by Heather Long
The guys looked entirely too pleased with themselves. The princesses were named off, leaving only Rachel and I for the queen spot, and I cut a look at her and pointed at her. She snorted and flipped me off. See, she really did get me.
“But we have something a little unusual this year, and we decided that it shouldn’t be.” Ms. Fajardo had the honor of handing these out. “We had a dead tie in votes, but those votes were more than all the votes received in entirety for the guys. If you think we don’t know a coordinated effort when we see one, kids, you’d be wrong.”
I laughed and glanced over at Archie. He just kept grinning, smug and pleased. What the hell had they done? Coop and Jake wore equally smug looks, and Ian just seemed at peace.
“With that in mind, we’ve decided to honor the write-in votes and we will not be having a prom king this year.”
I glared at the boys. They did not get to get out of that.
“But instead, we’re crowning two queens.”
Two…
Rachel threw her head back and laughed. Archie whistled, and so did Jake. Then everyone was stomping their feet and standing as they applauded. I stood up and curtseyed to Rachel with a smirk. Fine, the boys could get out of it. Rachel’s reaction was worth it. We went up and got our crowns together, posed for pictures, and then the rest of the court joined us.
Jake slipped his arms around my waist and murmured, “We did good, yeah?”
I laughed. “You did great.”
We danced for another hour, and I had to keep a hand on the tiara they stuck on my head until Rachel did something with pins. Archie kept eyeing it, and I had a feeling I was gonna get another one of these but not quite so plastic or cheap.
Not today though. Today, this one was perfect, and I even got in a few slow dances, one with each of them. Kind of perfect, and even though we didn’t stay until the party was over, we left when we were ready, and instead of heading to a hotel right away, we invited Rachel to dinner with us and raided a diner in all our finery.
It was the best breakfast at eleven at night meal I’d had in forever.
And I wasn’t wrong about the hotel, Archie had the car drop us off first, and I kissed the guys goodnight and Jake winked. He’d come get us the next day. Then it was me and Archie heading up to a room in the same hotel we’d stayed at for his birthday.
A perfect end for a perfect evening and an imperfect year.
When he wanted to dance again, I leaned into his arms and let him take the lead. It wasn’t long before we were naked, but we still took our time, and by request, I kept the sparkly heels on.
Archie’s grin was adorable.
And I got my first NSFW pic of him to keep on my phone.
He got several.
Win. Win.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
Archie
AP exam week was always brutal. We had different assigned times for different tests. Frankie went into blinders mode. Nothing would break her concentration. The fact she could shut us all out so efficiently probably shouldn’t have impressed me so much, but it did. The only time she emerged was to eat—usually because one of us made her—and to participate in quizzing.
By silent agreement and with no complaints from Frankie, I asked Jeremy to give us a hand this week. That meant the fridge was stocked with study snacks, hot dinners waiting each evening, and the apartment cleaned and straightened. He’d even hung out with us one evening, quizzing Frankie in French. Sometimes, I forgot he spoke a couple of languages.
Of the five of us, she and Jake had the most AP exams. Five each. They had a specialized time for the AP European history exam because they were the only two students. Frankie and I had AP economics and government back-to-back.
I didn’t think a test could hurt my brain. I was wrong.
Still, we made it work. All of us.
What I wasn’t expecting was the call from Edward or the request to see me. Rather than worry Frankie when she had so many tests, I went to see him on my own. He was at the house, shocker. Since moving in with Maddy, he hadn’t been back that I knew of, other than to pick up some of his suits. Jeremy had sent the rest of his things to him upon request.
“He’s out back on the deck,” Jeremy told me when I got there. “I’ve got supper ready, and I’ll be taking it over within the hour. Do you want me to stay?”
“I’m good, Jere. Go look after our girl. You know she loves your roast.”
“I’ll be here for at least another half hour,” he informed me with a firm nod. Jeremy always had my back. But I wasn’t that worried about Edward.
Grandpa said he’d been out for blood, but so far, the only thing he’d done was hand Frankie ten percent of Standish. Something she still hadn’t decided what she wanted to do with. I took the stairs up to the next level and then out to the deck. It was already dipping toward summer. It wasn’t quite hitting the nineties yet, but it was warm enough out here that Edward had shed his jacket and rolled up his shirtsleeves. I slid my sunglasses back on before stepping fully out.
He turned at my arrival and nodded. “Archie.”
“Edward.” Sliding my hands into my pockets, I strolled out. I could probably have gotten a drink before coming out here, but I didn’t intend to linger. He wanted to talk, so I’d give him a few minutes, then get back to my life.
That was about all I intended to spare, and he was lucky to get that much.
“Thanks for agreeing to this.”
“What do you want?”
“Can’t I just want to talk to you?”
I scoffed. “Seriously?”
“Fine,” Edward said after downing his drink. “I deserve that.”
And so much more.
I’d made my point, so I didn’t say another word. I just waited.
“I want to talk to you about Standish and your grandfather.”
Coop
The first half of the week had been brutal, but I only had two sets of AP exams, which meant I took point on keeping an eye on everyone else. Bubba was doing the same. Frankie had exams every single day that week, and two on some of them. The funny part about it was despite the dedicated focus she had, we could see her wilting, only to relax with relief as she finished each test.
