Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
ELIZABETH
T he Montgomery estate is huge. Luxury mansion huge. Most of the kids that go to Highland High are from wealthy families, but good grief, this house is a mini palace. We had to pass through a grand palisade before driving up a half mile private road to get to it.
Cars are lined up on either side as far as the eye can see. Jayson manages to find a place to park his truck, and we get out to walk. A large five-tiered fountain sits in the middle of a wide circular drive and cascades water into a reflection pond that is about the size of a normal backyard swimming pool. If this is what the driveway looks like, I’m afraid to see the inside.
“This is crazy,” Jayson shouts, but I can barely hear him over the thumping music blasting out from inside the house.
I avoid getting trampled by a group of drunk girls and spot Ryder, Julien, and Maria waiting for us in front of the steps.
“This is insane.”
I slip my arm through Maria’s. “What?”
“I said, this is insane!” she repeats louder.
“Let’s find the beer,” Jayson tells the guys.
I bite my tongue. Not worth the argument.
“Where’s Elijah?” I ask Julien.
He checks his phone. “He’s here. Will find him once we get inside.”
“Hey, Elizabeth.”
I look up at Ryder. “Hey!”
Maria jerks on my arm. “Come on.”
We walk up the stone steps and enter the house through the open double doors. The stench of cheap beer and what I think is pot hangs thick and acrid in the air. I assume Fallon’s parents are out of town, because who in their right mind would let their kid throw a party like this?
To be insanely rich and not give a damn—would be nice to know how that felt.
Once we walk into the expansive foyer, we collide with guys and scantily clothed girls, some dancing and others drinking from plastic red cups. I’m pretty sure the two people on the stairs are having sex, and another girl is giving a blow job to some guy in the alcove next to us. What the hell have we walked into?
I let go of Maria and cling to Jayson’s hand. I’m not a prude, but scenes like this make me very uncomfortable. I will never understand why people think drunken depravity equals fun. Okay, maybe I am a prude.
“This party is off the charts!”
I have an utterly different opinion from Maria’s.
She glues herself to Ryder’s side. “Let’s go get something to drink.”
He sidesteps out of the way when two guys run past. Naked. Can’t unsee that.
“I’m good here.”
She tugs on his shirt sleeve. “This is a party. Let’s go have some fun.”
“I’m good,” he snaps at her.
She glances from him to me, a frown growing.
“I’ll go with you,” Jayson offers and lets go of my hand. “You guys want anything?”
“No,” Ryder and I say at the same time.
“Hey, there you are!” Elijah shoves some drunk people out of his way to get to us.
“E, where’s the beer?” Jayson asks.
“There’s a keg set up next to the bar and some coolers with other stuff beside it. Straight ahead and make a right into the kitchen.”
Elijah points the way, and Jayson and Maria disappear into the sea of writhing bodies.
Thumbing over his shoulder, Elijah raises his voice so we can hear him over the music.
“Follow me. We’ll head out back to the patio. It’s quieter and less crowded.”
We follow him through the throng of people. One guy we pass reaches out and grabs my ass.
“Hey!” I smack his hand off me.
“Fuck off,” Ryder tells him and shoves the guy away from me.
I try to find where Jayson and Maria are but don’t see them anywhere.
Moving me in front of him, Ryder places his hands on my hips and walks us through the dining room and out the door to the back patio.
“You okay, Liz?”
Julien sits down on the plush patio sofa and pulls me down next to him.
“Just a drunk guy getting grabby. I’m fine.”
There are groups scattered around the patio and in the backyard, but Elijah was right—it’s much quieter out here.
Elijah sits down across from us. “I should have texted you or Julien after I got here to let you know how crazy it was. Fallon throws some big parties, but this is insane.”
“We’re here. It’s all good. I’ll just stick to staying outside. I promise I won’t ruin anyone’s good time.”
Julien squeezes the back of my neck, and I go limp like a wet noodle.
“I’d rather be out here with you guys than in there.”
“Ditto what he said,” Ryder agrees.
Using Julien as a back support, I look up at the stars and listen to the frogs sing their evening musicals. The guys talk about the upcoming race at the Fields, but I block them out as I search out different constellations in the night sky. I find Cassiopeia and the big and little dippers.
Conversation trails off when Julien checks his watch. “It’s been almost twenty minutes. I wonder what’s taking them so long.”
“I can go in there and find?—”
“Look who came to the party.”
Julien and Elijah’s postures stiffen when they hear Marshall’s voice. And he’s not alone. Three other guys are with him.
“Not tonight, Marshall,” Elijah says.
Marshall is the guy who messed up Julien’s leg. He’s also conceited and a major jackass.
Marshall’s leering gaze lands on me. “Damn girl. You fucking both brothers now? Or do you swap one for the other since they look the same?”
