Trials and Tiaras (Untouchable Book 7)

by Heather Long

  I went out to the living room, and I was halfway through the third book about Madison Kate and discovering what Steele had done with a piercing when Jake emerged. Somehow, I didn’t think he’d go for it, but now I was curious. “How did it go?”

  “Good,” he said, scooping me up and glancing at my Kindle. He frowned, then pulled it to read a few lines. I snuggled against him as he paged back once and grimaced. “I love you, but fuck no, Baby Girl. Talk to Coop, I bet he’d do it.”

  I burst out laughing, and he kissed me.

  Then of course, we had to go back to the first book in the series, ’cause Jake wanted to read it too. It was only when we were getting ready for bed that he asked me about calling my father. Well, sperm donor.

  The guy who fucked Maddy and the result was me.

  Yeah, none of those sounded particularly attractive.

  “I don’t know,” I admitted. “I go back and forth on it, and…he’s married, Jake.” I crawled up the bed on my knees as he dragged the covers back, and then we slid under them. We were alone tonight because of the call to his dad, though I had no doubt Coop would show up. Jake dragged me into the middle of the bed, so he probably figured the same thing.

  He turned out the lights, and I tucked my cheek against his chest as he rubbed my shoulder. “Talk to me?”

  “He’s married and he’s got three kids—an older boy and fraternal twins. Wittaker spoke to him. So he knows about me now and he wants to talk to me, but I don’t know. It’s…he seems like a nice guy I guess, and maybe he never knew or maybe he did. He says he didn’t, or at least that’s what he told Wittaker.”

  “You don’t believe him?”

  “I don’t know him. He has a whole other family.” Why would he want me?

  Why did I want him? Did I even want him?

  “Well, if he didn’t know about you, then you’re as much a surprise to him as he is to you. The fact he wants to talk to you says good things about him. That he’s not immediately dismissing you.” Kind of hard when we had the DNA tests, but I got his point. “You’re never going to know unless you talk to him or meet him.”

  “What if he turns out to be a jerk like Edward or Maddy?” I grimaced. “I mean, Patience and Eugene aren’t awesome, but they’re not horrible either. Just really deluded in some ways and hard to talk to.”

  They never asked about Maddy, thankfully, and neither did I. After that day at their house, they didn’t compare me to her either.

  “Then we’ll kick him to the curb like we did them,” Jake said softly. “But what if he turns out to be cool and supportive and the kind of man who would be proud to call you his daughter? I mean, have you looked at you? You’re pretty fricking awesome.”

  I laughed. “You’re biased.”

  “Damn straight, and you’re perfect. Can’t convince me otherwise.”

  I sighed. I had two brothers and a sister I’d never met and who had no idea I existed. Or at least I didn’t think they had. Maybe he’d told them. And he had a wife. I had a stepmother.

  My track record with mothers wasn’t stellar.

  I groaned and snuggled closer to him.

  “You don’t have to decide right now, Baby Girl. When you’re ready, you tell me or any of us. We got you.”

  That, more than anything, was something I could hold onto and believe.

  “I’ll think about it.”

  I kept turning his name over in my head.

  Henry Jackson. Hank. Professor of humanities at Harvard University.

  Of all the gin joints in all the towns. He was a professor at the one school I’d always wanted to go to.

  Made sense why Maddy hadn’t wanted me to go there. Even if she’d graduated from it herself.

  Bitch.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  I Never Wanted the Fairy-Tale

  I never dreamed of being the princess in the tower. In fact, the only princess I ever wanted to be was Princess Leia ’cause she kicked ass. The first time we watched Star Wars, Jake wanted to be Han, I wanted to be Leia, and Coop wanted to be Luke. That worked, until Luke turned out to be Leia’s brother. Something Jake used to tease him about. Still, I never changed my mind about Leia. She was a badass.

