PAINE
ROSEWOOD HIGH #2
Tracy Lorraine
Contents
1. Camila
2. Mason
3. Camila
4. Mason
5. Camila
6. Mason
7. Camila
8. Mason
9. Camila
10. Mason
11. Camila
12. Mason
13. Camila
14. Mason
15. Camila
16. Mason
17. Camila
18. Mason
19. Camila
20. Mason
21. Camila
22. Mason
23. Camila
24. Mason
25. Camila
26. Camila
27. Mason
28. Camila
29. Mason
30. Camila
31. Camila
32. Mason
33. Camila
34. Mason
35. Camila
36. Camila
37. Mason
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Tracy Lorraine
Falling for the Forbidden Sneak Peek
Copyright © 2020 by Tracy Lorraine
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Editing by My Brother’s Editor
Proofread by Pinpoint Editing
Cover by Dandelion Cover Designs
Cover photography by Michelle Lancaster
Model Lochie Carey
Andy & Amelia
1
Camila
“What the hell are you doing?” I scream, running toward where Mason has Noah pinned to the floor. There’s blood streaming from his nose and a split in his lip, but the most striking thing is that he’s not trying to fight back. He’s just taking it.
“Motherfucker,” Mason growls, his voice is so low and menacing that a shiver races down my spine.
What the hell has gotten into him?
Reaching out, I place my hand on his forearm right before he’s about to throw another punch into Noah’s broken face.
“Stop,” I shout. “Mason. Stop, please,” I beg, my voice cracking.
My contact is obviously what Mason needs to bring him out of his trance. He lifts his eyes to find me. The darkness in them makes my breath catch. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he wanted Noah dead. But that’s not the Mason I know. Well... the Mason I knew. But it seems the boy from the end of the street is long gone these days.
“What the hell are you doing?”
He stares down at Noah a few seconds longer before allowing Jake to pull him up and away.
“I—” He looks up at me and I swear I see pain pouring from his eyes. “He was kissing that skank.” His voice is low, so only I can hear as he tips his chin in the direction of Tasha, a member of the cheer squad. Her eyes are wide and she’s as white as a sheet, but then so is everyone else as they stare at the scene unfolding in front of them.
“What the fuck is your problem? Not satisfied making me an outcast, now you’ve got to get involved and ruin my relationship too?”
“No. He was… they were in the bathroom together.”
My heart pounds in my chest. He wouldn’t, would he? Noah loves me, that I’m sure of. This is a joke. Mason’s had too much to drink and has decided to throw his weight around, show me who’s boss.
A low moan comes from Noah, and it drags me from my fog. Why am I focusing on Mason right now when my boyfriend is groaning in pain from being on the wrong end of his fists?
“Get him out of here,” I bark at Jake, who immediately jumps into action. Amalie looks between the two of us, not knowing which way to go. “It’s fine. Go with him. I’m just going to get Noah cleaned up and put him to bed. Everyone out,” I shout, knowing that our entire class is currently watching this play out in front of their eyes.
Dropping to my knees, I place my hand on Noah’s warm chest. His eyes flicker open and a small smile twitches at his lips.
Some movement to my left catches my eye, and, when I look up, I find everyone still standing there.
“Get the hell out,” I scream. That, along with Alyssa and a couple of other friends starting to usher people from the room, seems to get them moving at last.
My hands tremble as I stare down at my broken and bloodied boyfriend.
“Are you okay?” I whisper.
“Yeah, never been better,” he grunts.
“Can you get up? We’ll go and get you cleaned up.”
“Yeah, I’m good. He didn’t hit that hard.”
I don’t point out that the state of his face right now doesn’t confirm his story.
With his arm around my waist, I lead his limp body toward the stairs as the movement of people leaving sound out around us.
No one comes to help, which kind of pisses me off, but I understand that they probably don’t want to get in the middle.
“Sit,” I instruct when we make it to Noah’s bed. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. Don’t go anywhere.”
I walk past his adjoining bathroom, knowing I won’t find anything I need, and instead go to the main bathroom.
With a first aid box in hand, I head back toward Noah.
I come to a stop in his doorway and take him in. He’s pulled his shirt off and is laid back on his bed. Blood and darkening bruises color his cheeks.
Noah’s been my rock. We’d never really had much to do with each other despite being in the same classes for years, but we found each other when I was at my lowest, thanks to my inability to use a computer competently.
We were supposed to be making spreadsheets, but me and numbers aren’t a match made in heaven and I was on the verge of throwing the mouse across the room when he offered his help. Grateful didn’t even come close to expressing how I felt as he explained how the formulas worked in such a simple way that I couldn’t not understand while our teacher focused on Mason and his gang of jocks, ignoring the rest of us.