Late on Friday, I waited for her after school. She and Rachel had their French exam. It was the last one. Jake and Bubba had gone to a team thing, the last one where they handed off stuff to the new team. Hopefully some wisdom, like ‘don’t be a dick.’
Archie had something else going on with his grandfather, but he hadn’t given us much in the way of details. Probably about where we were staying when we got to New York. We also had to discuss our summer trip, because last summer before college? Yeah, we were taking some time and doing something, even if we ended up following Bubba and Frankie to wherever they were recording.
The door opened, and kids started to trickle out. Frankie and Rachel were among the first, and boy did they look wasted. It was hot out, and I was glad I’d gone with shorts and a T-shirt. When Frankie saw me, she added a little skip to her step and said something to Rachel, who just gave her a playful shove before giving me a two-finger salute and heading away to her own car.
I caught Frankie as she flung herself at me and picked her up.
“I’m dead,” she mumbled against my neck. “Dead. My mind is tapioca. I literally can’t brain anymore. I haz the dumb.”
Cradling her, I chuckled. “Well, does that mean I get to do all the thinking?”
She paused. Long enough, I tweaked her, and she giggled as she lifted her head. Despite where we were in the parking lot, she made no move to get down. “I’m good with you doing all the thinking.”
“Excellent, ’cause I’m thinking about four pounds of barbecue wings, mozzarella sticks, some sodas, and ice cream for dessert while we do a full Fast and the Furious marathon.” Her eyes lit up.
“All of them?”
The dumbest movies ever made.
She loved them.
“All of them.”
She laughed and hugged me. “You’re the best.”
“And your favorite,” I quipped. When she kissed me, she deepened it almost immediately, and there was a whistle from across the parking lot.
Yeah yeah.
PDAs at school.
I nipped her lower lip. “Gotta save that for the apartment and food. But no more homework. No more studying. No more brain.”
“Just hot food, hot guys, and hot cars.” Her grin widened.
“So glad you think I’m hot,” I told her as I set her down and looped an arm over her shoulders to walk her to the car.
“You?” She batted innocent eyes at me.
“Remember how I’m doing all the thinking?”
“True. You’re right. You’re the hottest.”
“Yes,” I said with a fist-pump. We actually made it through four of the eight before she passed out, sprawled against my chest. I didn’t even bother to move to the bedroom. The sofa was damn comfy.
Ian
Weekly dinners with my parents had actually proven to be a lot of fun. Mom and Dad made a real effort with Frankie, and what tension I’d worried about initially evaporated after the first dinner. They just went back to treating her like they always had, favored daughter status, which worked. The guys were over for the first group dinner with all of us.
Timing hadn’t been ideal, and with the rush to finish the year and AP exams, we’d had to push it off. But tests were done, and school wasn’t really about actual education. Hell, most of us were on reduced schedules. Grades locked this week, and it was all about make up work if you had it. We didn’t.
So Mom played the Mom card, and I gathered up the guys along with Frankie for dinner. Dad grilled, and we were all out by the pool. Frankie wore the bandage bathing suit from spring break, and damn if it didn’t look even better on her right now than it had then.
Of course, I had to not focus on her in it. Swim trunks were not good at disguising erections, and no one needed to give Mom any more fodder for teasing. Frankie and Coop were playing in the pool, while Dad gave Archie a grilling lesson.
I didn’t know whether to feel sorry for him or to laugh. The guy tried, I’d give him that. But I thought we might be better off if we designated cooking off limits to him. I had a feeling those burgers were going to be burnt or raw when we got them.
“So Jake,” Mom said as she put the covered salad on the table. We were all going to eat outside. “I talked to your mom, and she told me the girls weren’t all going to Germany until later in the summer?”
“Yeah, Dad might get new orders, he’s TDY somewhere in Italy right now, and he has another assignment. So until we know he’s back at his base or reassigned here…they’re waiting.”
“Oh that’s a shame.” She glanced over at Frankie and Coop. “You two should start getting dried off for food.” Then in a lower voice, she added in a half-whisper, “If they don’t burn it.”
Not laughing proved difficult.
“Ian, go help your brother boyfriend. I do want to eat this evening, and we have a lot to talk about.”
Jake choked and sputtered. “His what now?”
Fuck.
Mom grinned, and I shook my head. She was never letting this go. I made my escape to “help” Archie and Dad. Coop’s sudden laughter rolled over from the other side of the pool, and Archie glanced at me.
“What’s so funny?”
“Oh, Sara’s probably explaining brother boyfriends to them,” Dad said without missing a beat, then shot me an apologetic look. “Sorry, I tried.”
The burger Archie had been flipping broke apart as he dropped it. “The what now?”
Yep.
Never. Going. Away.
