by E. K. Blair
The rest of the day passed in a similar fashion.
Jessica and Lydia kept their distance. Jill Flatten sneered as she passed by once. Her arm was curled around Jeff’s. He avoided my gaze and stared straight ahead. Then there was Becky. She gushed about the Kade brothers and how they had talked to her. She asked once about my hands and I lifted them. It was funny. I’d forgotten about their pain until she asked, but then she started to gush about Adam Quinn in the next breath.
Apparently, he told her that he did want to ask me out.
My hands had started to hurt again, but I listened to her story and tried to block the pain out. I asked her when he said he wanted to ask me out. She looked the other way while one of her shoulders jerked up in a shrug.
Adam Quinn never said a word.
Over the next week, things were at a bypass at home. Analise avoided me. I avoided her. And the boys seemed to have disappeared.
It was perfect.
When I got to school on Thursday, the rumors started.
I was a whore.
Jeff dumped me because I had herpes.
Lydia and Jessica were my friends because my mother bribed them.
My own dad hated me, he barely talked to me.
Then I cornered Becky at her car one day and demanded to know where the rumors had come from.
She squealed as she got red in the face, “Lydia.”
My eyebrow rose up.
“And Jessica.”
I waited.
“And Jill Flatten. She really hates you.”
“I knew it.”
Then Becky said in a small voice, “And Ashley DeCortts.”
“Wait—what? Why does she hate me?”
“Because Adam likes you.”
I rolled my eyes. The guy didn’t give a damn. When would she drop this obsession of hers?
“What else could go wrong?” I muttered under my breath.
The back door burst open at that moment and the football team jogged across the parking lot on the way to the field. Their spikes clattered against the tar and the sound was soon deafening.
“Hi,” Becky squeaked with a small wave.
I turned to see that Adam Quinn had fallen to a walk as he drew close. He stopped with his helmet in one hand and a water bottle in the other. Up close, I saw why so many girls wanted to love him. Striking blue eyes, golden curls with streaks from the sun, and a square jaw that would’ve sent romantics swooning. Hell, they already did.
He towered over us with shoulder pads that made his already muscular shoulders larger. His chest tapered down to a slender waist and he grinned at Becky. His eyes scanned to me. “You need a ride home, Becky?”
“No.” She sounded breathless. “My mom let me use her car this week.”
“Good old Nancy.” His grin brightened. “Am I still invited for chili and cornbread this weekend?”
Becky’s foot started to push a rock back and forth on the ground. She didn’t look up. “Yeah, of course. I know Eddie might come home this weekend.”
“That’s great. I’ve missed your brother.” He cast me another questioning look.
I sighed and held out my hand. “I’m Samantha.”
His hand enveloped mine. They were rough, slightly calloused, probably from throwing the football, but they weren’t so rough to the touch. I could see why he dated Ashley DeCortts, the girl that seemed to reign over the cheerleaders. I suppose she daydreamed about the Ken Barbie he reminded me of, how he must’ve been the prince to her damsel in distress fairytale.
“I know. Adam Quinn.”
“I know.”
We grinned at each other.
“How’re your hands?”
A faint scowl came to me. I remembered that he’d been there. “Oh, they’re...” I lifted them up and shrugged. “I guess they’re okay. They’ll heal.”
“You can drive home today?”
“What?”
“I saw your car here that night. Then I saw coach take off. I figured maybe you didn’t have a ride or something.”
“Oh, yeah. No, I’m fine. I’ve been driving all week.”
“That’s good.”
“Yeah.”
Becky continued to hang her head and I arched an eyebrow.
“So,” he watched her too. “Are you guys going to the beach party tomorrow night?”
Her head snapped up and her cheeks were in flames.
Not surprised.
Then she mumbled out, “I’ dlove to, butIdon’t know whereit’s at.”
“There’s a party?” I asked with a frown at my redheaded friend.
“Yeah.” His teeth were blinding. “You could both go with me?”
Becky whirled to me. Her eyes were fervent with hope.
“I...” I wanted to say no, but a stricken look came to her eyes. I crumbled. “Sure. You can pick us up at Becky’s.”
“Great.”
“Great.”
Becky breathed out, “Great!”
“I’ll—uh—I’ll see you then, I guess?”
I nodded. “See you then.”
He jogged after the team, but glanced back with a small wave before he got onto the field.
Becky whooshed out, “I can’t believe I’m going to a party with Adam Quinn.”
My shoulder nudged her. “Maybe there’s hope for you after all.”
“What do you mean?”
“Here’s your big chance.” I gave her a duh look. “He’s going to be drinking. You’re going to be drinking. I can drive us home...”
Then she squeaked again and clamped her mouth shut. Her cheeks got big and her whole body was soon red, even her hands and fingers.
I laughed. “Now you just have to figure out what you’re going to wear.”
As I headed to my car, I heard her groan behind me. Somehow, things didn’t seem so bad when I had a friend to distract me. Too bad it wouldn’t keep. I wanted something to keep.
