by S. J. Sylvis
Piper’s voice was hardly above a whisper. “No, my parents watch my spending closely. Even if I did have that much in my bank account, they’d freak if I spent that much money.”
A puff of air left my mouth. “So, then what’s your plan? Because from where I’m sitting, you have no other options except to let me race on your behalf.”
“Ollie.” She shot me a glare. Her pouty lips flattened in a frown. “Let it go.” Her hand was on the door handle again, and my heart jumped.
“Face it, Piper. You need my help. Just say it.”
She wavered for a second, her hand pausing on the shiny handle. Her chest rose and fell softly as she deliberated. Then, her red locks shook with her head. “I don’t want you involved. You’re not racing for him. He’s bad news.” I was about to argue, but her head snapped to mine. “Wait a second. Why were you even there in the first place?” The flawless skin around her green eyes crinkled. “Is that what you do on Saturday nights? When Christian is with Hayley? Do you…race?”
My pulse buzzed in my ears. My fingers wrapped around my steering wheel as I twisted myself out from under her scrutinizing stare.
She reiterated, “Why the hell are you out there racing, Ollie?”
And I countered, “Who is Jason?”
“Why are you out there racing with those people? You shouldn’t be involved with them.”
I ignored her, asking again, “Who is Jason, and why are you so keen on helping him if you know these people are bad news? Must mean he’s bad news too.”
Piper shut her eyes tightly, her thick eyelashes fanning over her cheeks. “You really expect me to tell you my secrets, but you won’t tell me yours?”
Something inside me changed. A smirk crept along my face as I looked her in the eye. “A secret for a secret?”
Even in the dark, I could see Piper’s face turn a shade of pink. Her cheeks were dotted with freckles outlined by the burning feeling of embarrassment. That’s right, a secret for a secret. Ring any bells?
“Are you really going to play this game, Ollie?”
I shrugged, leaning back in my leather seat and propping my arm on the center console. “You’re the one playing games, Piper. If you won’t let me help you, then fine.”
Piper was right. I was playing a game. But I didn’t like to lose. She knew that.
“Fine?” she asked. “That’s it?”
“Yup,” I answered, forcing my face to stay neutral. I reached for my phone and started up a new text to Hayley.
Piper’s voice grew higher. “What are you doing?”
I stayed casual, shrugging. “Just texting Hayley.”
“What? Why?” Her words came out rushed, and my heart sped up.
“I’m going to fill her in. If you won’t let me help, you’ll let her help.”
Her gasp had my finger pausing over the keyboard. My pulse matched the bass of the song filtering through my speakers.
“I’ll tell.”
I looked at Piper out of the corner of my eye, pausing. “What?”
“I’ll tell your secret.” Her words were like ice in my veins.
Everything in my body froze. My hand was no longer moving over my phone screen. My breathing was drawn out, as if I couldn’t quite catch an even breath. The beating inside my chest pounded slow and hard as calculated anger flew through my veins.
I slid my gaze over to Piper, and she was leveling me with an equally horrified expression, as if she couldn’t believe she was stooping so low. “You wouldn’t,” I said under my breath.
I watched as Piper gulped, and she nodded her head slowly. “I will.”
My nostrils flared as I tried to rein myself back in. “So, there it is.”
Her eyebrows drew together in a mask of confusion.
“You’re finally going to admit it.”
Piper stayed silent. So, I continued on.
“I want to hear you say it.”
“Say what?”
“Tell me you know it was me that night.”
Piper and I stared at one another, her green eyes laced with so much emotion I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what she was feeling. The one thing I did know was that she was simmering with something big.
“Admit it, Piper. If you’re going to stoop to that level, at least have the decency to admit it to my face.”
Piper teetered her pink lip back and forth between her teeth. My car was charged with so much rising energy that I was certain one of us would explode soon.
Anger was beginning to lace the surface of my feelings, and I was trying desperately to reel it in before I said something I regretted, but the thought of Piper spilling my darkest secret had me second-guessing the nature of our relationship. Maybe she really does hate me.
I licked my lips before prodding her even further. “Do you remember how I made you feel that night?”
Because fuck, I did.
The room was dark, not even a sliver of moon shone through the window. I could barely see anything in front of me, but that was okay. I didn’t need to see the girl standing here to know who she was.
I spotted her the second I walked into this party. How no one noticed me, I’ll never know, as I didn’t even go to this school. But alas, I was here, and when she came into my sight, I was stuck to my spot against the wall. She had a bright and pretty face, free of too much makeup, and her hair was the color of a fallen leaf in the middle of autumn. On the outside, she looked sweet and innocent, but her body language was telling me something different. And now that we were alone in this room together, I sensed it was something along the lines of anger.
“So, a secret for a secret?” I whispered around the softness of her ear. Her lithe body quaked, and I smirked. “I told you mine. Now you tell me yours.”
I heard her lips part. “I did something.”
My hand pushed her hair back from resting along her shoulder, my dick pulsing in my jeans. “You did? What was that?”
Her chest rose and fell swiftly, her head falling to the side, giving me access to her neck. My mouth was a breath away as she answered.
