I don’t speak again, my mind racing faster than the arcade game’s pixelated cars. The guys go on to talk about an open house party happening tonight, but I don’t give a flying shit about some party.
My phone buzzes with a text.
From her.
Control freak: Winter heard us in the bathroom this morning. She knows.
Control freak: It’s only a matter of time before Kendrick finds out. I’m working all afternoon, but I think we should tell him tonight.
He’ll get over it. Kass’s words loom in my brain.
And it kills me…
Because she’s wrong.
Kassidy
The end of my shift rolls around quicker than expected—all credit goes to Luke on that one. I was cleaning the fish tanks when he came strolling through the front door with his tail between his legs. It would seem Isabella abused her aunt status and demanded her nephew apologize for trying to get me fired.
The apology in itself didn’t come as a surprise.
The invitation to prom, on the other hand… Pretty sure my jaw took a dive into the fish tank.
Isabella stopped by the store last week and asked me if I had a boyfriend to take to prom. I told her I didn’t, and I wasn’t sure I’d be going at all. Best part is, I didn’t even have to blow off Greg, the jock Luke set me up with. He got expelled for stashing a massive amount of weed in his locker.
Will hadn’t asked me to go with him yet, which broke my heart to an embarrassing extent. Isabella exclaimed, “Why, a pretty girl like you?” and, by the looks of it, took it upon herself to remedy the situation.
Luke apologized and said he felt like an ass for meddling in my relationship. Seemed to be under the impression that I’d broken up with Will since I didn’t want to go. Then he offered to take me if I didn’t have anyone to go with. As friends, he specified. I didn’t have it in me to correct him.
Especially considering how things are looking right now. At this rate, I probably will be single soon. I thanked him, promised I’d think about it, and he left.
It’s past seven when I pull into my driveway and amble inside a quiet house. My mom is at work, I’m guessing Winter is holed up in her room, and heaven only knows where the boys are. I check social media on my way up the stairs.
There’s a party tonight.
It’s all everyone’s been talking about. I close the Instagram app, noticing I have two unread texts from Will.
Willy Wonka: Hey, I thought about it and… we can’t tell him tonight.
Willy Wonka: I’m sorry.
I reread his messages five times, trying my best to swallow the pill. Swallow his lies. Yesterday, he said tomorrow. And this morning, he promised he’d talk to him. If I let him push it back again, odds are “later” will never come.
In a shit mood, I swing my bedroom door open with every intent to change into the ugliest, most comfortable sweats I own until I have to get ready for the party. If only Will wasn’t sitting at my desk.
My breath catches when I see him. I don’t make a sound, kicking the door shut and enabling us to speak freely. He spins on my desk chair and rises up, trailing toward me.
“Why are you in my room? Kendrick will—”
“Kendrick’s out. Booty call.” He shrugs. “Come here.” He leans in for a kiss, which I deny him instantly, flicking my head and introducing him to my cheek.
“What are you doing?” I say dryly.
I’m not sad anymore. We passed “sad” a million stations ago. Now I’m on a speeding train to “angry.” Last stop: chew-his-head-off town.
“Kissing my girlfriend?” Will frowns.
His girlfriend?
Good one.
“Oh… I’m sorry, are we dating?” I scoff. “Because it sure doesn’t look like it.
He’s taken aback by my tone.
Then he understands.
I have my reasons.
“Kass…” He drags out a sigh. “Don’t be like this.”
“Then how should I be? Tell me, Will. How should I react to my boyfriend constantly breaking his promises?”
He purses his lips.
I have a point, and he knows it.
“How should I react to my boyfriend treating me like a dirty little secret?”
“Baby, you have to believe me, the last thing I want is to hide you, but…” He grows irritated. “Fuck, I don’t know what to do, okay? He’ll never forgive me, Kass. Never.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do,” he snaps. “He found out about you and Blake today.”
“He what?” I blurt, quickly berating myself for being this loud with Winter right down the hall.
“Alex couldn’t keep his fucking trap shut. He told your brother… You should’ve heard the things he said. He straight up told me he’d rather die than let a guy like me date you. I can’t tell him. Not now. Not when he’s already pissed about you and Blake.”
I get where he’s coming from. It’s not like he’s ashamed of people seeing us together. His I-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude when Alex walked in on us in bed made that clear. He’s just terrified of losing his closest friend. There’s a cruel, twisted irony in the fact that if he doesn’t tell him, he’ll end up losing us both.
“Then when? Tell me a date.”
He chews on his lip.
It hits me.
He can’t.
He can’t give me a date because he’s not planning on doing it anytime soon. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not ever. In a moment of irrational anger, the words slip out of my mouth.
“Luke asked me to prom.”
That’s all it takes for the jealousy to kick in. I see it in his eyes.
“What?” He seethes.
“He stopped by the shop today, apologized for what he did, and asked me to prom. No secrets, no lies, just a boy asking a girl out. The way it should be.” I twist the knife into his flesh, and I hate myself. Because I can’t stop. I want him to know how it feels. I want him to hurt like I do.
