by K. G. Reuss
“Hey,” Ethan greeted me, opening his arms wide as I approached.
“How did you get here so fast?” I asked, falling into his hold.
He gave me a long squeeze before pulling away. “I left class early. As far as Collins knows, I’m still in the bathroom.”
“Rebel,” I teased with a laugh as we moved to sit on the bleachers.
“I brought lunch,” Ethan said, pulling a sub from his bag and offering me half. “Hope you like turkey.”
“I do.” I grinned, taking the sandwich from him and biting into it.
He did the same with his half, and we sat eating in silence for a moment.
“How have you been?” Ethan asked.
“Everything seems crazy right now,” I admitted. “And after the weekend, I feel… different.”
Ethan swallowed his bite of sandwich and nodded. “Heard it was a hell of a time.”
“It really was.”
“I’m sorry I missed it.”
Feeling brave, I reached out and rested my hand high on his thigh.
“For what it’s worth, so am I.”
He smiled at me, his eyes twinkling. “We’ll get our moment. No worries, sweetheart. Then the four of us can be together.”
I let out a soft laugh. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
“It’s strange, huh?”
“Yeah,” I admitted softly. “But I like it.”
“That makes me happy. You have no idea how long we’ve all wanted this.”
“How did it even happen?” I asked. “That you guys decided you wanted to do something like this?”
Ethan shrugged. “I don’t know. We were just hanging out one day, and Enzo started talking about it. It sounded fun. We decided it might be cool to try out. We did it a few times with some girls. Not all of us together. Just two of us. Couldn’t progress past that. Seemed to scare women away, honestly.”
I nodded. I could see that. Hell, it had scared me.
“We’ve been looking for our unicorn, I guess,” he finished. “We had our eye on you for a long time. We just needed to get Fox on board with it.”
I bit my bottom lip and asked the question that was burning up in my mind. “What’s up with him? Why did you need to talk him into doing this with me?”
“Aside from your history together?” Ethan asked.
I nodded.
Sadness darkened Ethan’s eyes. “He hated you.”
It felt like a lead brick had fallen into my belly.
“Don’t think what you’re thinking,” Ethan said out softly, taking my hand in his. “He doesn’t hate you now.”
“But why would he ever hate me? We were best friends since we were in diapers. One minute we were everything to one another then nothing. It was like he died when his mom did.”
Ethan sighed and looked out to the empty football field.
“He blames you for his mom’s death.”
His words were like a hammer to my skull. They rocked me, making me choke on my next breath.
“W-what? How? Why?”
“Sweetheart, it’s not my place to say. I’ve already said too much.”
“Oh, no you don’t, Ethan Masters. You don’t hit me with that and then go silent on me. If you know something, tell me. Please. Fox has been mean to me. Then over the weekend, something changed. He was sweet again. Then today, nothing. While he hasn’t said anything awful to me, it’s the silence that’s bothering me. Especially a-after what we did.”
Ethan’s gaze swept over my face, his brows crinkled.
“He’s torn between caring too much and not enough. I know it seems impossible to believe, but he does care about you.”
I nodded, swallowing hard.
“He does, Rosalie. He just needs to deal with his own demons.”
“I don’t understand why he would blame me for Amy dying,” I murmured. “We were at Fox’s house. I-I remember that day like it was yesterday. It was a Friday night. Amy made dinner. Lasagna. My parents weren’t home, so I ate dinner with Fox’s family. We holed up in Fox’s room and watched scary movies.” I frowned as a memory surfaced.
“What is it?” Ethan pressed gently, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
“Amy came up to Fox’s room when he went downstairs to grab us more soda. I-I talked to her. She asked me how school was going. It was just normal conversation. Then I told her about these earrings I saw and fell in love with, but my parents wouldn’t let me get my ears pierced. They were the last pair left. Tiny silver flowers with a small red gem in the center. My birthday was coming, and I told her it was the only thing I wanted.”
Ethan squeezed my hand as I swiped at more tears.
“She left after that. Told us she wanted to run some errands before the stores closed. She never came home,” my voice cracked. “I loved Amy like a mom. She was wonderful. My heart shattered that night when the cops came to the house. I’ll never forget it.”
Ethan wrapped his arms around me as I wept. I’d spent years pushing the memory of that night away. The look on Fox’s face. How he’d fallen to his knees and cried, wails of torment falling from his lips. I’d never seen him cry before. How Kurt tried to hold him. How I did. How he clung to me and begged me not to go.
And days later, he proclaimed his hatred of me.
“I didn’t know his mom, but I know Fox. He needs you, Rosalie. Since you’ve been in our lives, he’s happier, even if he doesn’t look like he is. It’s just a lot for him to deal with.”
“I hope he’s happier,” I said in a shaky voice. “I don’t want him to hate me.”
“He doesn’t. I know he doesn’t. He’s just confused right now. Give him time. He’s come so far already.”
I nodded sadly, unable to shake the questions in my mind. How was Amy’s death my fault? Why did he blame me?
“Do you hate him?” Ethan asked softly.
“No. I… as much as I would’ve liked to, Fox is impossible to hate. Even when I try.”
