by Octavia June
“Yeah, I know. I’ll have to make a choice.”
“My mom would lose my mind if she even sensed me thinking about not going to college,” he said.
“Oh, mine would too, but she’d accept it. And hell, what if I don’t get in?”
“Shut up. You have good grades. You can go wherever the hell you want. They’ll be glad to have you.”
“You think?”
“I do.” His gaze bored into mine, and his fingers brushed mine.
A current of electricity shot up my arm.
I really liked Ethan too, didn’t I?
Chapter 34
ZACK MET ME AT THE bar again of course, but I didn’t mind.
Actually, I doubted he was hiding something at his house, especially any proof of him being behind the Ember High Journal.
Someone could easily find it there, so if he was somehow posting stuff on that website, he was probably using his phone. But how could I get my hands on his phone? Unlocked, of course, so I could check it.
I pulled out my phone, and after a few moments, I frowned at it. “My Internet isn’t working.”
Zack grabbed his phone. “Mine does. What do you need?”
“I need to search for something in the dictionary. I’m not sure if we’re using the right term. Could you—”
He handed me his phone. “You can look for it yourself. It’ll be easier.”
Well, he was right about that. But after I quickly checked the word, I went through his phone.
“I’m just going to look for a few other words,” I said.
“Yeah, sure.” He focused on his notebook.
Damn, I was just snooping around through everyone’s private stuff.
It was kind of gross. I would be horrified if someone was doing it to me, but considering what these boys had done to me, and that it would be really good to know who was behind that website...
Okay yeah, I was looking for excuses now.
I was a terrible, terrible person.
But there wasn’t anything on Zack’s phone.
At least nothing that would point to him as the one behind the website.
“Okay. I got it all. Thanks.” I returned the phone to him.
But as I was pulling my hand back, I hit my glass. My soda spilled all over the table, and Zack jumped up, quickly gathering all the notebooks and papers before they all got wet.
“Shit. I’m so sorry,” I said as I reached for one of the papers.
Zack was just reaching for it too, and our hands collided. For a moment, we were frozen, just looking at each other, our fingers connected.
His thumb traced a path down my finger, and heat rushed up my arm. I quickly pulled away, slightly breathless.
What the hell was that? Why was I reacting that way? With Zack too?
I inwardly groaned.
Could I really be attracted to all four boys?
Maybe.
Probably.
“It’s just water,” Zack said with a smile on his face.
“Are all the papers safe? I don’t want everything to smear.”
“You’ll have to rewrite this one.” He waved it. “But it’s only one.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “Okay. Great. What about the photos?”
“They were tucked in my notebook, so they’re safe too.”
“Thank god.” My gaze met his again, and there was something about the way he was looking at me.
Was it possible that he liked me too?
Really liked me?
Maybe it was.
Chapter 35
RHYS WAS JUST IMPOSSIBLE to catch.
He always had an excuse ready, or he was at work. So I had to do the only thing that I could: catch him after his shift ended.
But he refused to tell me when that would be, so I was sitting at my table for over an hour and doing my homework while I waited for him to finish.
“Do you want another drink?” he asked.
“That depends. Is your shift over soon?” I cocked my head at him.
“Maybe.”
“You can’t avoid this forever. Your part is missing. You didn’t even work with Aaron, Zack, or Ethan. We can’t do this without you.”
“Whatever.” He strolled away from me.
Great. Did he really not care?
But I was sure that he did.
Or maybe he’d stopped caring.
I still had no clue what was up with him.
I focused my attention back on my homework, but after a few minutes, I realized that there was a new guy standing at the bar. I waited for a bit for Rhys to show up because I couldn’t see him anywhere.
Fuck! He’d left, hadn’t he?
I let out a frustrated groan as I collected my things, and then I hurried for the door.
He couldn’t have gone far, could he? Was he at home?
Or had he gone somewhere else?
I supposed I should check his house first.
Once I got there, I heard noise coming from the back of the house. I stood there for a few moments, wondering if I should just ring the doorbell or not.
But someone was shouting, and the curiosity got better of me. I inched closer to the noise and peered through the window.
A gasp escaped my lips at the loud crashing sound.
Rhys’ father had thrown a bottle, which smashed into pieces when it hit the wall. Right next to Rhys’ head.
“I said, bring me another!” his father yelled, his face red. He was nothing like the nice guy who’d welcomed me into the house.
“No,” Rhys yelled back.
His father started toward him, swinging his arm, and I held my breath.
Rhys managed to shove him back.
“What do you think you’re doing?” his father said. “Assaulting a police officer, huh?”
Rhys’ eyes widened, and he took a step back, dropping his hands to his sides.
“That’s what I thought,” his father said with a grin before kicking Rhys down onto the floor.
I reached into my pocket for my phone. But what was I going to do?
Call the cops? A cop was right in there.
I supposed everyone knew him as the great guy he pretended to be.
