#Poser

by Cambria Hebert

  It was because of what happened at the last one I went to.

  The one where Ivy was almost gang raped.

  Just thinking about it made adrenaline and hatred spike into my chest. I hadn’t seen any of those guys since that night, which led me to believe maybe they went to a different school, but if I did see them, The Incredible Hulk would be out in seconds flat.

  The party scene had always been my jam. And then I got serious with a girl. My priorities shifted, and I realized the party scene I loved so much was dangerous for a girl like mine. It was all too easy to look at her and assume she’d be willing.

  I used to not think so much about the double standard women faced that guys were exempt from. Hell, if I were honest, I’d sometimes enjoyed it.

  But now?

  Now it made me want to smash faces.

  As if on cue, a face I’d like to smash dropped a shoulder against the locker beside mine and regarded me like he had something to say.

  I never had a problem with Trent.

  Hell, I liked the guy.

  Until he left my girl alone at the edge of the woods at a party.

  Until he walked away without any thought to her safety.

  Now he was on my shit list, along with Missy, Zach, and my father.

  The list was filling up…

  There were some bad bitches in this town.

  “You got something to say?” I asked, shoving my dirty shit in my duffle. I’d left my shirt at home. All I had to wear to the club was my jeans. Guess that meant I needed to get my ass in gear so I could swing by the house and get one.

  “Thought maybe you might,” Trent said.

  I abandoned my bag and straightened. “Nope.”

  “I thought we were friends,” he said.

  “Guess you thought wrong.”

  Trent straightened from the locker, his body becoming rigid like he expected a fight but wasn’t going to back down. I had to admit I respected that.

  And it only served to piss me off more. A guy like him should have known better.

  “This about Ivy?” he said, his voice deepening. “Because I asked her out?”

  I laughed.

  He bristled further. “That a joke to you?”

  “No, it’s just ridiculous. I admit it made me crazy as hell to watch you sniffing all around her last semester, but that was a long time ago. She’s with me. I know how to keep my girl happy.”

  “So what? You don’t want us to be friends?”

  I wiped a hand over my face. “If Ivy wants to be friends with you, then its cool with me. But don’t think I won’t keep an eye on you.”

  An angry looked crossed his face. “You make no fucking sense,” he growled. “I get its kinda part of your charm, all smiles and high-fives off the field and then morphing into a giant green monster on field, but you’re giving me goddamn whiplash.”

  “Put on a seatbelt and get the fuck out of my way,” I growled back.

  “I’ve been putting up with your frosty attitude and barely concealed pissy-ness at me since training camp. I haven’t complained. But I’m tired of it. We got lots of games left this season. Parties and shit on top of it all. The Wolfpack is family. I gave you the respect of coming to you. The least you could do is give me the same in return.”

  He was right.

  He’d been loyal even when I gave him reason not to be.

  I slammed my locker shut and looked him in the eye. “You just left her there,” I said.

  “Who? Ivy?”

  It made me mad he had no clue what he’d done. How anyone could be so careless with her was beyond me.

  You used to be the same way, a voice inside me whispered.

  Fuck.

  “That night at the bonfire, the send-off for Rome?”

  He nodded. “I don’t remember much of that night. I got shit-faced.”

  “You remember talking to Ivy?”

  “Sure, that was before I got wasted.” Then he grimaced and looked at me quickly. Yeah, I knew what that meant. He got so wasted because she told him she wanted me, not him.

  “You left her at the edge of the woods, away from the crowd, man,” I explained. “By herself.”

  His eyes widened. “Did something happen to her?” His arms went rigid at his sides and his fists clenched like it was something he wouldn’t allow.

  “Almost.” Some of the anger I felt toward Trent was draining away.

  Okay, all of it. Clearly, the guy hadn’t meant any harm. I was being an ass.

  “Four guys jumped her from the edge of the trees. They towed her back into the darkness. They were drunk as hell and wanted to have a sample of the campus slut,” I spat.

