“He's planning something,” I say, putting my spoon back in the bowl and smoothing my hands down my skirt. I'm wearing contacts today, and my hair's styled as best as I can get it. I've never had short hair before, and I'm not sure how I feel about it.
Subconsciously, I find myself raking my fingers through it.
“You look good with short hair,” Ranger tells me, his grumbling voice making me jump a bit. He's staring at me from across the table, and I notice Spencer's gaze drift over to him. He frowns hard, but I can't hold back a smile. Cody and Monica went on and on about how crappy I looked with short hair, and here's my new friend telling me I look good with it. That's pretty damn validating.
“Anyway,” Spencer continues, clearing his throat. The twins are scooping the ice cream up into their mouths like they're going for a world record, finishing up at the same time, and throwing their spoons down so that they clatter. “Do you think—”
“Done,” they announce in unison, and then they're back to glaring at each other over my head. I sit up straight, but that doesn't exactly block their view since they're so much taller than me. “I win.” They both sneer. “No, I win.” Frustrated growling ensues, and I sigh.
“Do you think, what?” I ask, trying not to choke on the big shiny ball of emotions jammed in my throat. I lost my virginity yesterday, and all I wanted to do was call Monica and describe it all in detail. Even if she did sleep with my boyfriend, I miss her. How messed-up is that?
“Do you think we could walk and talk for a bit?” Spencer pauses, and his eyes narrow slightly. “Alone.”
“What the hell do you guys need to talk about alone?” Micah asks, crossing his arms together behind his head. Ranger is pursing his lips because he knows perfectly well what we need to discuss. It seems he's been a gentleman about it though because nobody else has said a thing.
“Just … you know, the girl thing and all that. You did get the memo, right? Chuck and I have a thing, and that thing is all twisted-up and weird now that I know that he's a she. We have stuff to sort out.”
“Don't be mean to Micah. He had a mental break when he thought you were dead.” Church sips his coffee, nice and calm, closing his eyes as he drinks. During his first sip of the day, he gave a huge shudder, like he was having an orgasm or something.
Speaking of orgasms …
“Didn't you get the memo? Tobias confessed his love for Charlotte when we thought you were dead.” Micah smirks, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out that he's deflecting. He doesn't want Spencer to know just how much he loves him. Seriously, men are weird as hell.
“Are you fucking serious? You thought I was dead, and you moved in on my boyfriend?” Spencer pauses. “Girlfriend, whatever.”
“It wasn't like that,” Tobias growls, giving his brother a dark look. “Why are you purposely trying to piss him off? You should just be grateful he isn't lying cold in some morgue somewhere.”
“I am grateful. I just want to know why he needs so much alone time with Chuck.” Micah raises one red brow, and Spencer frowns, giving me a questioning look. Pretty sure he's asking permission to tell the guys what happened between us.
“Can we please just take a walk? We won't be long, just around the block and back.”
Micah gives me a dark look, but scoots out of the booth anyway. Ranger does the same for Spencer, and we end up outside together in a brisk spring sunshine. It's much warmer today than it's been, and I appreciate the rare feeling of sunlight on my skin.
“Thought we'd never get rid of them,” Spencer jokes, but then I bite my lip and glance away, feeling heat rise to my cheeks. This is so awkward, isn't it? Like unbelievably awkward. “Do you want to tell them? Do you want me to tell them?”
“Do we have to tell them at all?” I ask, but then I cringe because I remember Spencer's rant about secrets. These are his best friends, why wouldn't he tell them? The question I should probably be asking myself is why I don't want to tell them. Like, maybe I have a crush on the twins and I don't want them to know?
Ugh.
Life is hard.
“We have to tell them,” Spencer says, and then just keeps walking when I pause at a corner. He most definitely missed that day in preschool when you learn to look both ways before crossing the street. “We're in Nutmeg, Connecticut, Chuck, not wherever-it-is-you're-from, California. Come on.” He turns around and starts walking backward across the street, and I follow. He has a point. “But can I please ask about the Virgin Chuck thing? What's that about?”
