“None of your business,” Coop said easily. “Just like what she does with Jake and Arch isn’t your business.”
“It’s about her.”
“Yes, Bubba,” Coop told him evenly. “It is about her. The only one making it a competition right now is you, because you seem to be acting like a sore loser.”
Damn. That barb struck.
“You know that’s not what I’m talking about…”
“Then stop beating around the damn bush,” I snapped. “I fucked her. Jake fucked her. Coop’s dying to fuck her, and if you weren’t so busy lying to yourself and being pissed at us, you’d admit you want to fuck her, too. But you didn’t because you wanted to do things a certain way, and none of us played by a rule you didn’t bother to add to the list.”
Not that I ever would have. The sheer fact she’d said yes to me had been one of the most blissful moments in my life. I’d wanted her from day one. I’d settled for not pursuing it when she never seemed interested. But she was damn precious to me, and he wasn’t going to turn this into some ugly thing.
Gripping the back of the chair, Bubba met my glare. “Then I’ll stop beating around the bush. How does this end?” He looked at us in turn. “Seriously, how does it end? We all sleep with her. We all keep dating her. Then graduation comes and what? We move to college together and keep doing this? What happens when she picks? Or worse—just isn’t interested anymore and meets someone else?”
Rage flashed through me at the idea. No fucking way was anyone else moving in on Frankie. “That’s not happening.”
“You can’t know that,” Bubba said. “You can’t. We didn’t even know she wanted to date until she met the French guy.”
“We never asked her directly either,” Coop said. “We all just assumed.”
Wasn’t that a kick in the nuts ‘cause Coop wasn’t wrong about that. In my defense, I didn’t have moves in 9th grade. Spending all that time with her—I thought she got it. Then she just never responded the way I would have expected.
“We made sure no one else asked her either,” Jake said quietly. “We were the assholes, Bubba. We were. When she finally admitted what she wanted, yes, I leapt. So did you. So did Archie. Coop was a little slow…”
“Hey,” Coop protested, and for a moment, some of the tension cracked and I almost smiled as Bubba huffed a laugh.
“You leapt first,” Jake pointed out. “She didn’t know how to tell us, and we apparently sucked at letting her know how we felt. But was there a doubt in your mind?” He locked gazes with Bubba, their matching bruises giving them both a gruesome kind of focus. “Did you really think you were the only one who cared about her?”
Not wanted to fuck her. But cared.
“Because you’re not,” Jake continued. “You never have been. I’ve been half in love with her since the fourth grade.”
Holy shit. The whole table went still, and I wasn’t the only one staring at Jake.
“Yes, I’m damn aware of what I just said,” he continued without looking away from Bubba. “I’ve been in love with her almost as long. Longer than you or Arch has been around. I wouldn’t have looked twice at another girl, if I’d thought there was a hope in hell she’d ever look at me the way she looks at me right now.”
Bubba looked away first, dropping his chin to his chest and staring down at his hands as he gripped the back of his empty chair. “How does it end, then? You let her date everyone until you steal her away?”
“I don’t care.”
I shifted in my chair and looked at him, and I wasn’t alone. Coop leaned forward. “What?”
“I don’t care how it ends,” Jake said, lifting his beer as he looked from Bubba to Coop and then finally to me. “I don’t care that you were her first. I care only that you made it good for her. I don’t care that Coop wants her.” He looked at Coop. “I think it’s hot when you kiss her.” Finally, he went back to Bubba. “I don’t even care that you asked her to Homecoming, or that you sang to her in the cafeteria. I care that it put that dopey smile on her face. I care that we have right now. Tomorrow. The day after that. I’m going to make every single one of them worth it. The only thing I care about is that she’s happy. That we make her happy? Fine.”
Holy shit twice.
Staring at Jake, Bubba blinked hard. “Just like that?”
