“What’s going on?” Max wandered toward us with a group of his friends.
My precarious good mood instantly died.
“I thought you were out all day?” Celeste asked.
“We decided to come back here and hang out.”
“Well, we were here first, so you can leave now.”
“Last time I checked, Einstein, I lived here too. Which means, if me and the guys want to use the pool, we will.” Max looked back at his friends, snickering. A couple of them high-fived, leering at us as if we would ever be interested in their barely pubescent teenage boy bodies.
“Go fuck yourself, Maximilian,” Celeste drawled, mocking the name Max hated so much.
“Come on, guys, last one in has to pay for the pizza.” Max ripped off his t-shirt and took a running jump, water spraying everywhere as he cannonballed into the pool. Celeste shrieked, swimming to the far end away from her annoying brother.
She began climbing out when a figure loomed over me. I held up an arm to the sun, blocking it out so I could see whoever it was.
“Nate,” I said dryly. “What a surprise.”
“Don’t sound so pleased to see me, baby.”
“Baby, really?” I sneered.
Nate was just another entitled asshole who liked lording it over people, reminding them they were beneath him. Thankfully, I’d managed to avoid him all week at school despite his efforts at catching my attention in class, but my good luck had obviously run out.
“Always so salty, Maguire.”
“How’s the hand?” My mouth twisted into a smug smile.
He flexed his hand as if he felt the phantom pain of me stabbing him with the fork. But he’d deserved it, putting his hands on me after I’d repeatedly told him I wasn’t interested.
Nate murmured something under his breath.
“Why are you even here? Isn’t hanging out with your kid brother and his friends a little pathetic?”
“Maybe I wanted to see you?”
A derisive noise caught in my throat.
“You know, if you weren’t such a bitch, we could have a lot of fun, Harleigh Wren.” His brow lifted, a suggestive smile gracing his stupidly handsome face.
“I don’t think so somehow.”
“Because you’re still hung up on Wilder?”
“How do you…?” I stopped myself. Of course he knew. People talked. In a place like Old Darling Hill all people did was talk. And he knew Marc Denby and his friends.
“I can see I hit a nerve. You know, Wilder’s beneath you now, Maguire. Besides, I can give you something he can’t on this side of the reservoir.”
“What could you possibly give me?” I drawled with fake bravado.
“Protection. Just… think about it.”
Protection?
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
I didn’t ask though, watching him walk over to an empty lounger instead and pull his white t-shirt over his head. There was no denying Nate was gorgeous. Tall, lean body with a hint of muscle, dirty blond hair, and a smile that spelled trouble; but I knew all about bad apples wrapped up in pretty packages, and I wanted nothing to do with him.
Or whatever he was offering.
“What was that about?” Celeste flopped down beside me, kicking her foot through the water to cover Max and his friend Toby in a spray of water. They both flipped her off but didn’t make a play for her.
“Just Nate being Nate.” I shrugged, smoothing my hands over the tiled edge of the pool.
“He’s a creep,” she hissed. “If he bothers you again, tell me and I’ll—”
“I can handle the likes of Nate Miller, Celeste.”
“Oh, I know you can. But maybe I want a shot at him too.” Her brows waggled, and we shared a quiet chuckle. “So I guess our afternoon by the pool has been hijacked. Want to go inside, get dry, and watch reruns of The Walking Dead?”
“Sounds good to me.” We stood and grabbed our towels.
Someone wolf-whistled and Celeste cut Toby with an icy glare. “In your dreams, asshole.”
“Every damn night, baby.” He dipped his hand beneath the water and cupped his junk. Or, at least, that’s what I imagined he was doing.
“So gross,” she whispered as we headed for the house.
“Call me,” Nate shouted, and I lifted my hand up and flipped him off. His gaze narrowed, a strange expression passing over his face, but I broke our heated stare, unwilling to play his mind games.
Celeste gave me an impressed smirk. “Why are guys such assholes?”
“Miles isn’t,” I countered.
“No, but he’s also too good, ya know? Like he doesn’t have that…”
“Don’t say it. Don’t you dare say it.”
“Oh, come on, Harleigh. It’s the oldest cliché in the book. Girls are attracted to the bad boy.”
“And we all know how that ends,” I grumbled.
I had that t-shirt hanging in my closet.
“Miles is the type of guy you settle down with. He isn’t the type of guy you fool around with in junior year.”
“Ouch. Don’t let him hear you say that.” I grabbed the can of soda she offered me. “As someone who has plenty of experience with bad boys, trust me when I say, they’re not worth it.”
My heart rejected the idea, slamming against my chest violently as if to say no, no, no. Because Nix had been worth it. He’d been worth every damn thing.
Until he hadn’t.
“Harleigh, Dad probably has my future husband already picked out. I need to make the next few years count before I’m married off to some stuffy lawyer or investment broker and bred like a prized mare.”
“He wouldn’t…”
“No, of course not.” She chuckled, but the smile she wore didn’t reach her eyes. “But I’m sure they’ll have an opinion on every guy I ever bring home. Got to uphold the family reputation.” I bristled and her eyes grew wide. “Crap, sorry… I didn’t—”
“It’s fine. We know I don’t belong here. I never will.”
“Honestly, I like that you’re not one of them. You’re real, Harleigh.” She gave me a warm smile that eased some of the tension running through me. “That’s more than ninety percent of the student population at DA can say.”
“I like that I’m not one of them too.” I grinned but it was forced. Turning into Daddy’s little princess was the last thing I ever wanted. But part of me wondered how easy it would be to lose myself here. To don the blue and gray uniform and smile in all the right places and pray to the altar of daddy’s trust fund.
Easy maybe, but never honest.
Because this life, the fact I was here in the first place, was built on nothing but secrets and lies. And the truth was, I wasn’t here to assimilate. I was here to do my time and then get the hell out of Darling Hill and put the past where it deserved to stay.
Behind me.
Nix
“Seriously, Clo, I’m not your fucking personal taxicab. Couldn’t you have called whatshisface, Dean?”
“It’s Dan, asshole. And no, he has to work today. Besides, you said you were heading out.”