“Legend, you in?” he asks, walking over with a towel around his waist.
“Damn straight. I’m ready to see how you party over here.”
“Tonight is a quiet one, the real party is tomorrow night. Ain’t that right, J?” he calls over to Justin, who is apparently hosting this weekend’s official party.
“You got it, man. Parents are already gone but Nathan is kicking me out tonight so he can hang with your sister.”
A groan rumbles up Zayn’s throat at the mention of Harley but I’m sure it’s nothing compared to the way my stomach twists at the mention of her being in a house alone with her boyfriend.
I want to ask about him, about them, but I swallow down my questions. I don’t need Zayn looking too closely into things. As far as I know, he has no idea about what went down at that party, just that Harley called the cops and I ended up doing time because of it. I’m sure if he had any idea that I’d had my hands on his little sister then I wouldn’t have been invited into his circle the second I appeared here.
“You’d better give him some fucking house rules. I ain’t having some prep boy corrupting my little sister, J.”
“Nah, Nathan’s good people, bro. Plus, I’ve heard the plans for tonight. That fucker is so whipped by her it’s not even funny.”
“I don’t want to know about my sister whipping anyone.”
A few of the guys continue to tease Zayn and make a few suggestions about what Harley might be getting up to tonight but thankfully the second he pins one of them against the wall by their throat, everyone seems to stop. Thank fuck because I was two seconds away from doing something similar and I don’t need anyone here looking too deep at my feelings for Zayn’s little sister. Hell, even I don’t want to put any thought into it. As far as I’m concerned, I want revenge and that is all.
Revenge.
Everyone begins to disappear once they’re dressed but as Zayn makes a move to leave, he stops by where I’m shoving my damp, sweaty clothes into my duffel.
“Wanna head back with me now? We could order some pizza before the other fuckers turn up.”
“Uh…”
“I’ve got weed and vodka.”
“Sounds great, man.” Not that I really needed a sweetener, I just didn’t want to look too eager.
“You can follow me back.”
The drive to Zayn’s place is quick and I do a double-take when he pulls up into a driveway of a fucking massive house.
I knew that his mom had done well for herself but shit. This place is a million miles away from the shitty trailers we grew up in.
“Wow, this place is…” I say after parking behind him and stepping out, my eyes sweeping over the huge home before me.
“I know, right. Bit of a shock after the Creek.”
“Fucking right.”
“Come on, I’ll give you the tour and we can get food.”
I nod and follow him inside.
“Jesus,” I mutter to myself as I walk into the huge hallway with an impressive staircase leading up to the second floor.
“Afternoon,” Zayn sings as he turns left. Footsteps race toward us and when I look up I find his girl jumping into his arms.
“Zayn,” another familiar voice—one that gives me tingles—warns. “What the fuck is he doing here?”
“He’s just come over to hang before the boys get here. I didn’t think you’d mind, you’re going out with lover boy.” Zayn steps aside as he says those final words and Harley’s eyes find mine.
I nod at her in greeting.
“Special night planned, huh?” I ask, accepting a can of soda that Zayn grabs for me from the refrigerator.
She stares at me for a beat, her eyes narrowing in anger.
“I’m going to start getting ready.”
Without another word, Harley hops down from the barstool and all but runs from the room.
“Well, that went well,” I mutter, taking a seat on the stool she vacated.
“I’m just gonna…”
“Just leave her, Pops. She’s going to have to get used to having him around.”
Poppy’s eyes find mine.
“At school, yeah, but you didn’t need to bring him here and rub him in right under her nose.”
“I just wanna hang out with my old friend. Is that so bad, baby?” He pulls her into his arms and nuzzles her neck.
“Do you two want to be left alone?” I ask, amusement filling my voice.
“Nope, I’m going to check on Harley. Just… be a little sensitive.” Poppy turns her eyes on me and they narrow in warning.
“What? Was I anything but nice?” I ask defensively. In truth, I have no idea what Harley has told her friends about me. They’re either as oblivious as Zayn as to what’s gone down between us or they know everything.
The way Poppy is looking at me right now, I’d go with the latter. I guess I should expect it really. Chicks tell each other everything.
“I’ll come down and find you in a bit.” Poppy brushes her lips over Zayn’s but pulls back before he can take what he really wants.
He watches her leave, practically drooling as she goes.
“Can’t believe your mom allows you to live together,” I mutter, wondering why he doesn’t just follow her and take what he so clearly wants.
“It’s complicated. If she didn’t live here, I have no idea where she’d have ended up.”
“Your mom likes helping lost kids, huh?”
“You have no idea. Shall we?” he asks, tipping his chin toward the door.
“Sure.”
He makes his way through the house as if it’s normal—which I guess it is—I, on the other hand, gawk at every room we pass. This place is huge and only makes me appreciate what Jada did that much more. People don’t just get out of Harrow Creek, and if they’re lucky enough to do so then they really don’t find this level of success. It really proves that Jada Hunter is one of a kind.