“I did something bad. Really, really bad.”
I paused, keeping myself from sucking on her skin. Damn, she smelled fucking good. Too good. “And did it feel good to be bad? I get the sense that you’re a good girl.” Which was exactly why I was trying to give her an out.
She gulped. “It did in the moment.”
I didn’t say anything. I knew I should have told her to leave, that if she was a good girl, maybe she shouldn’t be in a room at a Wellington Prep party with a guy she didn’t know, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it. So, I just stood there, my hands wrapped around her jean-clad waist, my mouth hovering over her neck.
Somehow, she took a step closer to me, and now her tits were rubbing on my chest. Fuck.
“I wanna be bad again.”
Fuck me. My dick throbbed, begging to be free from my boxers. “Are you sure you wanna be bad? If you’re a good girl, maybe you shouldn’t be in this room with me.”
“Are you saying you’re a bad boy?”
I chuckled against her ear. “Depends on who you ask.”
Her soft breath hit my cheek as she turned her head. “I’m asking you.”
“What do you think?” My heart was flying throughout my chest. I hated having small talk with a girl, except for right now. I felt lighter after spilling my secret to her. I told this girl something I hadn’t told a single fucking soul, and for some reason, that made me feel insanely comfortable with her. She asked why I was alone in this room, and I came right out and told her. A secret for a secret.
“I think you’re a good guy, because you’ve yet to kiss me or act on that hard-on you’re sporting.”
My eyes glanced down to my dick rubbing against her, even though I couldn’t see shit.
“But…” She swallowed, and my head came back up. “Do you think you can be a bad boy right now? Because even though I’m a good girl, I really wanna be bad…with you.�
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The shift of Piper moving in my passenger seat had me coming back to reality. I poked her again.
“Do you remember the way my lips felt on that spot behind your ear? Or how about the way your body fit so perfectly in my hands? Your soft skin rubbing on my rough calluses. Do you remember that, Piper?”
She was breathing faster, focusing her attention on anything but me. “Knock it off, Ollie.”
I knew I was pushing her buttons, making her sweat in the passenger seat of my car. My chest was heaving with a hunger for her. Even as Piper threatened to take away the one thing I held under lock and key, I still found myself craving her. I enjoyed watching her squirm.
“Admit it, Piper. Say it out loud. If you’re going to blackmail me, you might as well play dirty.”
The way her lips felt on mine that night was forever branded into my brain. We were sloppy and desperate. Lips on lips, skin on skin. Piper and I were forever different after that night. I never thought I’d see her again.
And yet, here we were, stuck inside a car together with her basically blackmailing me.
“You forced me into playing dirty, Ollie. If you would just leave this alone, everything would be fine.”
My voice was low, hoarse. “Admit it, Piper.”
Her hand rested on the door handle as my pulse thickened. I wasn’t even sure why I wanted her to admit it. I knew it was her that night, and she knew it was me. It didn’t matter if it was said aloud, and yet, I wanted to hear it.
The cool air sliced through the car when she opened her door. It was a welcome break in the hot-and-heavy feeling, but I wasn’t letting her off the hook. “Fucking admit it, Piper.” My own voice surprised me. It was rough and demanding, laced with anger.
At the last second, with her leg hanging out the door, Piper snapped her head over to me. Our eyes locked. “I’ll admit it if you stay out of this and keep your mouth shut. This is my thing. My business. I don’t want anyone to know.”
My chest actually ached as the word tumbled out. “Fine.” No. Not fine.
Piper’s tongue quickly darted out to lick her lips before the words flew out of her mouth. “I know it was you at the Wellington Prep party. I remember every minute of how it felt with your hands on my body. But that also means I know who you truly are, Ollie. And I swear to God, I’ll tell Christian everything if you don’t stay out of this. I’ll tell him you’ve been racing, too.”
I felt the muscles in my face go lax as she stepped all the way out of my Charger and slammed the door so hard it made me clench my teeth. Disappointment washed over me. I thought I would have been happier to hear her admit it. I thought a feeling of euphoria would have rained down on my shoulders. I thought it would have given me back the feeling of control, but that was not what I felt at all.
Piper was being blatantly ruthless.
She didn’t want my help with whatever the hell she got herself mixed in, and maybe it was time I listened to her. After all, she just threw me a curve ball.
“I’ll tell your secret.”
Fine, Piper. You fucking win.
Chapter Nine
Piper
Twenty seconds.
I was giving myself twenty seconds to breathe before I had to put on a brave face in front of my friends and act like everything was A-okay. How I went from being at Eric’s party on Friday with them, to seeing my brother bloody on the bathroom floor, to some sketched-out race in the boonies with Cole and Ollie by my side, to school on a crisp Monday morning, I had no idea.
I scanned the entrance of English Prep as I sat in my driver’s seat while students zipped through the parking lot to park their high-end cars before the first bell rang. It was chaotic on the outside of my car, but if I just sat inside and stared at the wrought-iron doors and lush greenery covering the stone on the school, I’d feel safe.
Calm.