  Trent reared back like I’d buried my fist in his face. The look of absolute horror in his eyes got rid of whatever residual harsh feelings I had toward him. “Oh fuck.”

  “If I hadn’t seen from across the field, she’d have been raped. Repeatedly.”

  “You stopped them? She didn’t get hurt?” He was genuinely worried.

  “I beat the shit out of every single one of them.”

  “Who were they?” he demanded. “That kind of scum shouldn’t be allowed to walk around campus.”

  “Haven’t seen them since. I’m starting to think they don’t go here.”

  “You see them, call me. It’d be a pleasure to help you kick their asses again.”

  The side of my lip curled up in a smile. “Will do.”

  “I guess I can understand why I always felt like you wanted to deck me.”

  I sighed. “I might have overreacted.”

  “I get it. Ivy’s worth it.”

  I felt my eyes narrow. “You still got a thing for my girl?”

  He met my stare. “No. But I still consider her a friend.”

  Relaxing, I slid my jacket over my bare arms and picked up my bag. I was shocked Ivy wasn’t blowing up my phone, asking where I was.

  “Look, I’m sorry I acted like a dick. I get a little… protective where Ivy’s concerned.”

  Trent grinned. “It’s cool. Next time maybe just say something instead of making me sleep with one eye open.”

  “Shit,” I cracked. “You’re a pansy ass.”

  He laughed and held out his fist. “We cool?”

  I bumped mine against his. “Yeah, we’re cool.”

  “I’ll see you tonight at Screamerz?”

  “Hells yeah.”

  On my way out to the truck, I glanced around the lot. Ivy’s car wasn’t here. Usually, she waited for me. An ounce of worry tingled the back of my neck. I reminded myself she was a big girl and was probably fine.

  Inside the cab, I found my phone and lit up the screen. I had a missed call and text.

  Romeo is here. Going 2 house 2 get him. Meet there.

  A grin cracked my face, and I fired up the engine. He slid into town early on the sly. Of course they didn’t wait. Rimmel probably threatened to run home in the dark if Ivy didn’t drive her there.

  I tore out of the lot and down the road toward the house we all shared. It was going to be good to see Rome again. It had been a long time since we’d all been in the same room.

  Tonight was gonna rule.

  I didn’t slow down ‘til I pulled onto our street. The last thing we needed was the neighbors bitching about the way I drove. I stared ahead, though, scanning the driveway, expecting to see the Hellcat already out of the garage and ready to roll.

  But it wasn’t the Cat I saw.

  It was another car.

  A familiar one.

  Distaste curled my lip, and I forgot all about making sure the uppity bitches in the neighborhood didn’t have something to twitter about over coffee. My foot hit the gas and I sped up to the house.

  People were standing outside on the walkway.

  They were arguing.

  I took one long look and my blood pressure went through the roof.

  Aww, hells to the no.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Ivy

&
nbsp; I thought Rimmel was going to bounce right out of her seat and through the roof of my Toyota. When Romeo texted her cryptically and asked why her car was home but she wasn’t, she all but fell out of her chair.

  “He’s here!” she squealed and leapt up.

  “What?” I asked, looking around the stands for whoever she was shrieking about.

  Her hand grasped my arm as she bounced and tried to pull me up. In true Rimmel fashion, she fell over, but my brother managed to stop her from hurting herself.

  “Rim.” I laughed. “What’s gotten into you?”

  Her phone went off again.

  She read the screen and laughed. “I knew it!”

  Drew glanced around her at me. “Should we be concerned?”

  I snickered. “Nah.”

  She was typing off a response and said, “We have to go!”

  “Go where?”

  “Romeo is at the house!” She hurried past me into the aisle. “We have to go!”

  “I thought he wasn’t getting here ‘til really late?”

  “He got in early!” She was hopping from one foot to the next. She bolted down the steps, and I grabbed Drew’s arm and followed suit.

