I’ve never been a fan of some of Mark’s friends. Some of those girls are so aggressive and provocative. I say a girl should remain a girl, at least while in high school. She can go crazy in college. That’s the time to find herself. Rebecca, sweetheart, mum’s the word with me if you do have a few wild nights in college. I won’t tell a soul.”
I swung between the two and knew I must’ve looked as a scarecrow. “Huh? The two of you are close?”
“Oh, heavens, Samantha. I completely forgot why I came over.” She chuckled again and the sound filled the air. Dimples appeared in her flushed cheeks. “I live across the street. I wasn’t sure if you knew that. I’m so glad you and Mark have become friends, but I wasn’t sure if you were aware of where we lived. I know David hasn’t wanted to bother you with that information yet. You know how he is; he doesn’t want to put too much pressure on you. He thinks you’ve been through so much, but I keep telling him that you seem like a tough girl. You’ve got a clear head on your shoulders, and you’ve got oomph, if you know what I mean.”
Becky giggled behind her hands. When she saw my glare, she turned away. The laughter didn’t stop.
Malinda’s hand fluttered through the air, as if she were drawing a picture. “I’ve been so curious to see the inside of this home. An artist owned it before your father bought it, and I heard he renovated some of the rooms. I’ve been bursting at the seams for any little excuse to come over, and when David told me you’d be my neighbor, I was just tickled pink.”
The Kades lived two houses down. “I’ve been your neighbor for a while.”
“Oh.” She flapped her hand at me. “That doesn’t count. James Kade may have kept the house, but Helen was the one who owned it. That woman’s never been a neighbor, if you know what I mean. I had hoped for a little bit when Mark mentioned that he met Logan Kade at a football camp, but I knew not to get my hopes up too high. The Kades don’t let anyone in that home, and I mean anyone. I’m no dummy. Then when your mother moved in, pfft! I knew those gates will forever be locked up now, certainly now that David and I hope to get married.” She stopped suddenly and pierced me with her gaze. “You do know that, don’t you, darling? I wanted Mark to whisper that bit in your ears. David wants to wait, but heavens to pieces, I have no intention of waiting. I’ve been eyeing your daddy for a long time. When Mark told me the coach was splitting from his wife, I celebrated that night with my girlfriends and a little Mr. Merlot. If you know what I mean?” She giggled and her cheeks got pinker.
I’d never spoken to David’s girlfriend, but this wasn’t what I expected. She remained in the background the few times I saw them together. Since the settlement agreed that I could spend time with him, it’d only been the two of us at the old house. When Mark told me that he thought his mother and my father were going to get hitched, I hadn’t known what to say so I’d never spoken of it to David. Now that I heard confirmation that they hadn’t, I relaxed a bit. But from the determination in Malinda’s eyes, I knew the man who raised me was already spoken for. I wasn’t sure if David knew it was for the rest of his life.
“But enough with my chitter chatter. I’m so excited to finally be speaking to you. I’ve heard such great things from David and Mark. Even Adam’s spoken highly of you when he comes for dinner, and that’s quite a bit now. He practically lives with us now that his father’s got himself a new little missy—” Her eyes popped out and she gasped. Then she patted her cheeks. “Let’s let that be between us girls, hmmm? Adam never asked for me to be quiet, but I know he wouldn’t want that out. I feel so bad now.” But her voice perked up. “So, Samantha, would you like to come for dinner this Friday evening? We finally have those evenings free again and I love to entertain Friday evenings. Let’s say at six? Rebecca, would you like to come as well? Hell, I’ll invite Adam too.” She winked at us. “Let’s hope the two boys don’t bring their female friends. Those girls can be quite nasty.”
My mouth had fallen open at some point. It stayed there now.
“Okay.” She wiggled her fingers at us as she started for the door. “Toodles, wiggles, and all forms of positive energy I’m sending your way. I’ll see both of you this Friday at six? Oh, and maybe this can be a secret as well? I’d just love to surprise your father, Samantha. He’s been so worried about adding more stress, but I kept telling him it was all nonsense. It’d tickle his goat if he saw you for dinner that night.”
When she opened the door, a pizza delivery girl was on the other side. Her hand had been raised for the buzzer, but she stepped back when Malinda appeared.
“Oooh, pizza!” she cooed and reached into her purse. “Let me pay for that. How much was it, sweetie?”
The girl never blinked an eye as she told her the amount. When she got a ten dollar tip, she gave her a closed mouth grin and stuffed the money in her pocket. The pizza was handed over the next second, and we watched as she hurried to her car and drove away.
Malinda winked at us again. “They’re always scared I made a mistake with the tip and they need to speed off before I realize my mistake. They tend to think I’m a bit ditzy at times. Okay, have fun darlings. See you on Friday! I’m so excited. I’m going to hurry home and start choosing recipes!”
When I took the pizza to the kitchen and Becky had closed the door, we were quiet for a moment before both of us doubled over in laughter. As I wiped a tear from my eye, I shook my head. “David doesn’t know what he got himself into. That woman is anything but ditzy.”
