by Angel Lawson
“I waited until your friend left, but the gentleman over at the bar asked me to send this to you.”
My eyes flick behind her to a well-dressed man at the end of the bar. He’s got sandy-blond hair and a handsome face. He’s old—older than my dad. He lifts his own drink toward me.
“I’m not sure I can accept this.”
“I told him that. Especially after last time. He insisted.”
Last time? I’m dying to ask.
“I don’t think my date would like it.”
“He’s a little young for you, right? Gorgeous, but young.” She looks over her shoulder where Ezra walks down the hall. “Although I see the resemblance. You have a type.”
“A type?”
“Tall, dark hair, eyes, broad shoulders. Is this one jealous, too?”
“Uh, not so much.”
“I still can’t believe how he came in here that night—angry and pissed off at Reggie over there. I thought I was going to have to call the police.”
“Yeah, that was pretty crazy. Um, why didn’t you call the police?”
She gives me a weird look. “You promised me it was fine. I took your word for it.” She glances over at the bar where Reggie is watching us. “He didn’t like it much.”
“Well, you know me, what’s the point if it’s not causing a little chaos,” I reply, channeling my inner Rose. I add to it by slapping on a mischievous grin, one I saw her do a million times.
“That chaos is going to catch up with you some day, Rosie. Be careful.” She takes back the drink and walks off. Ezra slides back into the seat next to me, our thighs touching.
“What was that about.”
“I have an admirer. Someone I’ve apparently encountered before.”
He glances over at the bar where the man at the bar continues to watch us. He doesn’t look pleased. Ezra, on the other hand, has the same expression he wears right before he walks onto the football field. Aggressively confident. He lifts up my hair and lowers his head, planting a kiss on my neck. A shiver runs down my body.
“What’s that for?”
“Just marking my territory.” I feel his tongue against my ear and his hand slips between my thighs.
“Jealous of an old guy?”
“No, but sending that drink to a woman with another guy?” He shakes his head. “He needs to understand that you came here with me, and you’ll be leaving here with me.”
I’ve never been one for public displays of affection, and with our current arrangement we’re more careful than normal—but Ezra and I aren’t in the hallways of Thistle Cove. We’re thirty miles away, and I’m in disguise. Ezra’s territorial act is hotter than I’d ever expect, and when he continues to kiss along my jaw and he tilts my chin up, I don’t resist sinking into him.
His tongue is warm, and he’s discreet with his hands. I’m both thankful and regretful that I’m wearing pants instead of a skirt. His long fingers start at my knees but slide dangerously up my thighs. The move kickstarts my heart, my panties warming in anticipation. My body knows what his fingers can do and it’s very hard for me to put on the breaks.
He must realize I’m putty in his hands, because he doesn’t stop. His fingers move in lazy circles, until he grazes between my legs. I shudder and bite down on his bottom lip, forcing us to stop.
I pull away, my heart about to burst out of my chest and every pulse point in my body throbbing with desire. I look at him under my bangs and say, “I think you’ve made your point.”
His eyes are darker than normal. He licks his lips. “You think?”
“We should go.” I tell him, overwhelmed by the sound of my heartbeat in my ears. “Pay the tab. I’m going to the bathroom.”
I scoot out of the booth and walk across the bar, pretending there aren’t a dozen eyes boring into my back. In the bathroom I look in the mirror. My eyes look wild—my cheeks red. I do my best to straighten my hair and freshen up my lipstick. My heartbeat has finally stopped racing when there’s a gentle knock on the door. My stomach flip-flops. If Ezra comes in here, I’m not sure I can be held accountable for my actions. We’ve been playing cat and mouse for months—his father always lurking nearby. But not tonight. Not here.
I take a deep breath and open the door, “Babe, we’re not screwing in the bath—”
The man from the bar stands on the other side. “I should hope not, but I can get a room upstairs.”
My blood instantly cools. “Sorry. I’m not interested.”
“I just want you to talk to me,” he pleads. “I know the last time we were together things went—well, badly, but it’s nothing that we can’t work out.”
I cast my eyes down, not wanting for him to bust me for impersonating Rose. “No. I made my decision.”
“Rosemary,” he says, calling me by the name Rose used on her Sugarbabies profile, “I’ll do whatever you want. Up your allowance. Get you a nicer place. I just want you back in my life.”
I glance up at this man. He’s handsome. The cut and fabric of his suit looks expensive. But the whining? Not attractive. I can see why Rose wouldn’t want to be with him. She’d never want to be with someone weak. Finn was the top of the social structure at Thistle Cove. Coach Chandler above that. This guy? He may have money, but he’s lacking confidence, arrogance, entitlement.
All things she’d want in a lover.
“I said no.” I push past him and walk into the bar. Ezra’s stands straight when he spots me, eyes narrowed on the man behind me. He takes one look at Ezra’s stature—his broad shoulders and his height—and he scurries away.
“Are you okay?”
“Perfect. Let’s go.”
We don’t stop until we’re locked in the car. We don’t speak until we’re on the highway. I tug the wig off my head and lay it flat in my lap.
“What did he say?” Ezra asks.