Oh fuck. What should I do? Yell for him to stop? Smash the window?
Considering the state Rhys’ father was in, he’d probably shoot me as soon as he saw me.
Walk away, Melody. You don’t have a choice.
I looked at the house right across from me.
It had a direct view of Rhys’ house, but the windows were conveniently closed. There was no way anyone would do anything.
Hell, it looked like Rhys could get in trouble. I wouldn’t put it past his father to pretend that Rhys had attacked him first and that he was only defending himself.
Rhys’ father finally stopped, panting, and then he walked away.
Rhys pulled himself up, pressing his hand against his ribs. He was fine. His gaze shifted toward the window, and I quickly ducked down.
I couldn’t let him see me. As quietly as possible, I padded to the other side of the house, and then I broke into a run.
Tears stung my eyes, my chest hurting. But I had no idea what I could do to help Rhys. And I didn’t know if he even wanted me to.
I didn’t know anything anymore, just that my heart was breaking for him.
Chapter 36
WHEN RHYS INVITED ME to his house only two days later, I didn’t know what to think.
I hadn’t told anyone or done anything about what I’d witnessed, and maybe that was a mistake, but I didn’t know what I could do without making things worse for Rhys.
Maybe there was someone who could help him. But it had to be someone who didn’t have any connections to his father.
If Rhys had any bruises, he was an expert in hiding them, and his father hadn’t hit him in the face either, at least not hard enough to leave any visible marks that might raise questions.
His father was a cop, so he had to know exactly what to do and
say in case his son tried to report him to someone.
“Hey. It’s Melody, right?” Rhys’ father asked as he came out of one of the rooms, a big smile on his face.
“Yeah,” I managed to say, hoping he couldn’t see how stiff my shoulders were.
Just looking at him now seemed as if I were in a different dimension. There was nothing threatening about him. Hell, if someone asked, I’d even say he was more often acting as the good cop, not the bad one.
Shit.
“Melody and I have a lot of work to do,” Rhys said.
“Of course. Of course. Let me know if you need anything.” His father gave us both another smile.
I was relieved once we were in Rhys’ room.
“Are you okay?” Rhys asked, eyeing me up and down. “You’re acting differently.”
Could he tell? Could he tell that I was freaking out about his father? “Yeah. Or should I say something like, why do you care, so you’d be able to understand me?”
A smile tilted the corners of his lips. “Ha ha.”
“Okay. So what do you have?”
“It’s all right here.” He pulled out a bunch of notebooks and papers from a drawer.
“Great. Can you put it over there?” I nodded toward his desk. “I have my notes, so we can sort it all out.”
“Yeah, sure.”
While he was busy with that, I focused my gaze on his laptop.
He was the last one who I had to check. But maybe really none of them were behind the Ember High Journal. Maybe it was someone they knew. Another friend.
Someone who didn’t even go to our school, although that would be weird.
“There,” he said. “All set.”
“Okay. Can I use your laptop? We need to get the timeline right and I don’t have that in my notes.”
“Yeah.”
I grabbed his laptop, and when his attention was focused on the notebooks on the desk, I opened the Ember High Journal. Even if he saw me, I could say that I was just curious if there were any news.
My brow furrowed when I realized that I was logged in as the admin. Oh fuck. My gaze lifted to Rhys.
He was the one.
He was the one behind that damn website.
I quickly closed the website, trying to stay calm and not give anything away, but when Rhys turned toward me, his eyes were narrowed.
“Something’s up with you,” he said.
“It’s nothing. I’m just worried about college. I think I made my choice, and I was writing my application, but it all sounded so dumb, and now I don’t know if I’ll ever write something decent.”
“Ah.” Sadness flashed through Rhys’ eyes.
“What are your plans?” Maybe he was saving up so he could get away from his father as soon as he graduated. At least I hoped that was his plan.
“I’m going to become a cop,” he said.
My jaw went slack. “Really?”
“Don’t look at me like that.”
“I just can’t picture you like that at all. Is that what you want?”
He snorted. “As if.”
“Then why—”
“Can we focus on what we’re really supposed to do here? I need to be somewhere after this.”
“Yeah, okay. Sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”
What the hell?
Did Rhys want to become a cop so he could stand up to his father? Or was it because his father wanted it?
I was so damn confused, but I didn’t think Rhys was going to give me any answers.
At least not right now.
Chapter 37
I STARED AT MY REFLECTION in the mirror, straightening my dark blue cocktail dress.
Gah. I shouldn’t be wearing this. It was way too revealing and my legs were just fucking huge. How could I go to a party like this?
When I’d been picking out the dress, I’d had all the confidence in the world, but now...
Now I wanted to change or just wrap myself into a blanket.
Actually, I wanted to hide in my bed and go to sleep. It was still early enough for me to cancel and tell my boys that I wasn’t feeling well.
We’d finished our project, and the boys wanted to celebrate.
