by Tara Brown
“I actually was asking Ashley to come to be my date,” I said weakly. I had to like him so she would know she was stealing him.
“Oh, interesting. We’ll see, I guess.” Cait reached across, moving with elegance and an unhealthy amount of confidence, to place her hand on my arm. “Good luck.” She put her iced tea on the table and got up. “See you girls tonight at my house.” She smiled at my mother. “Have a lovely afternoon, ladies, Mrs. Kennedy.”
“Yes, I will.” My mother beamed at her. “You as well, dear.”
Cait left, and I contemplated screaming.
Rachel and I sat there, equally as frozen and angry as my mother was elated.
“It really is exciting that Cait is showing such an interest in our family,” Mom said. “That means as long as Ashley does right by her, we’ll all be in good graces with the Landrys. They really are one of the most influential families out here. You make sure you let her have him. It will be better for everyone in the long run, dear. But on that note, I need to take my leave as well. It’s too hot out here.” She got up and staggered into the house, humming to herself.
“I don’t understand. He was all over you, and you barely fought for him?” Rachel sounded disgusted. “She’s insane. The balls on her.”
“Yeah.” I decided it was time. “Why don’t we get in the pool and sit in the shade. I have a story to tell you.”
“Okay.” Her eyes widened. “Why do I have the worst feeling in the world about this story?” Rachel asked.
“You have sharp instincts.” I sighed. We got in the pool, and I started at the beginning: my first year in Fling Club and losing my virginity at a party, drunk and being slobbered on by an equally drunk guy. I told her about the pressure and the misery that I had lied to myself about, all for the sake of fitting in.
And finally I told her about my recent experience and the plan concocted by my evil-mastermind siblings.
Her eyes narrowed and widened in horror and then delight.
“Wow, Cherry. Things just got a whole lot more interesting around here. Count me in. I know you’re not asking me to help, but I want to.”
“Thanks.” I was relieved. “I haven’t told any of the other members, since I can’t be sure if they’d be on my side of this or not. Everyone fears Cait. She’s vile.”
“I can’t believe she slept with your boyfriend. This isn’t high school anymore. That was a real relationship, and she ruined it.”
“She only gets fifty percent of the blame, and how real was it if he was also willing to cheat?”
“At least Ashley punched him in the face. I wish I’d seen that.”
“Yeah.” I pressed my lips together and relived the moment. “It was pretty satisfying.”
“So, this Ashley guy?” She wrinkled her nose. “I really thought he was British. He’s a good actor.”
“Well, he’s from Scottish descent. His parents live in England now, and he did, too, until he was twelve. I don’t honestly know. He’s cagey about his family. Something’s wrong with his godfather. He’s sick or something.”
“I see. You two seem fairly cozy for this all being a ploy, though,” she pried.
“He’s nice.”
“You’re such a liar. He’s gorgeous, and I saw you last night. And I saw him. He likes you too. The moment Cait left that bathroom, he was worried. He was watching the door like a hawk.” She nudged me. “You should make him be your fling.”
“I’m paying him, so in that case, I would literally be forcing him to date me.”
“So, don’t pay him. Tell him you like him and dating you is worth more than money.” She snickered.
“But I think he’s counting on the money for school or something. I already hired him. He’s not from a wealthy family like we are.”
“Yeah, that’s awkward. Makes it a little seedy. Well, when this is all over and he’s paid in full, you should totally go out with him.”
“Yeah, maybe.” I pretended like the thought hadn’t already crossed my mind. “Except he’s going to fake date Cait all summer. Might ruin it a bit for me.”
“I guess so. She’s wretched.” She swam across the pool and hopped out.
Ella came walking out on the deck. “Why was the queen of the bitches here?”
“Cait came to tell us that Ashley is going to be her summer fling, which I used as leverage to get Andy in tonight.”
“Excellent. Look at you go.” Ella started laughing. “Poor Ashley. He won’t know what hit him.”
“I told her about the plan.” I pointed at Rachel.