“Just like that,” Jake said easily. “I won’t let any of you hurt her. Ever. You wanna talk shit about her or fuck with her, I’m going to fuck you up.” He gestured with his nearly empty beer bottle at Bubba. “Pure and simple. We made those rules for a reason, Bubba. The points thing—it was a stupid fucking game we got off on, but it meant nothing. Telling her? That means we hurt her. Fine, I’ll take my lumps for that, but it should have been something we all agreed on to tell her, not you trying to sabotage us.”
“I swear,” Bubba said. “I wasn’t trying to sabotage you…” He dragged the chair out. “This has all gotten so fucking confusing. I want her like I want my next breath, but…I don’t want to fight with you guys. I don’t want to hurt her. Dad said…” He swallowed.
“Your dad said what?” I demanded. Jake had filled me in on some of it.
“He said that Frankie’s showing a lot of classic signs for emotional and physical abuse,” Coop supplied. “The need for hugs, the fact that she’s never once rejected us for putting an arm around her. A desperate need for approval and that standing up for herself is hard, especially if we push back. It takes a lot of courage for her to do that. Her mom…her mom’s never been the best. But she’s gotten worse, and now I know for a fact she’s hitting her. I used to suspect, but Friday clinched it.”
Friday—when Frankie showed up with the red mark on her face.
“Dad’s worried that she doesn’t have the emotional security to wrestle with all of this and that we’re going to tear her apart,” Bubba admitted. “He didn’t say it quite like that, but on Saturday, after I left, when…after I woke up and realized she was curled up sound asleep between Coop and Jake, and I wanted to punch both your heads in because it should be me up there…I went with Dad to Dallas. I was—I am a little messed up about all of this.”
No surprise flickered on Coop’s face. So he really had known. Bubba had told him.
“While we were there, we went to this center where they have groups for teens in abusive situations. We sat in the back and listened to their stories as they shared them… a lot of stuff just clicked. Then there was this one girl…” Bubba’s gaze took on a distant look. “She talked about the day she tried to kill herself. Because she thought no one cared. Broke up with the only guy she thought did and…I can’t stand the thought of it being Frankie, and I hate myself a little bit right now because I’m not as fine with all of this as I thought I was.”
“Have you asked yourself why?” Coop asked quietly, and I drained my beer. Rising, I left them in silence as I went for another. This really was a hard liquor night.
Fuck, the idea of Frankie being so despondent or alone she wanted to kill herself? Fuck no.
“Because the day I kissed her in our pool,” Bubba said quietly. “She was so surprised and then so delighted. It was everything I thought it would be…but she said she’d never, and I didn’t want to rush her. Rush us. Rush anything. I wanted to savor it. The time. Every other time, it’s been…”
“A quick fuck,” I admitted. “Get in, get out, tap that, move on.”
Bubba grimaced. “She’s not that.”
“No,” Jake told him. “She’s so much more.”
“Then you guys…” Bubba rubbed a hand over his face and winced. I almost winced in sympathy. ‘Cause fuck that looked like it hurt. “You guys just went for it. There she was all sandwiched between you two, and I’m asking myself—what the fuck am I doing? I’m just going to end up making this worse. When she chooses…”
“Stop obsessing about that,” I told him.
“I have to,” Bubba said. “She showed up at the house today, after school. It�
�s Tuesday, and even after everything, she still came over.”
Jake straightened. “And?”
“And I told her you got arrested, and then I told her why we fought.” Misery hung all over him. “She asked me if the problem was the fact she was dating all of you too, or if I just didn’t want to date her.”
I popped the lid off the bottle of cold beer and sighed. “I’m almost fucking afraid to ask what you said.”
“I told her I didn’t know.”
Coop leaned his head back and stared at the sky. Some of the patience on him seemed to just drain away as his jaw tightened.
I pulled my phone out and reopened that message from her. There was nothing in it that indicated she was upset. Nothing.
“For what it’s worth, she broke up with me.”
It wasn’t worth much. Because… Crap, that changed things.
Jake stared at him. “Broke up with you?”
“Yeah, said she didn’t want me to take her to Homecoming, I was released from that obligation…it was never an obligation.”