Anger burned in my belly and I glanced over my shoulder at the special attention they got just because of their position in the school. It was just another reminder of why things turned out the way they were meant to be. Girls like me were never destined to be friends with guys like him. I guess it’s just a good thing I discovered that before my heart got in even deeper. We may have been young, but I’m not naïve enough to ignore that fact that I gave part of my heart to Mason Paine long before I even knew it was a thing.
Noah’s eyes flutter open like he can feel me standing there. Even with all of the swelling, I can see love in them.
Mason’s lying. Noah would never do that to me. Especially not tonight.
“Babe?”
“Sorry,” I say, forcing myself from my musings and walking toward him. Perching myself on the edge of his bed, I dip a washcloth into the bowl of warm water and start to clean up his face.
He winces in pain as I gently dab at the corner of his lips.
“I didn’t—”
“I know.”
I trust Noah with my life. He’s been nothing but the perfect boyfriend since he asked me to homecoming a few weeks after that class. Another boy had consumed all my time and thoughts up until that point, and I had no idea that anyone else existed or might have been interested. He totally swept me off my feet, and I haven’t had a moment of regret since.
At the beginning, I missed Mason. I was desperate to know what he thought ab
out Noah. I was just so used to talking to him about everything, but Noah soon showed me that I didn’t need Mason the way I always thought it did. I had the sweetest new boyfriend and my best friend in Alyssa. I didn’t need the boy who turned his back on me when things didn’t go his way.
I work in silence, cleaning up Noah’s poor face.
“Where do your parents keep the painkillers?”
He tells me where to go, and, after disposing of the bloodied washcloth, I go in search of something that might help him sleep.
When I get downstairs, Alyssa, Lisa, Wyatt, and Shane are all busy tidying up the mess the rest of our class abandoned on their way out.
“Thank you so much,” I say, walking into the kitchen.
“You’re welcome. Is he okay?” Alyssa asks, concern shining from her eyes.
“Yeah, he’ll be fine.”
“What did he do to deserve that? Mason totally flew off the handle. I’ve never seen him like that, even on the field,” Shane says. He knows Mason the best out of any of us these days, seeing as he’s on the football team with the douchebags. Fuck knows why, he’s nothing like any of them and actually a good guy. Things have been weird for him at school since he was accused of drugging Amalie and having the shit kicked out of him by Jake for it. He’s kept his head down and avoided everyone—aside from this party, seeing as Noah’s his best friend. I can still see the dark shadows that night left behind in his eyes, but he made the effort tonight. I know he’s innocent, Noah too, but that doesn’t mean anyone else at school agrees. Jake Thorn pinned him as guilty, so that’s what he’ll be unless someone’s able to prove otherwise.
“Fuck knows. Mason is probably just trying to make my life harder than necessary; it seems to be his thing these days,” I mutter.
“What actually happened between you two?”
“Nothing. It’s nothing.” It’s the same excuse I’ve given ever since shit went down between our families. I have no desire to live through it again, and I can’t see things ever going back to how they once were between us.
“You guys can get out of here if you want. I’ll finish up.”
“Really?” Alyssa asks, looking concerned.
“Yeah. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of ruining everyone’s night. Go to Aces or something.”
“As long as you’re sure.”
The three of them finish off what they’re doing before saying goodbye and heading out.
Noah’s parents wisely booked themselves into a hotel for the night, so I’ve got plenty of time to get the place back to normal before they get home—not that it’s too bad. The party hadn’t really had a chance to get going before Mason ruined it. So much for Noah’s eighteenth birthday being his best ever.
I throw a few more cups into the trash before grabbing a box of Advil and going back up to Noah.
He’s out cold when I walk into his bedroom. Even with just the moonlight illuminating his face, I can see that the swelling has only gotten worse and the bruising darker. He’s even got a purple patch emerging on his ribs.
Mason really did a fucking number on him. My fists curl at my sides in anger. How dare he put his hands on Noah? It’s like he’s intent on ruining everything about my life. I’m surprised he wasn’t more onboard with pushing Amalie out of town before Jake realized he was in love with her. Getting rid of someone who’s fast become my best friend is just something I can imagine he’d do to piss me off.
Placing the glass of water and painkillers on the dresser, I walk over to pull the curtain.
“Come here,” Noah says, barely managing to hold his hand out for me.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t.”
After slipping my shoes off, I climb into his bed beside him, fully dressed. This wasn’t exactly how I planned on spending his birthday night.