Becky hopped on a barstool and tried to contain her giggles. “Mark’s been so embarrassed of her at the Club. Now I know why.”
“That woman’s a happy tornado.” I grabbed two plates and handed one to Becky before I pulled out some cheese and saw a bottle of wine in the refrigerator. It wasn’t long before we traipsed downstairs to the theatre with our plates full and our glasses just as full. When we settled in, with blankets draped over, and the movie starting, Becky sighed.
“What’s wrong?” I glanced over.
She gave me a pained look. “I’m real sorry for avoiding you these last three months. I was stupid.”
My chest tightened and I gripped harder on my plate. “That’s okay.” My throat had swollen.
She picked at her blanket. “It’s not. I wasn’t the friend to you that I said I’d be. I abandoned you too.”
“I didn’t really feel abandoned, you know.”
She grinned and gathered her blanket in her hands. She pressed it against her face, but the laughter peeled through it. “Miranda sure thought she was Queen of the town when Logan dated her.”
I grinned at the memory. Miranda and Logan dated for two months. It was long enough for her to feel secure and parade her new notch on the social ladder to make the rest of her friends get mad. Cassandra and Amelia had grown tired of Miranda’s ego after a week and they started to make snide comments to her not long after that. Emily remained quiet, but there was always a smirk on her face when their queen swished down the school’s hallway. Since Miranda dropped Peter Glasburg, he rebounded by dating Cassandra, which was another reason the snide comments doubled after another week.
Adam and Mark kept quiet, but they physically rallied behind Peter. The three guys of the Academy Elite were always with each other.
How did I know all this? Because Miranda considered herself my new best friend. As she put it one day, I was dating Mason. She was dating Logan. It would make sense if we were friends. It hadn’t made sense to me. I tried to keep my solitude going, but Miranda would flank me in the hallways, at my car, in the lunchroom.
She gushed about our future double dates. I kept quiet. Logan only laughed when I would tell him her plans. He had no intention of taking Miranda on a date, but he admitted one time that he enjoyed the sex. However, after two weeks and no dates had been planned, Miranda started to question me. The ego dropped a bit and her insecurity rose.
After the third week, it was past due when she expected to be invited inside the Kade mansion, and Logan’s
nonchalant treatment turned Miranda into a sputtering girl with a crush. She talked about him, dreamt about him, asked others questions about him, and wrote a few essays for school about him.
Her notch as the school’s queen and leader of the Academy Elite was gone.
Cassandra took the reins with Peter at her side. Miranda was initially tolerated because of Logan’s attachment to her, but when he dumped her, she had become a shadow of herself. Logan dumped her by going to a party without her. He saw she was there and slept with a cheerleader from his school.
The next night, he slept with another cheerleader.
Sunday night was a dance girl from the Academy.
There was no doubt about it. Logan and Miranda were done. That meant that Miranda was done. She’d been made into a fool. The planned out execution had been ruthless, but it was effective. The Academy Elite no longer cared about me. Their new focus was on Miranda. Everyone was wondering if she was considered Academy Elite anymore?
Becky whispered when the movie started, “I heard that Miranda’s trying to get Peter back, but he’s not having it.”
I paused the movie and sat up. “What’d Cassandra do?”
She lifted both shoulders. “No clue. Adam won’t tell me, but I heard there was a fight between them. I think it was at a Public party. Mason and Logan didn’t tell you?”
I rolled my eyes. “If they don’t give a shit, they won’t pay attention. Trust me; they don’t give a shit about that sort of thing.”
Becky hid a grin behind her hands. “I heard that Miranda’s mad because Mason’s still dating you and she’s not dating Logan anymore.”
I snorted. “One of these days, she’ll figure out the truth.”
“What’s that?”
I grew still and masked the disgust in my voice. I kept a blank slate over my face too. “Nothing. She and Logan were never serious.”
“Yeah.” Becky nodded, knowing so much. “I could see that. Logan doesn’t want to settle down. Everyone can see that.”
I sighed quietly to myself. Since both Kades had girlfriends at the same time, their reputation had changed through town. They were now viewed as dateable and girls started to wonder if they could catch one of the Kades. I knew I’d had enough of my fill watching girls throw themselves at Mason when we’d go out. It didn’t stop at parties, but when we’d go out to eat or get ice cream or grab a movie or…I shook my head when we had his car cleaned. There’d been two girls who left underwear in his backseat and their phone numbers pinned with them.
Most had stayed away before because Mason wanted it that way. He picked, they didn’t, but they no longer cared about that. They continued to not care the longer we were together.
“Sam?”
“Mmm?” I was ripped from my thoughts and saw Becky peering at me with an odd expression on her face.
“You want to start the movie?”
“Oh, yeah. Sure.” I quickly pressed play and curled underneath my blanket when the opening credits rolled across the screen. It wasn’t long before I felt my eyelids starting to close. They were so heavy. The blanket was so warm. The theatre was dark and…
When I started to wake up, I was aware of two voices over my head.
“…like this since we started the movie.”
A deeper voice commented, “I’ll take care of her. You can go.”
“I want to stay.”
The male voice snapped, “Fucking go.”
