seven minutes in heaven at this rate as Eden stands from the table, Archie following behind her.
Neither of the girls move back to give her space, but Eden remains unfazed as she stares them down. “I’m not in the mood for your little fucking whores right now, Xavier. Move your bitches.”
“And if I don’t?”
“I’m walking away nicely. I can change that,” she states, her hands fisted at her sides, and a part of me wants to see what she would do. That’s probably why she’s leaving without a battle, because she knows I love it when she puts up a fight.
“KitKat, come climb in my lap.” With that one line, both girls jump out of Eden’s way, scooting along the bench that Archie just vacated.
Without a backwards glance, Eden storms from the diner, my eyes following her every move, even when KitKat does as I asked and grinds down on my dick. My hard dick. But it’s not for her.
It’s for the forbidden fruit that dismisses me so easily. I want to make her jealous, I want to cause her pain, just like she seems to ignite in me. But she’d have to care for that, I guess. Not that I do.
Not. At. All.
20
Eden
After spending the rest of the weekend holed up in Archie’s game room, the contrast of the English classroom is completely dulling. Surrounded by a room full of stereotypical teenagers, all sitting in their cliques, while I’m sandwiched between the Allstars once again.
I decided to avoid a show, taking the seat I knew they’d force me into anyway, and they thankfully fell into their seats around me without uttering a word in my direction.
It’s like Saturday never happened. Like I didn’t give them the information they wanted, while they left me hanging by a thread, inevitably offering me nothing in response.
I could see the moment Xavier shut down, and the challenge in his eyes, begging me to push for more details, but I refused to give him what he wanted. Motherfucker.
Archie had driven home with me, not uttering a word, and proceeded to spend the weekend distracting me with video games, pizza, football games on the television, and ice cream. My mom had given me some lame excuse in a text, explaining why she couldn’t call, and I was getting angrier with her every day.
Other than her, it was perfect. It was exactly what I needed without even asking, and it feels strange having someone so close all the time, like a brother and a friend all wrapped into one.
I’d waited by the phone all day on Sunday, hoping to hear details from Charlie and her grandmother, but I got nothing. I can’t help feeling a little deflated. I had hoped to gain just a speckle of information of any kind.
This morning was the first time I stepped onto school grounds without the football players and cheer squad as an audience. Thank God practice was in full swing, even if it did mean driving in on my own since Archie left early with the other players.
Taking my seat, there are a few people in here already, and as I pull my laptop out of my bag, Archie walks in. He immediately notices where I’m sitting, and I see the question in his eyes, so I smile and offer a small nod which seems to appease him.
I’m sitting exactly where the Allstars placed me all day on Friday. Because I’m going to pretend to follow their rules silently. I want answers. I saw how they all softened a little at Pete’s, and I need to get to that stage again if I ever want more information.
Just as Archie takes a seat, the Allstars step in, surrounded by girls, and I don’t miss how their eyes search for me, even as they’re being drenched in attention already.
Xavier looks as sharp as ever, in a crisp plain black T-shirt and fitted denim jeans, his veins bulging in his arms as he carries his bag. While Hunter runs his fingers through his hair, his long-sleeved polo top lifting at the waist, revealing a toned bronze stomach as he does. Tobias looks the most casual in his jersey shorts and muscle fit white top, his black hat in place like always.
Xavier shakes off Roxy, who hangs on his arm, and strolls straight to the seat beside me, not saying a word as he drops down. I don’t watch him. My eyes are too busy glaring daggers at KitKat as she practically froths at the mouth because of where I’m sitting. Boohoo. I offer the bitch a wink, forcing the anger from my features before I turn to the front.
Hunter slips into the seat in front of me, his blond hair still slightly damp, and my fingers itch to touch it. I can’t help but remember the slight touch of his fingers stroking my arm back at Pete’s, each swipe causing goosebumps to spread all over my body.
“Good morning, bubble. Want to get out of here? We could extend our seven minutes in heaven to a whole hour if you like.” Tobias wiggles his eyebrows as he leans over my desk, mischief twinkling in his eyes as he smiles down at me.
It’s tempting, oh so fucking tempting. Especially when he looks at me like that, undressing me with his eyes. It feels like too long ago since I was able to relieve some tension in that way, and it just so happens to have been with his friend.
My response is on the tip of my tongue when Xavier interrupts us. “Sit the fuck down, Tobias.”
With a pout and a roll of his eyes, Tobias does as he says. Do these guys do everything Xavier asks? Turning to glance at Xavier, he’s already staring with a smug ass grin on his face like he knows exactly what he just did.
Douchebag.
“You just let me know when, Holmes,” I purr, smirking back at Xavier as I say it before going back to ignoring them.
Mrs. Leach starts the lesson, drawing my attention back to the front of the class as she drones on about the latest media she wants us to dissect. It’s all about the English language and different ways of getting your message across. I feel my eyes getting tired. I’ve barely slept since seeing Ilana. Raiding Archie’s natural energy drink stash has become my new pastime.
“Jeremy, can you shut off the lights, and I’ll bring the video up for you all to watch. Take notes, people, you’re going to need them.”
With a heavy sigh, I sit a little straighter, wiggling my fingers before opening my laptop. I can feel Tobias staring at me from my right, some lewd comment likely on his lips, but my attention is drawn to the front of the class as the lights go down and the projector screen comes to life.
Not with the reel Mrs. Leach just mentioned. No. No, it's a front-row seat to my naked walk through school from last Friday. The room bursts into laughter as every inch of my body comes into view, the feed cutting off just as Xavier stepped into the hallway and growled.
KitKat claps
loudly, standing from her seat as she encourages the room to mock me.
I sit ramrod straight in my seat, not even a blush tinging my cheeks as I watch with a neutral expression as the recording loops and starts again.
Mrs. Leach fumbles around, trying to turn the screen off as Archie rushes to help her, but the Allstars remain in place, and that’s my answer. This is their doing.
I refuse to look at either side of me, but when Hunter looks back over his shoulder at me, I blow him a kiss, adding a wink for good measure, causing him to frown in confusion.
These douches want to offer me a little reminder of who’s in charge here, and they’re probably hoping for a little breakdown in the process. But I think this is more about them feeling in control than my emotions.
“Such a fucking slut,” KitKat calls out, resting her cheek on her fist as she sneers at me, the whole room quietening, waiting for my reaction, but I just grin wider.
“I hate it when people don’t like a confident woman. I shouldn’t have to rein myself in just to ease your insecurities.” I can feel eyes flicking between the two of us, people likely still waiting for me to attack like last time. I refuse to look at the Allstars, who are also watching us go back and forth.
I love my body. Would I change parts if I had a magic wand? For sure, but this is me, flaws and all, and I won’t be slut-shamed for it. Especially not when this bitch played such a big part in the reason this video was fucking taken.
“Do you know who you are talking to?” Roxy adds, standing as she points her finger at me, hatred fresh in her eyes as she glares daggers at me.
Scoffing, I pinch the bridge of my nose, hoping for a moment's peace in a sea full of playground drama, when the video finally shuts off and Archie whirls around to face me before glaring at the guys surrounding me.
