“Sucks for him.”
“Don’t know. Don’t care.” Her expression changed to a more conspiratorial one. “Not to gossip, but Seth said the word is he can’t find a socially acceptable date for the formal. He’s pissed off anyone with any standards. I’d suggest you bet him that he can’t get a date, but he’s going to hire a hooker anyway at this point.”
“How the hell does Seth know this?”
“He and Billy seem to know a lot.” She laughed softly. “And according to them, everyone’s pulling for you to humiliate him. This past year he’s pissed off most everyone in the house. Strange though, Seth knows a lot, right? But he didn’t know the details of my breakup with Harper. When I mentioned it yesterday, he went a shade of red I’ve never seen on a person. I thought everyone knew by now.”
Jack frowned. “He knows Harper cheated on you.”
She brushed it off. “Anyway, since Harper’s pissed most people in your house off—”
“I thought most people liked him and it was me they wanted to see lose.”
“I don’t think he’d ever have won a popularity contest with you, but as for him having friends? Things change.” She pulled her feet up onto the bench and wrapped her arms around her knees. “I think it started right after he and I started dating. He began hanging out with the billionaire brats and they changed him.”
“The who?”
“You know, that group of guys whose families are seriously wealthy who think that because their mommy and daddy have a lot money, that makes them hot shit.”
“Oh yeah, Kieran and his friends.”
“Yeah, them. I think you introduced Harper to the group when you started dating Kieran.”
Other than being straight, it turned out Harper had way more in common with Kieran than Jack. “Something else I can regret, I suppose.”
“Nah, he’d have gravitated to them eventually.” Brittany hardly talked about their breakup, but Jack didn’t need words to know what it had done to her. Somehow they’d gone down a road neither of them had wanted to travel.
He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a hug. “It’s just more overcompensation.”
She pulled back. “Wait, you mean Kieran….”
“No, not that.” Jack snorted. “Leave it to you to go there.”
“Well you said….”
“Yeah, but I meant social standing, not… size.”
“So Kieran’s… you know….” She put her fingers out, but Jack pushed them together before she could do anything else.
“He’s got nothing to be ashamed of, and let’s leave it at that.”
“You’re no fun, Jack.” Freeing her hands, she moved them slowly apart, wiggling her eyebrows at him. “C’mon. Kiss and tell.”
“I’m not going there. What I meant was they have nothing else that makes them special. What’s funny is the old money kids look down their noses at the… what did you call them?”
“Billionaire brats.”
“Them. It’s like football. If you score a touchdown, act like you’ve been there before and you plan to be there again.”
“Hmm.” Brittany had that look that made Jack’s skin itch.
“What are you planning?”
“Huh? No, nothing like that. I just thought it interesting. Since Harper’s been hanging out with the brats, Darren has been spending more time alone.”
“Why’s that strange?” Not that Jack had noticed. When he saw Harper, he saw the other two.
“Darren’s family puts the old in old money.” She nodded when Jack opened his eyes wider. “Yes. Google his family name along with oil and net worth.”
Two more things he didn’t know about Darren. Not that he cared about either. He was in Harper’s clique. “Anyway. The whole point of tonight was to say I’m sorry about being a jerk. I….”
“No worries, Jack. I get it. And it’s sweet of you look out for me like this.” This time she hugged him. “But you need to look out for yourself now.”
He sighed. “I’m going to talk to Ed about taking someone else.”
Marcus lay on top of his bed with only his reading lamp on, drowning Jack’s half of the room in shadows. His brother looked at him over the top of his notes and raised a single brow. “How was it then?”
Jack tossed his keys on his desk and wedged out his phone. “Brit’s the best.”
“Anything new?”
Jack snorted. He so needed to keep the good people in his life. He plunked himself on the end of his bed and scrubbed his face.
Marcus set his notes on his side table in front of the Murphy-Reynolds photo and rolled on his side, propping his head with an elbow. “What’s up, then?”
A nervous laugh rumbled out of him, and he flopped back on the bed before answering, “Just thinking about how I’ll tell Ed.”
Marcus’s bedsprings groaned as the guy shifted. “About taking someone else, you mean?”
Jack shook his head. “I really don’t want to do it.”
“It’s up to you, man. I’m with you no matter what you decide.”
Marcus balled up a piece of paper and tossed it at Jack. It bounced off his nose and rolled to his chest. Jack scrunched the paper tight.
“Thanks.”
“Don’t forget we have to pick up our tuxes on Wednesday, twelve thirty.”
Jack sighed, pumped the balled paper, and threw it back at his brother.
A loud thump came from down the hall, and then voices. Angry voices.
Jack and Marcus looked at each other, and both sprang up from their beds and out of the room.
A few doors down the hall were Seth, Billy, and Harper. Seth had his fists in Harper’s pullover, and a shocked Harper was pressed against the wall. Billy gripped Seth’s shoulder, tugging him back.
“Her cousin?” Seth said, disgusted. “You slept with her cousin? You piece of dirt.”
Harper composed himself and helped Billy by shoving Seth back. “Fuck you.”
“Why did you hurt her like that?”
Harper seemed to stiffen, and then he grunted through clenched teeth. “I was drunk. Now piss off and go back to your sloppy seconds.”
Seth reared forward, but Jack got there in time to hold him back with Billy.
“Keep your little runts in check, Murphy,” Harper said. “Gonna get themselves in trouble otherwise.”
Jack stepped in front of Seth and Billy. “Is that a threat?”
Harper backed up a step. “Hey, he started it.”
Seth yelled behind him. “You started it when you cheated on Brittany!”
Over his shoulder, Seth and Billy were both pinning Harper with their hate. Jack understood.
“Let’s just break this up,” Jack said. “That means Seth, Billy, you clear out. Harper, you piss off too.”
Harper gave an empty laugh and muttered.
“What’d you say?” Jack said, a half step closer to a sneering Harper.
“Nothing.”
“If you have anything you want to say about me or my friends, say it to our faces. Or better yet, shut up.”