His arm wraps around my waist and he pulls me back against his chest. I don’t miss his sharp intake of breath as he does.
“I’m so sorry, Noah.”
“Hey, none of this was your fault.”
His soft lips press against my shoulder before he drops his head to the pillow and falls back to sleep.
2
Mason
My entire body vibrates with anger as Jake leads me away from that motherfucker’s house.
I didn’t particularly want to be there in the first place, but Amalie had convinced me seeing as it was her and Jake’s first appearance as an official couple. I knew I should have worked the fucking shift I was offered instead of showing my face in there.
Almost our entire class was in his house and almost every set of eyes watched as I pulled his sorry, cheating ass from the bathroom and slammed my fist into his face.
I only went for a piss. The last thing I was expecting was to find him with his tongue down Tasha’s fucking throat. I expected it of her, she’s one of Chelsea’s little crew. But Noah? He might be a total computer nerd I’d happily never look at again, but I thought he was faithful.
If I thought I disliked him before, then I fucking hate him now.
In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have defended her. It was what she fucking deserved after everything, but still, my need to end him for betraying her got the better of me.
I flex my fingers as Ethan drives away from the scene of the crime.
“Where to, ladies?”
“Just take me fucking home. I’m done with tonight.”
“But I’ve got the goods at my place.”
“He said home,” Jake barks from the backseat, managing to come up for air from devouring Amalie.
“I know you two are in love and shit, but is that necessary?”
“Wow, she really does turn you into a crazy man, huh?” Ethan muses.
“I’ve got plenty of fight left in me if you want a pop, Savage.”
“Nah, man. I was just saying.”
“Well, fucking don’t.”
“You’ll understand when you meet her,” Jake pipes up.
“Her? Who’s her? Camila?”
“No, not Camila, dickwad. I mean her. The one.”
“Fuck off. You have full permission to shoot my ass if it ever looks like I’m gonna hand my balls over to a chick. They’re mine, thank you very much.”
“Aw, it’s not that bad. Amalie takes very good care of my— ow,” he complains after the sound of a slap rings through the car. “Once you find her, my friend, everything changes. Right, Mase?”
“No fucking clue what you’re talking about,” I grunt, already over this fucking conversation.
“Riiight. Of course not. I forgot. You hate her.”
My teeth grind. He’s baiting me to admit that I’ve got feelings for Camila, but he’s going to have to try harder than that because anything I felt for her died the moment my life fell apart.
Turning to stare at the sea as Ethan heads back to my side of town, I ignore whatever else is said. The only thing I can see and hear is that motherfucker as I pulled him away from the trailer trash and he started trying to defend himself.
I’m not sure I’ve ever been so fucking angry. And for what? Her?
The tension in the car is heavy. They all pretend they know how I’m feeling, but none of them have a fucking clue. Even Jake doesn’t know the whole story.
I grunt some kind of a thank you before slamming the car door. My eyes catch Amalie’s in the backseat now that Jake’s released her, and I see a million questions in her eyes. She’s desperate to fix this thing between me and Camila, but she has no idea what she’s dealing with.
I once thought I’d spend my life with Camila, just like our mothers plotted from the day we were born, but the reality of the situation is very much different.
The car idles behind me. If they think I’m going to change my mind, then they’ve got another thing coming.
The house is silent as I walk down the hallway aside from the quiet sound coming from the TV in the living room.
“Hey, Diane. You can hea
d off if you’d like,” I say when I round the corner and find my brothers’ babysitter curled into the corner of the couch.
“You’re back early. Everything okay?”
I keep my aching fists behind my back. I don’t need our next door neighbor prying. It’s bad enough I have to rely on her to look after Charlie and Ollie so that I can attempt to have something of a normal life. “Yeah, I just wasn’t really feeling it tonight.”
“That’s a shame. You deserve to let your hair down every now and then.”
Don’t I fucking know it. “There will be plenty more parties,” I mutter.
“Ah, I remember it well. Senior year was the best year of my life. No commitments, no worries. Shit, sorry.” She winces as she realizes her mistake.
“It is what it is. Thank you so much.” I pull some money from my wallet and hand it over.
“Mason, how many times do I have to tell you. You don’t need to pay me. I’m happy just to help out.”
“I take up too much of your time as it is. You should be at home with your own family, not babysitting mine. Use it to take your kids out or to buy them something nice.”
I could take her up on her offer of free childcare but then that would make me just as bad as my mother, and I refuse to be that person who takes everything and everyone for granted.
“Did the boys both go to bed okay?”
“Yeah. Charlie was complaining of a tummy ache, but he was acting fine.”
I thank her again and see her out.
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