“She almost killed me!”
Logan glanced over to see his cousin roll his eyes.
“Pretty sure she made up for that times, like, a million.”
“But she lied about it,” Logan repeated, attacking Hideki with a supercharged round. “And she let me think she was this nice, funny, perfect…”
Logan shook his head.
“I should have known better than to trust someone like her.”
“Someone like what? With money?”
Logan grimaced. Is that what he’d meant?
“You’re such a snob, Logan. Get over yourself.” He’d earned another eye roll.
“Easy for you to say! You’ve never had to see your mom counting pennies to be able to go grocery shopping. You’ve never been the poor scholarship student at school, the only one to ride a bike wearing thrift store jeans in a school full of beamers and Ralph Lauren polos…”
Hideki held up a hand in defeat, his other hand still tapping away at the controller.
“Hey you know we’re always here to help. You just need to ask.”
“Well, thanks, but I don’t need help anymore. I got into Columbia on my own, I’ll make enough this summer, take care of me and my mom… Yes!” He finally found Hideki’s hidden soldier and blew him up. He turned triumphantly to his cousin, grinning like crazy.
Hideki just looked at him, eyebrows raised as he threw the game controller on the floor in defeat.
“Logan, seriously? She’ll be fine. You know my mom will look out for her. You don’t need to worry about her.”
Logan frowned. Of course he worried about her. She was his mom.
Hideki sighed.
“Look, you can be mad at Cassie, also known as the hottest girl you will ever make out with in your life,” he said. “I get that. Sort of. But don’t keep living your life just for your mom. You’ll be thousands of miles away. This is your shot.”
Logan remembered the last time someone had said that to him. Cassie hadn’t wanted him to stay behind because of his mom either. Everyone was pushing him to go, but what if he wanted to stay right where he was?
“Maybe I can defer a year, save a little more, wait until things have settled down.”
Hideki’s mouth dropped open.
“You did not just say that.”
“What? It’s my life, I can do what I want with it.”
His cousin shook his head.
“That’s not how this works. You don’t work for years then just throw it away because some girl broke your heart.”
“This isn’t about Cassie! It’s about my mom.”
“Yeah, okay.” Hideki snorted. “It’s a big city, you don’t have to see her if you don’t want to.”
Logan’s stomach twisted into a tight knot. It wasn’t a big city. It was huge. And he’d be all alone. He knew more about it now, that was true, but he’d still have to navigate everything without anyone else there to guide him. He had been so against her help at first, but when he’d opened himself up to it, he realized how little he actually knew. He had poured over her answers to him about New York, keeping track of every little detail she shared about the city. Then, so stupidly, he’d let himself get excited about the idea of having her there with him by his side.
But now that was gone forever. Could he really do it on his own? Now that he realized how little he knew about the world outside of Montana, he wasn’t sure he wanted to go. This wasn’t like jumping off a boulder into the lake. This was his future. And then there was his mom’s case—though that was apparently all settled now that he’d overheard Mr. Huntington congratulating Mr. Hart. His mom’s case was lost and he didn’t want to abandon her right when things were going badly for her.
He wished now he’d talked to Hideki about the lawsuit. He couldn’t decide if he should tell his mom what he’d overheard at the bar. Would it change anything? She hadn’t given him details about where things were with the case, just vague updates about things “moving along.” It was late, and it wouldn’t do her any good to hear about it in the middle of the night. He sighed and ran his hands through his hair.
“Hey, you don’t need to decide anything tonight,” said Hideki, putting a hand on his shoulder. “But don’t wait too long. Things could get complicated.”
Hideki had no idea how right he was.
“Let’s just play,” Logan said, and gestured for his cousin to pick up his controller.
Hideki bit his lip and started a new game.
If nothing else, at least they could make progress on the BSE list tonight.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
A week after she’d shared the entire pint of ice cream with Marissa and it was finally starting to feel like the summer Cassie had imagined back in June.
No Spencer, hanging out with Marissa at the lake every day, and meeting up with other friends for shopping and coffee in the afternoon. As a twosome they were much more popular than Cassie on her own. With a pang, she thought of how fun it would have been at Missoula with Marissa. Was it really so bad to want to have her best friend by her side instead of heading to New York on her own?
Really on her own.
But then came a suggestion from her newly reinstated best friend.
“A party?” Cassie wrinkled her nose. Marissa had come over to binge another season of Real Housewives that morning. “Really? That’s what you want to do tonight?”
Marissa nodded firmly.
“My parents’ party is tomorrow. Won’t that be enough fun for one week?”
She groaned.
“You know that party is super boring. It’s only worthwhile because of all the junior tournament golfers. Well, and Di always sneaks us drinks in the kitchen. Let’s do something fun tonight.” Her eyes grew wide at the word fun.
Cassie sighed. She knew what that look meant.
“What if Spencer is there?”
Marissa sniffed and tossed her curls over her shoulder.
“I hope he is. He can see what an ass he was to both of us, and how much better off we are without him.”
