Make My Move

by J Bree

  I get fucking wasted.

  I drink so much that Avery has something new to bitch me out about, because she has to make sure I don’t choke on my own puke all night when I finally pass out. Harley only drinks enough beer to be able to deal with Avery’s bitch-fit with nothing but patience and kindness so he’s really fucking laying it on thick.

  I wake up to a glass of ice water poured over my head and a seething tone in my ear snarking out, “Get your ass up. I need you to walk me to choir and I’m not going anywhere with you stinking like an alcoholic homeless bum someone picked up off of the roadside.”

  Ash snickers at his sister like this is all so fucking funny, but when I finally drag my ass out of the shower, Harley dips his head in my direction in thanks and I know that I’ve done the right thing for us all… even if I don’t know exactly what I was so instrumental in making happen last night and it’ll still be hours before I can ask Ash what the fuck went down.

  So I just grit my teeth and bear it when Avery looks down her nose at me for shit I didn’t do and I walk down to our class with her, smirking and snarking at the other students as we pass them. It’s the only thing that can help the pounding fucking hangover that’s taken over in my head, until my eyes are watering and my stomach is churning.

  We arrive before the Mounty and take our seats, still snarking about the latest round of bullshit that’s being whispered about in the halls.

  Mainly Harlow’s latest conquests to grab Joey’s attention, the brainless fucking skank-bitch. She’s a fucking cunt and the only upside to being forced to be around her is hearing the vicious rumors about her and knowing how much of it must be going back to her parents.

  They care a little more about her reputation and well-being than mine care about me.

  Lips arrives with about three minutes to spare, looking a little tired and rumpled, and Avery assesses her every move. I’m sure she’s taking in just how tired her friend is, but we all know how much the Mounty studies so we should be safe enough.

  Lips sits next to Avery and smiles over at some of the other girls in class, rolling her eyes when Avery snarks at her, “Stop being nice to the sheep.”

  “Your green-eyed monster is showing, Aves. You know you’re my favorite.”

  Avery giggles back and bumps her shoulder with the Mounty’s. “The only green-eyed monster around here is Morrison and he’s too hungover to be any trouble.”

  Fuck.

  Does Avery know— no. She’s talking about my actual eye color, not the secret jealousy that’s slowly worming its way into my gut every time I see someone else fall for the Mounty’s charms.

  Fuck.

  I’m so screwed.

  I roll my eyes to cover my ass as Lips looks me over. “Drinking on a school night? How very rock star of you.”

  I groan and slump down in my chair like my head is killing me… which, to be fair, it is. I spin a little story, just to make sure we’re all on the same page. “I had no choice. Ash borrowed my car to go fuck a Haven chick and Avery cornered me about my own evening activities, so I tried to drown her out with bourbon. I think I’m going to join Harley in celibacy because I haven’t found a pussy yet that’s worth dealing with Avery’s lectures.”

  Avery makes a gagging noise and Lips stares at me with this gaping look, stunned at my crassness. I guess I’ve covered my ass a little more.

  Miss Umber walks in and starts the class, drawing the attention away from me.

  Thank fuck.

  “I have some exciting changes in your syllabus to announce! Usually your final assignment for choir is to perform in front of the class but this year we’re joining forces with the music students and holding a concert for the entire school!”

  She’s too fucking excited about this lame-ass idea, but I go with it, another distraction and an opportunity to hear Lips sing.

  I want to know how the fuck she beat me… how she’s still beating me.

  “What the fuck is Miss Umber’s obsession with individual performances?” Lips hisses at Avery the moment Miss Umber’s back is turned.

  Huh.

  The Mounty really is shy about her voice then.

  Avery hums under her breath at her, lifting a shoulder in a nonchalant way, but Lips is looking sick, wiping her palms on her skirt and swallowing like she’s got bile creeping up her throat.

  What the fuck.

  Miss Umber hands out her usual useless worksheets, designed to help the plebs pick which song they’ll sing, and then giggles like she’s flirting when I smile at her. I do it to distract her away from Lips because it’s clear to me the Mounty is either about to puke or have a full-blown panic attack. Avery scoffs and rolls her eyes at me, but I’m determined to keep her away from the Mounty.

  I can’t undo how I treated her last year, but I can make amends.

  The sweating gets worse and worse as Miss Umber continues talking, “The concert will be held at the end of the school year; choir students will sing in front of the entire school. Then the musicians will perform. So I hope you all take this very seriously, as always the majority of your mark will be determined by your performance. No exceptions. If you’re not there, you’re not passing this class.”

  Fuck.

  She’s really fucking panicking. Avery notices it, but only after the warm-ups start and Lips whispers in her ear again.

  I glance at them both but I can’t hear a thing they’re saying so I focus on distracting the entire class away from whatever the hell is going on with her.

  When Miss Umber notices that they’re not joining in, I kick it up a notch and flirt mercilessly with her until she forgets why she ever walked over to our group.

  I try to plan out what I can say to Lips when the class is over but anything I can come up with will be a giant red flag to Avery and my ears are still ringing from the last lecture I got from her. When the class finishes, I walk them out to their next class.

