I throw my gym bag down at the front door, and call out, “Cole?”
That stupid Halloween decoration Austin put out makes a noise when you activate its motion sensor. The fucker gets me every time I come in late drunk off my ass. Pretty sure I threw it away last weekend, but she found it and put it back. Its red eyes glare up at me with its ugly mouth open, showing off its vampire looking teeth and growling at me again. The first time I saw it, I thought the damn thing was a ghost, but I’m not even sure what the hell it’s supposed to be. Austin seems quite attached to it, but I’m hoping to get rid of the thing before Halloween next year.
“Kitchen,” he answers.
Walking down the hallway, I take the first right, entering the kitchen to see him bent over at the stainless fridge looking for something to eat. “I’ve got plans for us tonight.”
He groans. “I don’t feel like going to a party.”
“Even better.”
Straightening, he shuts the door and turns around to face me. His blue eyes give me a pointed look as he tears open a container. My best friend hasn’t been himself lately. His temper is shorter, and his mood darker. Worse than usual. Cole Reynolds has always been a ticking time bomb, but there’s more to it now. And I hate that he hasn’t come to me about it. Things just haven’t been the same since we left Collins.
“I’m not going to a strip club,” he deadpans.
I smile at him. Tits and some ass in my face are exactly what I need, but I shake my head. I’m trying to get him out of the house, and I knew he would never go for that. Plus, I don’t wanna be on Austin’s shit list. And taking Cole to a place like that will get my name at the motherfucking top of hers. I’m quite found of my balls, and they would be the first thing she’d go for. “Although that is a fantastic idea, it’s not what I have in mind.”
He sets the container on the countertop next to him and crosses his arms over his chest, arching a dark brow. “I’m waiting.”
I open my mouth to fill him in, but it closes the moment Austin, his fiancée, enters the kitchen, and she’s not alone. Becky is with her. My ex.
The girl who I fell in love with. What started as a dare and ended up much more than that. I wish I would have known then what a lying whore she was. I guess a part of me knew. I just thought I’d be the exception. Fuck, when did I turn into a chick?
Junior year
“Dude, let her go,” Eli all but growls as he sees what I’m drooling over.
“She’s with David now.” I say it like it fucking matters. It doesn’t.
“Let him have her ass. You can do better.”
I frown at his tone. Since when does Eli hate Becky?
When I say nothing, he turns his attention to Cole and Maddox as they walk up after leaving the cafeteria.
I lean up against my locker and watch the blonde come down the hallway. I kissed Becky last year by the football field because Eli dared me to. And now I can’t get her out of my mind. It didn’t happen suddenly. No, it was more like a sickness. She slowly took over my mind and body with no cure in sight. Maybe it’s because I know she’s unavailable now. Three months after that kiss, she started seeing David, and now that he has her, I want her. I watch her in class and at parties. And I catch her watching me too. She comes to swim meets but doesn’t speak to me. Instead, she ignores me completely. Just like we agreed.
Her boyfriend, David, comes up behind her and places his hand in hers. She looks up at him but doesn’t smile. He’s too busy talking to Maxwell, his friend walking beside him. I feel my heart begin to beat faster as she approaches me, but he brings her to a stop and then says a few more words to his friend. Once Maxwell walks away, David turns to face her. He leans down and kisses her, pulling her body into his, and her arms come up and wrap around his neck. Just as they did when I kissed her last year. Then just as quickly, he lets go of her hand and walks away, leaving her all alone in the middle of the hallway.
As if she feels my eyes on hers, she looks up at me. I remain leaning against the locker, trying to play it cool as though I couldn’t care less what she does, but it’s all for show.
I care, and she knows it.
I’m jealous that he gets to kiss her, touch her, and fuck her for all to see.
I want a piece of Becky. More than what she already gives me. I want her to be completely mine, but for now, I’ll settle.
Fucking pathetic.
“Deke, there’s a party at Luck’s this weekend. Cole, Maddox, Landen, and I are thinking about going after the meet. You wanna go?” Eli asks me.
I just nod at him, not taking my eyes off hers. “Of course.” I’m always down to get drunk and pretend I’m not obsessed with the blue-eyed blonde.
She walks past, looking me up and down before her tongue darts out and runs along her pink-painted lips. They still glisten from his kiss. “Hey, Deke,” she purrs, then watches me over her shoulder before turning the corner and walking out of my sight.
I slap Eli on the chest, cutting off whatever nonsense he was telling Cole. “I’ll see you all at practice later.” I push off my locker before they can stop me.
I turn the same corner she took and open the first door on the left. Mr. Tomson always leaves his door unlocked. Stupid fucker.
A hand grabs me from behind, and I spin around to see Becky leaning up against the now closed door. “Hey, baby.” I smirk, stepping into her.
She reaches behind her and locks it. “I don’t have much time—”
“Then what are you waiting for?” I cut her off.
Grabbing my shoulders, she spins me around and shoves my back into a wall. Then she falls to her knees before me.
As I place my hands in her blond hair, she goes to work on my jeans to free my already hardening cock. I grip her hair and prepare to fuck that mouth he just kissed. I’m gonna come all over her lips and watch her lick them clean.
I should have known then that she didn’t have a loyal bone in her body. But I never had the chance to think about it. After that, things changed. They all went to that party Eli mentioned. There was a car wreck, and three of my best friends—Eli, Maddox, and Landen—died. Cole was the only one who survived. Or so I thought. Cole had taken full responsibility for that accident at the time but just recently confessed he was not the one driving. It was Becky. And she was with them that night ’cause she was fucking Eli. I still can’t decide if I’m more pissed at her or my dead friend who knew how I felt about her. Too bad I didn’t know she was fucking him sooner. I would have never given her the time of day, much less allow myself to fall in love with her. That’s why he tried to tell me to stop wanting her—so he could have her.
Her blue eyes widen the moment she notices I’m in the kitchen with Cole, and she comes to a stop. I didn’t see her car outside, which means Austin must have brought her over here earlier. I don’t see her all that often, thank God. But her best friend is my best friend’s fiancée, and I live with them, so it’s bound to happen. Whenever the situation presents itself, I completely ignore her. It’s as if she doesn’t exist. Because she no longer does to me. She’s as dead as my best friend buried six feet deep in a wooden box.
“Thought you were going back home for the weekend?” Austin asks me as she goes over to Cole. He uncrosses his arms and wraps them around her shoulders, pulling her back to his chest and resting his chin on top of her head.