He doesn’t say a word, eyes darkening by the second. Then I finish him.
“I think I’m going to say yes.”
My attempts at hurting him backfire, evidently having the opposite effect. His fists wind into white-knuckled balls, his jaw flexing in frustration. The darkness in his eyes isn’t pain.
It’s anger.
“Fine,” he spits.
Then he’s out the door.
Will
I think this girl is going to kill me. Don’t know how, don’t know when, but she will.
It might be the thought of her going to prom with Luke fucking Jenson that does it. Having to pretend like we’re strangers when all I want to do is spend every waking moment with her. Or…
It might be seeing her in that dress.
Because hot damn.
The party is ear-splitting, jam-packed. How to find it? Just follow the smell of regrets and drunken mistakes. I haven’t been able to peel my eyes off Kass since we got here twenty minutes ago. The worst part? She knows it. She wants me to be looking at her. She wants me to stare.
To suffer.
And it’s working.
She put on the tightest fucking dress she owns. One that makes my dick twitch every time she moves. I tried, but I can’t help watching her ass bounce as she walks around the party. I can’t stop fantasizing about wrapping my fist around that blonde hair and showing her she’s mine. Not Luke’s. Not any of the drunk bastards ogling her.
Mine.
We didn’t speak again after she ripped me a new one. And while I know she most likely said that last part to piss me off, I’m scared it comes from a place of truth.
I assess her from across the room. Track her every move as she leans against the pool table, laughing and chatting with Winter. Oh, and there’s some brunette whose face I can’t see from here. I remember Alex saying he was inviting the girl he’s been seeing.
Mia, I think?
“Is that Alex’s girlfriend?” I
ask Kendrick, who’s got a barely conscious, busty ginger on his arm. She’s been “whispering” the dirtiest, cringiest things in his ear for ten minutes straight. I say “whispering” because the poor girl is way too hammered to be discreet. Now the whole party knows she can deep-throat.
I’ve never actually met Alex’s girlfriend before. Heard a lot about her though.
“Talking to you, asshole.” I elbow him.
“Fuck off, I’m busy,” Kendrick growls, hooking a finger into the ginger’s deep V neck as if to take a peek inside. She smacks his hand away with a giggle.
I don’t give a shit. “Is that Alex’s girlfriend? The one in the pink shirt?”
Irritated, he checks. “Yeah, it’s her.”
“How do you know?”
Why does she look so familiar?
Sure, the back of her head looks familiar, Will.
“Saw her and Alex come in together earlier. Now shut up.”
I never thought I’d be jealous of Haze Adams one day. But when he pops up by Winter’s side, surprising her by looping his arms around her waist from behind, I’m so fucking envious I could go apeshit. I want to do that to Kass. I want to be able to hold her in public and not give a damn who’s watching. Kendrick got over them being together, and he hates Haze’s guts. How is me dating his sister any different than his enemy dating his cousin?
Flustered, Winter frees herself from his embrace. Then Haze says something that makes Winter choke. She literally chokes on her drink. Soon after she’s done coughing, she excuses herself, dragging Haze’s drunk ass into an isolated corner to talk.
Alex and Ryder are back with drinks for Kass and Mia a few minutes later. Eventually, Winter rejoins their small circle, minus Haze. Nothing happens for a solid five minutes.
Until I see him.
Luke.
Staring at Kass. Fine, drooling over Kass. Guess I’m not the only one who noticed that dress. Greg, Luke’s dumbass friend, tells him something I know is about her. I can’t hear squat, but I’d bet a hundred bucks it runs along the lines of “Are you going to hit that?” and Luke flashes a cocky smile.
Then he’s making his way over to her.
He taps her shoulder.
She turns around.
Smiles at him.
It’s just to be polite, but still.
I can’t do anything. And since I’m the designated driver tonight, I can’t even get blackout. All I can do is stand there like a brain-dead fucking moron while the school’s quarterback flirts with my girlfriend.
Fifteen minutes in, I decide I can’t take any more of this hell. I tell Kendrick I’m going to get some air before storming off. Too bad he can’t get his tongue out of the ginger’s mouth long enough to reply.
I grab a beer in a cooler on my way to the backyard.
Fuck it.
I step onto the perfectly mowed lawn, wandering around and finding a quiet spot to drown my sorrows. I must chug my beer in less than five minutes.
She’s in there.
With him.
And I’m here.
Drinking the truth away. The truth being that she’d be better off with someone like him. Someone who wouldn’t hide her.
Rage spurts inside my stomach, and I lose it, chucking my empty beer against the brick house. It smashes, but the impact isn’t nearly as satisfying as I’d hoped, the noise drowned out by the booming pop music inside.
“Feel better?”
I jump, spinning to find Kass staring at me, worry plaguing her clear eyes. How long has she been standing there?
“Not even a little,” I say hoarsely.
She threads forward hesitantly.
“I’ve been looking for you.”
She has?
“Why?” I sneer.
“I-I was hoping we could talk about… earlier.”
“What? Sick of Luke already?” I snap.
She’s caught off guard.