  That said, as I got dressed for prom, I couldn’t help but think about those fairy tales and movies. All the princesses wanted to find their prince. Blegh. I had four of them right now, and they weren’t what I dreamed of, they were who I dreamed with. The only rule for today had been no homework and no studying. Rachel and I had gone out to get our hair and nails done. My shoes were glittery and had open toes so better to have my toenails a matching shade with my dress. It was ridiculous and fun.

  We laughed. We relaxed. And for the first time in weeks, Rachel seemed like her. She wasn’t going to prom though, or she hadn’t been until I begged her to go. I’d even dance with her if she came with. Part of her didn’t want to deal with the whole prom court and expectations. It was too heteronormative, and I got that.

  “But you’re important to me, and I want you to be there too. You don’t have to stay, and if it gets too uncomfortable, you tell me who is being bad to you and I’ll sic Jake on them. Or I’ll punch them myself.”

  Rachel laughed. “You’d do it too.”

  “Damn straight. C’mon Rachel, do you know how much you’ve saved my life this year?”

  “You saved yourself,” she scolded. “I got to be there to cheer you on, and if we’re being honest, you saved mine too.”

  “I didn’t do anything.”

  Her smile held all kinds of secrets. “That you know of, but you did plenty. Trust me.”

  “You don’t have to come tonight if you don’t want to.” I still didn’t know what had happened with her girl or her guy or both of them.

  “I’ll be there. I don’t see the guys throwing their usual end of the school year blowout, and this might be our last time to party until we get to college.”

  “You have to come to New York for that.”

  “Funny, I accepted my admission to NYU…” I didn’t let her finish as I pitched myself at her, and they had to fix my nails ’cause I messed them up.

  We were going to have so much fun.

  I’d asked the guys to pick her up, and Archie promised we’d swing by in the limo. Of course he ordered a limo. Then again, the last time he’d gotten us one was for going to Homecoming…

  No, this would be nothing like Homecoming. First, we were all firm and together. We’d still been on uneven ground then, and Ian and I had broken up. Second, this was a date Archie had asked me for months and months ago. The guys were all in on it too. I love that they weren’t wrestling over the fact Archie asked or that they were going too, but it was Archie’s date.

  A knock on the door pulled my attention, and I glanced over to find Archie leaning on the door frame in his suit. Damn, he looked so good. He looked me over, and I did a little spin. I loved the flare of the skirt. The lady at the salon had left my hair down, but worked it into the wild curls the guys loved.

  I had on my charm bracelet on one wrist, but the single charm of the gear on the other wrist. The class ring and then the emerald drop necklace. Archie grinned slowly as he raked his gaze over me.

  “Damn, you really do look like a princess.”

  I laughed. “Warrior princess.”

  “Works for me. Though if you do that yayaya thing that Xena did, make sure I have my phone out so I can record it.” The perfect aplomb and cool delivery sent a ripple of laughter through me, and I cracked up.

  “I promise,” I said as I walked toward him. He held out his hand, and I slid my fingers across his, and when he lifted our arms and twirled me again, I chuckled. Only when he stopped, he held out a little jewelry box. “Archie.”

  “Yeah, I know,” he told me, all deep brown eyes and playful smirk. “I really can’t help myself.”

  “Did you even try?”

  “Nope.”

  I giggled, but he popped the box open, and there
was a pair of emerald earrings to match the pendant, right down to the double infinity knots.

  “They are perfect for us,” he said. “All of us. It’s not just from me, you know.”

  The corner of my mouth kicked up. “That excuse is only going to fly for so long.”

  “As long as it flies, babe, we’re golden.”

  With a roll of my eyes, I took the box and gave him a kiss before I headed over to the mirror on the dresser so I could get the earrings in. “You do know that I may start to retaliate for these gifts.”

  “You can retaliate on me anytime you want.”

  The earrings fit neatly and you couldn’t really see them with my hair, but I knew they were there. Just like I knew the tattoos were on the guys and on me. Like I knew that I had on a pair of red solid lace panties and no bra, because it would have left lines where it gathered over my chest. Just like I knew there was a hickey on the inside of my thigh, a matching set from the man standing right behind me with his hands in his pockets and a delighted smile on his face.