“I’m not really feeling up—”
“Come, Cass, please?” Marissa turned her big brown eyes at her, hands laced together under her chin. “It’ll be fun. It’ll mostly be locals anyway. I doubt Spencer will even bother with it. We only have a few more parties like this together.”
They’d already missed so much of the summer together. Cassie didn’t want to miss any more. With barely a week left until she had to go home and pack up her life, Marissa was right. This could be their last party together this summer.
“Okay, fine.” Cassie sighed. “But I’m not wearing anything too skanky. I don’t actually want to hook up with anyone.” It had been nine long and painful days since that final kiss from Logan, and when she closed her eyes at night, she could still feel his lips on hers. She wasn’t ready for anyone to take that away from her quite yet.
Marissa stuck out her lower lip.
“But it’s always so much better when we both look amazing. The guys, like, flock to us like moths to a flame.”
Cassie shook her head.
“Not interested.”
“Come on, it’ll help you get over Spencer to flirt a little!”
Cassie’s stomach lurched. She’d let Marissa think she’d eaten half a pint of ice cream because of Spencer, and hadn’t even mentioned Logan’s name. Marissa had been so honest with her; could she bear to admit everything she had felt for Logan?
Just more proof what they’d had was based on lies and Cassie hadn’t deserved whatever brief period of happiness she’d had with him. If she’d really cared about him, wouldn’t she have wanted to let her best friend know?
But that would have meant telling Marissa what she’d done. In her car. While she didn’t really expect Logan to take her to court for it—though she wouldn’t have blamed him if he did—the less people that knew about it, the better.
Cassie must have taken too long to reply for Marissa.
�
��Seriously, Cass, what’s the issue? You seem really bummed out. Is this really still all about Spencer?”
She shook her head. Though she wasn’t ready to talk about Logan with anyone, there was one thing she’d found out this week that she could share with her best friend…
“My parents are getting a divorce.”
Saying it out loud for the first time was unexpectedly painful, and she felt tears rise to her eyes.
Marissa gasped as her hands flew over her mouth.
“I had no idea! They looked so happy at the Fourth of July party.”
Cassie bit her lip. They always looked happy to the outside world. Hell, she looked happy to the outside world, and her hurt cut so deep that she was surprised she wasn’t leaving a trail of blood behind her when she walked. But she’d learned from the best how to fake it.
“It’s a whole mess. She left right after the party, but apparently they talked about it. Like, nine days ago they said it was fine.” She tried not to think about it as ‘her last night with Logan’ but that’s what it would always be to her.
“But it turns out they were still fighting. Then Dad got this lawyer and threatened to not give her a penny if she left before this big real estate deal that’s happening next month and I don’t know what’s happening anymore!”
She put her head in her hands.
“Cass, I’m so sorry!” Marissa folded her up in a hug.
“Their party tomorrow is really important.” She remembered the worried voice of her sister when she’d called a few days ago with the news about the current uncertainty of her parents’ marriage. Cassie had been upset her dad hadn’t told her himself. After all, it was still just the two of them at the lake house.
But was she really that surprised at this point? Her parents were world class experts at hiding things from her.
“We have to be there and we have to look like a family. I really messed up on the Fourth of July when I wasn’t there.”
“We’ll still be there tomorrow! With bells on!” Marissa cried, throwing her hands in the air and waving them around for emphasis. Cassie laughed, distracted momentarily from her pain by her ridiculous best friend. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t go out tonight. We won’t stay that late, I promise.”
Cassie raised an eyebrow.
Marissa grinned and held up two fingers.
“I swear! Scout’s honor! We’ve been cooped up all week. Coffee doesn’t count as going out. We’ve done the moping, now let’s get out there.”
It would be nice to do something other than sit around at home or coffee shops, Cassie thought. It might even be fun to dance a little.
“Okay, fine.” She sighed, but couldn’t help but smile as soon as she saw how happy she’d made Marissa.
Now if only there was a way for Cassie to be that happy and the night would be perfect.
The air outside was so cold that going into the house was like walking into a furnace. The room pulsed with music and moving bodies. Cassie felt uneasy at the familiarity of it all. How many nights had started like this? The same droning music, the same boring people, the same watered down drinks. This wasn’t what she’d wanted this summer at the lake, yet here she was. A long, tired sigh escaped her lips and floated into the chilly night air. This was what she was supposed to be doing with her life apparently. Nothing had changed.
Then why did she feel like she had lost everything?
The second she walked in, she felt all eyes on her. Had it really been that long since she’d been out? She recognized a good number of the people here, at least their faces. They were mostly locals as Marissa had promised, but there were a fair amount of kids from school there, too. Too many for Cassie to really feel comfortable. News of Spencer’s summer had made the rounds on social media and without the hallways of Helena Prep to help spread her own version of events, she’d been cut off from people. They’d filled in the gaps however they’d wanted.
“Whose party is this, anyway?” Cassie asked, looking around at the house. It was more modern than hers. More like Spencer’s, or the ones she’d visited with her dad earlier in the summer. All open space and sleek furniture. This much white leather made her anxious, but hey, it wasn’t her problem if things got trashed.
Marissa shrugged.