“She doesn’t know that,” Jake told him quietly with a hell of a lot more sympathy than I wanted to feel, and at the same time…
“You have to fix this,” I told him, and I wasn’t sure who was more surprised because Bubba straightened and turned to look at me. Jake stared at me a beat, and I met his gaze. “He has to fix this. If he’s out—all that does is create strain, and she’s not going to be happy.”
Frankie needed all of us.
“It’s been the five of us,” I reminded him. “Since ninth grade. It’s been all five of us.”
“Guys…”
“Shut up,” Coop said before Bubba could continue, and I wasn’t the only one shooting him a startled look. “Archie is right. You have to fix this. If you pushed her so hard she had to let you go, she probably feels like it’s her fault. That’s the one thing that terrified her when we started this…”
Dammit. I tipped the bottle up and took a long drink. After the bomb fell with Edward and her mom, that day after the epically crappy party—she’d said that. What happened when we turned on each other?
She’d said it to me and to Jake. What happened when we decided one of the others had to go, and we’d got there today. This crap with Bubba had to stop.
“You have to fix it,” Jake said finally, and Coop motioned to him to continue. “I hate that you told her that shit. I hate that you’ve made her feel bad about herself.” Each sentence landed like a blow, but he held Bubba’s full attention. “I hate even more that because I couldn’t control my temper, I wasn’t there for her today and apparently you weren’t either.”
Bubba flinched.
No. She’d been on her own for parts of the day. I was definitely not a fan, not after the other crap.
“So you have to fix this,” Jake said. “But only if you really want to be in. Because if you don’t, or this jealousy crap keeps up—then stay out. Leave her alone. Let us fix it. She doesn’t need another yo-yo in her life.”
On that… “Agreed,” I said. “As much as I want this to work, Bubba,” I told him. “Jake’s right. You’re either in or you’re out.”
“She already broke up with me.”
“Then you go after her,” Coop said. “You let her know she’s worth it. You put her first. I’ll help…but only if I think you mean it.”
“And there isn’t another chance after this one,” Jake continued as if the rest of us hadn’t said a word. “I want her happy. This…” He motioned to his face, then to Bubba’s. “Not going to make her happy.”
“I don’t even know where to start,” Bubba said.
“Do you know the answer to her question now?” I asked. “Because if you don’t—then this is pointless.”
At some point, my fury had drained away. Maybe if Frankie had been pissed at us or seemed really hurt about the points, it would be different. We’d still let her down. I couldn’t change the past. I could only focus on the future—on what I would do and how I would treat her.
Jake was right about one thing. “You have to know, or you should leave her alone. She wanted a good senior year, and I’m thinking it’s been shit so far. One way or another, she’s getting Homecoming and it’s going to be the best night possible.”
“Agreed,” Coop said. “If you need time to think about it, Bubba, think fast. Because trust once lost is almost impossible to rebuild.”
“Almost,” Bubba said, and Coop nodded. “But not completely.”
“Anything’s possible, just some are more possible than others.”
“I don’t want to hate you guys.” That was good. “I do want her. I want her to be happy.” The misery rolled off of him in great sheets now. “I fucked this up.”
“Huge,” Jake said flatly, and his phone buzzed.
I was close enough to see the message.
Frankie was on her way home. He shoved his chair back and stood.
“I gotta go. She wants to see me, and I want to see her. Yes, I’m spending the night. No, you fuckers don’t get to say a word.” He pinned Bubba with a look. “Figure it out and get ready to grovel. If I think you’re serious…” He made a face. “For Frankie, I’ll help. But it’s her call.”
Then he was gone, not waiting for a response from any of us. Turning back to the table, I met Bubba’s narrowed gaze. “What?”
“You don’t care that she texted him and that he’s going over there to spend the night, again?”
Did I care? I shrugged and took a page out of Jake’s book. Who knew the guy could be so smooth? “Sure I care. I care that she’s not alone. I care that she’s asking for what she needs. Would I love to be the one? Hell yes. But I also know she cares about me. I know she wants me, too. So… I’m good.”