“Spencer, come on,” I choke, flushing as I catch up to him and we walk past a quilt shop. One of the price tags in the corner catches my eye. Two-thousand dollars for a blanket?! The woman inside waves, and we wave back. “It's just a stupid nickname they decided to tease me with.”
“Well, is it true?” he asks, his voice tentative.
I give him this saucy look, like I've seen Monica pull on dudes a thousand times in the past. It says without words I am smarter and cooler and better than you, so don't expect an answer. Doesn't work on Spencer though, I can tell.
“Obviously not, you were there,” I joke, running my fingers through my short blond hair again.
“But before that,” Spencer continues, and then when I turn to look at him, he pens me in against the pretty lavender wall of a candle and soap shop, the sweet smell of lavender and rose drifting out the door to us. Those turquoise eyes of his lock onto my face, and I squirm. He's most definitely got me where he wants me, doesn't he? “Did you just lose your virginity to me?”
“What does it matter? Why are guys so obsessed with virgins anyway? Don't you want a more experienced partner? Jesus. It's not a commodity to be traded and won like a prize.”
“That's not why I'm asking. I'm not obsessed with virgins; I'm obsessed with you. And I know that the first time can be weird or uncomfortable or even painful. If you'd told me, I would've …”
“Would've what?” I whisper, my voice husky and low. I'm embarrassed, but I'm also enjoying this far more than I expected. My eyes lift to meet Spencer's, and this surge of happiness flows through me. He's alive. I feel like I've won the lottery or something. Just … don't tell him that.
“I would've been more gentle,” he says, smiling slightly. “Or slowed down. What we did was sort of—”
“Bestial?” The word blurts out before I can stop it, and my chest tightens. I'm not normally one to get embarrassed so easily. Usually, I go the snarky route.
“Something like that,” Spencer murmurs, eyes half-lidded as he looks at me with this gentle possessiveness that I suddenly need so much more of.
“I knew it!” A voice calls out, and I jump. Spencer just turns his head slightly to the side and raises one dark brow.
Tobias is coming around the corner with Micah at his side. And they both look pissed.
“You two fucked, didn't you?” Micah says, giving this weird sort of half-smirk. “Virgin Chuck isn't so virgin anymore, huh? That was quick.”
“Shut up,” I snap, ducking out from under Spencer's arm and trying to flip what little hair I have left. Back home in California, I could do a hair flip like nobody's business. Before I left, I was working on being able to hit people in the face with my long, blond locks during said flip. Monica is the queen of that one, but I’m still in training. “We had a thing, what can I say? It was a welcome home present.”
“Oh, please,” Tobias says, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning hard. “Don't play it off like that, like you two sleeping together was some sort of pity fuck. You're into each other.”
“Like I was subtle about it,” Spencer says, lighting up a cigarette. I frown, but he can smoke if he wants. It's a free country, isn't it? “Why are you so surprised?”
The twins exchange a look, and this time, it's Tobias who scowls and turns away, an expression that's more in Micah's wheelhouse. Is he jealous? I wonder, because I felt like the twins and I sort of bonded back in Santa Cruz.
Crap.
> I'm the girl that joins the group of boys and drives them apart, aren't I?
No, that's stupid. That's an old-fashioned misogynistic story line, and I won't be a part of it.
“I'm not surprised that you went after Chuck like a dog in heat. We've all seen that before. Many times.” Tobias turns back around and then folds his arms together behind his head. His green eyes slide over to mine, almost apologetically. “You're aware of his reputation, right? He's a man-whore. A serial man-whore.”
“Oh, please.” Spencer waves his cigarette around as Ranger and Church approach from the direction of the diner. Neither of them looks amused to see the others embroiled in an argument. “I've slept with four girls. I'd hardly call myself a man-whore.”
“Four?” Tobias chokes, and I notice Micah grab his twin's arm and give it a squeeze. “At least six that I know of. You told me about that girl from last summer—”
“Five then. Jesus. There are most definitely not six.” Spencer pauses for a moment, like he's thinking, and I feel myself getting more and more uncomfortable.
“Can we just move on, please? I don't care how many people he's slept with.” Lie. “Let's go to the bookstore or something.”