My eyes were so heavy, but I opened them to squint up. “Mason?”
He bent down and slid his arms under me. I felt myself being lifted in the air and he cradled me against his chest. “Hey, babe. Go to sleep.”
“Sam? Can I stay?”
I groaned and burrowed closer to him. I didn’t want to deal with anyone. My whole body was heavy and warm and my eyelids started to droop again. Something nagged me at the back of my mind. I was supposed to do something—and then I felt a kiss on my forehead. Mason whispered, “Go to sleep.”
And I did.
CHAPTER THREE
The alarm woke me up and I was surprised to find Mason next to me. One of his arms was underneath me while one of my legs had been thrown over his. It was warm under the comforter he’d pulled over us. I started to snuggle closer to him when the alarm went off again.
“Fucking hell,” he grumbled and rolled over.
“What time is it?” My voice was heavy with sleep.
“Fucking early. I have practice at six.” But his arms tightened around me and he rolled to his back. I was pulled on top of him and I stretched like a cat. I was tempted to purr, and when his hand started to rub on my bottom, I was really tempted to purr. He chuckled and bent close to place a kiss underneath my jaw. “What the hell are you doing hanging out with that girl again?”
His hand swept back and forth, but I rested my head on his chest. “I like her. Be nice.”
I could feel him roll his eyes. “Whatever. She’s crazy.”
As his hand skimmed down my leg and back up, he turned me over again and pressed a leg between mine as he hovered over me. I opened my eyes and found his on my breasts. They lingered there, and when his hand touched one of my nipples, I curled a hand around his neck and pulled him down. Then I whispered against his neck, “Why am I naked?”
He grinned and nipped my lips. “Because that’s how I like to sleep with you.”
“Really?” I gave him a hard look when he pulled back. It’d been an old argument with us now. I liked pajamas and he liked nothing. I won most of the time, but this hadn’t been one of those times. I hadn’t really had a chance.
“You were asking me to take your clothes off too.” He edged back but still held himself above me with his arms on both sides of me.
I snorted in disbelief.
“You were. You were moaning and trying to grab me. You kept asking me to take off your clothes. I was uncomfortable at first, but then I figured if that’s what you wanted…” His eyes were lit with amusement as he waited for my reaction.
He wanted me to argue, but instead I wrapped my legs around his and lifted myself up. I felt him between my legs and started to rub back and forth. It wasn’t long before he hardened and moaned into my ear. He curled a hand under my back and lifted me higher on the bed. As we scooted up, we pressed down on the bed and he moved against me. His lips feathered kisses along my shoulder, up my chin, and down my cheeks. He lingered above my lips before I arched against him and pressed my mouth to his. Lust swirled around and a primal need pumped through me. I was blind for him and gasped as his lips left my lips to travel down. They lingered over my breasts and my hips jumped off the bed as his tongue circled a nipple.
Then his alarm went off again. Its insistent beep, beep, beep slowly penetrated the haze that had descended over us. He pulled away to turn it off, and I immediately reached for him and drew him back. Mason pressed a hard kiss to me and swept me underneath again to slide inside.
I gasped as he filled me. Then he started to move.
My eyes closed, and I surrendered everything to him.
“Fuck,” he cursed when we had finished. “I’m late for practice.”
My voice was still thick as I laughed. When he started to roll out of the bed, my fingers trailed across his back. “And Logan will know why.”
He snorted as he fumbled towards the bathroom. I heard more curses before the shower was turned on and grinned when I pushed myself up on the bed. It wasn’t long before he came back in with a towel over his head and another being rubbed over his chest.
“I hate this room. I don’t know where anything is.” The bed sunk under his weight when he sat and started to dress.
I groaned. “I have school.”
“You could always come to my school?” The corner of his mouth curved up.
“Oh, right. Because Kate and the others are going to be so welcoming.” A hard laugh ripped from me. “Those girls hate me.”
“You’re tough. You can take ‘em.” He grinned again as
he pulled a shirt over his head.
I groaned. The four girls who ran Fallen Crest Public were tough too, but Mason knew that. It was why he put up with them, or that’s what he said one time. However, the longer we dated, the more they hated me. I’d rather take the Academy Elite on anytime.
“Okay.” He dipped down for a quick kiss. “I’ll see you Wednesday?”
“Why not tonight?”
He turned around at the door and gave me a blank look. “Logan and I are having dinner with our mom. It’ll be late when we get back. We have to go into the city. You want to come?”
I laid back down. “Wednesday it is!”
I could hear his chuckle as he went down the stairs. The sound faded soon after that and I sighed when I pulled the blanket back up. I already missed him so I inhaled his scent. My eyes fluttered closed and I snuggled under the covers, pretending he was still there.
*
“You’re chipper this morning.”
I closed my locker with a slam.
Amelia White stared back at me with a hard smirk on her face. Her hair had been braided and woven in an intricate knot. She had a bag over her shoulder and pulled her uniform skirt down an inch. Her hipbones showed, but I didn’t think she cared.
“What do you want?” I sighed and made sure my uniform didn’t show my hipbones. It wasn’t a look I wanted.