“Maybe Tess would like to know about your visits with the kidnapper’s kid?” he muses, and I feel the color drain out of my face. Even with all the quips and bullshit, I never expected Parrish to bring that up. I was under the impression there was some sort of code between us, some unspoken rule. Let each other’s transgressions ride. Guess I was wrong.
“Come on, Parrish,” Maxx says, turning and giving his friend a look that reminds me he was once a part of this group, and that he probably fit in well. His handsome faces takes on an arrogant tint, something that hints at a bit of ruthlessness hiding beneath the kind façade. “Don’t take it that far.”
“Really?” Parrish asks, blinking like he’s surprised as he turns to his friend. “Because in the past, you haven’t had any problems taking things to the brink. Freshman year, you drove a guy to drop out of Whitehall.”
Maxx makes a face, like this isn’t a particularly pleasant memory for him.
“Yeah, well, people change.” He gives me a look and shakes his head briefly before turning back to Parrish. “Just because you acted like a dick once doesn’t mean you have to keep acting like a dick.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve changed your ways for the sister?” Parrish asks with a scoff, like he can’t imagine Maxine being worth that sort of effort. “Excuse me if I find that a little hard to believe.”
“Well, start believing it,” Maxx snaps back, getting up in Parrish’s face. “Because I’m done with the high school drama bullshit. Grow up, Vanguard.”
The two boys stare each other down as I debate getting involved. Honestly, I’m a bit surprised to hear that Maxx was a tyrant in high school. He seems so … nice? … right now.
“Look at you,” Parrish drawls, ever the consummate rich boy. He knows exactly how to throw his weight around to make other people look like shit. “The scholarship student with an attitude.”
Maxx just throws his head back and laughs at that, raking his fingers through his dark hair.
“Right, Parrish. Rag on me for being middle-class. It suits you, doesn’t it? That sort of petty cruelty.” Maxx pauses as my eyes flick between the two boys, and our gazes meet. Clash, is more like. There’s this protective glint in X’s gaze that makes me feel like I’ve got an ally in this boy. We stare at each other for a moment before I finally turn to Parrish.
He’s watching me, too. More like watching me and Maxx, I think. And he doesn’t like it, the way we’re looking at one another. Because he’s jealous. He’s so totally fucking jealous. Only … that makes no sense, right?
“Kids,” Tess greets, sweeping into the room in a pair of red Louboutins, a black pantsuit, and a careful chignon at the back of her head. She heads straight for the fancy espresso machine in the corner and goes about making herself a flat white with almond milk. There hasn’t been a day in this house that I haven’t heard either Tess or Paul or Kimber moaning about how fat they’ve gotten and how they desperately need a diet. It’s a bit … mm … toxic as fuck? “What are the three of you up to?”
“Maxx was just leaving,” Parrish says blandly, and Tess glances over her shoulder to give us all a look. After a moment, something dawns on her.
“Maxx,” Tess begins, turning around to look at him as she crosses her arms over her stupidly sharp suit and gives him a once-over. She looks like a politician again, or like a very office-conscious model. Pretty sure most authors don’t write in shoes that cost a cool grand and throw out the positioning of the spine. Seeing as she flip-flops between that mussy creative look and this, I’m guessing she has a meeting with her editor or something today. “Do you have a girlfriend yet at that university of yours?”
I go completely still as Tess’ gaze flicks my way. With my eyes, I plead for Maxx to keep a secret. The last thing I need is for Bio Mom to find out about Maxine. If she knows I saw my sister—and will continue to see my sister—things between me and Tess are going to get real sour, real fast.
“Not really,” Maxx replies carefully, mulling the words over as his eyes find mine again. Tess giggles—legitimately giggles—and then gives the three of us a coy look that very likely means something I’m going to hate.
“Are you interested in anyone in particular?” Tess continues, her gaze flicking between me and Maxx. Parrish makes a sound behind me, somewhere between a sigh and a scoff.
“Mom, this isn’t going the way you think it is,” he says, but she waves him away with a hand, her eyes glinting mischievously.
“You can’t protect your little sister forever,” Tess replies with about as much subtlety as a dump trunk. There’s nothing about that sentence I like. It smacks of this wistful dreamy quality, of a life where I’ve always been here, where I’ll always belong, like Parrish really is my big brother instead of … whatever it is that he is.
“Protect my little sister?” Parrish echoes as I glance back to find his face rife with confusion. He blinks a few times, and it fades away into a scowl. He gives me such a strange look, one that’s brimming with red-hot … something, that I’m not even sure how to respond to Tess’ statement. “Oh, that’s right. Mom, Maxx and Mia are dating.”
“It’s Dakota,” I snap back, my cheeks flaming a brilliant crimson as Tess nods her head once and Maxx lets out this sexy little male laugh that very clearly communicates his discomfort with the situation. Pretending Maxine doesn’t exist is one thing, but I cannot and will not pretend to date him. “And we are not going out.”
“We should probably talk about the rules anyway,” Tess says, giving my crop top a displeased flick of the eyes. “But I won’t embarrass you in front of the boys.” She gives me a wink, and I’m instantly reminded of that meme from the movie Mean Girls. ‘I’m not like a regular mom, I’m a cool mom.’
Cue internal groaning.
“Thanks?” I reply, with a very clear question mark at the end of the word. Back home, the rules for dating were pretty simple: hit age sixteen, introduce your love interest to the grandparents, and suffer a humiliating lecture on safe sex. I have no idea what Tess’ rules might be, but I can take a guess: I’m not going to like them.
“No boys in your room unless the door is open; that’s one I should probably mention straight-off though,” Tess muses, and Parrish narrows his eyes to slits. He seems to do that a lot when he’s having trouble controlling his emotions. But I already know that rule, obviously. She freaks out if she finds that Chasm’s closed the door during our study sessions.
“No worries on that one. I really do have to go,” Maxx says, but I feel that strange heat in my chest, the fire that demands I rebel against this woman who claims to be my mother but really, in all reality, is just a stranger to me.
Besides, I’m so salty about the talk show thing that I could be sprinkled on fries.
“Why can’t I have a male friend in my room?” I query, as if I don’t understand the implications. “What about a female friend?”
“Well, no girls for Parrish and no boys for you,” Tess says, as if that’s the most reasonable statement in the whole world, as if it’s just a ‘duh statement’.