“The more like minds in on this, the better. I’ll gather Andy and Ashley too. We’ll have a proper meeting about how this is all going to go down this evening.” She almost did the maniacal cackle. Almost.
Chapter Twenty-One
NEW RULES
Cherry
“No more skirting the issues here.” Andy gave me an annoyed look with Ryan, Ella, and Ashley looking like his henchmen. “Tell us all the rules. Don’t hold anything back. If we’re going to make Cait break them, you have to give us all the information.”
I wavered, wanting to lie about this. I’d never betrayed the actual rules or any of my so-called sisters.
“Here.” Rachel pulled out a piece of paper from her purse and passed it to him and Ashley. Ella and Ryan read it over their shoulders, looking disturbed for the most part. My entire body tensed seeing them read and judge.
“Oh my God.” Ashley cocked a dark eyebrow after a couple of minutes and gave me a bewildered stare. “Is this for real? Are you shitting me? When you said Fling Club had rules and we were going to make Cait break them, I had no idea they were this screwed up. You’ve been doing this every summer?” His disgusted face was back.
“You can’t tell anyone you saw it,” I said, concerned about maintaining some semblance of secrecy around the club. I didn’t want to be the one who outed the rules.
“If I were you two, I wouldn’t tell anyone you belong to this.” Ryan shook his head slowly. “It’s disgusting. Imagine if guys had a club like this? We’d be outed on TV and have harassment charges filed.”
“This is what happens when people don’t spend their free time constructively. A few more evenings spent in homeless shelters, helping the less fortunate, and maybe we wouldn’t be so concerned with getting our rocks off at some fancy-shmancy parties,” Andy added.
The four of them read the list over and over, judging us—well, me.
“I just can’t believe this,” Ashley said after another gander at the piece of paper. “You’re right, Andy, this needs to go down.”
“So, you aren’t part of this at all?” Ryan asked Ella carefully.
“Not a chance. Not my kind of crowd.” She winked at me. She didn’t see what their reactions were doing to me.
“Okay, let’s get down to brass tacks then.” Andy folded his arms, his eyes doing the evil sparkly thing again. “Ella’s original plan didn’t include Rachel and Ryan or a complete breakdown of all the rules. Just ideas on how to make Cait shame herself and slum it a little. Now we’ll make sure it incorporates all of us and takes each rule apart at the seams.”
It felt like I was making a deal with the devil.
Ella laughed. “This is going to be fun to watch.”
Andy folded his arms. “Give us an hour to draw up a new set of plans so everyone gets a part of this.” He shook the paper in our faces. “For the record, this is disgusting, and you should be ashamed. It’s much worse than I thought.” He turned and stalked into the house with Ryan, Ella, and Ashley next to him.
“That was rough.” Rachel gave me a grave look. “I wish I’d never gone to the stupid meeting.”
“Sorry I brought you.” It was the truth. I was sorry.
“It’s not your fault. Your mother was never taking no for an answer. I get why you’re a part of it.”
She said it as I stared at the house, wishing Ashley thought that way. But his expression was breaking my heart.
“At least if Andy and Ella are involved, there’s a good chance Cait will go down. They’re both geniuses when it comes to maneuvering. It’s all evil, though. Especially where Cait is involved.” I sat back in my chair, closing my eyes.
We lay in the sun, worrying, until finally Ryan came back out with Ella, both of them completely oblivious to the level of stress I was facing. But it was nice to see Ella having fun. I’d never seen her like this with anyone. It was weird and unnerving. I was waiting for her to turn on him, maybe go full-on blood-sucking vampire while spouting dark poetry.
Instead, he seemed to soften her.
It was like insta-love.
She saw me watching them and flipped me the bird. And there she was, regular Ella.
“Ladies.” Henry strolled out to the patio. “The young men wish to speak to you.”
We followed Henry into the house to my father’s library. The coolness of the house was shocking against my sun-kissed skin.
The guys were seated at my father’s mahogany desk, reading over a piece of paper when Rachel and I walked in. Henry left the library, closing the door.
“Hey.” We strolled over.
