by K. Walker
Locking eyes with Sebastian, I grinned. "Actually, I'd love to go. It sounds like fun!" And, well, it wasn’t a complete lie. The party didn’t sound like much fun, but bugging the shit out of Wes certainly did.
I didn't even have to look up to know Wes would be glaring at me in the rearview mirror. I didn't really care. I wasn't going to let him run my life. He may have been hot shit at Forrest Grove and everyone there might have worshipped the ground he walked on, but damn if I was going to.
Immediately, I pulled out my phone. "Are you going to the party at the beach tonight?" I texted Adrian, hoping to God she was. I really didn't want to end up wandering the party alone. Nor did I want to tag along with Sebastian everywhere. He was nice and all, but his friends were just as energetic as he was and frankly, I could only handle so much before I wanted to run away screaming.
Adrian responded right away. "Wasn't planning on it, but I can if you're going."
"Please?"
Her response was a bunch of heart emojis, and I let out a breath, glad I wouldn't be alone tonight. Sebastian wouldn’t have minded me hanging with him and his friends, but there was only so much talk about video games I could handle before I wanted to go insane.
Though it did seem to bug the shit out Wes that I still sat with him every day at lunch. I had heard Wes arguing with him about it the night before. While the house may have been massive, the walls were just as thin as anywhere else, and with Sebastian’s room right next to mine, Wes’s deep voice was clear as day as he told Sebastian to stop letting me sit with him.
Equally audible was Sebastian’s laughter as he told his brother to fuck off. And next came the stomping and the slamming of doors as Wes had gone back to his own room.
Whatever his problem was, it just seemed to get worse with each passing day. But that was his problem, not mine. I just wanted to get through the school year as quickly as possible.
Wes didn't say a word the rest of the drive. And once we got back to the house, he went and locked himself up in his room. Part of me felt a little bad for going when he obviously didn't want me to. But, at the same time, he could grow the hell up and get over his little toddler tantrum.
After staring at my closet for a good long while, I finally sighed and walked down the hall to Sebastian's room. His door was half-open, and I saw him lying on his bed. His shirt, tie, and socks were all in a pile beside his bed, leaving him in just his uniform pants. I was glad Sebastian was the one who liked to walk around half-dressed and not Wes. As much as Wes annoyed me, I wasn't sure I'd be able to stand having to look at his bare chest all the time without going insane.
Sebastian had his phone in his hands, held up in the air, over his head, him staring up into it. He was grinning as his thumbs moved across the screen. If I hadn't known any better, I would have sworn he was texting a girl, but according to Adrian, Sebastian was the one Cabot brother who wasn't whoring his way through the school. He liked to flirt, but as far as she knew, he had never gone further than that.
He looked up when I knocked on the door frame. "Hey, Bell. What's up?" I wasn't sure why he had started calling me Bell instead of Bella, but it was hard to get mad at him over something so simple.
"What do people normally wear to these parties?" I asked, blurting my problem out. Immediately, heat rose to my cheeks. But I figured I wasn't supposed to just wear my uniform. Nor did I want to be underdressed or overdressed for it. People stared at me enough as it was.
Sebastian sat up, swinging his long legs over the edge of the bed. In a flash, his phone was in his pocket, and he had his arm around my shoulders, guiding me back to my room. "Come on, let's see what we can figure out for you!"
Christ, I really wished I knew what drugs this kid was on. Maybe if I had some of them, I'd be even half as perky and energetic as he was!
I sat on my bed and watched as Sebastian went through my closet, checking out each of the outfits I'd bought during my shopping trip with Lucas. Despite her enthusiastic suggestion about taking me out for more clothes, Kathy and I had still not gone shopping together. If anything, she avoided being around me even more than Wes did.
A few minutes later, he tossed me a pair of jean shorts and a black t-shirt. "Did you pick up a bathing suit?" he asked. I nodded. "Bikini?" Again, I nodded. Sebastian grinned and gave me a thumbs up. "Perfect. Wear that under those and you'll be golden."