Ethan smiled at me and pressed a gentle kiss to the corner of my lips. “This is going to work. Believe me?”
“Yes,” I whispered. Because the alternative would break my heart.
Twenty-Eight
“It’s been a while,” Ian said, falling in step beside me as I walked across the parking lot later that day at school.
I groaned inwardly as I continued to my car. I hadn’t gotten a chance to speak to Fox. My anxiety was choking me with worry that maybe we weren’t OK due to his scarceness. The guys had football practice, so I was alone with my thoughts, not all of them clean ones.
“Not long enough,” I muttered, reaching for my door handle and turning to glare at him. “Stay away from Jamie. I saw you two in the hallway.”
“Ah, so you know we’re dating.” He gave me a Cheshire smile. “There’s only one way me staying away from her is going to happen. And that all rests on you.”
“Why haven’t you told her yet? Why are you dragging this out? It’s pathetic,” I spat out.
“You know why. I’m really hoping you come around, Rosalie.”
“I’m not going to—”
“If you don’t finish it, it’ll be her virginity I take. We’ve both spent enough time with her to know how important this is to her. I’ll fuck her brains out. I’ll make promises I don’t intend to keep. Then I’ll leave her without an explanation.”
“You’re an asshole.”
“Or maybe I’ll tell her she fucks like a wet paper bag, and I can’t bear to do it with her again.”
“Jamie is your friend, Ian. What the hell is the matter with you? You know what this means to her—”
“I know, and that’s why you need to fall in line, Rosalie. I wanted you first. If those fuck boys hadn’t come in and ruined it, you’d be mine right now, not sucking them off every chance you get.”
“There’s something seriously wrong with you,” I snarled at him, my hands balled into fists.
“No, I just know what I want.”
A wide smile spread over his face. Dread filled my belly. “That’s you. I’d hoped you’d want me too. When you didn’t, I decided to settle with easing your resistance with a little chemical help. Now, you know the score. I will have you. I don’t care if you had all their dicks inside you. Mine will be the last.”
“I was drunk, Ian. You put something in my drink. That wasn’t love, lust or anything related. It was criminal! That night shouldn’t have happened. I was upset, and you took advantage.” I shifted to open my car door, but he slammed it closed on me, making me jump.
“It was me you came to.”
“It was an accident,” I answered. “I ran into you. It could’ve been anyone. But the only difference is, they wouldn’t have drugged me and tried to fuck me.”
He let out a bark of laughter and pushed me against my car. “I want what’s mine. Finish what you fucking started, or I really will take it from you.”
“I’m done having this argument with you.” I ground my teeth, trying to compose myself. “You’re mental.”
“I’m taking her v-card. Then I’m going to tell her about us.”
“Go to hell,” I snarled at him. “If you touch her, I will end you.”
I didn’t wait for his rebuttal. I shoved him aside, got into my car, and peeled away, leaving him where he stood.
Twenty-Nine
“Come on, pick up, Jamie,” I whispered into my phone later that night.
Nothing. Straight to voicemail.
“Jamie, it’s me. Please talk to me. I miss you. I-I need to tell you something about Ian. Call me back.”
I hung up the phone and sighed. Without thinking it through, I sent Fox a text.
Rosalie: Hey. Can we talk?
I stared at my phone for a full ten minutes before letting out a growl and dropping it onto my mattress. I was just about to say to hell with it and call it a night when there was a soft knock on my bedroom door. My heart jolted in my chest. My parents were out for the evening. There was no one in our house but me.
I got to my feet and crept to my door, snagging the only weapon I could find. A ruler.
“W-who is it?” I called out, clutching the ruler.
“It’s me, Fox,” Fox’s voice called out.
I breathed out a sigh of relief and pulled open my bedroom door to find him standing in there in his basketball shorts and no shirt. My heart kicked to life in my chest at the sight of all his rippling muscles, those baby blue eyes, and dark, windswept hair.
“Were you going to measure me?” he asked, stepping into my room, a tiny smirk on his lips as he eyed the ruled I was still clutching.
“I thought you were an intruder,” I muttered, tossing the ruler onto my desk.
“Do intruders usually knock on your bedroom door?”
I stuck my tongue out at him and flopped onto my bed, still acutely aware he was half-naked in my room.
He sat beside me.
“Are you OK?”
“I-yeah. No. I don’t know,” I mumbled.
“Talk to me,” he said. “What’s wrong?”
I couldn’t tell him about Ian even though I really wanted to. Instead, I shook my head.
“Guess I was lonely. I was worried when I didn’t see you at school or talk to you that maybe you were regretting what we did.”
He shook his head and stared down at his hands.
“I’d never regret what we did. I made you feel good, right?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
“You made me feel good too, Rosie.”
“But I didn’t even do anything—”
“Trust me, you did.” He chuckled. We grew quiet for a moment before he continued, “It’s just… I don’t know. It’s a lot for me to deal with. I’m trying though. Promise me you’ll give me some time to work through it all?”
