“Georgia,” I say, piling on the charm. “How are you this evening?”
At least she looks better today. She didn’t go all out with the makeup and hair, but she’s put together, bouncing back. “Stuff it, Wilcox,” she says, arms crossing. “What happened with Sugar?”
I blink in surprise, realizing that glare isn’t even about the guys with the video. “Wanna be specific?” I ease my other arm into my jacket and zip up the front.
Georgia rolls her eyes. “I know she came to see you last night. She was really pissed about that little gift you sent.”
“Yeah, she came to the garage. We discussed it and agreed to put the emblem on the ‘Stang. So what?”
Her eyes narrow at the word ‘agreed.’ “Then why did she come back more upset than she left?”
Oh.
That.
Question of the century, obviously. I’d been right about Sugar all along. Something about her is broken. More specifically, someone did the breaking. It was so fucking hard to keep my temper in check when she admitted that someone hurt her. I’m not an idiot. Whatever happened, it was bad. Bad enough that now she can’t even stand being touched, and how fucked up is that? I wasn’t lying when I said I wanted to kill them. If she ever tells me who did it, I’ll stop at fucking nothing to make them pay. People think I’m all about the violence because I’m a restless, aggressive, fucked-up rich boy. They aren’t wrong, they just aren’t completely right, either.
The thought of someone hurting a person who doesn’t deserve it always gets my hackles up. It makes this tense, red-hot thing in my chest roar to life like a screaming engine. There’s a reason I was so hard on myself after hitting Sugar.
But there’s only one answer to Georgia’s question. I rake my hair back in frustration, pitching my voice so the others don’t hear. “I don’t know what’s up with that girl, G. She’s so damn hot and cold. She hates me, but she’s always around. She’s always telling me to be better, but gets mad when I do something nice for her. She’s fucking exhausting.”
Even Georgia can’t argue with that, shoulders drooping. “Look, I don’t know her that well yet, but one thing is obvious. Sugar acts strong and mean, but she’s hiding some serious baggage.”
I look around at my fellow Devils and Playthings, gesturing. “Who isn’t, right?”
“I think hers might be a little more sensitive than what you’re used to, is all.” She touches my arm, pleading, “Just be careful, okay?”
I cut through the remaining Devils, passing Reyn and Vandy, and head upstairs. At the top I pause, bending down on one knee, fussing with my shoelace. This uncomfortable, shitty idea is brewing in my head. I hear heavy footsteps on the stairs and look down to see Reyn. I stand and push the door open. “You headed out or waiting for Vandy?”
“I’m leaving,” he says, striding forward. “She’s going to ride with Em.”
“Cool.” I look both ways and make sure no one is around to see us leave. Worst case, Dewey sees us and starts snooping around, but anyone spotting Reyn and I exiting the Devil’s tower together will start the rumor mill. Luckily, the coast is clear.
Halfway across the quad, he says, “So what’s got you in such a pissy mood tonight?”
“Nothing.” I clench my fists inside my jacket pockets. I know Reyn and Vandy had to work through a lot of shit to really get together. Baggage, jealousy, a psychotically overprotective brother and parents. This dude had to work for his girl. I respect the hell out of that, and right now I need his advice. “Can I ask you something?”
He cuts his eyes my way. “You can try.”
Squinting into the distance, I try, “There’s this girl…”
“Sugar, right.” He gives a sharp nod. “I think all of us know by now that there’s ‘this girl’, Bass.”
“Well, you know we have that history. Beyond Preston shit,” I elaborate, raising my eyebrows meaningfully. “It’s not a great situation, what happened with her over the summer. I’ve tried to apologize but it doesn’t seem like it helped much.”
He glances at me, chuckling. “Is that what an apology looks like these days? Shoving your tongue down a girl’s throat?”
“Seeing as how she wants my dick, I figured it couldn’t hurt. Minor miscalculation on my part.”
“She wants your dick?” He looks at me like I’m crazy. “She acts like she wants to decapitate you and put your severed head on a spike in front of Hayden as a warning to the others.”
“I know, right?” I can’t help the dopey grin I give him. “Be still my beating heart.”
“You’re a freak,” he says, head shaking. “I’ve seen my share of trainwreck relationships, but whatever you two have going on is toxic. My advice? Run.”
Yeah, I’m not the runner in this relationship. “Come on, Reyn. I’m pretty sure no one thought you and Vandy could get past your history, but you did it anyway.”
“Fair enough.” He pauses. “I’m just giving you a hard time, anyway. I guess I get it. Sugar seems tough. Those are the best ones. Makes everything sweeter when it works out.”
We’re nearing the fork in the path. He’s going to his car, but I’ve got to go back to the dorms before I can escape to the shop for a few hours. “Yeah, Sugar is definitely tough. No doubt about that.” I rub the back of my head. “I figure you, uh, have some experience with winning over a girl who had every right to tell you to fuck off for good. Any real advice you want to offer a fellow Devil?”
Reyn exhales, a puff of fog streaming from his lips. “Fuck, I don’t know, man. Me and V are different. But I think…” He looks down at his keys pensively. “The main thing is that you’ve got to show her that she can trust you. It took V a long time to get there. We took things slow.” He grimaces. “And when I say slow, I mean two-snails-fucking slow. I let all the physical stuff be on her terms. It was up to her when we kissed or fooled around, when we fucked. I just gave her the reins.”
“So you let her grab you by the balls, huh?”
“Sure did.” He shoves his hands in his pockets and doesn’t look embarrassed to admit it.
“You’re telling me I have to back off, basically,” I grumpily conclude, “and wait for-fucking-ever.”
Reynolds leans back against his Jeep, tilting his head toward where Em and Vandy are hopping into Em’s truck. “You know, when me and V were first messing around, we couldn’t be together yet—not really. We had to keep it a secret and a bunch of other bullshit. I think we were both worried we wouldn’t wait on each other. So we made these promises.”
“That you’d wait,” I guess.
He shakes his head. “I think we both realized this thing we were doing would just be too hard, you know? Sydney was just starting to sniff around, and I guess V was kind of torn up about it. Because Syd would have been easy for me.”
I counter, “Syd’s easy for anyone,” and Reyn just laughs.
“Yeah. So Vandy made me promise.” He holds out a palm, sweeping it across the campus in the distance. “Anyone but Sydney.”