Loyal Love

by Henry, Max

  I know she just wants to help, but, “What would you do then? If you know all the answers, tell me.”

  “Lacey.”

  “I want to know, Maggie.” Tears break the bounds of my lids. “What am I too privileged to understand?”

  She sighs. “This isn’t the right time for us to talk about it, bud.”

  “I think it’s perfect, considering I need to have an answer to Derek tomorrow.”

  “We’ll talk face-to-face at school, okay?”

  “Yeah. Whatever.”

  I end the call before she can. Just like Tuck, the whole show about inclusion and us all being the same despite our different backgrounds was smoke and mirrors.

  She doesn’t think I belong here. Neither does he.

  So, where the hell do I belong?

  COLT

  The bitter aroma of freshly brewed coffee beans stirs me from my sleep. Lifting my head off the pillow, I crane my neck to inspect the room. I don’t remember falling asleep, let alone where the hell I am.

  Snapshots of the past twelve hours come back in a warped slideshow of failures and weaknesses. Shit. Now I remember.

  “Good morning, your highness.”

  My back protests with sharp bursts of pain as I rapidly roll to my side and face the other way. Greer sits in the emerald wingback positioned at the foot of the bed; her bare legs crossed so that I can’t glimpse what lives below the hem of her tantalising uniform skirt.

  No fair.

  “How’s the head?” She lifts an eyebrow.

  I scout the rest of my immediate surroundings and find the coffee situated on the nightstand. “Have I been here all night?”

  She flicks one hand toward the light that spills from behind the vastly inadequate curtains. “Unless the moon took on some strange nuclear power and tripled its output, then yes, the sun is up, so you’ve been here all night.”

  “You’re so cute with that smart mouth of yours, aren’t you?” I tease, reaching for the brew.

  She turns her head. “Heads up: you insisted you sleep naked last night.”

  I glance down at my exposed state and nearly spill the coffee over the bedding. “Shoot.”

  “I take it that’s your usual preference?” She can’t hide the smirk curling her lips. “You were very determined.”

  Satisfied my junk is covered, I take a casual sip from the mug before answering. “It may be.”

  She returns her gaze to me.

  “Why? Is that something you like?”

  Her features harden, and she rises from the chair. “Breakfast is available in the kitchen. If you’re coming to school today, you’ll need to be ready to head home and change in the next ten minutes.”

  I catch her by the wrist when she walks by, holding firm while I twist and set the coffee mug safely on the nightstand.

  “Colt,” Greer whispers. “I’m not ready to talk about this yet.”

  “Who said we have to talk?”

  She loses balance when I tug her roughly toward me, barely breaking her fall with her free hand as she comes crashing over me.

  Arms banded around her waist, I pin her in place, our faces mere centimetres from each other.

  “You stink,” she insults weakly. “You need a shower.”

  “I’m aware of that,” I grumble. “But I can’t let you go until you tell me one thing.”

  Her lashes dip as she drops her gaze to my mouth. “What?”

  I relish the warmth of her breath on my face, the steady rise and fall of her chest crushed against mine. “How did you sleep last night?”

  Her brow scrunches in confusion—it’s adorable.

  I nuzzle into the crook of her neck and whisper, “Did you lie awake, thinking about what I said?”

  Her breath leaves her lush lips in one long rush.

  “Did you wonder if it would be worth the trouble to sneak in here and lie with me?” My bottom lip tugs at her flesh, the tip of my nose tracing a line behind her ear. “Did you fantasise about what would happen? Touch yourself? Close your eyes and imagine it was me?”

  “You’re so goddamn full of yourself, Colt Matthias Williams.” Her fingers clamp down on my shoulder, her words a breathless whisper.

  “I’d rather be full of you.” I chuckle softly. “But you already know that.”

  Her hips roll, the pressure her thigh places on my aching erection sweet torture.

  “I can’t do this.”

  I hold her tighter and rest my cheek against hers. “Why?”

  “Because we’re in my damn house with my parents downstairs,” she growls.