“It's five, not six. Definitely.” Spencer looks up and meets Tobias' eyes, and then they both scowl at each other and look away.
“What does this conversation have to do with anything?” Church asks, sipping his to-go iced coffee. The man has a problem. I'm not sure when his birthday is, but I'm buying him an IV bag full of espresso, and a drip line to plug that shit right into his bloodstream.
“Chuck and Spencer are an item,” Micah says, tucking his hands into his pockets, this sort of far-away look on his face. I'm desperate to unpack that expression, but instead, I'm left tripping over his words. What did he just say?
“An item?” I ask, and Spencer glances over at me in question. I'm not prepared to answer the question in his eyes, so I turn my attention to Ranger who doesn't seem unsympathetic to my plight. “Bookstore?”
“We're not going to the bookstore,” the twins answer together, starting up their twin routine again. “We hate Jeffrey.”
“Why?” I ask, and they both shrug. I'm starting to learn that at least part of the twin routine is a defense mechanism, a way to deflect questions they don't want to answer.
“Jeff and Jenica went to school together; his sister bullied her mercilessly at Everly before she transferred,” Ranger supplies, frowning hard. He shrugs his shoulders. “Church is such an addict, he goes in there for his coffee, but the rest of us have boycotted the place.”
“I'm just scouting it out, so that my parents can arrange some fun, legal gymnastics for the Rabots to hop through. One day, the Montague family will own the store, the way we own the rest of the town.”
“You sound like one of those awful villains in an app game,” I snort, pushing some strands of shiny, straight hair from my face. Since I wear it curly most of the time, I thought I'd switch things up. “Little does this cute small town know, my evil corporation will be taking over! Mwahaha!” I imitate Church, lifting my chin, crossing my arms over my chest, as I squint my eyes and purse my lips the way he does sometimes. Pretty sure he doesn't even know he does it.
“I look nothing like that,” he says, but he almost smiles. Instead, he holds onto that dark neutral mood of his and glances over his shoulder. Jeffrey Rabot is putting a chalkboard sign out on the curb, advertising half-priced mochas. “But maybe we should do another scouting mission? Just to see if the good ol' boy Jeff might somehow be playing a part in this nonsense.”
“Like he's going to crack and just admit his involvement,” Spencer says with a roll of his gorgeous turquoise eyes.
“It's all about the little tells,” Church says, and my mouth drops open as he winks at me. Is the guy a mind reader? “Come along, Charlotte. I'll buy you a mocha.” He pauses and looks me over again. “Poor people do like mochas, don't they?”
“Jesus,” I groan, grabbing his hand and taking off down the sidewalk. I wave at Jeff as we approach, and he frowns.
“Charlotte,” he says warily, looking me over. His blue eyes immediately fall on the hand that's clasped over Church's. “I wasn't aware you two were close.”
Church chucks his empty coffee into the nearby trash can, and then throws an arm around my shoulders, beaming happily.
“Oh, we're besties, didn't you hear?”
“Fuck off, Church,” Jeff says, but he steps back and lets us into the bookstore anyway. Spencer is right behind us, this determined set to his expression that I just know is going to come back and bite me in the ass later.
Jeff starts to close the door when Ranger and the twins appear, like a general with his two best soldiers. There's this long, awkward moment where Jeff and Ranger stare at each other, and then the three of them walk in and the smell of fresh paper and ink settles over me.
“I need a new reverse harem read,” I mumble, releasing Church's hand and then rubbing my palm on the front of my dress. Church notices and smirks.
“Find one, and I'll buy it for you. Might need to evaluate your options.” Church raises a honeyed brow, and tosses his head in the direction of Spencer and the twins.
“You know we don't like to share with anyone but each other.”
Right.
I highly doubt a reverse harem ending is in the cards for me.
“What's a reverse harem?” Spencer asks, picking up a hardcover book and turning it around to read the back. I still can't believe he's alive. Feels like a dream. I have to keep pinching myself to remember that life still hurts sometimes.
“One girl, multiple guys,” the twins says in unison, and Micah holds up his phone with an image of Ouran High School Host Club on the screen. Come to think of it … Micah and Tobias remind me of the twins from the anime.