This is the shit us Creek kids dream of but know in our minds it’s totally out of reach. This makes me reconsider. A decent year at Rosewood High and hopefully a shot at a college somewhere and I could do something—do anything—more than the life I’d have been condemned to in the Creek.
“This is my den.”
“And it’s bigger than our entire house.” I gaze around the room at the massive flat-screen TV that takes up almost an entire wall, the floor to ceiling windows that cover another along with two giant couches, a refrigerator and everything else a group of boys would need to entertain themselves for a while.
“You’re welcome anytime, man. Mi casa es su casa.”
“I’m not sure everyone under this roof would agree with that.”
“Harley will get over herself. Just give her time.”
I agree with him because there isn’t much else to do but I’m pretty sure things are going to get better rather than worse.
I drop down onto one of the couches and prop my feet up on the coffee table.
“This is the life, man. You’re a lucky motherfucker, you know that?”
“Yeah.” He laughs. “Yeah, I do.” He makes himself at home on the other couch, then looks over at me. “So what’s the plan then? Year at Rosewood then…”
“Let’s see if I survive the year first.” He chuckles.
“I know it’s only been three days, but that place is like a playground compared to the zoo we’re used to. You won’t have any problems there. Plus, you’re a shoo-in for the team, and you’ve started tutoring again, right?”
“Uh… y-yeah. Didn’t think I told you about that,” I mutter, knowing full well that I didn’t because I didn’t want to tell him that I’d been given Harley as a tutee.
“Nah, Ash mentioned it. You wanna go to college, right?”
“Yeah, I guess. I don’t even know if it’s possible right now. Kane put everything we have into the house to get me here. I have no idea what the future holds.”
“It’s whatever you make it, man. Start looking at college
s, see what they need for scholarships, they’d be stupid not to accept you.”
“We’ll see. One step at a time.”
A knock sounds on the door and Ashton pokes his head inside.
“Alright?” He drops down beside me. “Ruby’s gone up to help Harley,” he explains.
“So basically this is where you two hang out while the girls do their hair and shit?” I ask, looking between them with a smirk.
“That’s basically it.”
“You know they’re probably upstairs right now talking about you both, right?”
“Nah, they’re talking about you. Harley fucking hates you, man.”
8
Harley
“I really fucking hate him,” I whine as Ruby slips into my room while I sit at my vanity unit curling my hair.
Poppy sighs. “Focus on tonight. You can’t show up to a date with your boyfriend while angry with another boy. Especially if you won’t tell us why.”
My lips part to tell them about the tutoring session but no words come out.
“You’re right. You’re right. Just think about Nathan.”
“Do you know what he’s planning?”
“Nope, just that we’ve got the house to ourselves because Justin will be here and his little brother is elsewhere.”
“Is tonight the night?” Ruby asks, wiggling her hips excitedly.
I’m pretty sure butterflies are supposed to make an appearance in my belly at those words, but they don’t. I feel totally flat about tonight.
All I can think about is him and our time together in his house last night and how badly I want to hurt him. To show him that he can’t play me like he’s trying to, that I won’t fall for it.
Damn him. He’s been here three freaking days and he’s driving me to the brink of insanity already.
“I don’t know.”
“You could sound at least a little excited or nervous… or anything, to be honest.”
“I will be once I get there and see what he’s planning. Right now there are too many ideas spinning around my head. I don’t want to assume anything and then it not happen.”
“How are you so levelheaded about this? I’d be a nervous wreck.”
I pin Ruby with a look over my shoulder in the mirror.
“What?”
“N-nothing. What are you wearing?”
I look over to the dress that’s hanging on the door to my closet.
“That’s cute.”
An awkward silence descends on us as I watch the two of them exchange a worried glance behind my back.
“Do you want to fill me in on your little silent conversation?” I snap, my irritation levels growing.
“We’re just worried about you. Kyle’s arrival has—”
“Has what?”
“Put you in a weird mood. We’re just worried about how you’re dealing with it.”
“There’s nothing to deal with. He’s here. I’m ignoring him. End of.”
“That’s why when I walked in you were talking about him?” Ruby raises a brow.
“He’s downstairs with Zayn,” I tell Ruby.
“Oh.”
“Everything is fine. It’s just weird seeing him here. My life in Rosewood it’s… it’s different from the life I had when he was a part of it.”
Poppy narrows her eyes at me. “Is there something you’re not telling us? He’s Zayn’s friend, I know you crushed on him but… is there more?”
My skin burns as they both stare at me.
My lips part to lie but I soon find no words come out.
“I freaking knew it.”
“You can’t tell Zayn, Pops. He’ll kill me.”
“Zayn doesn’t have a leg to stand on, Har. He’s banging your bestie so I think you should get a free pass. You’ve warned him that you’re going to enough.”
“This was before though,” I mutter. “He can’t know anything happened between us. It’s in the past. Over.”
“Which is why it’s still affecting you?” Poppy helpfully points out.
“I was young. It was nothing more than that.”
“But you’ve kissed him?”
