“Don’t,” Jared warned, pulling his hand away as she reached for it. “We’re done.”
She smiled sweetly. “Someone’s salty today. I thought you’d be happy after I gave you Syracuse.”
“This isn’t a game, Caroline. This is my future you’re messing with.”
Caroline sighed like she couldn’t be more bored. “Well, lucky for you I think it’s time our game comes to an end too.”
Jared sat back waiting for the catch. When it didn’t come he had to ask. “What do you want from me?”
“It’s simple. You come to Aspen with me and let Beth go to the wedding with Parker.”
“Why?”
“Because, I don’t trust you. If you go to the wedding with Beth, what’s to stop you from telling her your version of the truth while I’m not around to defend myself?”
“I’m not gonna do that,” Jared hissed. “Not at her sister’s wedding. I’m not a monster. She’d be devastated.”
“No, you’ll just de-virginize her and break her heart. You’re not a monster at all,” Caroline replied with her usual brand of sarcasm.
Jared exhaled deeply, running his hand through his hair. “Car, I don’t know what the right answer is here. Just tell me what the hell you want already!”
“I told you, let Beth go to the wedding with Parker and you come to Aspen with me. It’s the only way to guarantee you keep your mouth shut and don’t sleep with her.”
“Why do you care?”
“Because she’s my friend. My only girl friend! And I never wanted to hurt her.”
“So I’m just supposed to keep this secret forever and let you keep jerking me around by my balls and now my scholarship?”
“Not forever. Just till after graduation. Promise me you won’t tell Beth until after we’re done with school and the scholarship is yours.” Caroline bit her lip like she was deciding whether to say something else.
It was the first time Jared had ever seen her lose any of her cool, collected bravado.
“Just do this and I promise I won’t interfere anymore, alright? I just can’t deal with having Beth hate me. I want to graduate as friends, so I can look back at high school with at least a few good memories.”
Jared sighed. Honesty was the last thing he’d been expecting from Caroline. It made it harder to be angry at her. He ran his hand through his hair again trying to organize his thoughts. He couldn’t deny that he wasn’t looking forward to ruining the last few weeks of senior year by telling Beth the truth. Maybe he could wait until summer when his teammates and people like Parker wouldn’t be around to interfere. Then Jared could take Beth away somewhere nice and make everything up to her.
“So no more games?” he asked. “If I do this you’ll leave me and Beth alone? No more late night joy rides or clubbing requests?”
“No more,” Caroline repeated. “Just come to Aspen and send Beth to Georgia with Parker.”
Jared huffed a laugh. He’d basically already told Beth to go to the wedding with Parker, but now he was regretting it. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea to let Parker spend so much time with Beth. I have this feeling he’s onto us. He saw you dropping me off late a few times.”
“So what? We’re just two friends hanging out.”
“What if he tells Beth he thinks he knows we’re more than friends at the wedding?”
“He won’t,” Caroline replied.
“How do you know?”
She rolled her eyes. “Because he’s in love with her. If he was gonna tell her he would’ve already.”
“So I’m just supposed to be okay with my girlfriend going away for the weekend with a guy that’s in love with her?”
“Please don’t act like you didn’t already know the poor kid’s obsessed with her,” Caroline sneered. “It never bothered you before.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Everyone calls him your stand-in because you treat him like a placeholder. He fills in for you at all the lame stuff Beth wants to do and you just do the good stuff, which is exactly why I don’t think you’re the right guy for her, but it’s her funeral if she can’t see that.”
Jared glared at Caroline, bitter at the truth he heard in her words. If he got through this he needed to start being a better boyfriend. He shook his head. This was getting worse by the minute but he didn’t see any other way out. Either he gave Caroline what she wanted or he’d lose Beth and Syracuse. If he gambled, he might not walk away completely empty handed. “I can’t believe I’m even considering this, but if I do it I need some sort of guarantee.”
“I give you my word. Keep your mouth shut and your pants on until graduation and I’ll leave you alone.”
“And my scholarship?”
“It’s yours to keep if you agree to those terms.”
Jared gulped down his beer while weighing his nonexistent options. He hated letting people tell him what to do. His whole life had been his father making bad decision after bad decision, uprooting their lives every time he’d been wrong about who he shared his bed with. And now Jared’s bad decisions were forcing his hand. It killed him to give up even more ground but he was stuck.
“Fine,” he grumbled.
Caroline extending her hand. “Do we have a deal?”
Jared finally reached out and shook it. “We have a deal.”
What did he have to lose? It was just his future and the girl he loved at stake.
But Jared didn’t see what choice he had. If he didn’t take Caroline’s offer, he’d have to tell Beth the truth and Caroline would make sure he lost his scholarship, and potentially Beth.
It’s only a week. He repeated the phrase to himself as he drained his beer. It’s only a week.
17
Beth
The next few days of school flew by, but things between Jared and Beth didn’t improve. He went back to his pre-scholarship sulking. Beth was sure the news about Syracuse would’ve alleviated some of his stress, but it seemed to be adding more. Jared was acting moodier than ever and changed the subject every time Beth brought spring break up. The only thing he’d say on the matter was that he was going to Aspen, end of story. Beth couldn’t help feeling like she was missing something.
