Bad boys, p.20
Bad Boys, page 20
“Your brother is confessing the truth to Richard. Or so we hope.”
I need to get over there. “The truth about what? Mandy? I thought he knew?” I slide off the bed, seeking out clothes.
Tuck sits, watching me as I move around the room. “Not all of it.” He looks away when I pull a clean bra and panties from the drawer.
“Colt hooked up with Mandy, and she broke it off with Richard, right? What else is there?”
“It’s not that straight-forward.”
I hook my bra around my waist and wrestle it on beneath my pyjama top. Tuck swallows hard.
“I’d rather you heard it from your brother, okay?”
“You’re starting to worry me.”
He completely twists away. “I can tell. You’re changing without realising what you’re doing.”
I glance down and realise I have my panties halfway up my legs, sans pyjama shorts. I just gave Tuck the full deal without a second thought. “Oh, my God.”
“Seriously, Lace. Get dressed before I make us late.”
The guttural tone to his plea does unbidden things low in my belly. “Give me a second.”
I dash to the closet and jerk a pair of jeans free. Mere seconds later, I have them on, buttoned, a loose jersey over my satin pyjama tank, and boots in hand.
“Ready.”
Tuck turns to face me and draws a deep breath.
“What?” I adjust the jersey, which keeps slipping off one shoulder.
“I thought seeing you dressed would be better.”
“But?” I tease.
He bites his bottom lip—hard. “It’s worse. Fuck I’ve missed you.”
One more word and I’ll have to take him up on his offer to be late. “Let’s go.”
I lead him down the hallway, treading lightly in my bare feet. He takes tentative steps also to stop his boots from making too much noise. Mum’s end of the house remains mostly quiet, just the faint hum of a movie playing in the master suite all that is heard.
After what feels like an hour, we make it out the door and across the lawn. I feel as though we’re far enough away, so stop to slide my boots on, using Tuck to balance me.
“What do you think she’ll do if she finds you’re gone again?”
“I honestly don’t think there is much else she could do, which is why I’m going. Besides, it sounds as though Colt is about to get his arse kicked—I think the occasion calls for disobedience.”
“Why weren’t you like this when you first showed up at Arcadia, huh?” Tuck sets both hands on my waist to balance me while I wrestle the second boot on.
“Like what?”
“Fiery. Stubborn. Cute as hell.”
“Maybe because then I would have had all the boys after me, not just you.” I tease.
“Damn straight.” He literally sweeps me off my feet, lifting me against himself.
I wrap my legs around Tuck’s hips, pressing my chest tight into his while I kiss him. I could do this all night and still be satisfied. Who am I kidding? I’m desperate for him to repeat what he did in the woods.
“We deal with your brother,” Tuck rumbles, “and then you and I are having alone time before I bring you back here.”
“Deal.”
TUCK
This has got to work.
I went past the point of caring what happens to Colt when he flat out looked us in the eye and lied about what he did to Mandy.
“Tuck.” Lacey tugs on my hand as we hustle toward the front of Christian’s house. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”
“It’s the best I’ve got.” And when it’s the only plan I have to get Lacey back to Arcadia, then I’d be a fucking idiot if I didn’t try.
Preppy jerks in tailored knit sweaters and superficial girls with more spare parts glued to their face than a rundown farm hack give us a filthy look when I drag Lacey inside behind me. I got a message from Beau to say they were still out the back, but things had gone south since Ed found Richard and took him outside to hear what Colt had to say. Considering there can’t be more than a handful of people inside this hotel-sized house, and a roar drifts in from the back yard, I think he might have played down the severity somewhat.
“What the hell is going on?” Lacey lets go of my hand, overtaking as we cross the yard.
A group of expensively dressed girls in flowing gowns, mixed with boys who look as though they raided their dad’s closet, obstruct our view. I elbow my way in, making space for Lacey to huddle in front of me. Using my body as a shield, I bulldoze her through to the front lines.