***
CHAPTER EIGHT
Becky was bouncing off the wall when I got to her house the next afternoon. I was dressed in a see-through white summer dress that tied behind my neck. My black bikini was visible underneath and I had on simple black flip flops. While I was going for comfort, Becky wanted sexy.
She let out a dramatic groan and collapsed on her bed when I went to her room. One of her arms had been pulled through a black tube top, or that’s what it looked like. A blinding rainbow colored bikini top had been pushed up. When she rolled over, she cried out, “I can’t fit into anything.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I have nothing, nothing! I’m so fat, Sam.”
I frowned and grabbed her hand to pull her up. When she looked at me, I shrugged. “What do you want me to say? If you’re trying to be a model, you need to lose weight. I think you’re fine just how you are.”
“Thanks a lot,” she grumbled.
“I thought friends were honest.” I flashed a grin.
She stood back up and struggled to pull the rest of her tube top over her left boob. Then she started to hop around. “Yeah, but it’d be easier to take if you didn’t look how you did.”
I scowled and crossed my arms over my chest.
She paused mid-hop. “That’s a compliment.”
“Oh.” I loosened my arms. “My mom’s always on me about my weight.”
“You could gain some. You want mine?”
I chuckled and watched as she continued to hop around, sometimes skip around the room. After an hour, when Becky stopped to pant with beads of sweat on her forehead, I gestured to a dress in her closet. “Why don’t you just wear that?”
“Ugh.” She let out another drawn-out groan. “That makes me look like a tan marshmallow.”
“It does not. You wore it to the first day of school. I thought you looked nice.”
Her eyebrows arched high. “I didn’t know you knew who I was back then?”
I shrugged. “I didn’t, but I still thought you looked nice.”
I rolled my eyes. “If she went out of her way to call you a name that meant you looked good. And I bet some guy she wanted to flirt with was looking at you instead.”
“You think?”
“I know so.”
“It’s my last option anyway. I need to lose weight, or buy new clothes and I refuse to buy new clothes.” She grimaced. “My bank account won’t allow it and I can’t live down the fact that I’m a size larger since last year.”
“You could go running with me.”
She shot me a dark look. “I’m not that desperate. I’ll try walking first.”
When she pulled on the black dress, it fit her. It was snug in places it was supposed to be and loose in places that she was embarrassed about. After a few twirls in the mirror, I gave her the thumbs up and waited until she finished her make-up.
I called to her in the bathroom, “This is a beach party, right?”
“Hmmm mmm.” Her voice was muffled from the bathroom.
“So why are you putting make-up on?”
Then she came into the room. “Because it’s waterproof and because Adam’s taking us.”
I frowned at that logic. “He’s picking us up?”
“Yeah, in thirty minutes.”
“Why’d you have me come over two hours earlier?”
She posed with an arm on her hip and rolled her eyes. “Are you serious? You’re my girlfriend. Aren’t we supposed to get ready together?”
“I’m ready.”
“Yeah, well, I needed the moral support. And besides,” she flashed me a smile and a wink. “My mom has wine. I thought we could raid her cabinet.”
“Oh.” I surged upright on the bed. “Why didn’t you say so in the beginning?”
Becky giggled as she led me downstairs and we both had a glass. We’d had our second when her phone vibrated and she continued to giggle as she knocked over her mother’s lamp. “Adam’s outside.”
When she stood, her knees buckled and I caught her arm. “Are you okay?”
She gave me a weak wave. “Oh, no worries. This has more to do with Adam than the wine, but I didn’t eat all day. Oops.” She giggled again and her face was lobster red.
When we got outside, the silliness was gone and her limbs became rigid. Her back was stiff, her chin down, and she walked like a robot. Adam gave her a small frown, but shook his head slightly. When we climbed in, he asked, “Are you guys ready?”
Becky giggled into her lap.
I sighed from the back. “What party is this?”
“It’s a Public party. Is that okay?”
Her head popped back up. “They’re only the best kind.”
Adam chuckled and rested an arm on the back of their front seat. His fingers scraped her shoulder before they fell against the headrest. I saw her almost faint.
“I guess so. More people, right?”
“And the Kades.”
My scowl was back.
Adam mimicked my reaction.
Becky was clueless as she bobbed her head up and down. “I heard it’s their party. They’re actually inviting people at our school.”
“Wait, what?” I shot forward and clasped onto their seat.
“Yeah.” She was a grinning idiot. “They’re usually so exclusive. I mean, I heard no one’s allowed in their house, but I guess they live on the beach. It’s in front of their home.”
Every tendon in me wanted to snap. By the time we got to my house, the tension suffocated me and was weighing me down. Becky hot-footed it out of the car, but my legs couldn’t move.
A party. At my house. By my soon-to-be-stepbrothers.
Adam had grown silent too as he glanced back. “You okay?”
Becky shoved her head next to his. “Yeah, you look pale, really pale.”
“I’m fine.” My voice was calm, but my body trembled. My knees buckled an inch when I got out of the car, but Adam caught me and held me upright. I flashed him a smile in thanks and then turned to see Becky’s grin falter a bit.
My stomach dropped. That wasn’t good.
