“She was with Sebastian!” Wes insisted. “Christ, what am I supposed to be up her ass every minute of the day? Come on, Dad. I’m watching out for her, all right? So back off already.”
“Fine. But I swear Wes if anything happens to her, I’m not going to be fucking happy.”
Quickly, I slipped back into my room, not wanting to be caught eavesdropping. I waited until I heard Lucas head back downstairs, then slipped down the hall as quietly as possible, locking myself in the bathroom.
Tears streamed down my cheeks. No matter how hard I tried to stop them or how many times I wiped them away, they just kept coming.
God, I was such a fucking idiot. Here I thought Wes had actually started to like me. Not only that, but I thought we were on the verge of an actual, romantic relationship with each other. Of course, that was too good to be true. What would a guy like Wes see in me anyway?
He wasn’t any different than Paisley, just another stuck up, rich, asshole.
I couldn’t believe I’d fallen for his stupid act. I’d never been this naive before. But then, I had never met a guy like Wes before either. At least I knew the truth now, though.
The only reason he wanted anything to do with me was because of his father. I really should’ve seen that coming. Why else would he have gone from being a complete and utter asshole to wanting to be my best friend all of a sudden? God, I had even heard Lucas bitching at Wes for not looking out for me the day after the party.
Stupid, stupid, stupid!
More annoyed than anything now, I brushed away the tears and turned the shower on. Standing beneath its hot spray helped take some of the sting out of my revelation, but I was still angry—angry at Wes for lying to me and mad at myself for believing his damn lies.
I wasn’t going to make that mistake again.
I had gotten so wrapped up in the idea of having a family again; I had let myself become blind to reality. Wes wasn’t like Sebastian, though. He wasn’t like Chuck or Lucas either. Wes was an asshole, plain and simple. He had shown me that time and time again since I had gotten here. Just because he had defended me against a potential rapist and started being nice to me didn’t change anything.
He was only looking out for me because it was his job.
Which was fine. He didn’t have to like me. It wasn’t like I was here just to have a relationship with him. But I wasn’t going to sit around and let him lie to me either. I didn’t need him to pretend to be my friend. I may not have had a lot of them around here, but I had enough.
I didn’t need Wes.
Chapter 2
“What’s got you so pissy today?” Jax asked, smirking at me as he leaned against the locker next to mine. A couple of girls giggled and batted their eyes at him as they walked by, but Jaxson didn’t seem to even notice them. But then, why would he? He wasn’t any different than Wes. They were both just rich playboys more concerned with how many girls they could stick their dicks into than anything else.
“Go away, Jax,” I said, fighting down my annoyance. He hadn’t actually done anything wrong, at least not to me, and it wasn’t quite fair to be a dick to him just because he and his friends were man-whores.
Jax let out a sigh and then shook his head. “Well, since I know I didn’t do anything to piss you off, and you’re being snippy with me, I’m guessing it either has something to do with Wes or Todd. So, which one pissed in your Cheerios this morning.”
I groaned and fought the urge to hit my head against the locker. Why couldn’t guys just take a hint and leave me the hell alone? Couldn’t a girl just brood in peace for once?
Turning, I glared at Jax, hoping that would be enough to make him go away. Of course, it wasn’t, though. This was Jax I was talking about, after all. No one had ever accused him of being the brightest bulb in the box. “I guess Wes, judging by that glare. What’d he do this time? Sleep with Paisley again?”
“It wouldn’t surprise me,” I said as I rolled my eyes. Considering his interest in me was obviously fake, I wouldn’t have put it past him to have been sleeping with Paisley still. She was certainly all over him at lunch every day.
“Ouch,” Jax said with a wince. “So, if that’s not why you’re pissed at him, then what did he do? Come on, Bella. Spill the beans. Get it off your chest.”
“He lied to me, okay? He made me think he was interested in me when in reality, the only reason he’s had anything to do with me is because his daddy told him to. And I’d thank you to keep my chest out of your thoughts.” I slammed the locker closed, then turned and walked away from Jax, too annoyed to deal with him anymore.
You would think that would’ve been an obvious clue to fuck off, but apparently, Jaxson missed that memo. He jogged over to catch up with me and then walked alongside me. “Do you really think he would do something like that?” Jax asked with a raised eyebrow. “I mean, I know he can be a meat-head sometimes, but he’s never tried to string along a girl before. He’s always been upfront with his intentions, no matter how sordid they might be.”
“Did you really just say sordid?”
“What, I’m not allowed to have a vocabulary?” Jax smirked, and then winked at me. “Just because I look good doesn’t mean I’m not smart, too. I actually passed my SATs, thank you very much.”
“You can’t fail the SATs.”
“Tell that to Hunter.”
Okay, that I actually laughed at. If there were one person I could imagine finding a way to fail the SATs, it would be Hunter. He was the very definition of “it’s a good thing you’re pretty.” If he did end up getting into college, it was going to be either because of his skill in wrestling or because his daddy wrote a nice fat check.
“What did Wes say, exactly?”
I let out a sigh. Jax was like a little terrier. Once he got his teeth into something, he just kept pulling at it. Knowing him, he was just going to follow me into his next class until I told him what he wanted to know. Figuring it was the easiest way to get rid of him, I told him about the conversation I had overheard between Wes and his father.
Jax listened quietly as I spoke. When I finished, though, he smirked at me, and I so badly wanted to hit him. “And let me guess, you didn’t even give him a chance to explain, did you? I bet you just got all huffy and have been ignoring him ever since?”
I glared at him, only partially because he wasn’t wrong. I hadn’t confronted him about any of it. But why should I? If he was just stringing me along so he could watch over me for Lucas, I doubted he would actually tell me that. And I really didn’t want to stand there and watch him lie to my face again.
I had better things to do. Thank you very much.
“Give him a chance,” Jax urged. “He’s a fuck-head, but he’s not a bad guy, I promise. If he’s said he likes you, then he means it. And trust me— Wes doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to, even if it is his father asking him. He’s not going to hang out with you just because he was told to.”
Part of me wanted to believe that. It certainly sounded like Wes. He had never come across to me as the kind of guy who let anyone boss him around. But Lucas wasn’t just anyone. He was Wes’s father and I doubted Lucas took shit from anyone, especially not one of his sons.