“He thought I was Rose. He sent me a drink, followed me to the bathroom, tried to bribe me with more allowance and a nicer apartment.”
“Jesus,” he mutters, running his hand through his hair. “What a fucking mess.”
I nod. “She was in deep.”
“Maybe she didn’t just jump off that bridge to get away from Monica Chandler—maybe she was running from someone else.”
I look over at him. “Yeah, maybe so.”
The problem is that every layer I pull back about Rose only leads to more questions. More men. More danger.
The big question is, where does it end?
9
Ozzy
“We need to talk,” Kenley says. It’s just before lunch and instead of going in the cafeteria, she gestures for us to follow her outside. Finn looks as confused as I do. Ezra? The look between them says he’s informed.
Kenley had been quiet on the way to school—and she looked like hell. She took the coffee cup right out of my hands and drank half of it before we got to the parking lot.
She leads us to a picnic table on the front lawn. It’s quiet out here. It’s cold.
“What’s up?” Finn asks, shoving his hands in his purple and gold jacket. A new state champion patch is on the sleeve.
“Last night I found something in Rose’s Eden book. It was the name of a bar in Cliffside. We,” she looks at Ezra, “went out there.”
“For what?” Finn says, looking concerned. “Why would you go there?”
“Because I’m still curious about what Rose was doing before she went missing.”
“Before she killed herself,” I clarify.
Her eyes flit to Ezra’s again and his jaw clenches tight. “If she killed herself.”
“Kenley,” Finn says, running his hand through his hair. “Don’t start this.”
“I have questions. Am I not allowed to have questions?”
“You have the need to stir up trouble,” he replies. “Just leave this. Monica Chandler is in jail. The police are watching her husband. Graduation is a few months away and then we’ll be done with this place.”
Her eyes
flash. “Will we? Because if we never really know what happened to Rose, who she was meeting, where she was going, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to move on.” She takes a deep breath. “Besides, the waitress at the bar said she saw Rose last around Halloween.”
Finn blinks and I feel my jaw drop.
“Halloween?” I ask. There’s no need to mention that was weeks and weeks after Rose went missing.
“Are you sure?”
“No,” Ezra says. “I’m not sure, but the waitress was.”
“All of this is tied up to the SugarBabies account. I’m sure of it,” she says.
I tug at my cap, covering my ears. “What do you want to get out of this, Kenley?”
“Just the truth. That’s all.” She looks between us. “She came to me that day and said she needed help. Was it just from Monica? Or was it whoever called her when Ezra saw her on the bridge.”
“Daddy.”
“Rose got under a lot of people’s skin. I want to know who. I want to know why.”
“You’re not giving up on this, are you?” I ask, already knowing the answer. Kenley is stubborn and determined. Like a dog with a bone.
“No.”
“Then we talk about it before acting,” Finn says, looking a little pale. I don’t blame him. The police were on his ass about Rose. If the case is reopened, they could loop back around to him again. “You can’t keep us in the dark, Ken.”
She swallows and nods. “Fine.”
The bell rings and we walk back toward the building. At the door, Kenley walks in and Finn places his arm across the entrance.
“How did you get involved in this?” he asks Ezra.
“She called and started asking some questions. I had a feeling she was up to something and went to her house.”
“And you just let her go. To a bar.”
“Did you want me to let her go alone? Because if you think any of us can stop KK from doing whatever the hell she wants, you’re fooling yourself."
“You did the right thing,” I say. “Thanks for watching out for her.”
“Yeah, well, you’re right about one thing,” he says to Finn. “We need to be involved in this because she’s determined, and the last thing we need is for her to go down the same rabbit hole of destruction as Rose.”
The three of us look at one another, an agreement passing through us. Kenley may be stubborn and determined, but she’s got three protective men behind her that have no plans of letting her shut us out.
10
Kenley
If today taught me anything, the boys would lose their minds if they found out about the SugarBabies account. I can’t imagine what they’d do if they knew BD sent me those flowers. Or really, how betrayed they’d feel that I’d communicated with him in the first place.
I’ve really fucked this one up.
“Kenley—see you at the meeting, right?” Juliette calls from her locker down the hall.
“Yeah, right.”
I felt like crap. We didn’t get home that late—but I couldn’t sleep once I got in bed. The pleading voice of that man lingered in my mind. Even grown men wanted a piece of Rose Waller.
I walk down the hall to the library and find the group in the back. It’s mostly girls, plus a boy named Caden Wilson who is Juliette’s vice president. I ease into my seat and pull out a notepad.
Sylvie McCrae eyes me from across the table. And Carlie Simpson pretends to doodle on a sheet of paper while her eyes dart between me and Juliette. Oh, right. The big, fat elephant in the room. Juliette’s mom tried to kill me. Juliette saved me. Monica is in jail.
If people thought my feud with Rose was hot gossip, we have that beat.
“I invited Kenley to join the committee,” Juliette says, cutting through the tension. “Does anyone have a problem with that?”
“She’s the one that sent your mom to jail,” Caden says slyly. “If you’re okay with it, then we are.”