“I don’t even know what you need to work through, Fox. You’ve never told me.” I watched him to see if he had any sort of reaction. The only thing noticeable was his shoulders hunching forward slightly.
“I will someday. I just need to get to the place where I can. I’m almost there.”
I nodded and squeezed his hand. He was trying. Just like Ethan had said. It was better than how things had been a few weeks ago. I could accept that. For now. “OK.”
“You looked beautiful today. It’s all I could think about.”
I bit my bottom lip. “You’ve been thinking of me?”
“Yes.” He reached out and twirled his finger around one of my long curls. “In fact, you’re all I’ve been able to think about lately.”
My heart raced at his words, so it took me a few beats to get my next words out of my mouth. “I’ve been thinking about you too, Fox. But, um, what about Juliet?”
He scoffed and moved to cradle my face. “No Juliet. Just you.”
“I-I thought you two were dating.”
“No,” he answered softly.
“Is that why you guys were fighting this morning?”
He smirked. “You ask a lot of questions.”
“She hates me, Fox. If you’re with her, and you and I, um, you know—”
“She won’t touch you, Rosie. I’ll lose my shit if she even thinks about bothering you. I made you that promise before, and I’m keeping it.”
“You didn’t always keep it,” I murmured.
His eyes darkened as his gaze flicked to my lips then back to my eyes.
“That was before,” he answered, leaning in.
“Before what?”
“I kissed you.” He planted a soft kiss on my lips, his mouth trailing hot kisses along my jaw before he whispered in my ear, “Before I tasted you.”
A thrill of excitement raced through me as he let out a husky laugh.
“You like me, Rosie.” It was a statement. A cocky one that embodied all the confident swagger Fox possessed.
“You like me right back, Fox,” I said breathlessly as he moved his hand to the small of my back and pulled me close. He planted another kiss on my lips.
“I do,” he answered. “And I’d show you just how much if I didn’t have to go meet someone.”
He liked me. He admitted it. It took all I had to play it cool.
“Where are you going?”
He pulled away and gave my hand a squeeze.
“We’ve lost something important. Just going to go get it back is all. Hopefully.”
“Oh—”
“I’ll tell you about it later, OK? I’m meeting the guys. Cole has this OCD thing about punctuality.” He pressed another kiss to my lips before getting to his feet. I escorted him downstairs.
“Fox?”
“Hmm?” He pulled open the door and turned to me.
Is it true about the other girls? Am I just another conquest? I stopped myself before the words slipped from my mouth. I knew they’d been looking for what they’d lost for a while now. Something about the subject made my tummy twist into uncomfortable knots.
“Be careful tonight.”
A quick smile turned his lips up. “I will, Rosie.”
He reached out and thumbed my bottom lip, a storm brewing behind his blue eyes.
“I’m going to make it up to you.”
“Make what up?”
“All the wrongs. I promise. I just need a little time.” Worry crowded his handsome features. He looked so vulnerable as he stared back at me.
“OK. I’ll wait a little longer.”
He pressed a tender kiss to my lips. “I’ll text you later, baby.”
Baby. He called me baby.
“Can’t wait,” I managed to whisper in a hoarse voice.
He let out a low chuckle as he walked out my door, turning as he reached the bottom step and giving me that sweet smile he’d been hiding for so long.
But the most important thing was he looked back.
Thirty
Fox messaged me goodnight. So did the others. I smiled as I lay in bed, giddy beyond imagination at everything working out.
Then the crus
hing weight of Ian came tumbling down on me. I had to figure out what to do about him. It was clear he hurt girls. If he drugged me and tried to screw me, his friend, then who else was his victim?
He needed to pay. I just had to figure out how.
Then I thought about my music. How Enzo and Fox’s eyes had lit up when I sang. How my dad would kill me if he found out I wanted to go to Mayfair.
I cringed and punched my pillow. I barely slept. When Fox came home well after two in the morning, I was up, sitting at my desk. His goodnight text had come nearly four hours earlier. I knew he wasn’t home when he sent it because he said he was still with the guys.
But what the hell were they doing?
My mind kept going back to what Mona said. As much as I wanted to believe I meant something to them, I had to know what the deal with all of that was. Maybe it was like Ethan said. They just really wanted a girl to share and had simply been looking for a long time.
I hoped that’s what it was.
When I got back into bed, it was after three in the morning. By six, I’d slept for maybe an hour. The day was going to suck.
Fox was already gone when I went out to my car in the morning, so I drove to school like I always did and parked in the back of the lot. The only one on the sidewalk when I got there was Ethan.
“Hey, sweetheart,” he greeted me with a kiss on the cheek. “You look exhausted.”
“I am,” I mumbled. “Where are the others?”
“They had some business to take care of. They’ll be here later.”
“Why does that sound like it’s business with their fists?”
Ethan chuckled. “Why do you think that?”
“Fox said something was missing and you guys had to go meet someone. What was it?”
Ethan tensed before giving me a quick squeeze. “Nothing you should worry about. It’s being taken care of.”
“It’s not nothing if you’re keeping it from me,” I grumbled. “It’s definitely something. If it’s bad and I find out, I’ll kick all your asses for lying to me.”