Aw, shit. Richard sits on top of Colt, absolutely pummelling the guy’s face. One look at Johnson’s heaving chest and bloodied knuckles, and I know what he’s just finished too.
“What are you doing?” Lacey shrieks, rushing in to intervene.
Christian watches with one elbow cupped in his other hand, fingers tapping his chin. He catches my eye and gives a slight shrug as though there’s nothing else he could do.
“Get off him.” Lacey sinks her hands into Richard’s shoulders, tearing at the back of his polo shirt to get him to move.
“Enough,” I shout. “Quit it, bro.”
Rich boy shrugs Lacey off, leaving her bloodied and panting brother flat on the ground. The guy will look a right mess come the morning.
“What the fuck did I miss?”
“Which part do you want?” Christian teases. “The bit where Colt incriminated himself? Or the bit where he dug the hole deeper?”
“Jesus Christ,” I mutter, leaning down to help Colt up. “You’re fucking animals.”
We were supposed to come here to settle things and call a truce, not start a goddamn riot.
“He had it coming,” Johnson protests, a split lip already beginning to swell. “Fucker comes out to our turf and hurts one of our own? What else are we supposed to do?”
“Handle it properly,” I holler. “Fuck knows I want to smash his smug face in too, but do you really think this is going to solve anything?”
“Makes me feel better,” Richard mutters.
I notice Amber hovering at the edge of the crowd, an amused grin twisting her thin lips. Drawing my gaze from her toward Johnson, the suspicion sets in. These arseholes had no intention of coming in here to finish things the right way; they planned to inflict pain on Colt all along.
What the jerk did was wrong—so wrong—but violence never fixed anything.
I learned that a long time ago.
“I think it’s time for you to take your rapist brother and leave, Lacey.” A thin, blonde girl steps forward from the crowd. The soft waves in her hair and lightly applied makeup give her an easy-going appearance, but one look in her cold and calculating eyes and I have this girl figured out.
“Lay off, Libby.” Knew it. The girl from the pergola earlier draws everyone’s attention her way.
“Excuse me?” The elegant blonde shifts her focus toward the meeker brunette.
“You heard me.” The girl crosses through the fray to stand beside Lacey. “Maybe nobody else here has the gall to stand up to you, but I’m drawing inspiration from Lace and speaking on their behalf. We’re sick of your shit, Libby. Sick of you thinking it’s your job to tell us all what to do.”
The slight girl lifts a pale eyebrow. “Is that so?” She appears to feed off the energy of the captive crowd. “Consider yourself unwelcome at my table, Greer.”
“Wouldn’t want to eat there anyway.” The brave girl lifts her chin.
Lacey looks at her with sheer gratitude and loops her arm through Greer’s. A distinct line has been drawn out here on this perfectly kept lawn, and the longer this confrontation goes on, the clearer it becomes who stands on what side—literally.
Colt staggers to stand beside his beautiful sister, Lacey at the head of the breakaway group. I take my place behind her and loop my arms over her shoulders. Whatever she decides, I’ll back her—one hundred per cent.
“You’re delusional,” Christian states, striding toward us. “You think you can just walk our halls, breathe our air,” he leers. “Do you think that there won’t be consequences for this?”
“For what?” Lacey asks. “Making everyone admit the truth?” She shakes against me, the adrenaline coursing through her.
“You know what he did, don’t you?” Christian gestures to Colt. “I mean, I’m guessing that you don’t. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have him stand there beside you.” He turns to address the crowd, searching for a reaction. “He forced himself on a poor, helpless drunk girl. Couldn’t get his end away with any rational thinking girl, so took it from one who was in no position to protest.”
I don’t need to look at Colt to know his reaction; I hear him swallow over the murmurs of the crowd.
“This is where we’re different, Christian,” Lacey responds, her voice barely able to stay level and calm. “Whatever Colt has done, we’ll see to it he makes amends, pays his dues. But when all is said and done, he’s my brother. I love him, I forgive him, and I won’t abandon him when he needs my help the most.”
“You’re fucked up,” Christian jibes, turning away.