“Look, if you’re going to be like this, I’m just going to go.”
Shit.
She hasn’t even taken a step before I’m striding across the lawn, leaping into her way and crashing my lips to her. She yelps in surprise, staggering backward and granting me a short, fleeting moment of peace. Our lips chase each other. Hungry. Avid. And I couldn’t give less of a fuck that someone could find our lonely spot and see us at any moment.
I grip her waist with both hands, easing her against the old shed sitting in the backyard. I suck her bottom lip between my teeth, and she moans into my mouth, flattening her tits against my chest. We claw at each other’s clothes, faces, necks, making out until my dick strains against my zipper.
“I love you. Is that what you want me to say?” I rasp in between kisses. “Because I’ll say it a hundred fucking times if I have to. I love you, Kass. I love you. I love you. I need you. Isn’t that enough?”
Hurt flashes in her gaze. She knows that’s my way of asking her to look past this Kendrick thing.
“Will,” she whimpers, but I don’t want to hear the rest. I’d rather go deaf than hear what she says next.
She’s going to leave me.
I know it.
I feel it.
“Remember that favor you owed me?” I croak.
She blinks at me, perplexed.
“That time forever ago when you asked me to crash your date with that rapist dude Simon? I said you’d owe me a favor.”
She nods.
My eyes burn with unwelcomed emotions. Shit, am I… tearing up? What the hell has this girl done to me?
“Well, this is it. Right here. I’m calling it in.” I cup her face, choking on my plea. “I need you to fucking stay.”
My request sends gallons of tears pouring down her cheeks. They fall hard and fast, yielding me a sliver of hope. This could either be a good sign… or the worst sign in the world. I hold my breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Finally, she answers my first question with a sob. “No, it’s not enough.”
There’s the other shoe.
It feels like my goddamn heart is trying to claw its way out of my rib cage. Trying to run. To escape before it comes.
The end.
“You were right. Maybe we shouldn’t tell him. Maybe…” She sniffles. “Maybe there should be nothing to tell.”
“What? No. Fuck no. Don’t say that.” I clench my teeth together to keep the pain at bay.
She wipes her face. “I don’t want a secret relationship. I’ve been there before, and I promised myself I’d never let it happen again, and I…” Sniffle. “I can’t be your secret, Will. No matter how much I love you, I can’t do this to myself. I’m sorry.”
“What are you saying?” My voice gets stuck in my throat.
“I’m saying…” She’s shaking, her body howling with sobs. “I’m saying it’s over.”
Then she takes her heart and walks away.
Just like that.
I watch her give up on me.
And take it all in. Every scenario, every bit of what my life is going to look like without her. I picture us never speaking again. Imagine things going back to the way they were. Before. Back when she was nothing but my best friend’s controlling sister. Then I realize I don’t have a choice.
And if I do have a choice…
I choose her.
“Go get him,” I command.
She stops cold, gaping at me over her shoulder.
“W-What?”
I make my way over to her.
“Go get your brother. We’re telling him. Now.”
She’s shocked, keeping quiet for an excruciating while.
“R-Really?” She cries harder.
I nod.
“I don’t care what I have to do. I’m not losing you.”
I’ve never, in the many years I’ve known her, seen her look this happy. She flings her arms around my neck, planting a salty, tear-soaked kiss on my lips. I pull her into me, relishing in every second. Usually, she’d take my breath away, but rig
ht now… her kiss feels like CPR. It lets me breathe again. Fills my lungs with missing air.
“God, I love you,” she cries.
“I love you, control freak,” I say, and she laughs through the tears.
“Are we really doing this? I mean… are you sure?”
“As sure as I’ll ever be.”
“Okay, I’ll go get him.” She squeals and pecks my mouth. “Stay here.”
She takes off running toward the house. The moment it engulfs her, I feel relieved.
Free.
I haven’t even told Kendrick yet, but knowing this will all be over soon is the equivalent of getting out of jail—except I chose to step inside the cell. And I was holding the key this whole time.
Fifteen minutes go by.
Not that I’m surprised. Might take her a while to find Kendrick in there. If I had to guess, I’d say he’s somewhere upstairs getting someone pregnant. My phone chimes with a text from Kass.
Control freak: Found him. On our way now.
Just as I’m typing a reply, a laugh flares behind me.
“Seriously? Your best friend’s sister? You haven’t changed at all, have you?”
I stop moving.
Breathing.
Doing anything that requires functioning like a human being.
That croaky, honeyed voice…
I know it.
I swivel around, my throat feeling clogged when I drink in the ghost staring back at me. I saw that pink shirt earlier tonight. My eyes dip to her necklace. To the name written in gold.
Mia.
What the fuck?
“Are you going to say something or…?” she mocks.
One second.
That’s all it takes to send me back there. A single second and I’m reliving the worst day of my life. Back to suffocating. Gasping for air in a burning building. Praying the truth about what really happened that day will die along with me.
But I can’t run anymore.
Because behind me,
Is the girl I killed…
“Lyla?”
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Forgotten Rules: A Brother's Best Friend Romance Page 33