  So, there is hope. “Take the day off,” I demand. “Come home with me. Tell them I’m giving you a lift to school and then spend the day fucking around with me.” My fingers plunge into her loose hair, taking hold to pull her head back so I can look her dead in the eye. “Spend the day fucking me.”

  “Oh, God.” Her entire body trembles.

  I’ve got her.

  “You’re such a pig.” Greer’s palm slams down on the bed beside my head.

  No, I don’t.

  “Did it occur to you that I might want to be treated as more than a fuck-buddy?” She’s off me in a flash, straightening her skirt and doing everything she can to not look at the reason for the disturbance beneath the sheets.

  “Did it occur to you that you’re already more than that to me even though you deny me the cherry on top?”

  Her jaw drops open at my curt tone, yet she chooses not to say anything, instead, snapping her mouth shut with a twitch to her eye.

  “I’ll grab breakfast at home.”

  She takes a step back, allowing me space to rise from the bed.

  “Thanks for the offer, though.” The sheet pulls away from my legs, revealing my utterly naked and denied form.

  Greer might have no more to say, but the breathy sigh that slid from her lips tells me everything I need to know.

  “Are you going to tell me where my clothes are, or just stand there and gawk at my cock?” I snap.

  She huffs and then points to the bedroom door. “They’re across the hall in the bathroom. You may want to cover yourself.”

  “Why?” I stride for the door, knowing exactly what I’m doing.

  She gasps, lunging for me and caching me by the hand. “Because Dad will flip if he sees you leave the room like …” Her mouth twists. “Ugh. That.” One sweep of her free hand toward my crotch and I have to lock my knees in place to save being an arsehole and thrusting my hips into her touch.

  “Like what, Greer?” I narrow my gaze on her.

  “Naked,” she utters, dropping my hand.

  “It’s a dick, honey.” My words drip with vitriol. “Every guy has one. Even your dad.”

  I cross the hallway as I am, relishing the choked squeal that sounds behind me. She has nothing to worry about; I can hear her parents talking downstairs.

  Plus, be damned if I’m not stroking this one out before I head down there.

  One hand on the door, I turn side-on so that she gets the full effect of my stiff dick. “Either you can stand there and listen to what you’re missing out on, or you can scoot downstairs like a good little girl and tell your mummy and daddy that I’m heading home soon.”

  “Don’t treat me like one of them,” she scathes, stepping out into the hall.

  “Who?” I play the game.

  Her chin lifts, eyes hard as she rakes her gaze the length of me. “One of your single-use-only skanks.” The words leave Greer’s lips with a hiss. “Cut the shit, Colt. This cocky, arrogant demeanour may make them wet for you, but it won’t work on me.”

  “You don’t say.” I wrap my fingers around the source of my anger.

  “You tell me you want to be loved, but I’ll give you a hint.”

  I frown, jaw hard as I wait on her to deliver the kicker.

  “Figure out how to show people you really love them and maybe they’ll be more receptive to giving you what you want.”

  She doesn’
t have time to react; a startled gasp sucked into her lungs when I snap my arm right and wrap the same hand that was around my cock mere seconds ago around her throat.

  “This is me showing you I love you.” Fuck. I didn’t mean to tell her that.

  My grip loosens, easily peeled away by her tentative fingers.

  “I need a shower.” I step away and grab the door.

  “And then you need to leave.”

  TUCK

  “What?” Maggie tips her head back to stare up at me as I ride alongside her.

  I ignore the heated glare from Johnson while I escort her to the school gates. “Nothing.”

  “Then why are you looking at me as though you want to murder me?”

  “It’s not you.” I sigh, slumping in the saddle. “It’s that if Lacey’s not with you, then she’s with the fucking moto-hoes again.”

  “You know about that, huh?”

  Her tone doesn’t do a damn thing to ease my dislike of the situation. “She not tell you I saw them drop her off yesterday morning?”

  “Yeah.” Maggie fidgets with a loose strand of hair at the nape of her neck.

  “Then why ask?”

  She bites her bottom lip, stiff as she walks.

  “Spit it out. You know I’ll find out sooner or later anyway.”