The outside of my car depicted what I’d felt all day yesterday: chaos. I wasn’t sure when it’d happened, but I was in way too deep with my brother’s shit. The urge to run and tell my parents was strong, almost deafening, but I knew they wouldn’t do anything. It was on the tip of my tongue when they FaceTimed me last night. My father continued to ask if everything was alright, and after the third time, I almost gave in. But then, Tank’s words sounded in the back of my head, and I lied again. The sad thing was that I couldn’t even blame my parents for not wanting to help Jason. He had screwed my parents over more times than I could count. He’d screwed over everyone. Even me. If you looked up the word selfish in the dictionary, Jason’s face would be beside it.
But yet, here I was, stuck in the deep end, waving my arms frantically, all while my brother was tied like a chain around my ankles, dragging me under the water each and every time he messed up and begged for me to save him. He knew I’d help him, because it was what I did. I tried my hardest to fix people. It was a fault of mine. I recognized it, but for some reason, I couldn’t stop doing it. I wanted to fix Jason so badly. I wanted things to go back to normal.
A sigh left my mouth as I opened my car door and stepped out, lugging my backpack behind me. The early morning breeze floated around and caused goosebumps to rise on the skin peeking between my knee-high socks and the hem of my plaid skirt. I scanned the courtyard, noting that Hayley wasn’t here yet, and neither was Ollie—not that I was keeping track.
My stomach burned each and every time he crossed my mind yesterday. Things got heated between us Saturday night, and when he’d sped away from my house, I felt sick.
I was certain he truly hated me for what I’d said. I’d blackmailed him. I threw something in his face that I shouldn’t have, but it was the only way to make him stay out of it.
Whatever. Leave it be. I had other things to worry about, like what Jason was doing and where he was. I gulped, thinking back to the image of him on Tank’s phone. It bothered me not knowing how he came to be in Tank’s possession. Did he go somewhere voluntarily? Did someone take him from the house? When Ollie and I pulled up Saturday night, my car was back. And although it was parked in a weird spot, with the keys dangling from the ignition, it appeared normal. So, my thought was that someone had come to the house to get Jason. That means they know where you live. I hated to think what would have happened to Jason if I didn’t show up at the races, all but begging Tank to give an extension on his debt.
My hand wrapped around my hollowed-out stomach as I walked through the threshold of English Prep. All I want is to be a normal fucking teenager.
As soon as I was in front of my locker, my anxiety lessened some. Being in the halls of English Prep felt familiar and comforting. A year ago, I had felt like an animal that had escaped from the zoo while walking these halls. English Prep was vastly different from Wellington Prep. From the stone walls to the hundreds of years of old history, English Prep felt like more of a monarch. The school was ruled by tetrarchs of wealthy breeding—the Powells being one of them. Christian was the King of English Prep—that was his actual nickname, as ridiculous as it sounded—and Ollie was right there beside him. I cowered in the shadows my first few months at my new school, trying desperately to blend in. But being thrusted into a group of royal-like trust-fund babies with their glossy salon hair, flawless skin, and the most pristine uniforms was daunting as I looked anything but. I had a pressed uniform, sure, and an expensive car, but I was the new girl with the red hair and freckles from the opposing school, and if you paired that with the feeling of absolute isolation and a sense of not belonging, I didn’t even come close to fitting in.
Madeline tormented me, and the guys snickered when I’d walk past. And don’t even get me started on the first time I laid eyes on Ollie. My heart lurched; my stomach twisted. Recognition hit me square in the face, but he casually passed over me like I was nothing. As if he didn’t take my virginity at a Wellington Prep party. He did so well acting like he didn’t know who I was that I actually started second-guessing that it was him—my dirty little secret.
Then, of cours
e, as time went on and I spent more time around him due to Hayley, I realized he was faking it the entire time.
Ollie knew exactly who I was, and I knew exactly who he was.
The only beneficial part of being a student at English Prep was that no one knew my history. My last name wasn’t tainted here—and it still wasn’t—although now, Ollie had gotten a little glimpse on Saturday night. He had now gone through yet another tunnel of secrets I held close.
I slammed my locker shut with a scream, the books I held in my hand tumbling down onto the checkered floor.
“Jeez! Sorry, Piper. Why are you so jumpy?”
My hand was still covering my chest as I looked into Hayley’s eyes. I couldn’t quite catch my breath. “Oh my God! You scared me.”
My hands shook as I bent down to grab my things. Hayley bent down and helped, too. “I said hi as I walked up. Christian did, too, when he passed to get to his locker.” My eyes darted down the hall as I placed the last book in my arms. I spotted Ollie instantly as he stood beside his brother and Eric, along with a few other guys from the football team. His hands were wrapped around the straps of his backpack, and I swore I could see their grip harden as we locked eyes.
I almost inhaled a breath as he narrowed his eyes. He tilted his head to the side, his light hair moving effortlessly atop his head. His look was questioning at best. Problem? his eyes read.
My walls went up. No problems here. Everything is fine.
He shook his head disapprovingly and turned his back, shutting me out.
“What’s going on with you?”
“What?” I straightened my spine and adjusted my books so they were level in my arms. Hayley leaned back onto my locker and kicked her foot up behind her.