Jake
After dinner at Bubba’s place and “brother boyfriends,” I wasn’t quite ready for the big family dinner “surprise” that was thrown for us. Mom, Bubba’s parents, Coop’s mom and his dad, all the siblings, and Jeremy sprang it on us the last weekend of the last week of school. We really only had “classes” on Monday, then graduation prep on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, Frankie, me, and the guys would walk her old elementary school in our graduation caps and gowns and visit with the kindergarteners before we were out. While we—as in Archie, Bubba, and I—hadn’t started there, we could still go if we volunteered, and we wanted to do it with Frankie and Coop.
Graduation was Saturday.
The Saturday night before, Jeremy informed us we had to show up at Archie’s place for dinner, no excuses. So we’d gone, only to find the rest of our families there. The only ones not present were bad meatloaf—thank fuck—and Archie’s mom.
It was like a huge holiday meal with courses, and toasts, and laughter. It was also about congratulating all of us on graduating and getting ready for college the next year. Mom and Sara pulled Frankie aside at one point along with Carly, and when I would have gone to rescue her, Joe stopped me and Bubba both.
“Let them have their moment.” At my quizzical look, he just gave me a patient smile and waved us back over to the others. Coop’s dad was trying, and while there was still a definite chill in the air between Coop and his dad, Coop seemed to be relaxed.
It turned out the moms had gotten together and gotten Frankie a graduation present. In addition to a diamond bracelet, they’d also volunteered to be a ‘mom’ if she needed it. It amused me that they would pinch hit for her to call if she had boy issues. Like she could call my mom if she had an issue with the other guys, and call Carly or Sara if the issue was with me.
As cute as I thought it was, it was also very sweet, and Frankie had been kind of sniffly afterward. I found her outside in the garden after dinner. She’d disappeared, and I had a feeling the noise and laughter might have been too much.
Some days, I had to wonder why my mother hadn’t drowned my sisters at birth, yet here we were.
“You okay?”
She glanced over at me and smiled. “I’m good, just thinking.”
“About whether to call Jackson?” I wouldn’t call him her dad, not right now.
“Do you have like some secret idiot’s guide to handling Frankie?” The exasperation in her voice made me smile as I crossed over to her.
Wrapping my arms around her, I pulled her back to my chest and tucked my hands over her stomach. We didn’t spend as much time at Archie’s place as we used to, and sometimes it was weird to think of it as his “place” when we pretty much lived at the apartment. Still… “If I did, I couldn’t tell you because it’d be classified eyes only, top secret.”
She laughed and leaned back against me. Some of the tension drained out of her.
“And there’s a lot of family stuff going on inside.”
“Yeah,” she said softly. “I’ve had his name for weeks, you know, and I still don’t know whether I should call him.”
“I’m right here if you decide you want to.”
And I’d be right here. No matter what she decided.
Two days later, she called him while we sat in her living room. None of us spoke while the phone rang. It went to voicemail, and I grimaced. But Frankie actually looked relieved, and she left a message and then hung up.
“Out of my hands now,” she said. “I called.”
“Yeah you did.”
Friday night before graduation, we’d just gotten the pizza in and cued up the next round of Fast and Furious movies that Coop and Frankie wanted to finish when there was a knock at the door.
“I got it.” I made it there and pulled it open. The man standing there looked a bit surprised, and I raised my brows. “Can I help you?”
“I was looking for Frankie Curtis,” he said. “I’m Henry Jackson.”
Frankie and the boys’ story continues in Graduation and Gifts!
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Graduation and Gifts<
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Life doesn’t come with a script but some moments don’t need one.
Senior year pushed us all. It dared us to embrace wonder and chase love. It challenged us to find out who we were as people, as partners, as a family. We’re so much better together.
Graduation isn’t the end of our story by any stretch. It’s the next chapter.
Afterword
Hopefully, this was a much softer landing than last time. And yet, in someway, this is also the end of the road too. The end of high school. It’s both thrilling and bittersweet. When I first envisioned this series, I didn’t imagine spending all these books set in senior year. Now? Now I’m so glad I did.
I love seeing how far they’ve come from the first day to the last. I love how they fought to understand, to connect, to communicate, and ultimately to commit. I love how they share and support not only Frankie, but each other. From Frankie and the guys to Frankie and Rachel, to Rachel and the boys sharing a tacit kind of peace, I continue to savor every step they take.
Their journey is far from over. Happily ever after is a work in progress, remember? Life after high school has its own challenges from college to moving to what happens next in their personal and professional lives.
They’re a unit, they can handle what life throws at them and they are adapting and shifting around in the relationship as they all find their footing in this dynamic. Curveballs and sucker punches are not the end of the road.
Thank you again for being on this journey with me. I am so excited to see where we go next.
xoxo
Heather
About Heather Long
USA Today bestselling author, Heather Long, likes long walks in the park, science fiction, superheroes, Marines, and men who aren’t douche bags. Her books are filled with heroes and heroines tangled in romance as hot as Texas summertime. From paranormal historical westerns to contemporary military romance, Heather might switch genres, but one thing is true in all of her stories—her characters drive the books. When she’s not wrangling her menagerie of animals, she devotes her time to family and friends she considers family. She believes if you like your heroes so real you could lick the grit off their chest, and your heroines so likable, you’re sure you’ve been friends with women just like them, you’ll enjoy her worlds as much as she does.