  As I turn to leave them there, Lips hands me the iPod and I nod back to her.

  We communicate better with lyrics than with words.

  I find out why Lips was looking so fucking rattled after class when I get back to my room to find Harley and Ash in a fucking raging argument.

  At first I think it’s over last night, that maybe Ash didn’t enjoy his little joy drive with the Mounty and things are only going to get worse, but no.

  No, this is about Joey and his bullshit again.

  Fuck.

  “You can’t go there by yourself; he’s going to have at least ten guys with him. Do you really think you can take them all on at once?” Ash snarls, derision dripping from his tone, and I wince.

  I’ve seen enough of these arguments in my time to know how this is going to go. I’ll be breaking the two of them up in no time and getting my ribs broken in a hot fucking second.

  I throw my bag down on the ground and pull my blazer off so my arms aren’t restricted, ready to dive in, but Harley’s words bring me up short.

  “Lips went to Haven to help Avery but she also went for you. Now she’s going to the party to deal with Joey too and if I try to stop her, she’ll just figure out how to go without me. If I don’t go with her and have her back, I’m no fucking better than any of the rest of these assholes here. She’s had our backs, even when we fucking hated her. I’m going. Deal with it.”

  And that’s the end of that.

  Chapter Eleven

  Harley

  There’s no way Ash can talk me out of going to Joey’s little party with Lips.

  I shower in the girls’ bathroom just so I can leave my shit there and have an excuse to come back up with the Mounty afterward. When she opens the door to me, dressed for comfort but with her hair pulled back and makeup on, I'm even more fucking smug with my decision.

  She’s unbelievably hot.

  Her face is softer now she's not a bag of bones anymore, and she’s gone from striking, to fucking gorgeous. Every time I look at her I feel like the air has been knocked out of m
y lungs and it’s getting harder and harder to play it cool around her.

  I’m pretty fucking sure everyone knows I’m fucking panting after her too now.

  Tonight is the goddamn night. No matter what, I’m not leaving here without making a move.

  My entire body is buzzing as I lean on the wall while Lips locks up, angling my body into her and enjoying the sight of her shivering at how close I am. Fuck, I want her. I want her so fucking bad, it’s kind of pathetic. I mean, I know it’s pathetic already but Ash doesn’t let me forget it either.

  He shuts up real fucking quick when I point out how obsessively he watches her too.

  The thought of her picking him or Morrison over me… fuck.

  I need to make my move on her tonight but she’s so fucking… jumpy. Literally, if she watches me for too long she startles like a rabbit caught in headlights and scurries away. Floss won’t tell me a thing about her, nothing to give me a clue to why she’s like this, but at least the blushes and shudders let me know she’s into me too.

  Something catches my eye and I curse under my breath.

  I don’t want to fucking deal with Annabelle’s bullshit right now. I’m pissed at myself for ever touching her in the first place and now she won’t fucking leave me alone.

  “It’s bad enough I have to watch Blaise leave here most nights now you’re here with her too? Come on, Harley, what are you thinking?”

  My skin crawls at the sound of her voice.

  The attitude is just as bad, I know she doesn’t give a fuck about Morrison. He’s nothing but dollar signs in her mind and that alone has my teeth clenching.

  Lips stalking away, ready to bail on me over this has me fucking livid at the slut.

  I grab the Mounty’s hand and tug her back over to my side. There’s no way I’m having her doubt me, not over this bitch. Not over anything, I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life as I am about her. Whatever it takes, she’s going to be mine.

  “We’re heading out to Joey’s party. Have a great night with whichever dumbass you’re all dressed up for, Summers,” I say, scathing sarcasm dripping from every word.

  Annabelle’s bottom lip drops and she looks like a fucking child, none of the integrity or backbone of the Mounty. Not a fucking inch of it.

  She simpers at me, reading me out a list of shit that she thinks will get her back under me but the second she puts Lips down, the second she starts to throw shit at her, what little restraint I had for this clueless cunt snaps.

  “I was born in the same city as Lips. I spend all of my summer breaks there. We have friends in the same circles. When I leave Hannaford, I’m going back there. I’m as much a Mounty as she is. Give up, Summers. I’m never touching you again. I never should’ve touched you in the first place.”

  I keep a firm hold of the Mounty’s hand as we walk off, even when she tries to tug it away, never once looking back at Annabelle. Lips finally relaxes when we make it down the stairs, still alert but the tension in her body has eased.

  I’m still fucking furious at what the cunt said about her, so I’m sure I look positively murderous.

  The party is always held in the clearing, Joey likes his shit in the same place because he’s a creature of many habits, and I grab whiskey for us to share.

  She drinks it without a single flinch and fuck me, it’s the hottest fucking thing.

  The eye rolls at Joey’s friends is even fucking hotter.

  She deals with them like they’re nothing, something even Floss struggles with, and then we move on to dance together and actually enjoy a little of this night.

  There aren’t many perks to growing up in Mounts Bay.

  Knowing how to dance with her is definitely one of them.

  Fuck me, that ass of hers grinding back into me… it takes all my fucking self-control not to just say ‘fuck it’ and bend her over right the fuck here. The grins and gasps that come out of her are like nothing I’ve ever heard before. I’m addicted to it, filing them away to think about and obsess over once the night is over.