  “Last big high school hurrah,” I said.

  “Nope.”

  I turned to face him. “No?”

  “Last one is when we walk across that stage and get our faux diplomas and switch our tassels from one side to the other.”

  I chuckled. “That’s more perfunctory.”

  “Life is full of rituals, babe. Rituals are important. Sure, there’s no real diploma in the leather folder they give you. That’s not the point of it. The point is to walk across that stage because for twelve years, we’ve followed the rules, dotted all the i’s, crossed all the t’s, and fulfilled our obligation to be educated. Our obligation ends right there. It’s that last stab at our childhood and getting the acknowledgement that we made it.”

  He narrowed the distance.

  “But it’s just like everything else you wanted to experience…you wanted a boyfriend, dates, you wanted parties, and games, and you wanted love…”

  My heart sped up a little.

  “You deserved love.”

  “I had love,” I told him. “I had all of you. I just didn’t see it, not the right way, and now I do. Now I have you and…”

  “That’s it, babe,” he whispered, cupping my chin and smiling. “You do have us. You’re stuck with us. Us with burritos. Us without. Us on a tear with a new video game. Us working on projects.”

  “Us dealing with our families and going to college.”

  “Fuck the families, the only family we need is right here. Fine. We can keep the guys’ families.”

  “And Grandpa,” I reminded him.

  “And Jeremy,” he agreed. “I’ll make a special allowance for your grandparents, but that’s totally probationary and I reserve the right to get rid of them.”

  I laughed.

  “See, we have our family and we have our own rituals.”

  I glanced around the room. The signs of the guys that lingered in here, just like they did everywhere in the apartment. Tiddles stared at me from the window ledge, and I tilted my head back to gaze at Archie. “Okay, you’ve convinced me, and I don’t want to cry because Rachel will scold me for messing up my makeup.”

  Holding out his arm, he said, “Well, we can’t have that.”

  Out in the living room, the other guys were waiting, and they all looked great in their suits. They’d gone for somewhat matching—Archie and Jake were in deep gray suits, while Coop and Ian had on almost black. They looked amazing.

  “I need a picture.”

  “We’ll get them there,” Jake said, but I shook my head.

  “No, I want a picture here, with you four together. I want that picture for me.”

  Archie brushed a kiss to my cheek, and they indulged me as I snapped a few photos of them. I pulled out my ID, and Archie tucked that into his wallet for me, then Jake took my phone. I didn’t bother with anything else, because if I knew Archie, he already had my overnight bag secreted away somewhere.

  I adored him, and he usually thought of everything.

  “You got your lipstick?” Coop asked, and Jake turned to stare at him.

  “Did you get a vagina when we weren’t looking?”

  Coop and I both flipped him off while I chuckled. “No, but you’re right. I’ll get it.” Because they’d kiss it off me otherwise.

  Ian caught my arm, then brushed a kiss to my cheek. “Because the numbnuts over there forgot to mention it, you look beautiful.”

  “Numbnuts would not be me,” Archie chimed in. “I told her exactly how beautiful she was.”

  “Frankie doesn’t need us to tell her that just because she’s all dressed up,” Coop said. “She’s beautiful every day.”

  “Smooth,” Jake said with a chuckle, but his eyes twinkled when he met my gaze. “He’s not wrong though, Baby Girl. You’re always beautiful.”

  I laughed. “Okay, you know I’m a sure thing, so no need to suck up.”

  That earned me a swat on the ass from Ian, but oh so worth it.

  The limo ride over, we laughed and there was actually champagne in the back of the car. I stared at Archie, and he just grinned as he poured our glasses. Jake held his up. “To senior year, because who would have thought this is where we’d be?”

  I laughed. “To Archie,” Coop said, “because he was the one who said we corner her on Monday. We find out what the hell is going on.”

  Another round of laughter threaded through the car. “Well, in that case,” Archie said. “To Coop, because you’re the one who got her there.”

  “And to Frankie,” Ian added, “for not giving up on us.”