"Thanks," I said, feeling like he'd just taken a weight off my shoulders.
Sebastian winked at me, and then went back to his room, closing my door behind him. I got the bikini out of my dresser, then changed into everything he had picked out. When I looked at myself in the mirror on the back of my door, I nodded, smiling. I actually looked pretty good in the clothes he had chosen for me.
The shorts weren't too slutty, covering my ass, at least, but they were perfect for hanging out at the beach. And with the bikini underneath, if I ended up getting wet, it wouldn't be a big deal.
It was definitely enough to get the attention of any of the guys there, including Wes. I wondered what he’d say when he saw me dressed like this, instead of my normal clothes. At school, I always had on my uniform, and any other time, jeans and a t-shirt were my go-to.
Then I realized this was a beach party at a beach.
When I had gotten shoes, I hadn't gotten any sandals or flip flops or anything. I practically dove across the room for my purse, digging out my phone to text Adrian. Thankfully, even though she was taller than me, our feet were close enough to the same size and she had an extra pair of flip flops she'd bring for me.
"You're a lifesaver," I texted back as I flopped down onto the bed.
"Oh, I know," she sent back, and I laughed, glad I had found a friend like her. At least with her, I would be able to stay sane in this massive sea of rich kids.
Chapter 19
"Parking now," I texted Adrian. She'd promised to wait in the parking lot for me with my shoes. The sun was only just starting to set, but the place was already packed with cars, looking like a car collector convention was in town. Which was also what the school parking lot usually looked like too.
By the time Sebastian let me out of the backseat, Adrian was there, flip flops in hand. Wes and Sebastian went off on their own, no doubt looking for their own friends. Adrian and I hooked arms and then headed onto the beach together.
When they had mentioned a bonfire, I hadn't quite envisioned the massive wood pyre in the middle of the beach. Nor had I imagined the tables lining the dunes, filled with food and drinks. I could only imagine how much money had gone into this thing. And they did this every Friday? Adrian must've noticed my shocked expression since she burst out laughing.
"SASS is in charge of planning and setting these things up," she told me.
"SASS?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The Social Arts & Style Society,” Adrian said with a roll of her eyes, telling me exactly what she thought about them. “Basically, rich housewives in training. The Plastics run it. They like to call themselves ‘Sassy,’ but almost everyone just calls them Sassholes behind their backs."
Adrian said it with such a straight face I couldn't help but burst out laughing. Once I got myself under control, Adrian and I went and raided the food table, each loading a plate high with the various appetizers. Adrian grinned at me when she saw I grabbed as much food as I did since apparently the other girls at school usually ate like rabbits.
"I have a fast metabolism," I said with a shrug. I'd always had an athlete's build, and if we'd had the money, I would have probably done sports all through school. But since uniforms and equipment were more than Mom could afford at whatever low paying job she had at the time, it was always out of the question.
Now that I was living with Lucas, I could probably join whatever teams I wanted and he'd gladly foot the bill for whatever I needed. But then I felt like Kathy's snarky comments would be right about me, that I would be using Lucas for his money, and I didn’t want that at all.
Adri
an and I went and sat near the water, enjoying the sunset as we ate our food. I had never been to the beach at sunset before, I realized, and I was glad I had decided to come tonight. The view was gorgeous, all reds, and yellows, and purples, reflected perfectly on the water.
I was definitely glad I had come just for the view alone.
"Having fun?" a deep voice said from behind us.
Adrian and I both turned. She grinned when she saw the two men walking toward us. Jumping up, she rushed over to throw her arms around him. "Jesse! I didn't know you were coming home this weekend!"
"Yeah, I wasn't planning on it, but this loser dragged me back with him." He hooked a thumb at the man next to him.
My eyes went wide as I stared at the man. There was no doubt in my mind this was Chuck, the oldest of my new somewhat-brothers. He was almost the spitting image of Wes and their father. He was about the same height, maybe an inch or two taller, but he was much more muscular. I could only imagine how much time he spent working out.
I was pretty sure he could've scooped me up and tossed me into the ocean if he'd wanted to.