A crowd of people had congregated at the bottom of the driveway, but they started to head around the hill and down to the beach. I let out a small breath in relief. I remembered their other party. No one had entered the house then and I hoped no one would this time.
When we bypassed the gate around the pool, Becky grabbed one of the bars. “Look at that. They have their own pool and a hot tub.” Her eyes were wide as she took the rest in, the sand volleyball and basketball courts.
Adam touched her shoulder. “I think they have a bonfire started down here.”
“Oh, wow...” Becky was lost in stardust as she followed the line downwards.
I breathed another sigh of relief when I saw the divider door was still closed, not to mention locked.
Then we were on the beach and there were three bonfires. A keg had been hidden in some bushes towards the back of the beach with coolers placed all over. When people quickly congregated to them, I figured they had alcohol inside.
“Oh, look!” Becky pointed to the farthest bonfire.
Logan and their friend were there with others grilling over the fire. Soon music blared from speakers placed by the pool.
Adam suggested we sit around one of the smaller bonfires and after we snagged some lawn chairs, Becky jumped back up. She was all smiles. “I’m going to get something more to drink. You guys want?”
She hot-footed it away before we could answer and Adam looked over with a hesitant smile. “More?”
“We got into her mom’s wine.”
“Ah, I see. Nancy. She does love her Moscato.”
I grinned. “My mom’s decided she loves tea, not the coffee she’s been drinking since I was born, but tea now.”
The small smile disappeared. “Yeah, uh...I heard your dad that night...” He seemed to be choosing his words.
“No one knows. Please don’t say anything.”
He nodded quickly. “I won’t. I wouldn’t—I mean—I know what that’s like, to have your personal life on display, you know?”
I nodded. “Yeah...”
“So,” he sat forward and leaned closer. “You and Sallaway, huh? You two were together for a while.”
“We were.”
His eyes seemed to be watching me intently. “And you don’t think there’s any chance...?”
It took a moment before I realized what he was asking and my eyes went wide. “He cheated on me for two years with my best friend. Some girls might tolerate that, but I have self-esteem.”
His shoulders loosened and he grinned. “That’s good, I mean, you deserve better.”
“Any girl deserves better.”
“You’re right. No one deserves a cheater.”
From the dark look on his face, something relaxed inside of me. He understood. “I heard DeCortts cheated on you?”
He looked startled for a moment and then cleared his throat. “Yeah, uh, she did.”
I lifted a shoulder. “It was all over school.”
“I know, I just...hearing it from a stranger is different, you know...”
“I was informed the two of you were the ‘hottest couple ever’.” I thought those were Lydia’s exact words.
He stiffened in his chair. “I guess so. She’s—she threw herself at one of the Kades, of all people.” He laughed and gestured around.
“Which one?”
“Logan, I think.” He frowned, and then shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. She said he turned her down, but I still knew what she’d done. I heard the whole thing at some stupid party. Then Peter told me she’d been sleeping around for the last six months.”
“Peter Glasburg?” His best friend.
Adam nodded. “Yeah, I don’t know who with, but I trust him. Peter doesn’t say much and if he said it, then it’s worse than he let on.”
I grew silent and turned to watch for Becky. She’d been gone a while, but
I couldn’t squash an inkling of jealousy. He had a friend who looked out for him and that friend wasn’t the one to sleep with his girlfriend. My mouth clamped shut and my chest grew tight as something burned inside of me.
But then Mason and Logan’s friend walked towards us from the beach. He had gone past at some point and he was now going back to the other bonfire. A couple of beers were in his hands and as he started to bypass us, he stopped, backed up, and frowned at us.
Adam lifted a hand. “Hey, man.”
The friend shot him a look and glanced at my hands. The gauze I had used to wrap my fingers was gone. I scowled up at him, waiting for what he was going to say, but then he held out a beer to me.
“Thanks.” The word felt awkward on my lips.
He rolled his eyes and kept going.
Adam twisted around to watch him. “Do you know him?”
I shrugged.
“That was...odd. Do you know who that was?”
Again, I shrugged.
“That was Nate Monson. He’s best friends with Mason Kade. He moved away last year, but I guess he comes back to visit.” Adam continued to look at me strangely. “I have never seen him do something like that. That was weird.”
“Do something like what?”
His eyes seemed to be inspecting me. “Be nice to a random girl that he or his buddies aren’t sleeping with.”
I shifted in my seat. “I’m not sleeping with anybody, if that’s what you’re getting at.”
His hands shot in the air in surrender. “I didn’t mean that. I’ve just—do you know him?”
I sneered at him. “His name’s Nate?”
“Yeah.” Adam leaned forward and rested his elbows on his legs. “He’s bad news, like really bad news. I heard him and Kade are not a good team together.”
I snorted, “Which Kade?”
“Mason.” He frowned at me. “What’d you mean by that?”
I fought the urge to roll my eyes and popped open the beer. “I just meant that the Kade brothers seem close, it’d made sense if he was friends with both.”
“Oh.” Adam leaned back again and stretched out his legs. “I don’t know about that, but I heard when he and Mason Kade get together, it’s not good.”
“You’re scared of them?”