“Kenley and I are—”
“Fine,” I say. “It was a strange and unfortunate situation. Juliette and I are both moving on.”
Juliette smiles and passes me a packet with information. There’s a brochure from the Jasper lodge that includes photos of the amenities; there are fire pits down by the lake, a big dock, an indoor pool and hot tub, a fireplace in the lodge. Beyond that there’s sledding, tubing, ice skating, and a few other outdoor activities.
“This looks really nice.”
“Only the best for the senior class,” Juliette says with a smug grin. “We’ve been through enough hell this year, don’t you think?”
The question isn’t exactly rhetorical. She’s looking right at me.
I hold Juliette’s eye and say, “Yeah, I think we have. Let’s do everything we can to make the senior retreat totally kick-ass.”
“Exactly how much adult supervision is there going to be?” Carlie asks. She’s been dating Dawson Bertram for three years. Everyone knows why she’s asking. Truthfully, I’m curious myself. A whole weekend with my guys? I’m looking forward to it.
“Other than the mandatory activities, we’re going to have a lot of freedom,” Juliette says, “but be prepared for some basic rules. No boys or girls in each other’s rooms. That kind of thing.”
Carlie rolls her eyes. “Lame.”
“I’m sure you and Dawson can work your way around that,” Caden says with a laugh. His gaze skips over me. “Or anyone else here looking for a hookup.”
My cheeks heat despite the fact I will them not to. I’m not sure what he’s implying. Are there rumors about me and the guys? We’ve kept our relationship on the downlow as much as possible, but there’s no denying we hang out together a lot.
“It’s a school trip,” Juliette says, “not a sexportunity. I’m sure everyone can keep it in their pants for a couple of days.” She shoots a glare at Carlie. “Or at least be discreet.”
Carlie doesn’t look the least bit bothered, but I can’t say that I’m not looking forward to having some time away with my boyfriends as well. Good thing we already know how to be discreet.
Once the meeting is over, I stop at my locker for a book I need for an assignment. There are only a few people still around, but there’s no mistaking the blue hair that ducks into a doorway down the hall.
Coach Chandler’s office.
Worry is replaced by anger. Alice has to be doing this on purpose. Defying both my instructions as her editor and seeking attention from the one man I’ve made it clear is to be off limits.
I’m not surprised. This is classic Alice Kendrick.
Me not being able to leave it alone is classic Kenley Keene.
I press my back against the wall next to his office door and pretend to check my phone.
“Thanks for following up with some of the alumni. These quotes are really great.”
“No problem. It’s always nice to talk to my old teammates. They were especially excited since the boys won this title this year.”
“What’s it like being such a hometown hero?”
“Well,” his chair creaks. I dare a peek inside and see him leaning back in his chair, hands propped behind his neck. Alice stands at the edge of his desk. “It’s an honor and a burden. It’s nice to be recognized and to have a measure of success. But it also puts a target on your back.”
“You mean the accusations recently.”
Oh, Alice has no problem diving head in.
“They’re preposterous. All I’ve done is provide support for the students at my school. Some of them girls. There are no actual accusations by students—just one pathetic girl looking for assuage her guilt.”
I suck in a breath. Seriously?
“Some people are desperate to take people down so that it makes them look better,” Alice replies.
She. Did. Not.
“I’m glad to know not everyone falls for her nonsense.”
“Trust me,” Alice says, leaning over the desk. “Kenley and I may have been friends at one point, but she’s g
one somewhere I can’t handle. Completely off the rails. Between the lies she’s telling everyone and promiscuous behavior…I think she needs serious help.”
“That’s unfortunate and sad. Acting out sexually can be a sign of low self-esteem and distress.”
The rage that consumes me is deep and hot. Did she just call me a liar? Promiscuous? What the hell is going on here?
Without thinking, I barge into the office. Both Chandler and Alice stare at me in surprise.
“Did you just call me a liar?”
“Are you seriously eavesdropping on us?” Alice retorts. The glint in her eye implies she’s amused by my interruption.
“It’s not like either of you were quiet,” I look between them. Alice has a smug quirk to her lips. Chandler watches me closely.
“Kenley,” he says, “I don’t think it’s appropriate for you to be here.”
“Yet it’s okay for you to be alone with a female student? After what you did to Rose?”
His jaw tenses, and those blue eyes that everyone adores flicker with darkness. “You’ve accused my wife of a murder attempt and me of preposterous behavior. Out of legal necessity, I don’t think you should be anywhere near me.”
“Maybe if you weren’t discussing me with other students, I wouldn't be.”
“Alice was speaking out of concern.” My ex-friend nods dutifully. “Your classmates are worried about you. It’s been a stressful few months for you—a breakdown is completely understandable.”
I roll my eyes. “A breakdown. Whatever, you two are completely delusional.” I stare at Alice. “You’ve been warned. The girls that spend time with Coach Chandler? One is dead, another missing, and a third is in jail. Those are bad odds.”
I don’t wait for either of them to respond before spinning on my heel and walking out of the office. I’ve tried before to help Alice and she didn’t want my advice then, and she made it clear she doesn’t want it now.
