“Um, yeah, I guess. I saw her in the dining hall last night.”
“But you didn’t speak with her?”
“No. Why?” I try to sound calm but his questions are making me anxious.
“No reason. I just wanted to ask. I need to go. We’ll talk later.”
And then he just hangs up. Someone had to have talked to him. Why else would he call me and ask me about Jade? But he didn’t yell at me for spending time with her, so I don’t get it.
I’ll ask Blake about it at the party on Friday. I’m sure Ava will be there, too. One of them said something to my dad that prompted him to call me.
Whatever they started, I’m putting an end to it. I’m finally getting through to Jade and she’s beginning to open up to me. I’ve opened up to her, too. We’ve both told each other things we wouldn’t tell anyone else. And I get the feeling our friendship is about to turn into something more. We’ve worked hard to get to this place and I’m not letting Blake, Ava, my dad, or anyone else, interfere with that.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Friday night I go to yet another house party off campus. This one is even more packed than normal because it’s the night before Halloween and costume parties always draw a crowd. I can barely move with all the people and it’s so damn hot in here I’m starting to sweat.
I’ve been here for an hour now and I’m bored out of my mind and just want to leave. There’s a pool table in the corner which has occupied my time for the past ten minutes until some girl climbed on top of it and started dancing. The girl has on a nurse’s costume with a white skirt that’s so short you could see her ass even when she wasn’t bending over. And now that she’s on the table you can see everything under her skirt, which is why about 20 guys are now gathered around her.
I took a glance at her when she first climbed up there. What can I say? I’m a guy. Our eyes naturally divert to naked women, or in this case, almost naked. She’s got a red lace thong underneath the skirt and a heart tattoo on her inner thigh.
My eyes didn’t linger. I have no interest in her or any other girl here. Every time I go to one of these parties, all I can think about is Jade. I feel bad that she’s sitting all alone in her room. She says she doesn’t mind staying home on Friday nights but I don’t believe her. Who the hell wants to sit all alone in their dorm room on a Friday night?
The guys around me start chanting “take it off” and I look up and see Nurse Girl unbuttoning the white shirt she’s wearing that’s so tight I’m surprised the buttons haven’t burst off it by now. She only undoes the top button and the guys chant louder.
“Okay, listen.” She waves her hands in the air and the guys quiet down. “I’ll take it off, but you have to work for it. You have to do a shot with me for each button.”
The guy next to me yells, “Shit, yeah!” and races back to the bar for some liquor while the other guys yell at him to hurry up. They’re so stupid. Most of the girls in here are so drunk they’d take their tops off without demanding anything in return but Nurse Girl likes to be the center of attention and her method is clearly working.
The guy returns with a bottle of tequila but no shot glasses because there aren’t any. The party only has plastic cups.
“Give it to me,” Nurse Girl demands. She’s talking about the bottle but of course the double meaning gets the guys all excited again. Idiots.
She takes the bottle and pours it right into her mouth, letting some dribble down her chin and onto her breasts.
“Oops, I spilled,” she says, pouting her lips. “Anyone want to help clean me up?”
A guy who lives on my floor shoves his way to the pool table. “I’ll do it!” he eagerly offers.
“Are you a freshman?” she asks.
“Yeah. Why?”
“I only let upperclassmen touch these.” She points to her breasts. Another guy offers, this time a junior who’s on the basketball team. She agrees and lowers herself down on her hands and knees, giving the guys on the opposite side of the table a better view of her ass. Basketball Guy starts licking her chest, then takes the bottle of tequila from her and pours at least a couple shots in his mouth, earning a round of cheers from the crowd. Nurse Girl undoes another button, takes the tequila bottle back and asks who’s next.
I can’t believe I used to actually like these parties. Then again, when you’re wasted everything seems fun. Now that I’m sober, these parties look totally different.
There’s some noise on the other side of the room and I turn and see a girl in a cheerleader skirt and a red bra being passed around by some guys, her body hovering over a sea of hands.
I stand there looking around at all the crazy shit going on around me. What the hell am I doing here? I’m so sick of these Friday night parties I’ve been forced to go to because of Blake.
I showed up here and put in my time. I’m done. I’m going to where I want to be. With Jade. I don’t care what we do. Hang out in her room. Go up to mine and watch TV. It doesn’t matter. I just want to be with her.
I make my way to the back door because if I go out the back, chances are Blake won’t notice I left.
But as soon as I pop the screen door open, I hear his voice. Shit.
“Kensington. Want a beer?” Blake is standing over one of the many coolers lined up against the back of the house.
“No, I’m good.” I walk past him hoping he’s too drunk to notice or care that I’m leaving.
“Hey! Kensington!” he yells as I round the corner of the house.
I sigh as I stop and turn around. “What?”
“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” He saunters over to me and drapes his arm over my shoulder.
“I’m leaving. This party sucks. It’s hotter than hell in there and you can’t even move it’s so crowded.”
Blake laughs. “You gotta loosen up, Kensington. Have some drinks. Come on. I’ll set you up with a bottle of the good vodka, not that shit everyone else is drinking.”
I remove his arm from me. “No. I’m leaving.”