But he didn't. He actually looked me over and grinned. "Guess you must be my new little sister."
Heat rushed to my cheeks, and I shrugged. "Guess so."
"Wes and Seb here?" When I nodded, he grinned again. "Cool. I should go say hey. We should hang out sometime this weekend though, get to know each other."
Jesse and Chuck headed off, leaving Adrian and I standing by the water. "He's hot, isn't he?" Adrian asked, her voice low. It didn't take a genius to know she was practically drooling over Chuck.
"Well, at least he's not a total ass," I said with a shrug, refusing to even go down that avenue. It was bad enough I kept thinking about Wes without his shirt on. I didn't need to start thinking about Chuck the same way!
"Come on, let's go have some fun!" Adrian linked arms with me again and dragged me into the crowd of people.
A lot more people had shown up now, and the beach was absolutely packed. It looked like more than just kids from our school too. But then, of course, other kids would want to crash the party. With the amount of food and booze that kept appearing from God knew where I couldn't really blame them.
Adrian led me around, introducing me to different people. We stayed far away from the Plastics and Wes's friends, but other than that, everyone else was pretty friendly. Adrian may not have hung out with any particular crowd, but she seemed fairly well-liked overall.
More than once, though, I caught people whispering while they stared at me. I tried to ignore them, though, not wanting to know what they were talking about. I wasn't going to let myself be bothered by whatever idle gossip they were spouting around.
Adrian had already told me some of the students were speculating if I'd slept with Wes yet. I'd nearly died laughing when she'd told me that. I couldn't imagine why anyone would think that when Wes practically went out of his way to ignore me.
If anything, I'd have expected people to be suggesting I was sleeping with Sebastian since I hung out with him sometimes. But, according to Adrian, Sebastian was a flirt. Wes was a man-whore.
"Oh! I'll be right back!" Adrian said before running off toward a guy. I stood there, wondering why she'd run off like that. Any other time she'd seen someone she knew, she'd dragged me over to meet them. She was only over there for a minute, and when she came back, she was grinning.
"What was that about?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
Adrian smirked, and then held out her palm. In it was a tiny baggy, a couple of tiny blue pills inside. I had spent enough time with JP and his boys to know Molly when I saw it. Well, it was either E or Viagra and since I doubted Adrian had trouble "getting it up," I figured it wasn't that. "Want one?" she asked.
I shook my head. After that time I had tried to buy some from JP, I'd gotten over my urge to get stoned out of my mind. Besides, as much as my newfound brother annoyed the hell out of me, it wasn't the kind of world I needed to check out of anymore. "I'm good."
"More for me, then!" She grinned, then fished out a pill and swallowed it before stuffing the baggy into her pockets. "Now, let's go have some fun!"
Wes was at the table of drinks when I went to get myself a refill. For once, when he turned and looked at me, he didn’t glare. He actually smiled. Then, his eyes went up and down my body and his smile turned into a leer.
“See something you like?” I asked dryly. “Or are you just not used to seeing a girl who doesn’t need plastic surgery to have tits and an ass?”
Wes hadn’t said a single thing about my outfit before we had left, but now it looked like he was undressing me with his eyes. Maybe I should’ve worn something that covered a bit more skin. And maybe I shouldn’t have kept poking the bear, but it was just so easy to get on his nerves.
“I’ve certainly seen worse,” he said with a smirk. He took a step closer to me, and I could feel the heat radiating off him. My breath caught in my chest as I looked up into his eyes. The world around me slowed to a stop, and all I could hear was my pounding heart.
Slowly, I felt myself being drawn to him. Something inside me ached to feel his body pressed against mine, to feel those lips of his work their way up and down my body. I’d heard all the rumors about him and damn if I didn’t want to find out just how many of them were true.
“There you are!” Hunter’s voice shattered the illusion.
The world restarted with a jolt, and I pulled away from Wes, glaring at him. Maybe I didn’t need another drink, after all, I thought bitterly, knowing just how close I’d been to reaching up and kissing him.