Jared’s behavior was making her crazy. One minute he was avoiding her, the next he was walking her to class, holding hand and kissing her like nothing happened. Beth didn’t get it. All of a sudden it was like he had split personalities. All she could think was that maybe the stress of knowing he was playing for a top tier college was getting to him. That or he was trying to say he just wasn’t that into her. He was definitely sending her mixed signals.
Beth invited Jared to dinner twice hoping they could talk through whatever was going on, but both times he’d made up excuses. Spring break started on Wednesday and by Tuesday Beth couldn’t take it any longer. Jared was leaving the next day for Aspen and she didn’t want to leave things like they were. As much as she wasn’t looking forward to Brenna’s wedding, she did love spending time with her family. But she knew she wouldn’t be able to enjoy any of it if she was wondering what the hell was going on with her and Jared’s relationship status the whole time.
She cornered Jared after school. “Listen, if you’re gonna break up with me, just do it already.”
“What? I’m not gonna break up with you. Why would you say that?”
Jared looked genuinely panicked and Beth suddenly felt bad. Was she losing her mind, or did dating just make everyone feel this crazy?
“I’m sorry. It’s just I don’t know what’s going on with us, Jared. We had that big fight and now you hardly talk to me. Plus, you’re going away without me. Spring break was supposed to bring us closer together and now I don’t even know if you want me to come out there.”
Jared
Jared felt like his heart was being ripped out as Beth blinked up at him with her wide, pleading eyes. He pulled her in close and kissed her harder than he’d meant to but he knew each kiss could be the
last. It would be if Caroline had any say in it. He couldn’t screw this up.
Caroline had been explicitly clear that Jared had to keep Beth from coming to Aspen and keep his mouth shut about their tryst in the janitor’s closet or she’d make sure he’d never play at Syracuse, or any other reputable college knowing her family’s clout.
Beth finally pulled away from Jared’s rough embrace. “Jared, talk to me.”
“Beth, of course I want to spend time with you, but I really think we should just do our own thing for spring break. Go enjoy your family and let me hang with the guys. We’ll have the rest of our lives to go on trips together.”
Beth’s face brightened. “The rest of our lives?”
Jared felt his face redden realizing what his word choice implied. He quickly pulled Beth in for another kiss.
“So you’re not mad at me?” she asked when he pulled away.
“I don’t think I could ever be mad at you.”
“Then why have you been acting so weird?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never been in a serious relationship. I’ve never had a fight like that before. I guess I just didn’t know how to fix things.”
Beth exhaled. “Me either.”
For a few minutes Jared just held her hands in his, rubbing his thumbs over her smooth skin. God, he was going to miss her if things didn’t work out.
“So we’re good then?” she asked softly.
He couldn’t look her in the eyes, but he nodded. “Yeah, we’re good.”
“Good. Because, I think . . . I think I really want us to work out.”
Jared looked into her eyes and felt his heart splinter. “Me too.” And as he said the words, he realized they were true. He did want things to work out with Beth. But he’d screwed everything up so badly.
Jared steeled himself. He couldn’t give up. Not if there was a chance he could make things right. It’s only a week. He could get through this.
“I could fly out after the wedding and we could still spend a few days together in Aspen?” Beth proposed, her face bright and hopeful. She slid her arms around Jared’s neck and stood on her toes to kiss him softly.
“Babe, let’s not push it, okay?”
“But we said, we’d . . .” her face got pink. “Ya know, finally seal the deal over spring break.”
“I think we put too much pressure on sex. And I told you before, I can wait, Beth. You’re worth it.”
Beth
Beth’s heart beat double time at Jared’s words. Hearing him say he’d wait for her only made her want him more. She smiled up at him. “Everything will work out.”
“Exactly,” Jared said pulling her close.
Beth closed her eyes, drinking in his warmth but her mind was already miles away plotting how she would surprise Jared by showing up in Aspen wearing some of the slinky La Perla outfits she’d bought. She already had them packed just in case he changed his mind last minute about Georgia.
She told herself she was just being prepared and the new lingerie was just too pretty to waste. After all she had been looking forward to at least trying it on. Always the hopeless romantic.
18
Beth
The next day Beth stood outside Parker’s house going over their last minute road trip checklist. Jared had left earlier that morning. Caroline’s ‘broad trip’ bus left at five AM, so Jared stayed at Sullivan’s house since he lived closest to the depot.
Jared was gone before Beth was even awake. It sort of bothered her that he hadn’t even said goodbye. No text message or anything. She’d packed him a cooler of snacks and left a note inside saying she’d miss him. Why couldn’t he ever do anything like that for her?
Beth tried not to be bitter as she finished helping Parker pack the car.
“Okay, I think we got it all,” Parker said shutting the trunk. “You got the road trip mix?”
Beth held up her iPhone as her answer. “Did you grab the snack bag?”
“Yep,” Parker replied slinging a grocery bag into the back seat.