Amber seems content to pick up where he left off. “You’d rather support a rapist, over the girl he assaulted?”
“I didn’t say that,” Lacey points out. “I said I’d support him while he serves his time, rehabilitates.”
“And what about Mandy, huh?”
“What about her? She’s not here to speak for herself, so I’d rather discuss it with her—in private.”
Interestingly, Richard is the one to set a hand on Amber’s shoulder. “Leave it. I spoke with Mandy already.”
His comment, meant to soothe, only angers her further. “She spoke to you, and not me?” Amber tosses her hands in the air with a dramatic huff. “What the fuck is happening to the world?”
“Come on,” Lacey murmurs to me. “Let’s go. Colt?”
He glances to his sister, and then to the group of rich shits. Surely not. “I left my jacket inside. I’ll meet you out front.”
“I’ll come with you.”
“No.” He waves Lacey off. “Go with Tuck. I’ll see you in a minute.” He strides away, cutting an easy path through the crowd considering they part as though he has leprosy.
Libby marches off with a huff, a tall redhead in hot pursuit. I cast my eye across the clearing toward Christian and Richard, unsure if they’re finished or if we need to watch Colt’s back anyway.
Christian calmly crosses to an icebox on the outskirts of the thinning crowd and pulls two expensive European beers free. He hands one to Richard, and the other to Johnson. “Ice your hands while you have a well-deserved beverage, boys.”
Richard takes a seat on the steps of the pergola, Johnson unsure where to stand.
It pisses me off that he hovers between his shit-stirring sister and us. I don’t care what he says; that girl is way more than a convenient fuck-buddy for him. She’s got a hold on the guy that no one can match—not even his old man.
“You want to come with us?” I ask Greer.
She glances to me, and then Lacey. “If that’s okay? I’d love a ride home.”
“We can do that.”
“Hang on a minute.” Johnson finally crosses the line. “Whose truck is it?”
“Yours, douche. I know.”
“She wants to come with us; she has to ask me.”
Greer settles a less than impressed glare on the jerk. Him and I? We’re having words later, and I can’t guarantee they won’t finish up like the ones he had with Colt.
“I’ll get an Uber then.”
“So you should, bitch,” Amber snaps. “And if you lovebirds think we’re giving the rapist a ride, you can check yourselves.”
“I’m with her on that,” Johnson agrees with a jerk of his head toward Amber. “He isn’t getting in my truck.”
“Fine,” I declare, stepping away from Lacey. “Fuck you all. Lace and I will find another way.”
“Arcadia is a long way to get an Uber, man.”
Beau steps out of the shadows. I didn’t even see the quiet bugger hidden away over there. “Take your sister, girlfriend, whatever the fuck she is, home, Johnson. I’m sure between the five of us we can figure it out.”
“Six,” Ed adds, emerging from the thinning crowd.
“Really?” Johnson frowns at me. “This is how it’s going to be, Tuck?”
“For now. Yeah.” I step closer, inches separating us. “Nobody is in the right frame of mind to make decisions tonight. We’ll talk tomorrow when we have clear heads.”
“We’ve been friends for twelve years, mate.” He glances around me at Lacey. “You remember that.”
I take his free hand and clasp it in mine between our chests. “I haven’t forgotten. But you’ve got yours to take care of, and I have mine. We good?”
“Yeah.” He bumps a shoulder into me before letting go. “We’re good.”
“Talk in the morning then.”
He nods, taking a step back. I turn and gesture for our ragtag bunch to get moving. “Thanks for the hospitality, Christian.”
The princely looking fucker lifts his chin in amicable acknowledgement. At least we seem to have a truce with one of them.
“You ready to go, baby?” I tuck Lacey to my side; arm slung around her shoulders.
“I just want today to be over,” she murmurs. “Were they telling the truth about Colt?”
“That’s for him to tell you.”
She heaves a sigh and then reaches for her friend. “Come on, Greer.” The girls link hands. “We’ve got a lot to catch up on.”