Hunter let out a low whistle, and I turned to see him eyeing me up and down just as Wes had. Standing next to him, Jax brushed his bleach-blond hair out of his eyes and nodded his approval as well.
Apparently, Wes didn’t like that very much. He walked over and punched them both in the shoulder, then turned to walk away.
Winking at Hunter and Jax, I swished my hips a little, knowing just the effect it’d have on them, and taking great pride when Wes let out a string of curses before he dragged the two of them off.
“What was that about?” Adrian asked, turning to look at me, having walked over just in time for Wes’s outburst.
Doing my best to look as innocent as possible, I shrugged. “No idea. Maybe he’s already gone through all the girls at school and has to resort to using his hand tonight.”
Adrian roared with laughter. She threw her arm around my shoulders and then we were off again, the night starting to feel never-ending.
Chapter 20
Adrian stumbled, and I just managed to catch her. She fell into my arms, giggling, and I had to fight to keep myself from falling over under her weight.
We had been at the beach for a couple of hours now, the sun having completely set. The bonfire kept enough light for everyone to see by, though, and the party was still going strong. Almost everyone there was either drunk or on one drug or another. Hell, even I had had a couple hits off a joint that one of Adrian's friends had offered us.
But Adrian was completely wasted. I hadn't wanted to say anything to her, figuring she was a big girl and knew what she was doing. But now she was so far gone, I had no idea how she was going to get home. There was no way she would be sober enough to drive herself, not anytime soon.
Which meant I had to do something.
I looked around for a minute, trying to figure out what I could do. Then, I remembered her brother. I hadn't seen him for a while, but I was pretty sure he was still around. Luckily, Adrian was so drunk and high, when I guided her through the crowd of people, she came willingly, still laughing and giggling like this was the best night of her life.
It took a couple of minutes, but I eventually found Jesse and Chuck talking with a couple of other guys at the edge of the crowd. Chuck spotted us first. He elbowed his friend, and Jesse turned, his grin dropping the moment he laid eyes on his sister.
"Shit," he said, running a hand through his sh
aggy hair. "How much has she had?"
"Too much," I said honestly. I wasn't even sure how much she'd actually had.
"Hey, Jesse," Adrian said, stretching out each syllable as she stumbled toward her brother. She'd have face planted halfway there if Jesse hadn't rushed forward and caught her. That, of course, just brought about another round of giggles.
"Christ, if Mom and Dad see her like this, they're going to flip their shit." Jesse shifted, so he had a good hold on her, not letting her stumble anywhere else. "Did she drive here?"
I nodded. "I didn't think it was a good idea for her to be driving home tonight."
"Definitely not." Frowning at his younger sister, he reached into her pocket for the keys. The first thing he pulled out was the bag of Molly, which earned her an annoyed look. He sighed and then put it in his own pocket before finding her keys. "Can you help?" he asked, glancing over at Chuck.
He downed the rest of his drink, then nodded. "Yeah, I gotcha, man." He stepped forward and scooped Adrian up into his arms. Even as she squirmed and giggled, he didn't show the least bit of strain in carrying her. "Can you go find Seb and I'll take you guys home after I get her into her car?"
"Uh... Sure?" I blinked at him a couple of times. "What about Wes?"
"He already left with Hunter and Jaxson. Said something about showing Paisley and her friend Charlotte a good time tonight."
I rolled my eyes. Adrian was right, man-whore. He could've at least let me know he was ditching my ass here. God only knew what I'd have done if Chuck hadn't been here to give me a lift back. Then again, for all I knew, he’d done that on purpose, just to get back at me for my little stunt earlier. "Where's Seb at, do you know?"
"I saw him and one of his buddies head down that way," he said, nodding toward the dark part of the beach. "I'll meet you in the parking lot when you find him."
I frowned as I watched Chuck and Jesse carry her away. This was not how I'd expected the party to go, but I figured it could've been worse. At least they'd been there to help get her home. I wasn't sure what I'd have done if her brother hadn't come home for the weekend.