Of course, someone was always throwing a party somewhere, and they knew the guy. When they’d invited me, I’d had no clue as to what their intentions were.
Hell, I still didn’t know.
The project was done. Did that mean our truce was over too?
But I knew them better, and I didn’t think they were just some stupid bullies who got off on someone else’s suffering. Sure, maybe they were expressing their rage and their frustrations in the wrong way, but there was hope that they could change.
If they could accept me, then they could accept themselves and other people too. Maybe they didn’t have to bully anyone anymore.
Although, that might be harder for Zack and Aaron because of their families. I wanted to get Rhys away from his father, and maybe I could come up with a way to do it, even if he had to live with me for a while.
Anything was better than being in that house, wasn’t it? Or maybe it wasn’t. I had no idea how Rhys felt about the whole thing.
But what if they no longer wanted to have anything to do with me after we handed in our project? What if that was it for us?
For now, they had an excuse to hang out with me. But what if they decided that wasn’t what they wanted? What if they didn’t care about me at all? What if I was the one who’d warmed up to them and they hadn’t really warmed up to me?
And Rhys was behind that damn website. He was the one who’d posted all that stuff about me. I suspected the rest of the boys knew about it too, but I wasn’t a hundred percent sure.
Maybe I should just go back to my life without them in it. They were nice to me because of the project.
“Honey?” My mom’s voice behind my back made me jump. “You look beautiful.”
No, I didn’t.
I looked like a huge ham wrapped in a blue piece of paper.
A really tight paper.
“I think I need to find something else. I don’t really want to—”
“But why? This one fits you so well.”
“I don’t know. It’s too—”
“No, it’s perfect. You’re perfect.”
“You’re my mom. If I wore a garbage bag, you’d say it was perfect.”
“Well, it was when you wore it for Halloween.”
I burst into laughter.
Oh yeah. I’d actually worn a garbage bag for Halloween when I was a kid. My mom still had photos somewhere as proof. Ugh.
“You look absolutely stunning. Let the world see it. The real you.” My mom placed her hand on my shoulder and squeezed lightly.
“Okay,” I said, taking a deep breath.
I could do this.
I could go out there in this dress and the world wasn’t going to crush me.
Chapter 38
WHEN I WALKED OUT ONTO the porch, my boys were already there. Their mouths fell open, their eyes glued to me.
For a few moments, I just stood there, waiting for them to start laughing and tell me that they’d been pretending.
Gah. Was this feeling ever going to go away, no matter how hard I tried to block it out?
I had no clue.
“Wow,” Rhys said.
“You look beautiful,” Aaron said, and Zack and Ethan nodded.
“Thanks.” I gave them all a small smile.
“Come on, princess. The carriage awaits,” Aaron said, and Zack opened the car door for me.
I settled in the back seat, careful of my dress. How were we all going to fit in?
But then I realized there was another car. Oh good. If the boys ended up drinking at the party, I was going to have to call my parents to come for me because there was no way I was walking home in this dress.
Aaron was driving, and Rhys was in the passenger seat. I supposed the other car was Ethan’s.
“Where are we
going?” I asked.
“You’ll see,” Aaron said.
We drove all the way to an elite part of town, and I wondered who their friend who was throwing the party was. It had to be someone rich, because all the houses here were really nice mansions.
We pulled into a huge driveway, and I gaped at the three-story modern white house in front of us.
“The party is in there?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
I was still staring at the house in awe when Rhys opened the car door for me. He offered me his hand, and I took it. His fingers were warm against mine.
“Come on,” he said, and I still held his hand as we made our way toward the front door.
I almost expected someone was going to kick us out of there, but that didn’t happen. The place was huge, and the music was awesome.
“Do you want a drink?” Zack asked, leaning in to whisper into my ear.
“Maybe later,” I said.
“Then how about a dance?” Aaron extended his hand toward me.
I glanced at Rhys, who let go of me, a small smile on his face.
I let Aaron pull me with him, and then we were on the dance floor.
His arms were around my waist, and I placed mine around his neck. His eyes were so intense on mine that I couldn’t look away.
“I love your dress,” he said, and I flashed him a smile.
When a slower song came on, I pressed myself closer to him. I so didn’t want to lose this.
Lose him.
Lose us.
Lose all of them.
Was that what was going to happen after the party was over? Was this the last time we were going to be like this?
I looked deep into Aaron’s eyes. He dipped his lips toward mine.
For a second, I had no idea what he was doing, but then he pressed his mouth against mine. His lips were so soft and warm, and I let myself melt into his kiss.
I expected him to pull away, but he didn’t. His kiss grew hotter, hungrier, and my mouth responded to his.
I’d always been worried that I wouldn’t know what to do, but somehow, I did.
And it felt so damn right.
When we broke apart, his eyes were swirling with emotion.
Did this kiss mean something to him?
I sure as hell hoped that it did.
Someone’s hand touched my shoulder, and I turned around.