  “Ugh.” She drops an exaggerated sigh. “She’s riding in with them this morning. As in, they’ve taught her how to ride.”

  “For fuck’s sake.” I give Major a nudge.

  “Tuck! Wait up!”

  Sure enough, Lacey removes a helmet at the moto-hoes shed, shaking her blonde waves out. She laughs at something Cate says, the sound tugging at a part of my heart I wish she weren’t still wedged in.

  “Hi.” Her throat bobs, eyes downcast as I pull Major to a stop before the three of them.

  Mandy steps forward to take the lead. “What’s up, Tuck?”

  “What are you doing?” I ask Lace.

  “Uh, heading to class?”

  I slide out of the saddle. “Don’t be smart. I mean, why the fuck are you on a goddamn bike?”

  Her eyebrows shoot up. “Last I checked, I was allowed to do what I want, Tuck.”

  “It’s fucking dangerous.”

  “So is riding a horse,” she shoots back.

  Fuck. This is not going how I intended. “Can we talk privately?”

  She looks toward Mandy.

  I lift a hand at the girl, daring her to fucking speak. Never one to listen to me, she does anyway.

  “Lacey doesn’t have to answer to you if she wants to learn how to ride a motorbike, Tuck.”

  I shift my gaze to the girl I’ve known long enough to read better than anyone else here can. “You’ve never taught any of your other protégés this early on.”

  “What are you talking about?” Lacey asks.

  “Oh, get off it,” Mandy spits. “I’m letting her have fun, which is more than you’ll let her do.”

  “Have you been asleep the past month?” I holler. Major takes a step back, yanking on my arm. “This isn’t kindergarten, Mandy. People were hurt, and the shit isn’t over.” I shift my gaze to Lacey. “Is it?”

  Her mouth flattens into a thin line. “You don’t know anything.”

  “Don’t I?” I let Major go, sure he won’t go far, and take a step toward her. “Then why are you shutting me out?”

  “Because you’re a controlling jerk!” Her hand flies to cover her mouth, eyes wide.

  Okay. Fair enough. I can handle this.

  “Not so mouthy now, are you?” Mandy exclaims, throwing her hands in the air. “Take a walk and cool off, Tuck. It’ll help us all if you do.”

  “Help us all how?”

  I turn to find Maggie a few feet away with Major’s reins in her hand.

  “What are you up to?”

  Interestingly, Cate steps around the back of Mandy to take up residence at Lacey’s side. She grabs my girl’s hand and watches as well while the two ‘M’s duke it out.

  “I’m being a friend,” Mandy states. “Same as you are.”

  “Except I’m not trying to recreate her in my image,” Maggie snaps. “Jesus. In the space of a week, you’ve got her half-dressed like you, riding on your bike. What’s the game?”

  Lacey frowns at Maggie. “What are you talking about? She hasn’t made me do anything.”

  “Psychological games aren’t forced on people, babe,” I offer, shifting my heat-filled stare to Mandy. “Are they?”

  “Shut up.”

  “Your good at those.” Everything clicks into place as I stare down the girl I used to believe was misunderstood and taken advantage of, same as me. “I mean you managed to keep Amber under control the past three years without anything other than your words.”

  “Are you hearing yourself?” Mandy exclaims. “You’re accusing me of mentally fucking Lacey to make her like me?”

  “What’s the plan for tomorrow?” Maggie asks Lace. “We’re face-to-face now. Let’s discuss it.”

  “That’s got nothing to do with you,” Mandy bites.

  “They should know,” Cate says.

  “Know what?” If there weren’t four girls in front of me, this would have come to blows by now. My damn fists ache like they haven’t in years.

  This falling in love shit isn’t healthy on the heart or the mind.

  “I’m riding to Dee’s with Mandy tomorrow,” Lacey informs Maggie and me. “She thinks if we arrive together, it’ll throw Amber off whatever she has planned.”

  “And how does that help you?” Maggie asks softly.

  Lacey takes a moment to think it over. The bell tolls signalling homeroom is due to start.

  “I guess it takes the attention off her.”

  “That still doesn’t explain how it helps you,” I point out. “Mandy?”