  “Hey,” I sniffed. “Don’t start the tear things again. Besides, you guys didn’t give up on me, so I think it works out pretty even.”

  “Fine, we’re all awesome and we’re not making her cry,” Jake said. “So here’s to great sex, good music, and a lot of laughter.”

  On that, we clinked our glasses and drank. Between the five of us, we killed the one bottle of champagne and I was barely tipsy, but I was loose and happy. Prom was different from Homecoming. One, it wasn’t at the same hotel that Homecoming had been held at. They changed the venue, and for that, I was grateful. We just needed no reminders of that night.

  Second, it was far more formal in some ways than Homecoming was. It was one of the few really traditional rituals I supposed that still lingered from decades past. The point of school dances had been to teach young men and women how to socialize with each other. How to interact at formal occasions. There were rules for a reason, not that we paid attention to most of them now.

  The two big things tonight would be the music and the crowning. There would be some awards handed out. Prom was for the seniors and the juniors. Underclassmen were not allowed to attend, unless they had permission from a parent and had been invited by a senior. It was a whole thing.

  There was also a spring dance that took place that was open to the whole school. Most juniors attended that rather than prom. That dance was the following weekend and happened at the school and not the party barn where our prom was being held. Despite the colorful name, the party barn was a great location with nothing close by, which meant we didn’t have to turn down the music and, at the same time, there was no hotel for the seniors to sneak off into. Kind of win-win for the administration, I supposed. It also featured an outdoor deck that in good weather—like tonight—could be opened for party-goers to spill out on.

  As the limo pulled in, I was grinning from ear to ear. The guys had been laughing and joking about putting up with me during AP test week. I ignored them. Pretty much how I planned to deal with them during AP test week too.

  It was good practice.

  Ian and Jake were out first, and then Ian held out a hand to help me. Coop and Archie followed. Music spilled through the wide open doors. Ian lifted my fingers to kiss and winked. “Dance with me later?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Tonight is all about fun,” Archie said, his grin wide as he crooked his
elbow to me and I threaded my arm through his. “You ready?”

  We went through the doors together, and there was a picture stop just inside for the seniors. I made all the guys get in the shot with us, and then got one with each of them. They put me in different positions for the picture, and we hammed it up. I spotted Rachel right at the end and actually put my fingers to my lips and whistled. She pivoted and laughed as she sauntered over to us in a strapless painted on dark gold dress that looked fantastic. While we were holding up the other arrivals, I managed to get a snap with Rachel too.

  It was pretty crowded and there were football players waving to the guys. A girl in our French class wandered over to me and Rachel, then Archie tugged me away to dance. I’d half-expected a slow dance for our first one, but nope, Archie chose “Uptown Funk.” When it segued from that to the next song, I wasn’t surprised when Coop slipped up behind me and joined us to dance.

  When Rachel let Jake drag her over to us and Ian followed, there was a split-second reminder from Homecoming, but I shook it off. This was our night.

  From Bruno Mars to Justin Timberlake to 50 Cent to Eminem and AC/DC and Queen, we didn’t leave the dance floor, save for once to get water and for Rachel and I to hit the bathroom together. If you thought the guys were right outside the door, you would be right. Not that I cared. When they played Cyndi Lauper, Rachel and I hit the dance floor again, then it was cool down time and more water. They cut the music for a brief announcement of some awards.

  I got to whistle and clap for Jake as he got a scholarship for being in the top percentage of STEM students. Archie’s name got called, but to acknowledge that he’d donated his scholarship back to someone else on the list, and there was a lot of whistles and applause for him. Ian got an award from his coach for valuable player. Rachel got called up and out for Outstanding Achievement and Service.

  It was rare to see her blush, but she did, and the guys and I were cheering her on. Merit scholarships came next, and Coop did a whoop when my name was called. Coop got one for Spirit of Community, which surprised him too. Those were all teacher nominated awards. But they were fun. We clapped and cheered as seniors were congratulated and awarded, and when it came to crowning the prom court, I had to bite back a groan.