“Enough,” I bark, slamming my straightener down on the counter and standing from my stool. “It’s all in the past. Yes, something happened but it was a mistake. It’s over. There is nothing between us. He hates me, with good reason. What I need right now is to be as far away from him as possible and to not even be thinking about him as I get ready for a date with my boyfriend.” I pin them both with a look and they back down quickly switching up the conversation to some gossip Poppy overheard in physics earlier.
I zone them out as I sit back down to do my makeup, trying like hell to focus on what tonight might hold instead of worrying about the boy downstairs.
“Okay, I’m ready.” I hold my arms out at my sides once I’ve returned from the bathroom after shimmying my dress up my body and wait for the girls’ verdict.
“Gorgeous, as always.”
“Nathan’s not going to know what’s hit him,” Ruby says. “Are you wearing a bra?” she asks when I spin away from where the two of them are sitting on my bed, showing them the open back.
“No. Is that the wrong thing to do? I don’t want him to think—”
“It’s perfect. He’ll love it.”
“Okay,” I breathe, blowing out a breath and pulling the short hem down a little. Suddenly the nerves I thought I should have been feeling earlier assault me.
“Throw a jacket on and get out of here. Don’t make him wait any longer,” Poppy says, climbing from the bed, Ruby quickly following so they can go and find their boys.
Okay, let’s do this.
The guys’ voices filter up to us as we descend the stairs.
“Harley, baby, you’re killing me,” Justin announces, his hand over his heart as if he’s in pain. “Remind me why I’m allowing him to have the night with you.”
“Because if you so much as lay a finger on her, asshole, I’ll gut you like a fucking fish,” Zayn growls as he emerges from the kitchen, arms loaded with drinks and snacks.
Justin’s eyes run the length of me, lingering on my legs longer than should be appropriate. My body heats at his interest despite the death glares he’s receiving from my brother.
“Har, don’t you think you should wear something a little more…”
“A little more what?” Poppy barks at her boyfriend, taking a step forward as if she’s protecting me. “She looks beautiful.”
“Hot,” Justin scoffs before disappearing around the corner before he gets his ass beat.
Thankfully, Poppy manages to placate Zayn and the second she runs her hands up his chest, he forgets all about me.
“Go on, get the hell out while he’s distracted,” Ruby says with a laugh, pushing me forward.
“Are you sure this is okay?” I look down at myself, once again second-guessing my outfit choice.
“You look beyond stunning, Har. Nathan’s going to love it.”
“But you don’t think it’ll make him think…”
“Har, he’s a teenage boy, he’d be thinking that if you turned up wearing a sack.”
“I guess,” I mutter, glancing back up at the stairs, suddenly wishing I could go and hide.
This time last week there would have been nothing I wanted more than to hang out one-on-one with Nathan. But now… now he’s shown his face and sent my world into a tailspin I don’t know what I want.
“He’s a good one, Har. He won’t do any more than you’re happy with.” She says it with so much confidence and internally I wince at myself.
I’ve always claimed to want a nice boy, one my dad would approve of, but I know that only stems from my past experience with the bad boys.
Without instruction, my head takes me back to Kyle’s place and how it felt to be crushed between his body and the door. My heart rate increases. Given half the chance, he’d have taken exactly what he wanted. If Kane wasn’t right there watching, I hav
e no doubt it would have gone farther. The warning was right there in his eyes, his need evident in his demanding touch.
And you would have let it happen. I shake the little voice from my head but as I do, I turn back to say goodbye to Poppy and Ruby. They’re standing at the bottom of the stairs where I left them but it’s not them that capture my attention. That’s the boy standing in the doorway to Zayn’s den with the dangerous eyes.
My breath catches as our gazes lock before he rips his away in favor of my body. He’s wearing his standard backward cap, a black hoodie with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows, and dark jeans with his hands stuffed in the pockets. From the tightness of the muscles in his forearms, I’d say that his fists are clenched right now and it sends a bolt of excitement through me that I can cause a reaction out of him.
“Okay, well…” I say, holding his narrowed stare. “I guess I’ll see you guys later. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“Shouldn’t we be saying that to you?” Ruby chuckles.
With a smile in Kyle’s direction, I turn back around and reach for the front door to make my escape and see what my night holds, only I don’t get out of the house before Poppy opens her mouth and makes me wish the ground would swallow me up whole.
“You got condoms, right?”
“Fuck my life, I can’t listen to this shit,” Zayn grumbles and stalks off.
“I’ll see you all later.” The excitement that zipped through me only seconds ago vanishes as I close the door behind me and blow out a long breath.
Tonight’s going to be fun, it’s what you’ve wanted since you first met Nathan a few weeks ago.
I force my legs to carry me to my car and drop down, resting my head back and sucking in another calming breath.
After a moment, I pull myself together, start the engine and begin backing out of the driveway, only the second I look up, I lock eyes with him standing at one of the hallway windows.
Not needing to get lost in his hate stare, I rip my eyes away, pretending I didn’t see him, put the car into drive and slam my foot down on the pedal to get away from him.
The faster that happens, the better. My life was perfectly fine before he decided to gate crash it with his pretty face and haunting eyes.
LEGEND: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Rosewood High Book 7) Page 7