  “If Amber doesn’t feel in charge, then she’ll go easy on her, right?” Even she doesn’t believe her bullshit.

  “You know it won’t,” Maggie groans. “For fuck’s sake, she loses her shit when she feels threatened.”

  I take a step toward Mandy, head tilted to one side, and my eyes narrowed as I read her cues. “Why would you want that?”

  Mandy swallows, refusing to look at Lacey who watches her intently. “We need to get to class, Tuck unless you want to be hauled to the Dean’s office again.”

  She has me on that.

  “Come on, girls.” Mandy turns for Lacey and Cate. “We better move.”

  “Lace,” Maggie pleads.

  My girl lifts her head and looks her friend straight in the eye. “You wouldn’t understand.”

  I don’t think any of us do anymore.

  LACEY

  I stared at that affidavit for what felt like hours last night. I’m out of my depth. Documents like this are drawn up between adults who’ve had years of training in law. They’re not the kind of paperwork a teenager can debunk within a few hours.

  The only option would be to let Colt go through with it and continue to petition for leniency on his behalf afterwards.

  “I’ll catch up with you, girls.” My feet slow, and I lag behind.

  Mandy turns to see what the hold-up is, her head tilted to one side. “You okay?”

  “Yeah.” I force a smile. “I need to sort these knots in the back of my hair before I show my face in class.” I play on my stereotype, amping up the vanity trope.

  “Looks fine to me, but whatever.” Mandy shrugs.

  Cate gives a small finger wave and then continues with her best friend while I turn for the girls’ bathrooms.

  I slip into a vacant stall and pull my phone out. He can’t avoid me forever. Not if he wants me to stay out here, out of trouble.

  “Surviving?” Colt shocks the hell out of me, answering after the second ring.

  “I could ask you the same,” I say with a slight laugh. “Why are you avoiding me?”

  He sighs; a rustle indicating he’s somewhere comfortable. “Let’s just say it’s easier to f
ight fires when you only light so many at a time.”

  “That sounds rather ominous, big brother.”

  “Because it is.” I catch the rasp of his swallow. “Have you signed it yet?”

  “Why the hell would I want to do that?” I shuffle on the closed toilet lid, tucking my feet up and out of view.

  “Because it’s the only thing to do,” he grumbles. “Just sign the damn paper and get it back to Derek, sis.”

  I take a deep breath and whisper, “I don’t want to.”

  “You have to.” He sounds tired, withdrawn. Exactly the Colt I knew years ago before I moved across to Riverbourne Prep.

  He needs me.

  “Does Alicia know about this?” My words waver, the emotion thick in my throat. I refuse to believe this is all we can do to end this children’s war. “What did she say?”

  “Nothing.” He huffs a bitter laugh. “I embarrass her.”

  “Don’t we both?”

  He hums an amused tickle in his throat. “Seriously, though, Lacey. If you don’t sign this, then I have to go through with plan B. And to be honest, I’m not sure if it’s going to work.”

  “So just leave it all behind. Move out here with Dad and me,” I plead.

  “Sis …” He whispers the word, so much pain caught in that single syllable. “You can’t run away from the law. This isn’t some schoolyard spat anymore. There are real consequences.” His tone rises, his words firm. “We’re messing with our futures, Lacey.”

  “Then saves yours too,” I growl.

  “I can’t!”

  A shocked second passes while I gather my wits. I forgot where I was, who could overhear, but his hollered retort snapped me back to the discomfort of my reality—figuratively and literally.

  “Stop putting me up on some damn pedestal as though I’m better than you, Colt. I’m not.”

  “You are,” he continues to yell. “Jesus fucking Christ, Lace. Don’t you see it? People love you. They look to you for direction, for comfort. Me?” He scoffs. “I’m nothing but easy entertainment when they need their ego stroked. I’m no good anyone but those who are no good themselves.”

  “Ugh!” My legs shoot out, boots colliding with the stall door. “Stop it!”

  “Stop what?” Damn—I have never heard him use this tone with me. “Stop telling you the truth? Wake. The fuck. Up. Little sister.”