Beth took one last look around the empty street. Her parents had flown down to Georgia the prior weekend to help with the wedding plans. Mercifully, spring break didn’t start until Wednesday, so Beth got to skip out on the first few days of Bennett wedding mayhem.
She sighed and got in the passenger side of Parker’s Range Rover. She buckled the seatbelt and synced up her phone as Parker pulled out of the driveway. Beth always played DJ while Parker navigated. They’d been on some pretty epic road trips in their day, but Beth was having a hard time feeling excited about the long boring drive to Tybee Island while her boyfriend was on a bus heading in a different direction.
“Buck up, buttercup,” Parker called.
“I’m sorry,” Beth muttered. “I really appreciate you coming with me. I’ll pull it together, I promise.”
Parker smiled as he changed lanes. “I think I might have something to help with that.”
“What’s that?”
“Look in the snack bag in the backseat.”
Beth twisted around to root through the bag of snacks she’d packed. Right away the brown paper bag on top caught her attention. It hadn’t been there when she’d brought it out to the car. She picked it up and the words on the front made her eyes light up. “You didn’t!” she exclaimed.
“I did.”
“When did you have time to go to Weirdough’s?” she asked digging into the bag of donuts. They were still warm and Beth’s mouth was already watering when the scent of cinnamon buttery goodness wafted through the car.
“I went early this morning.”
“Oh my God, you are seriously the best, Parker. I haven’t had these since . . .”
“The beach road trip when you were ten?”
“Yes! How do you remember every little detail like that?”
“It’s a gift and a curse,” he teased. “That and they were the only things that cured your car sickness.”
“Hey I don’t get car sick anymore,” Beth protested.
“I’m not taking any chances.”
“Well I’m glad you didn’t.”
“I know,” Parker said. “Plus, I sorta was hoping you’d share.”
Beth beamed and fed Parker a cinnamon glazed donut. He took a big bite and got glaze on his chin and crumbs all over his shirt. Beth laughed harder and swiped the glaze off his chin, licking her finger. “You’re a mess.”
“That makes two of us.”
Beth grinned at him, her heart swelling. It was a phrase they’d said to each other since they were kids. There was just something special in the camaraderie of being completely yourself with someone else. Even though Beth had grown up in a house full of siblings, it was always Parker who made her feel less alone.
“I haven’t heard that in a while,” Beth commented.
“It has been a while,” Parker replied.
“I’ve missed this. Being us.”
“Me too.”
Beth took another bite of donut and savored the happy memories it gave her of time spent with Parker and her family. She was grinning from ear-to-ear by the time she gave him another bite. “Weirdoughs was a great surprise, Park. Thank you.”
“Do I know you or what?”
He really did. A strange realization dawned on Beth. Parker truly did know her. And every day he found sweet little ways like this to prove it. So why didn’t Jared?
It shouldn’t matter that Parker had years of knowledge on him. Jared had six months of being her boyfriend, but sometimes it felt like he didn’t know anything about her. And in that moment, Beth didn’t feel so bad that she was spending her spring break with Parker. At least she knew she’d always look back on it with good memories, just like everything she did with Parker. He never let her down and Beth was starting to see the value in that.
Parker
Parker had a hard time keeping his joy bottled up. Especially when Beth kept swiping donut glaze from his chin and licking it off her fingers. He was positi
ve he’d never seen her do anything sexier. For once, he was glad Jared was such a cocky idiot. It was Jared’s foolishness that had gifted Parker a whole uninterrupted week with Beth. And he didn’t feel even a tad bit guilty. It was about time things got back to normal. Parker and Beth—P and B. Parker smiled to himself. He’d always liked P and B better without the J.
19
Beth
Beth woke up as they were pulling down a familiar road lined with huge live oaks. It was dark and the spotlights illuminating the trees made long shadows stretch across the car. They pulled up to the ancient iron gate and Beth’s heart sank as she took in the words scrolled in the ironwork—Bellemora. They couldn’t be here already, could they?
Beth glanced at the clock. It was just after midnight. They’d arrived as projected. The road trip hadn’t taken nearly as long as she’d hoped. As usual, time with Parker flew by. They’d played every road trip game under the sun. The alphabet game, the license plate game, billboard bingo, would you rather, music trivia, the movie game, cow versus sheep—a game she and Parker had made up when they were kids where players had to flip a coin to see whether they got cows or sheep. Heads were cows, tails sheep. Then they counted the cow or sheep farms they passed. Whoever had the most won. There were always more cow farms.
After they ran out of games to play, Beth turned on her Broadway musical playlist and they sang show tunes. Beth exhausted herself acting out all the parts of Chicago. She must’ve fallen asleep shortly after that because they were now in Georgia.
As the gates creaked open, Beth rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “Parker, why didn’t you wake me up? We were supposed to switch drivers again in North Carolina.”
Parker shrugged. “You looked so comfy.”
“You must be exhausted.”
“Nope,” he said holding up an empty energy drink.
She laughed. “Somebody’s gonna be up all night.”
The Boyfriend Series Box Set (Books 1-6): YA Contemporary Romance Novels Page 88