When he turned to Coop, I waited, and Coop grinned. “I only care that I don’t get to see them make out. Jake’s not wrong, it really is hot.”
I laughed. It came out a deep chuckle, and Bubba shook his head. “We’re nuts.”
“Maybe,” I said. “Maybe not. So what’s it going to be, Bubba? You in? Or you out?”
I really hoped he made the right choice. Because if we went from five to four, it would take a hell of an adjustment and there would be a Bubba-shaped hole in our lives.
If summer was any indication? I really didn’t want to figure out how that worked.
Chapter Thirteen
Dear Future Self
Life had tough bits, easy bits, and then the complicated bits in between. The easy bits? You had to eat, sleep, pay taxes, and under a certain age, you had to go to school. Yeah, going to school didn’t seem easy, but it was an easy decision.
Go to school.
Do the homework.
Get good grades.
Graduate.
Get the fuck out of here.
All straightforward and easy to define chunks, even if the experience itself fell on the tough end of the scale. The decision whether to stay or to go was easy. I had to go. So I went.
The tougher parts? The complicated ones? Everything else. Friendships. Dating. Kissing. Arguing. Crying. Fighting. Confiding. Those were definitely complicated. Difficult, but not impossible. Challenging, but also rewarding. Even the arguing.
Yes, I said it.
Even the arguing.
Breaking up? That hurt. It had hurt Ian when I said it, and it hurt me the next day, even after waking up with Jake right there. He hadn’t asked me about Ian, and I hadn’t told him. His face looked as bad as Ian’s had. It looked even worse in the morning.
“Don’t worry, baby girl,” he teased me. “I’ll get pretty for you again.”
I groaned and then kissed his nose, his chin, and the one undamaged corner of his mouth. Guilt gnawed on me a little. I wanted to smother Jake in care, but I’d resisted it with Ian the night before. He’d looked like hell, but if I’d given into the urge—no. He had to figure him out.
“Hey,” Jake murmured, cupping my face. “It’s going to be okay,
I promise.”
“You’re not in jail,” I said, leaning into his touch. “That’s an amazing thing.”
“Agreed.”
“But you and Ian…”
“Will take care of itself,” he said, then tugged me in for a kiss. “We didn’t really talk about the fight.”
“He told me most of it.”
“I know.” My surprise must have shown, because he gave me a half-smile. “I talked to him last night.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, the four of us had a long talk.”
I almost didn’t want to ask.
Jake caught one of my curls and rolled it around his finger. “He told us you broke up with him.”
Glancing down at his chest, I considered making an excuse to go take a shower. But we had another fifteen minutes before we needed to move, and I liked being tucked up against him. “Yeah,” I said, then pressed a kiss to the bruise on his pec. We hadn’t talked the night before. I’d meant it when I said we hadn’t needed the words.
Now, I wasn’t sure what the words should be.
“You all right?”
I glanced up at him and gave him a smile. “I will be. Right now, I’m more worried about you.”
“Nothing to worry about,” he murmured, then tapped my nose. “Promise.”
“Can you go to school today?”
“Well, they didn’t tell me I couldn’t. I talked to Mom again on my way here; she didn’t say anything about it. So, for now, I’ll assume yes.”
That had my stomach fluttering.
“Worst case scenario, even if I’m suspended, I’ll be back to pick you up after school and make sure you get home.”
“Coop has a car you know.”
“Don’t care,” he said, the undamaged corner tipping upward as he smiled. “If I can’t be with you in school, you can be damn sure I’m going to grab every other minute.”
A soft laugh escaped me. Try as I might, I couldn’t deny the possessiveness in his voice wrapped around me like a security blanket. Snuggling carefully, I pressed a kiss to his throat as he traced his fingers along my shoulder. “Here’s me hoping you can be there. Yesterday sucked.”
Keys and Kisses: Untouchable Book Three Page 17