As I start to walk away, Blake comes around to block me. “Fuck that! You’re not leaving. We have a deal.”
“Yeah, and I did my part of the deal. I showed up at your fucking party. Now I’m leaving.”
I try to go around him but he blocks me again. “You can’t just show up for an hour and leave. I get your whole Friday night. That’s the deal.” He reaches in his pocket and pulls out his phone, waving it in front of my face, his lips curled into a smirk. “Unless you want me to call your dad and tell him you’re still hanging out with Ohio.”
I really fucking hate it when he calls her that. And I’m so damn sick of him controlling me like this.
He’s still got that smirk on his face and I feel my anger rising. My hand forms a fist as I prepare to punch that smirk away, but then I think of Jade and I can’t do it. If I hit Blake, he’ll tell my dad about Jade and me and I can’t let that happen.
“I’ll go back inside but I’m not drinking.”
“Whatever.” Blake reaches in the cooler and takes out another beer. “Just means there’s more for me.”
“Did you already say something to my dad about Jade? Because he called me last week and was asking me all these questions about her.”
“I’m a man of my word, Kensington.” Blake’s speech is starting to slur. Whatever he drank earlier must be kicking in. “I don’t call him unless I need to. And since you’re here now, I don’t need to.” He stumbles past me, almost tripping on my foot. I wish he had. I’d love to see his face hit the concrete slab just outside the patio door.
We go inside and Blake takes off for the bar. He stations himself there at almost every party. That way he’s near the liquor but also has a steady stream of girls stopping by to get drinks. By the end of the night, there’s usually at least one girl lingering at the bar who’s drunk enough for Blake to take home. That’s the only way he can get girls. He’s too much of an ass to get a girl who’s sober to sleep with him. He’s never had
a girlfriend and probably never will.
“Hi, Garret.” I hear the voice behind me and know exactly who it is from her strong perfume. I swear she bathes herself in it.
“What do you want, Ava?” I turn to see her standing there in a cat costume that consists of a black sparkly leotard that cuts high up on her hip and so low on top her cleavage is spilling out. Her face is coated in heavy makeup; glossy red lips and thick rings of black around her dark brown eyes. And holding back her hair is a black headband with cat ears sticking out of it.
“I just wanted to say hi to my boyfriend.”
Boyfriend? She’s either drunk or delusional or both. I ignore her but she doesn’t go away.
She slides her hand around my waist while her other hand lifts up my shirt.
I shove her away. “What the hell are you doing?”
She must be drunk, although I can’t smell any alcohol on her and given her close proximity to me, you’d think I would. But she’s got that weird half-smile, half-pout thing going that she does whenever she’s drunk, like she’s not sure which expression to use. And then she always crosses her ankles while twirling a strand of her hair with her finger and the combined movement causes her to trip or fall to the side. It’s a ploy to get a guy to catch her so she ends up in his arms. Tonight she’s hoping I’m that guy but as she teeters on her high heels I just stand there and watch as she stumbles into the girl next to her.
The girl pushes her back. “God, Ava, get off me.”
Ava ignores her and puts her hand on the hem of my shirt. “I’m just trying to make you more comfortable, Garret. It’s sooo hot in here and you’d feel a lot cooler if you just took your shirt off.” Her fingers move under the fabric and brush against my skin.
I grab her wrist, taking her hand off me. “Don’t.”
“Don’t what?” she asks, her half-smile turning to a full-on pout.
“Don’t touch me. Go find some other guy to undress. There are plenty of other guys to choose from.”
“But I like you the best.” She steps closer as someone bumps into her from behind. She turns to see who it was and her breasts brush against my chest.
“Just go away, Ava.” I try to find a way to escape her but there are people blocking me on every side.
She looks up at me, her head bent back. Even with her heels, she’s still really short. “You’re my boyfriend now and if you don’t start playing the part I’ll have a talk with your—”
Someone turns the music way up and I can’t hear what she said. But it looks like she said ‘dad’ and I get the feeling she knows something about the call I had from my dad last week.
“What did you just say?” I ask her.
She starts talking again but I can’t hear a thing with the thumping bass and the crowd singing along to whatever song is playing. I look around and see that the door to one of the bedrooms is open.
“Come on.” I grab Ava’s hand and pull her back toward the open room. I feel her body shake and I glance back to see her giggling like she thinks I’m planning to have sex with her. Of course she would think that. She’s so clueless.
But I know Ava, unfortunately more than I’d like to, and I can tell she’s hiding something. She knows something and I need to know what it is.
I shut the door and let go of her hand. “What did you say about my dad?”
She tilts her head and smiles. “We can talk later. Let’s go to the bed.” She pulls on my hand as she walks backward.
I yank my hand back and she holds on, propelling herself forward, her face landing on my chest.
“Damn, you smell good,” she says, taking deep breaths. “I forgot how good you smell.”
“I told you to get off me.” I push her away, holding her in place by her shoulders so she doesn’t fall on me again. “Now tell me what my dad said.”
“So we’re not having sex?”
I roll my eyes. “I’m not interested in you, Ava. I’ve told you that a million times.”
