“Because he’s a fucking bastard,” Deke growls.
We start down the stairs. “Cole …”
I stop and turn to face her. “Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. I’m gonna find out.”
She nods, but I see the hesitation in her green eyes. She doesn’t believe me, but what Austin Lowes doesn’t know is that I’m not going to give up.
Austin was quiet during dinner. The girls chose a seafood restaurant that recently opened. I thought it would help cheer her up, but it didn’t. I can see her mind working by the way she stares off into space. And I hate not knowing what the hell Bruce is up to.
By the time we get to the school, she’s a little better. Her smiles seem to be real, and she is actually making eye contact with me.
“Wow,” Becky says as we walk into the gymnasium. “They went all out.” She tilts her head back and looks up at the decorations.
“Yeah. Pretty,” Austin agrees.
They usher us into a line, and one by one, each couple goes and stands in front of a backdrop to have their picture taken.
Once done, I look up to see Bennett and Shane walking over toward us. Both solo. “Where are your dates?” I ask.
“In the bathroom,” Shane answers.
Deke and Becky join us, just finishing up with their picture. “Can we speak to you guys for a second?” Bennett asks.
My jaw tightens. I know why he wants me alone. He wants to talk about the check Bruce gave to Austin. I’m not in the mood. “No,” I say.
I grab Austin’s hand in mine and take a step away from them, but it’s Deke’s hand that lands on my chest. “It’ll just be for a second.”
My eyes narrow on his. He planned this. He was texting away on his phone while in the limo to the restaurant, and Becky asked him several times who he was talking to, but he never answered her. Now, I know why. “Deke—”
“Go ahead, babe,” Austin interrupts me. “Becky and I will wait right here.” She pulls away from me and turns, talking to Becky.
The guys all walk back toward the door we all just came through, and I follow them with fisted hands.
“What?” I demand as we enter the silent hallway. “This better not be about Austin and me.”
“It is.” Bennett starts. “You need to step back.”
“I’ve already told you no.”
“Cole,” Deke starts, “trust me, out of the four of us, I know the most how hard it would be to step away from someone you love, but this is the only thing left to do at this point.”
“It’s not!” I snap.
“It is,” he argues. “Bruce is playing a game with her that we don’t know. Kellan has gone off the deep end. He’s drinking all the time, missing school, and he no longer gives a fuck about swimming. He never comes to practice. If he doesn’t wake the fuck up, he’s gonna end up losing his scholarship.”
“I don’t give a fuck what he loses.”
“He has to be working with Bruce.” Shane finally speaks. “No one else would tell Bruce that you guys plan on going to the University of Texas together.”
“How do you fucking know what we’re gonna do?” I demand, turning to him. “We only told Deke and Becky.” I spin back around to face Deke. “You been telling everyone?” I shout.
“Cole!” Bennett raises his voice, and I look at him. “I put two and two together when you called me about the check her father wrote her.”
“Well …”
“Everyone knows where you got your scholarship from. I’m sure everyone just assumes she would be going with you.”
“I didn’t think of that,” I admit with a grunt.
“That’s because you’re too close. Take a step back,” Bennett goes on.
“And what if he hurts her?” I shake my head. “I can’t take that chance.”
“Bruce is about to leave for New York for a few weeks. He can’t do anything to her while he’s gone. But Kellan … we think that’s when he’ll make his move.”
“Cole …” Shane swallows nervously.
“What?” I snap.
“That dare that she drew … It wasn’t mine.” I open my mouth to ask what the fuck he’s talking about, but he continues. “Kellan had me write that dare down. That’s how he knew it belonged to me when you asked him what it meant.”
I step into him, but Deke yanks me back. “You fucking …”
“I wasn’t gonna let him hurt her,” he says quickly.
I shrug Deke off me and run a hand through my hair. The dare doesn’t matter. She isn’t doing it. She’s out of the group. “So what do you expect him to do?” I ask at a loss.
Deke shrugs. “It’s hard to tell. At this point, I think he still wants to hurt you, and he will go through Austin to accomplish that. We all know he’s not gonna harm Celeste. But …”
“But what?” I demand.
He looks at me. “But if you step back, he might not touch Austin at all.”
“That’s a big gamble,” I snap.
“I agree, but what other choice do we have?” Deke places his hand on my shoulder. “You need to decide right now, Cole. What’s more important? Spending the next month with her or the rest of your life. Because we all have the same feeling that you won’t get both.”
AUSTIN
“Well, that didn’t last long,” Becky says as she stares over at Bryan and his prom date. It’s not Kaitlin.
“I told him he only had to date her for a couple of weeks. I figured by then the dare would have blown over.”
She shakes her head with a laugh. “Those two weeks were a fake relationship, and she still managed to cheat on the guy. No wonder he dumped her before.”
Yep. I blackmailed him to go back out with her, and she still managed to fuck him over. I think they’re made for one another.
“Hey, babe,” Becky says as the guys come back to join us.
I give Cole a smile, but he doesn’t return it.
“You okay?” I ask, rubbing his upper arm.
He doesn’t respond.
“Who wants to have a little fun?” Deke asks, pulling a silver flask out of his pocket.
Becky laughs. “What is in there?”
“Fireball.” He winks at me. “I know how much you two like this shit.” He nods over at the table. “Go get a glass of punch.”
I pull away from Cole and walk over to the table with the white tablecloth over it. “What’s going on with Cole?” Becky asks, filling a cup three-quarters full of punch.
“Who knows?” I sigh. I didn’t think he was all that upset about what my father did, but maybe I was wrong.
I fill myself a cup, and we make our way back over to them. Deke takes a quick look around to see if any teachers are around before he unscrews the lid and pours some into my cup. Prom started over an hour ago, but we were in no hurry to be the first ones here. We don’t plan on staying long anyway. We all decided last night just to make an appearance and then bail. The best thing about prom are the after parties anyway. If we wanted to dance, we could all use our fake IDs and hit the clubs in surrounding towns.