  While we hurried through the parking lot, I texted Braeden quickly to let him know what was going on. The game was ending in just a few minutes, so he wouldn’t be very far behind anyway. Drew had my keys, so he slid into the driver’s seat, and Rimmel practically dove into the back.

  “Better step on it,” I told him, amused.

  I forgot how literal he would take those words. He drove to the house like he was on a NASCAR track and he was in first place. I held on to the door handle as if my life depended on it and told him to knock it off, but usually shy and cautious Rimmel only laughed.

  When he slid into the driveway, the front door swung open and Romeo’s large frame stepped out.

  Rimmel fell out of the car.

  Like literally forgot how to work her feet and hit the ground. Before any of us could do anything, she was up and moving again, heading straight for Romeo.

  I could hear his laugh drift through the car door she left open, and he planted his feet, bracing himself for her to launch herself at him.

  Which she did.

  He caught her and her legs wrapped around his waist.

  “There’s my girl,” he said.

  They didn’t say anything else because they started kissing right there in the grass. Drew glanced at me and raised an eyebrow.

  “Totally normal for them,” I said and opened my door. “C’mon. I’ll introduce you to Romeo.”

  “He doesn’t expect me to jump in his arms, does he?”

  I laughed as I came around the hood. The pair still hadn’t come up for air. I knew from experience they would likely be in bed half the weekend. I thought back to how good it had been to be back in B’s arms when he came home from camp. And that had only been a couple weeks. It had been almost a month since Rim had seen Romeo.

  “Maybe we should just give them some space,” I murmured and took Drew’s arm to steer him around them and into the house.

  Just then Romeo lifted his head. “Nah, it’s cool,” he called out, his voice hoarse.

  Another minute passed as he glanced back at Rimmel and slid his thumb over her lower lip. She smiled and buried her face in his shoulder. Romeo shifted all her weight into one arm and held out his fist to Drew.

  “Ivy’s bro?”

  “Drew.” He confirmed and hit his fist against Romeo’s. “Thanks for letting me crash here while I visit my sister.”

  “I hear you been throwing some money at the bills,” Romeo remarked, respect in his tone.

  It made me relax. I had to admit I worried that Drew and Romeo might get off to a rough start like B and him had.

  “I pay my way,” Drew replied.

  Romeo nodded and swung his attention to me. His blue eyes crinkled at the corners and his teeth flashed. “Blondie,” he said, using Braeden’s nickname for me.

  I smiled. He stepped forward and gave me a one-armed hug, pulling me into his side. “How ya been?”

  I returned his embrace and replied, but my answer was muffled against him. I liked Romeo. He was a really good guy, and I had to admit I was glad he liked me too.

  “B still at the field?” he asked.

  Rimmel lifted her head. “Yeah, but I’m sure he’ll be here as soon as he can. Ivy texted him.”

  “Sweet.”

  I wasn’t sure if it was just me, but he seemed bigger. Taller. Stronger. Maybe it was just because I’d forgotten how big his presence really was, or maybe he really was just bigger. After all, training this year had put some bulk on Braeden. Maybe it was the same for him.

  “I’m gonna catch some alone time with my girl before he shows up and gets all needy on me.” Romeo joked and winked at me.

  He turned and carried Rim into the house, her laughter floating behind them as he went.

  Drew started toward the house, but I caught his arm. “Let’s give them a few.”

  I knew how important alone time was. My cheeks heated and desire curled low in my belly just thinking about the last bit of true alone time B and I had together. The night in the bed of his truck was something I was never going to forget.

  A few minutes later, I deemed it safe to probably make it to the kitchen without seeing anything we didn’t want to, and we made our way inside.

  Halfway up the steps to the front door, a car pulled up. My heart leapt, expecting Braeden to be there when I turned around. Seeing Rimmel and Romeo together made me even more anxious to see him tonight.

  All anticipation drained from my chest, replaced with annoyance when I saw it wasn’t Braeden at all.

  It was Missy.

  What the hell was she doing here?