“Brittney something, I think? My dad knows her dad.”
Brittney’s dad knew everybody, it seemed. She resisted pulling up Instagram to look at the photos that Brittney had posted of Logan she may or may not have saved. Had that really been just two months ago? Cassie had deleted all the others on her phone in a fit of paranoia and depression, worrying that somehow her parents would see them and make more trouble for him.
The Harts had already caused the Hanes enough pain for one summer.
Cassie looked around at the throbbing crowd. It took her about three seconds to locate Spencer, in the immediate vicinity of the keg in the kitchen. Neither Marissa nor she felt the need to have beer, but there were plenty of other things floating around.
She had gone months without getting drunk. She’d promised her parents at the beginning of the summer…
Screw them, she decided. They’d promised to love each other forever, and look how that had turned out. Besides, she’d already tried to change herself into someone better and it hadn’t made a difference. What was the point of pretending otherwise?
Three shots later, and she’d started to forget why she hated parties like this. They were kind of fun, once you didn’t really know what was going on around you.
She’d managed to lose Marissa at some point, and fell onto a couch, her bare thighs sticking to the leather as her eyes roamed back and forth around the room, trying to find her best friend. But that made her dizzy, so she closed her eyes and leaned her head back.
“You about ready for bed, princess?” Her eyes shot open at the all-too-familiar voice of Spencer next to her. He slid his arm around her shoulder and was smiling at her as if she’d been there at his side all night.
Had she been at his side? She looked around. Wasn’t this the same party she’d been to a thousand times?
She shook her head. No, she had come with Marissa, who was heartbroken over the guy currently grinning at her like the cat who’d caught a big juicy mouse by the tail.
“After what you did to Marissa, you really think that’ll work?” She crossed her arms and glared at him. He only smiled wider and handed her the drink in his hand.
“I realized she could never be you.” He leaned in close, his breath hot on her neck. Cassie’s skin crawled and her stomach lurched. “No one compares to you, Cass. Look around.” He gestured to the room. Cassie’s eyes darted around and her breath caught in her throat.
Logan was standing in a corner, his arm around Brittney, the ever-so-gracious hostess. Cassie’s stomach burned at the thought of this being another Instagram moment for her. Finally scored a kiss with the cute waiter! would accompany an adorable selfie of the two of them, announcing to the world what Cassie was witnessing right before her eyes. The shots in her stomach swirled around, ready to make a reappearance.
She turned her attention back to Spencer.
His lips were parted in a lewd smile, his eyes slowly lingering over her low top and short skirt. A year ago, that look would have sent her heart fluttering. But it had been months since it had done anything other than annoy her. Now it just creeped her out and pissed her off.
She smiled up at him, and batted her eyelashes. He leaned in close, as his arm tightened against her shoulders. Just when his lips were inches from hers, she dropped the cup she’d been holding right into his lap.
“Oopsie!” she cried, as he jerked back and cursed. A giant wet spot had appeared on his crotch, staining his jeans dark.
“What the hell, Cassie?” He stood up and glared down at her. She sniggered as she realized what a perfect shot it had been. A few girls standing around them joined in as she laughed, pointing to what was clearly proof Spencer had just peed his pants. Cassie
hoped Marissa was somewhere close and able to see it.
His eyes flashed and his hands clenched at his sides. Cassie knew he wouldn’t do anything to her, not in front of so many people, but she controlled her laughing anyway. She stared him in the eyes and shrugged.
“Sorry, I guess I’m not what you thought I’d be.”
“This is the last time you embarrass me like this, you bitch,” he hissed before stalking off out the front door. She knew he always kept clothes in his car so he could change before getting home and avoid smelling too much like smoke and beer, so it wasn’t like he’d have to stay like that all night. He was overreacting just a tad, but if he’d been at the party since it had started, he was probably way drunker than she was.
Marissa plopped down next to her.
“That. Was. Amazing,” she said in a slightly higher than normal voice. Her eyes shone with heady mixture glee and tequila. “Totally worth coming out, right?”
Cassie nodded, though slightly less enthusiastically than her friend. If things really were over between her parents, her dad would still need Mr. Huntington’s help to keep his business running, and pissing off Spencer probably wasn’t going to make things easier for him.
“Come on, let’s dance.” Marissa was pulling her off the couch. “Really show him what he’s missing.”
As she turned to head out into the yard where the DJ had set up, Cassie stole a glance back at Logan, to see if he’d witnessed Spencer’s little tantrum. Her heart sank as she spotted the back of his head, still engrossed in his conversation with Brittney.
He’d never even noticed she was there.
Chapter Thirty
Some stupid house party that Hideki had been invited to was not how Logan wanted to spend his night off. But his cousin had reminded him of their promise at the beginning of the summer.
“BSE! Best summer ever! Say yes to everything.”
So far they’d managed to knock off another few things from their list. With only a little over a week to go before he had to head back to Helena, time was running out. Of course, he could always stay longer, and put off school. Hideki hadn’t totally convinced him he didn’t have to stay. But somehow he had convinced Logan to go out tonight.
This Summer At The Lake Page 17
