I run a hand through my hair and wipe my face with the bottom of my t-shirt.
Chase lets out a groan. “Dude, you’re such a show-off.”
I snicker. “Come on, you guys have like four inches on me! You could be destroying me every time we play!”
Asher lifts an eyebrow. “Is this supposed to be some Jedi-in-training drill? Do you want us to try and channel the Force while we’re playing you? Is that the only way we get an advantage over you?”
“Ah, silly Padawan. You’ll need much more than the Force to score on me,” I say with a snicker, taking a gulp of water from my bottle.
“Hey, what happened with you and Melina today at school?” Chase asks. “She looked pretty pissed off.”
“She doesn’t know when to quit,” I grumble. “I told her we’re through, but she doesn’t want to hear it.”
“Is it true her father really lost everything? How the hell can he pay for her to stay at Ridgeview Prep?” Asher asks, grabbing a towel.
I shrug. “I’m not his accountant. But I can tell you this…if I had control over a multi-million-dollar business, I might not have wanted to risk everything by sleeping with the wife of my biggest investor and risking my board seat and controlling interest in my company, that’s all I’m saying.”
“Yeah, not one of his better decisions.” Chase shakes his head. “For such a smart guy with a hot piece of ass for a wife, he made a real dumbass choice with that one.”
“People like him don’t usually think about consequences. They think about the immediate pleasure of having a former runway model on her knees sucking their dicks, and once they shoot their loads, bam! All control is gone and they’re stuck with their thumbs up their asses because they gave everything away.” I smirk. “I hope that pussy was worth it since he ain’t getting his wife’s anymore.”
“Speaking of pussy,” Asher says, exchanging a look with Chase. “Is there another reason why you kicked Melina to the curb?”
I bounce the ball a few times before answering. “Other than the fact that she’s suffocating me?”
“I didn’t hear you complain about her letting you fuck her six ways from Sunday before Charlotte showed up back here in Ridgeview.”
I press my lips together. “Charlotte doesn’t have anything to do with it.”
“Yeah? Because I’d be really shocked to know that you would go running back to a girl who screwed some other dude and then blew you off. Are you really that guy, Xander?” Chase asks me with a self-satisfied smirk.
He thinks he’s got one over on me.
Wrong, wrong, wrong!
My spine stiffens. I know what I told them, but it aggravates the hell out of me that they’re using my own lie against me. It was the easiest way to explain why Char and I fizzled, but I don’t like the implication he’s making. Or the thinly veiled threat to my authority, for that matter.
Not that it was a complete lie.
She did choose another guy over me.
She just didn’t fuck him.
It was more like him fucking me than anything else.
I walk toward him, my shoulders squared. “I think you know better than anyone exactly what guy I am, Chase. Because let’s face it, when push comes to shove and shit goes sideways, who are you gonna want in your corner? A dickhead like Blaine Montrose who needs Daddy to fight his battles for him, or a guy like me who wins the fucking battles?” I struggle to keep my voice steady even though blood bubbles under my skin.
“Well, that’s the thing, Xander. I’m not convinced you’ve won any battles. I keep hearing about them, but I haven’t seen a goddamn thing. I’d just like to know once and for all who the hell you really are. You talk about Montrose needing Daddy, but I haven’t seen anything that tells me you’re different from him. Maybe I want to see you put your money where your mouth is. Or are you just all talk?”
I shove him backward, my eyes narrowed to slits. “You wanna do this here? Now? You need proof of my reality? You wanna see what kind of shit I’ve done? Huh?” I pull a switchblade from my pocket because you just never know.
Especially after a heated pick-up basketball game.
My friend’s face drains of all color which is saying a lot since only seconds ago he was bright red from exertion.
“Xan! Are you fucking nuts?” Asher grabs my arm…not the one carrying the blade. Smart guy.
I look at him, my lips stretched into a tight line. “Not in the mood for some show and tell today, Ash?”
“Enough!” Chase growls, pointing at me. “Your tough guy fucking goombah attitude may work on everyone else at school, but it’s all bullshit, isn’t it?” He steps closer to me. “You put yourself on a pedestal at the fucking school for what? Is it image? Or all smoke and mirrors, Xander? My father said that your dad has been trying like crazy to keep control of his businesses in the area and that shit is sinking fast. You really wanna try and convince me that he’s on top? That you’re still on top?”
I choke on my next breath. What in the hell is he talking about? And why is his father talking shit about my family? Everyone knows the Iazettis maintain control over most of the real estate in this territory. And Dad has been away a lot more because he’s doing deals to claim more of it so we can expand. I should know about the real estate we own. I collect from the people who run those businesses! They answer to me, goddammit! I clench my fists, trying to settle the rolling feeling in my gut as it twists tighter and tighter. Control. My only bit of it, and it’s seeping into the air around me without any way for me to stop it. “Where the fuck do you get off talking shit about things you can’t even come close to understanding?”
“I’m just saying there’s been talk.”
“Who’s talking?” My voice is getting to the point of shrill. I need to end this. Now.
“People are wondering about what it is that you really do, what your role really is. Whether or not you’re really the guy you’re trying to convince everyone you are.”
I grit my teeth. “My work isn’t the type of thing I can post about on social media, dick. I can’t snap you pictures and apply the pretty fucking filters of the shit I do.” I rake a hand through my hair. “And why don’t we look at you for a second? If you think I’m so full of shit, why are you behind me every time I turn around? Huh? Or is this all crap your father is feeding you because he doesn’t want his precious reputation tarnished by his son hanging out with a known thug? Is that it, Chase? Is this really what you think? Or is it all Daddy?”
Chase glares at me. “I’m not an idiot. I can see things pretty damn clearly.”
“I don’t think you can,” I hiss. “Because if you did, you’d realize that what you said has consequences. Remember how I said before that people don’t ever think about them? Well, it looks like you might be one of those dipshits, Chase.”
“Xander,” Asher starts, recoiling slightly as I turn my death glare on him.
He holds up his hands and backs away slightly. Clearly they’re not in the same thought camp. Good thing for Ash.
“Look, you’ve been pretty secretive lately and brought us in only to shove us farther away. That whole thing with Charlotte at your house,” he shakes his head. “We were only trying to do what we thought you wanted. We were trying to look out for you because of what you said she did.”