“Hey,” Andy answered without lifting his face from the paper. Only Ashley gave us a look, and it wasn’t the one I wanted.
“You done?” Rachel asked. “We have to get ready for this party soon, so we need a full plan.”
“Yeah. We just need to discuss some of the things we want you to do. We’ll start at the beginning and sabotage the club from the inside, as was Ella’s idea. Rule one: if he doesn’t belong to the country club, he doesn’t belong in your pants.” Andy nodded his head at Ashley. “He’s her MIT fling of shame. Once she’s knee-deep in him, we’ll out him on a chosen date.”
“Okay.” I hesitantly gave Rachel a look.
Ashley’s eyes sparkled as he spoke. “Rule two: never say the L word, unless it’s loser. I particularly like this one. I’ll get her to tell me she loves me. I’ll record it. Simple. Easy.”
I stifled a laugh.
“You doubt my mad skills with women?” He scoffed at my doubt as a slow smile crested his lips. “Trust me. I’ve got this one.”
“Okay.” I put my hands up. “Whatever.”
Rachel gave him a look of uncertainty. “You did see her, right? Blonde hair, cold blue eyes, bitch written all over every inch of her, including her Louis Vuitton heels?”
“Anyway . . .” Ashley sighed and continued. “Rule three. No reheating a sister’s old leftovers. That one is easy. Andy being a fling guy now and Cait’s ex means whoever gets him is reheating. And Cait allowed it.”
“Rule four: hos before bros; whoever sees him first gets him. Obviously her stealing Ashley from you is a violation of that code.” Andy spoke loud and clear in my direction.
“Rule five: see rule four. She’s allowing someone to date me. We just have to act like it was blackmail so she could have Ashley.” Andy sounded too excited about this. “We’ll have Ella and Ryan doing most of our surveillance. She won’t even see them.”
“Okay,” I agreed, getting less and less comfortable with the idea.
Andy cleared his throat. “Rule six: Minimize couple’s time. This isn’t courting, it’s socializing. That’s easy. You spend as much time just the two of you as you can, while we record it. Between me, Ella, and Ryan we shouldn’t miss anything. I want her fawning over you to win you over. Grumpy guy at the bar.” He winked at Ashley, who wrinkled his nose as Andy continued.
“Rule seven: act the part, lady in the streets and freak in the sheets. I think we should try to catch her with whomever she cheats on Ashley with. Ruin her that way.”
As Andy finished that sentence, my entire body went pins and needles. “This is too mean.” I was losing my nerve, even after seeing her and how rude she was to me. Catching her cheating or slumming meant photos or video. I didn’t think I could invade someone else’s privacy like that.
“Stop being a baby, Cherry.” Andy scoffed and continued, “Rule eight: We don’t pay. Go Dutch and you’re out. Ashley is going to start the constant Dutch treat on their first date. Or just forget his wallet and let her pay. We’ll record it.”
“Right, I won’t pay for a single thing of hers and try to get footage of it,” Ashley agreed.
“Rule nine: protect yourself; that means your body and your reputation.” Andy grinned up at me. “Oh, her reputation will be blown to smithereens, you can guarantee that. Last but not least, rule ten. Everything has an expiration date. Playtime ends August 31. By the end of this mission, there won’t be a single relationship left intact.”
They were sadists.
Cait, and all of her minions, my friends, didn’t stand a chance. I just hoped I did.
Chapter Twenty-Two
RULE ONE
Cherry
As the guys left the house, I felt sick.
My stomach ached, not just from the setup of the plan, but also from the lack of eye contact Ashley and I had made. From the moment he’d seen the rules—rules I’d lived by for summers on end—he’d cooled off. He never even said goodbye.
I hated that I’d been so cocky and callous about the club before, laughing about the rules with my friends. Playing the guys instead of being played was how we saw it. We justified our actions with that.
But it hadn’t saved me from heartache in the end. In fact, it had brought it on full force.
And now I felt both broken and ashamed.
The guys climbed into their car and drove off, both of them visibly disgusted.