“It’s just sex, Garret.” She lifts my shirt up again and her long red nails scratch my skin. I hate long nails. I always have. “You don’t have to be interested in me. We’re just having a good time.” Her fingers trail down to my belt.
“Stop.” I take hold of both her wrists and hold them out in front of me. “I mean it.”
She looks at my hands on her wrists and smiles. “I get it. You want it rough, huh? That’s so sexy.” She laughs a little. “Well, go ahead and take me. Do whatever you want. I’m all yours.”
Seriously? I can’t believe I actually dated this girl.
She steps forward, brushing her chest against mine.
“Ava!”
“What?” The pout appears, followed by the smile.
“We’re not having sex so just back the hell away.”
She takes a tiny step back. “Then why did you bring me in here?” Now that she knows she’s not getting sex, she sounds annoyed.
“Did you talk to my dad last week?”
“No, I didn’t talk to your stupid dad.” She rotates her wrists trying to free them from my hands. Now she sounds like she’s not drunk at all. So was that all an act? Damn, she’s messed up.
“Then what were you saying just now? You said something about my dad.”
“Let me go and I’ll tell you.” She glares at me, her eyes no longer the wandering drunk eyes she had just seconds ago.
“Fine.” I drop her wrists. “Now tell me.”
“You and I are dating.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m your new girlfriend. I’m taking Courtney’s place.”
Shit. That’s just great. Just what I need. A new fake girlfriend. And it has to be Ava? The girl who’s been obsessed with me since junior high? At least Courtney left me alone. She wasn’t trying to get me to date her for real.
“When did you find this out?”
“My parents told me a couple days ago.” She smiles and runs her finger down my chest. “They always thought we made the perfect couple.”
I swat her finger off me. “How many freaking times do I have to tell you to stop touching me?”
“I’m your girlfriend. I can touch you all I want. And you have to touch me. We have to be seen in public together and that means kissing, holding hands, holding me in your arms, dancing with me.” She reaches for me again but I step aside, causing her to trip on her high heels but she catches herself and doesn’t fall. Yeah, she’s definitely not drunk. It was all just an act.
“And my dad agreed to this?”
“I think it was Katherine’s idea but your dad went along with it.”
I take my phone from my pocket and call him. As I wait for him to pick up, Ava watches me, a smug grin on her face. She’s loving every minute of this. She’s wanted this for years and now Katherine goes and hands it to her on a silver platter. I can’t stand that woman.
I hear my dad’s voice. “What is it, Garret?”
“Did you make Ava my new fake girlfriend?”
The phone is silent and then, “Yes, but it’s no different than when you were—”
“And this was Katherine’s idea?” I put the phone closer to my ear so I can hear him because the music is loud even with the door closed.
“She thought Ava was a better choice than Courtney because Ava was on that reality show last year.”
“And you just let Katherine do this? You didn’t even think to ask me first?”
“Just calm down. It’s not real. You know that. You’ll just show up at some events with her, take a few photos, attend some charity—”
I hang up on him. I know he’ll yell at me later, saying I was disrespectful for hanging up on him but I don’t care. He was disrespectful to me, setting me up with Ava without even telling me. I’m so freaking mad I want to punch in the wall but that would just make Ava happy. She loves pissing me off. I think she even gets turned on by it. The girl is seriously messed up.
“See? I told you,” she says as
she adjusts her breasts in her leotard. “If we’re not having sex, then I’m leaving. Could you get me a drink from the bar? I can’t walk in these heels.”
“I’m not getting you a drink. I’m getting the hell out of here.” I open the door and feel her behind me, holding on to the back of my shirt as she wobbles on her ridiculously high heels.
I scan the room, looking for the quickest way out. The room is even more crowded than it was 10 minutes ago. But that’s good. I can sneak out without Blake seeing. I check the bar to see if he’s there.
He is. And so is she.
My muscles tense and my throat goes dry. And the music that was deafening just a second ago seems to disappear. Everything around me fades into the background. I don’t even notice the crowds of people. I only focus on the one person in the room who matters.
Jade. She’s standing right next to Blake, her head tipped back as she drinks from a bottle of vodka.
Wait. What? Jade’s drinking?
Why the hell is she drinking?
And what the hell is she doing here at the party? At the bar? Next to Blake?
I notice Blake laughing and pointing at Jade. She slowly lowers the bottle and our eyes meet across the sea of people.
I feel Ava next to me. “I’ll just get my own damn drink.”
I ignore her, my eyes still on Jade who has this angry, hurt, horrified look on her face. Why is she so upset? What happened between the time I left for the party and now? What the hell would make her decide to drink vodka with Blake?
I have to get to her. I need to find out what’s wrong.
“Jade!” I yell her name and start pushing people aside trying to get through, but everywhere I turn people block my path.
My eyes haven’t left Jade. She’s making her way to the front door, moving much faster than me because she’s small and can fit between people easier. I barely move two feet and she’s gone. Out the front door. And I have no idea where she’s headed. It’s dark out and way too dangerous for her to walk back to campus. A car could easily hit her.
Shit! I have to get to her. I have to stop her before she gets to the main road.
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