LACEY
“We only need to get an Uber to my place,” Greer explains while we all huddle on the side of the road waiting for Colt. “I’ll loan you my car so you guys can get home.”
“I don’t want to put you out,” Tuck argues. “We can call up a favour.”
“Yeah.” Beau gives her a soft smile. “I’ll call my brother and get his lazy arse out of bed.”
“You have a brother?” I ask. “Does he go to Arcadia High?”
He shakes his head, dark eyes unsettling. “He’s older.”
No wonder I had no idea. For some screwed up reason I just assumed Beau was an only child. “Hey. Where’s Maggie tonight?”
“It was supposed to be a boys mission, no girls allowed,” Ed grumbles. “But Johnson brought Amber along anyway.”
“You think she wanted to come along to wind him up?”
“Maybe.” Tuck stares off at the darkened house across the street. “I’ll get to the bottom of that tomorrow.”
“How long have we been waiting?” I pat Tuck’s pockets, looking for his phone to check the time.
Greer beats me to it with hers. “I don’t know exactly when we got out here, but I’m sure he’s been at least ten minutes after that.”
“How long does it take to get your coat?” I check the property for signs of my brother. Worry settles a thick blanket over the base of my gut. “I’m going in to get him.”
“Not alone, you aren’t.” Tuck reaches out and stops me with a hand to my upper arm.
“I’ll go with her,” Greer offers. “I’m probably the least antagonising for the jerks in there.”
“Fine,” Tuck cedes. “But if you take too long as well, I’ll be next.”
“We’ll be in and out in five,” I promise. “He’s probably having trouble finding his coat under the mountain of jackets they’ll have stashed out of sight.” Pressing up on my toes, I place a quick kiss to his lips.
Tingles resonate throughout my body; the promise of what we’ve yet to finish bringing me to life.
The boys watch us leave, identical with their feet slung wide, arms folded high on their chests. Greer peers over our shoulder at the trio, her arm linked through mine again. It feels as though if she lets me go, she fears I won’t come back again. Now and then, I feel the same way.
“Who’s the dark and dangerous friend?”
“Beau?”
She groans, rolling her eyes back. “He is gorgeous, Lacey. How dare you hide him away.”
I smile, yet a fierce urge to protect Maggie’s interests has me blowing her off. “I wouldn’t waste my time on him.”
“Why not?”
“I think he’s involved with someone.”
“But you’re not sure?” she asks, wide-eyed.
“Not one hundred per cent. But I’m pretty certain.”
She shrugs as we approach the front door. “I’ll just ask him then.”
“No!”
I don’t get to say any more; she has the door pushed open, all eyes on us.
Ignoring the blatant judgement from people who are in no place to do so, Greer drags us left. “They’ve put everyone’s things in a room down here.”
A young Asian girl strides past, doing her best to look disinterested. Greer snags her by the arm, letting me go.
“Excuse me, but have you seen Colt?”
The girl flicks her sleek hair out of her face and then shakes her head. “Not since he went that way, like, half an hour ago, or something.”
“Ugh.” Greer releases her with a flick. “Useless.”
I stifle a giggle and follow her down to one of the house’s many guest rooms. The door is shut, probably to deter prying eyes who might want to upgrade their bag or wardrobe. Greer grabs the fancy brass handle and nudges the door open at the same time as depressing the lever.
It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dim light, but once they do, there is no mistaking what I find.
“Are you fucking kidding?” Greer cries, taking me utterly by surprise.
Colt drops his partner to the ground, jerking his pants back on his hips.
I swing my gaze to the dishevelled blonde who hastily rights her dress. “This bitch is the reason why you didn’t want to leave, isn’t she?”
“It’s more complicated than that,” Colt protests.
“It seems pretty clear cut to me,” Greer sasses.
“You’re fucking Libby,” I say, the words as disgusting out loud as they are on my tongue. “I’m assuming Arthur has no idea.”
“And if you want to keep your pretty looks you won’t say a thing,” Libby snaps.