  “My date’s here,” Drew said from behind and stepped around to jog down the steps.

  “What!” I gasped.

  He tossed me a sheepish grin over his shoulder, but then his attention went right back to his “date.” I watched with open contempt as she threw one long leg out of her two-door car and then the other. She was totally playing up the fact she was wearing knee-high brown boots and a short jean skirt.

  “When the hell did you have time to get a date for tonight?” I demanded.

  “When I was getting us drinks.” He couldn’t tear his eyes off her. It made me want to pour bleach in my own.

  “Funny thing,” Missy said as she drew closer. “Someone totally body checked me when I was walking by the concession stand at the game. If Drew hadn’t been there, I’d have face planted right there onto the hard, sticky floor.”

  Somewhere in hell there was a Golden Globe with her name on it. Biggest Manipulator Ever.

  Her top was tight, accentuating her model-like form, and her hair floated around her face along with large gold hoops in her ears.

  I glanced at Drew. He was gazing at her like he might be her next knight in shining armor. I was sorely disappointed in him. I thought he had a better bullshit meter than that.

  I smacked him in the ribs.

  “Ow,” he complained and looked at me. “Why did you do that?”

  “You know why,” I intoned.

  He looked at Missy. “I really don’t.”

  The bewildered tone in his voice had me choking back a laugh. Missy nodded emphatically.

  My teeth snapped together. Drew might not know what he did wrong, but Missy totally knew what she was doing. She’d seen pictures of him before. Hell, she probably saw us sitting with him during the game.

  Missy knew this was my brother. What the hell was she sniffing around him for?

  “How the hell do you even know where we live?” I asked, stepping down off the steps and back onto the sidewalk.

  “I know lots of things.” She smiled secretly.

  Reminding me about her alter ego, the #BuzzBoss, wasn’t a good way to start this conversation.

  “I texted her the address,” Drew said, as if he hadn’
t just heard her be all shady.

  “Well, you can leave.”

  “I was invited,” Missy said, her tone turning frosty.

  Here come the claws.

  I smiled.

  Drew looked between us. “Do you two know each other?”

  “The name Missy didn’t strike you as familiar?” I asked with a total duh expression in my tone.

  His blue eyes widened. “You’re that Missy?” He looked between us again. “Ivy’s best friend Missy?”

  “We are not best friends,” I snapped.

  “She won’t talk to me,” Missy told him pathetically.

  So that’s the way she was going to play this, huh? Total victim mode. I knew it was for my brother’s benefit. It was to make me look like the cold, heartless one and her the poor, misunderstood beauty.

  “What the hell do you want?” I burst out. “Why are you here?”

  My explosion finally seemed to penetrate Drew’s thick skull. “Whoa.”

  “I was invited,” Missy purred and sidled up to Drew.

  Oh no she didn’t.

  “Don’t even think about putting your grimy claws on my brother.” I snarled.

  “Or what?” She challenged, her voice sickly sweet.

  “Girl,” I warned. “I will kick you in your cooter.”

  Drew seemed shocked (what was with him tonight? He was being a total idiot) and swung around to face me.

  At the same moment, Braeden’s truck skidded to a stop at the end of the driveway. His door popped open before the engine was even fully off. In one leap, he was on the ground and rushing forward.

  If Missy didn’t seem nervous before, she did now.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Braeden

  I didn’t know exactly what was going on here.

  But the angry look on Ivy’s face told me all I needed to know.

  I sorely wanted to yell. Like my throat was fucking itching to throw out hostile words at an alarming speed.

  That’s why I swallowed the need.

  The darkness inside me was too close. Way, way too close.

  Instead, I pulled Ivy’s side against my chest and leaned down to speak into her ear. “I leave you alone for five minutes, Blondie.”

  Her body was tight, like a tension rod that had been given way too much weight. I could tell by the set of her jaw and the look in her eye that she didn’t want Missy here. That the bitch just showed up. Probably ambushed her.