“Like … an orgy?” Spencer asks, taking the phone and squinting at the screen.
“Can be. Mostly not,” I say, tucking my hands into the pockets of my dress and trying to act all casual, just one of the guys and all that. “It's a romantic relationship with one girl and at least three guys. Sometimes the books have sex in them, sometimes not. Sometimes they have orgies.”
“Is this a hint?” Spencer asks, looking at the McCarthy twins with a dark expression on his face.
“We don't share,” the twins retort, crossing their arms over their chests. They're both wearing tight red shirts that make their moss green eyes seem so much brighter, and wearing matching frowns. “Except with each other.”
“Didn't used to be the rule,” Spencer mumbles, and Tobias' eyes go wide while Micah clenches his jaw.
“If I hadn't spent all week grieving your death, I'd send you to the grave myself.” Micah turns away and disappears into the manga—Japanese comic books—section of the store.
I'm dying to know what, exactly, that comment meant, but it's probably best not to poke at it. Instead, I move over to sit next to Church on one of the stools at the counter, and pretend like I'm not a little bit sore.
“I hear it gets easier over time,” Church says, tapping his fingers on the counter as Jeff moves around behind it and sighs, passing over two paper menus with cute, gold filigree near the top.
“What?” I ask, studying the page and trying not to drool at all the sweet-tooth options. I just had a sundae, and I want more sugar? Pretty sure I have an addiction.
“Fucking,” he says, smiling so brightly that his eyes crinkle up. He tosses the paper back at Jeff. “We'll take two iced mochas, a cream puff, and whatever Charlotte wants.”
I'm still choking over his previous comment as Jeff hands me a glass of water, and I suck it down.
“Lemon tart, please,” I manage to get out as he nods and moves away without a word, a far cry from the talkative flirt he was the last time I came here. “Did you seriously just say what I think you said?”
Church parks an elbow on the counter and then rests his chin in his hand.
“C
ream puff? Yes, I happen to like them.”
“You know that's not what I meant,” I grind out, but he just slides his amber eyes my direction, and I squirm. But then the squirming makes my lady parts sore, and I go still, the only sign of my displeasure a dark frown. “Do you have a sister or something? You know a lot about periods, and apparently soreness after sex.”
“I have five sisters,” Church says, his voice eloquent and crisp, despite the fact that his face is buried in his hand. “They like to share.”
“I see.” I pause as Ranger comes over and sits beside me, watching as Jeff slides the lemon tart and cream puff our direction.
“Do you think you could take care of your tab today?” he asks me, turning to retrieve the iced mochas next. “My parents weren't happy about me letting some random girl rack up such a high bill.”
Huh.
I see how it is.
“I'll be taking care of her tab,” Church says, reaching into the pocket of his slacks and pulling out a wallet. He tosses his credit card onto the counter, still smiling that big, blinding smile of his. “Tell your parents I say hi.”
“Go to hell, Montague,” Jeff says, producing an old-fashioned carbon paper tablet. The top sheet has my name on it, and the list of books I bought last time I was here. He tears it off and hands it over to Church before starting a new one, writing down the mochas, the cream puff, and the lemon tart.
“Add a French soda on there before you ring it up,” Ranger says, voice low and dark. If I were Jeff, I'd be terrified to have him looking at me that way. Jeff frowns hard, but keeps writing anyway.
“You could really use a POS system in here. Remind me again why you don't have one?”
I stifle a small chuckle. Usually when I use the term POS, I mean piece of shit. Pretty sure in this case it stands for point of sale. Still funny though.
“I'm not here to discuss business with you. You're a customer, that's it.” Jeff rings up the purchases, and then hands Church a receipt to sign, his face hard. Once Church passes the receipt back, Jeff turns to look at me. “I like you, Charlotte. So I feel it's only fair to tell you to stay away from these guys. They might seem okay, but their families will eat you up and spit you out. Ask any business owner on this street that isn't a well-kept Montague pet like Merinda. Well, the few that are left anyway.” Jeff turns away to make Ranger's drink, and I frown.
The Ruthless Boys (Adamson All-Boys Academy #2) Page 7