  If I don’t have her by the end of the night, these memories might just hold me over while I figure something else out.

  She’s fucking killing me here.

  Finally she spins in my arms, her chest pushing up into mine so I’m panting, and says, “Let’s get this over with.”

  For a second I think she’s on the same page as I am, ready to leave this party and find the closest surface to fuck on, but then her words actually filter into my brain and nope, we’re dealing with Joey.

  Fuck him and his psychopath plans.

  I nod and we weave our way through the other students dancing, none of them with half the skill or grace that we have, and further into the forest. There’s couples fucking everywhere, a few of them definitely cheating and I make a note to tell Floss. It’s always good to have ammo on the other students.

  Lips comes to an abrupt halt and I plant myself behind her, the widening of her stance telling me a whole fucking heap about this situation.

  It’s the same stance she had down at the docks.

  So as much as it kills me, I stay behind her, just for now. The second Joey so much as flinches in her direction I’ll get around her and beat the living fuck out of the dickhead.

  “This guy bothering you?”

  Who the fuck is that guy? His hand slips behind his back. Fuck me, he’s offering to kill Joey for Lips?

  What the actual fuck?

  Every time I think I know what the actual fuck is going on with her, something like this happens and I’m back to square fucking one with no idea of who the fuck she is.

  “He’s just a guy with too much money and too little respect for how things are done in the real world, boys,” Lips says, her voice strong and confident. She sounds cold and calculating though, none of the girl I know showing through.

  The second guy is shitting himself. He’s standing there like he needs to climb out of his own skin to get away and his eyes are anywhere but on Lips.

  “What’ll it be then? You need me to take care of him?”

  Fuck, I wish we could say yes. I almost hope Lips does say yes, but Floss and Ash would never forgive her. The twisted mess of a web that their family is in would give a saint a fucking headache.

  “I’m here to go to school, not start a war. Head home, boys. Hannaford isn’t the place for you.”

  They leave immediately, not a single question for her once she’s given them the order. The guy who was doing the talking comes over and shakes my hand. I frown at him but, fuck, I guess this is what happens when I belong to the Mounty.

  Once the car is gone, peeling away from the back parking lot with squealing tires, Joey turns back to us, completely fucking clueless to how close he’s just come to his brains being blown the fuck out.

  “Who the fuck are you, Mounty?”

  Isn’t that the million-dollar fucking question.

  We should’ve gone straight back up to the girls’ room after we’d finished with Joey and his shitty little attempt at calling Lips out, but all of that dancing went to my head. I don’t want to admit it, and I’ve drunk enough to push it right out of my head, but I drag her back to the dance floor because I fucking crave the feel of her grinding up against me and if the rest of the night goes to shit then at least I’ll have that memory.

  By the time we do finally head back, there’s barely anything left in the bottle and Lips doesn’t even notice that I’m holding her hand again. She just threads her fingers through mine and accepts my help when her leg gives out a little. The alcohol stops her from putting up so much of a front and I’m fucking praying that means she trusts me.

  Fuck, I’m getting desperate for a sign that she actually gives a fuck about me. Something I can work with, because she’s the first thing on my mind every morning and the last thing running around creating chaos in my head—on the rare occasions that I get some fucking sleep.

  I hate when I have to drop her hand so she can fumble aroun
d with her keys, mumbling a little under her breath, but I take a second to clear my head before I fuck this up.

  “I’m sleeping in Avery’s bed tonight. If Joey comes up here again, I don’t want you alone.”

  She startles a little but the door finally clicks and swings open, distracting her enough to get us both into the room. I stalk in before she can poke holes in my plan and strip out of my jacket.

  Thank fuck for the whiskey.

  She’s not wasted and she definitely still has her head about her, but the jumpiness in her has eased off a little and I’m not worried about getting dick punched just for fucking talking to her.

  We stare at each other for a second but she doesn’t show any signs of making a move, good or bad, so I take one last shot straight from the bottle.

  She watches my every fucking move with this longing, this hunger, that I could always feel simmering away under the surface of her skin, even when I wasn’t entirely sure it was aimed at me.

  There’s no mistaking it now.

  I offer her the bottle and she blinks at me, finally snapping out of the little trance she’s in to walk over and take it. She downs the last of it in one go and carefully sets the empty bottle on Avery’s custom coffee table, clearing her throat a little.

  “Do you have pajamas here or do we need to go back to—“ Her voice disappears as I reach behind my head to pull my shirt off because fuck no, this isn’t a fucking sleepover and I’m not letting either of us puss out of it.

  I’ve waited too long and played my cards too close to my chest to fuck it up now.

  Her eyes stay fixed on mine as I unbutton my jeans and fuck me, the little moaning sound that comes out of her as I kick them away and stand there in nothing but my boxers almost has me nutting myself. There’s no fucking way that she can deny it now, she’s practically dripping all over the floor and I’ve never been so fucking relieved in my life, never been so fucking glad that every person we care about is miles away at some pretentious dance for wealthy assholes just trying to look important around each other.