I’d known Mr. Ford since I was just a kid and I’d never seen him act with Mrs. Ford, the way he did with Denise. He didn’t just love her, he adored her. And for the first time ever, Jason wasn’t first string in his father’s life.
“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”
“Don’t I?” I knew I was right. Jason was still just a twelve-year-old kid who had found out his dad had fallen in love with another woman.
“No,” Hailee’s voice cut through the room and my stomach sank. Shit, she wasn’t supposed to be here. She was supposed to be at Felicity’s house, where I’d left her sleeping.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Jase growled.
“I came to find Flick; she wasn’t answering her phone.”
He grumbled something under his breath, irritation radiating from him, but Hailee added, “You’re joking, right? What you said about my … my mom, it’s just cruel joke?”
The pain in her voice cut through me like bullets. I wanted to turn around and say something to comfort her, to fix this, but I was rooted to the spot, unable to move, the weight of her stare burning into my back.
“It’s the truth, little sister,” Jase said mockingly, and I wanted to drive my fist into his face just to shut him up. “Your mom isn’t the upstanding woman you think she is.”
“No…” she whispered, her voice broken. “I don’t believe you, you’re lying. You’re just trying to hurt me.”
“Not so smug now, are you?” Jase laughed bitterly. “You hate me, hate everything I stand for because your dad was a piece of shit who didn’t stand up and take responsibility for his mistakes, but it didn’t stop your mom making a play for my dad. She practically begged him to fuck her. Was ready to spread her legs like a—”
“You need to back off.” I stepped in front of Jason, shielding Hailee from him.
His lips curled in a vicious smirk as realization dawned in his dark gaze. “I knew it. I knew you were fucking hard for her. All these years, you went along with my shit, played the game, but it wasn’t for my benefit, was it? It was for hers. You were protecting her. You chose her over me.”
“I chose you, remember?” I gave him a pointed look, my fists curled at my sides as I forced myself to remain calm, to not get drawn into his malicious game.
“Nah, man.” Jase shook his head. “You didn’t choose me. You chose her. Are you fucking her?”
Hailee’s harsh intake of breath made me flinch. But I didn’t turn around to look at her still, I couldn’t.
“I asked you a question.” He scratched his jaw, waiting for an answer.
“No,” I lied, hating myself. I looked my best friend dead in the eye and lied. But I knew if I confessed, this would end badly. Far worse than it was already heading.
“But you want to, don’t you?”
“Jase, man, come on. Don’t do this.”
“Do what? Ask my best friend if all this time he’s been planning on stabbing me in the back and all over some self-righteous bitch?” His eyes flicked over my shoulder to Hailee and my spine went rigid.
“It isn’t like that and you know it.” My teeth ground together behind my lips as I tried to get a handle on the anger boiling in my veins. But for as much as I wanted to protect her, to defend Hailee’s honor against Jason and his cruel tongue, I needed his eyes off her and on me more.
“Nah, I don’t know anything anymore.” He inclined his head, rubbing his jaw harshly. “I trusted you. I trusted you with my life. It was you and me, bro. We were going to be unstoppable. Nothing was going to ever come between us, remember?” Jase ate up the distance between us until we were toe-to-toe, staring at me as if he no longer recognized me. Slamming his shoulder into mine, he said, “I hope she’s worth it,” and then he stormed out of the room.
I released the breath I’d been holding, turning slowly to face Hailee. She was pale, her face a mask of sadness as silent tears streaked down her cheeks. “Hailee, I—”
“Don’t, okay.” Her voice trembled as she backed up. “Just don’t.”
“I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.”
Silence enveloped us. Thick and suffocating. But I didn’t know how to fix this. She wasn’t supposed to be here, she wasn’t supposed to hear any of this.
After a few seconds, Hailee finally broke the tension. “Is it true? Was he telling the truth?”
“I- I think so.” I swallowed, my throat dry. Jason was a lot of things, but he wasn’t a liar. If he did something, he owned that shit every time.
“But my mom wouldn’t… she wouldn’t do that.” Hailee folded trembling hands around her waist, as if she was holding herself together. “Not after my dad…”
“Even adults make mistakes, Hailee.”
“And Jason, what did he mean about you choosing me?”
Shit.
Shit!
“I, hmm…” I cleared my throat, trying to dislodge the giant fucking lump stuck there. “Maybe we should talk about this another time…”
“No, I think we should talk about it now.” She glared at me and I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole. Nothing about this conversation would end well, not after Jase’s revelation. But she was staring at me with those honey-brown eyes of hers, coaxing all my truths out of me, and I knew I had to confess.
“Sixth grade, when you first moved in with Jase and his dad…”
“I remember. I thought you wanted to be friends with me.” Sadness washed over her.
“I did.” My chest tightened. “I liked you. You were a breath of fresh air, always standing up to Jason and refusing to take his shit. I admired you.”
“What changed?” she said coolly, the bite in her voice turning my blood to ice.
“Jason started to get jealous. He never said anything, but I realized the more I talked to you,”—and I’d talked to her a lot—“the more he taunted you. Right before summer, I called him out on it, and he told me I had to choose. Him or you.”
Hurt flashed over her face. “And you chose him.”
“I know it doesn’t make any sense, Hailee, but I didn’t choose him, I chose you. I saw the way Jason looked at you. He hated you. It was messed up, and I didn’t really understand it, but I knew how cruel he could be. I knew he’d never leave you alone if I admitted the truth.”
“The truth?”
“I liked you. Even back then, when I was too young to understand girls or any of that stuff. I knew you were different. You were the first girl I’d ever wanted to be around, to get to know.”
“You made my life miserable that summer.”
“I know.” Guilt knotted my stomach as the memories washed over me.
We’d spent an entire summer taunting her, playing pranks, stealing her stuff, and making her life a misery. It was like Jason was testing me; making me prove my loyalty. And I’d gone along with it because I hoped if I played his games, he’d eventually back off and leave her alone. But he didn’t. And by the time I realized he wasn’t going to; it was too late. A line had been drawn between us. Hailee one side; Jason, me, and Asher the other. As the years went on, I told myself it was for the best, that admitting how I felt about her would only add fuel to the fire. So I stayed away. I played Jase’s games and somewhere along the way, I even grew to enjoy them. Because provoking her, pushing her to retaliate, was my chance to get a rise out of her, to give me attention.