“Is it just me, or did they all seem really harsh suddenly?” Rachel leaned against the doorframe and watched them go.
“Yeah, they’re grossed out.” I sighed.
“Your brother gave you the most epic of horrified looks. I don’t know if a guy has ever glared at me like that before,” Rachel muttered.
“My brother is a shithead. So, I don’t take that personally.” But Ashley was a whole other matter.
“I’m gonna go get ready for tonight. I’ll meet ya there?” She offered me a look.
“Yeah. I’ll wait outside for you so we can go in together.”
“Okay.” She swallowed hard. “This is the right choice; seeing that mean-ass queen bee on her throne was painful. But watching her waltz in here, asking for the guy who visibly likes you, was a whole other thing. We need to crush her.”
“I know.” I tried my best to wear my crush-other-girls face, but I didn’t really have one, so I had no idea how it appeared.
She waved and walked out the front door, leaving me here alone and more than a little scared.
I texted Andy constantly, ensuring he was completely ready for the cocktail party that was actually more like a cock-and-tail party. The guys would come, drink, socialize, and then leave. Girls would decide who their fling was. And the summer would begin.
Andy was in charge of getting himself and Ashley ready at the Weinbergs’ house before picking me up on the way to Cait’s. He’d canceled dinner with Dad, saying they needed time to mentally prepare for the party. Which I was certain Dad got.
I finished dressing and hurried downstairs.
“You look wonderful.” Mom hurried over, beaming. She was also dressed up.
“Thanks. Where are you guys off to?”
“Since your brother canceled dinner with us, your father and I are going to dinner with the Ramirez family, from his office.”
“Nice.” I smiled politely, wondering how much of all of this she actually liked and if she was ever real. Like, did she take her earrings off at night and the persona with them? I’d never really seen anything but the act. I assumed it had become who she was. Even with the lights out. It made me sad. Especially now, seeing it for what it was. It also gave me the weirdest feeling in my life. Like this was the future I had wanted before Ashley. This was the woman I could have grown into. Maybe Griffin had done me the biggest favor of my life by cheating on me that night and saving me from
myself. I should be thanking him instead of loathing him.
A knock at the door saved me.
Henry opened it, revealing Ashley.
“Hey.” I was nervous in front of him again.
“Hey.” He had lost the light and the sparkle. But he looked handsome—more than that. He was perfect. So perfect he made every inch of me ache with a need to fix things between us. It had seemed so easy at the Weinbergs’ house, but now it was like he was back to being the guy I first met. Maybe it was for the best. It would be easier to ignore each other than own to the validity of his opinion of me or watch him and Cait all summer.
“You guys ready?” I asked.
“Yeah.” He didn’t sound ready.
“Well, you kids have fun tonight.” Mother smiled brightly. “And remember what I said about the queen of clubs,” she said, nodding at Ashley.
When she waltzed out of the room, Ashley paused and stared, like maybe he was going to say something, but he didn’t. Instead, he glared. His eyes spoke the words, telling me how disappointed he was. Telling me that he couldn’t believe I was ever a part of something so despicable. He said everything he needed to without ever parting his lips.
“We should go,” I whispered, already conflicted enough to last a lifetime. I didn’t need more disapproval.
I had enough of my own.
He offered me his hand, not like he was the light, but like he was my pretend boyfriend and we were going to rock faking it enough so Cait would for sure want him. Being a sucker for punishment, I took it. I let him envelop me with warmth and awkwardness.
He led me to the car where Andy was hanging out with Hans, laughing about something.
Ashley sat up front, and the guys joked the entire ride over. Neither of them seemed as if they were nervous about how this was going to go. Or like they gave a shit about me at all.
My whole body was a ball of nerves and tension.
I was a mess and wanted it to be over.
Revenge wasn’t nearly as much fun as I had imagined it would be. It was stressful.
When we got to the party, we were second to last to show up and met with Rachel in the driveway.
The guys hung back as we hurried inside. “Cait looks pissed,” Rachel muttered as we grabbed drinks.