Indignation has me standing up and replying, “Want to repeat that?”
I may be a girl, and he may be twice my size, but no one talks to me that way.
Julien gently pushes me toward Ryder. He tucks me behind him and reaches back, finding my hand and holding it to keep me in place.
Marshall decides to pick on Julien. “How’s the leg feeling?”
Elijah checks Julien with an outstretched arm.
“It feels like it wants to kick your sorry ass,” Julien warns him.
Marshall’s grin widens when he sees me holding Ryder’s hand.
“Guess the rumors really are true. What’s it like fucking the three of them?” His gaze returns to Julien. “Does one take each hole?”
“Watch your fucking mouth!” Ryder roars, and it’s my turn to hold him back.
“Or what, motherfucker?”
“Or I’ll make you,” Ryder threatens.
“He’s not worth it,” I tell him.
I’ve seen him fight Jayson. Not something I want to experience again, even if Marshall deserves it.
“I think I hit a nerve. You.” He points at Elijah. “We have unfinished business. I owe you a beat down.”
I don’t like how the guys with Marshall fan out, or the way Marshall smiles like he’s claiming victory over a fight that hasn’t happened yet.
Ryder backs me up. “Go inside.”
“No.”
“Shit’s about to get serious. Get inside now.”
My heart feels like it’s about to tear open my chest and hurl itself across the backyard. I’m scared out of my mind. Where the hell is Jayson?
I steel my courage and stand my ground. “I’m not leaving any of you out here.”
If having three guys as your best friends has taught me one thing, it’s how to protect myself. They wanted to make sure I knew what to do to future assholes who thought they could put their hands on me without my permission, or from guys who didn’t listen to the word no. I’ve only kneed one guy in the balls before, but I’ll happily do it again to this asshole.
“You may want to listen to her. I’ll gladly take your whore and give her the ride of her life once we finish with you three pussies.”
I jump when a large blur flies past and slams into Marshall, taking him to the ground. They tumble off the patio and onto the grass in a heap of punches and grunts.
Someone in the yard shouts “Fight!” and all hell breaks loose.
Ryder slips from my grasp and runs into the vicious melee when Marshall’s friends go after Elijah. It’s a free-for-all of violence and chaos as fists make contact with flesh.
Maria appears out of nowhere. “What’s going on?”
“Where’s Jayson?”
I get my answer when I hear his rage-filled bellow. “Piece. Of. Shit!”
Jayson sits on Marshall’s chest, pounding his face, blow after blow after blow, unrelenting in his attack.
My mind has trouble processing everything. It’s total carnage, and I don’t know what to do or how to help. Ryder steps away from the guy he just took down with one punch and goes to help Julien. Jayson continues to pound Marshall, even though he’s no longer moving. He’s clearly unconscious, but Jayson doesn’t stop wailing on him.
The partiers from inside spill out onto the patio, screaming encouraging words for the fight to continue.
“Someone get Fallon!” I shout.
As soon as I say it, Fallon walks outside, Jacinda and Samantha with him.
“Goddamn, what a mess,” Fallon says, pushing through the crowd of onlookers. “Get that fucker off my lawn and take him to one of the guest rooms.”
Five guys immediately do as he says, and it takes three of them to pull Jayson off Marshall.
When Marshall moans and rolls over, I breathe a sigh of relief. Not for him, but for Jayson. He could face serious repercussions if Marshall decides to press charges.
“You guys just took out three of our defensive linemen.” Fallon chuckles in amusement and slings an arm around Ryder’s shoulders. “I think this deserves a drink, don’t you?”
Ryder searches the crowd until he finds me, but my sights are locked on Fallon. There is nothing funny about what just happened.
His smile falls when he sees me looking.
“Let’s get you cleaned up,” Fallon says, dragging Jayson up the patio steps.
Before I can get to him, Jacinda is there.
“He’s with me,” she says and slips her arms around Jayson. They disappear together through the french doors.
Are you kidding me? He gets into a fight and goes inside with Jacinda hanging all over him, leaving me out here all alone. What the actual hell?
“Jayson!”
Maria stops me, and I become livid.
“Leave him alone and let him cool down.”
Screw that.
“Liz, are you and Maria all right?” Julien asks.
He wipes blood off his cut knuckles and curses.I reach for his hand and inspect the damage.
“Just a scratch,” he says.
“Just a scratch, my ass. You need to clean this and put some antibiotic ointment on the cuts.”
Lifting my chin, he forces me to look up at him.
“I’m good, Liz. Don’t worry about me. Where did Jay go?”
My angry eyes slice over to the patio door, hoping to see Jayson, hoping he came back out to get me.
“He went inside with Jacinda .”
Ryder rests his hand on my lower back. “Let’s go find him, yeah?”
“Jesus, Ryder. She doesn’t need you to babysit her all the damn time,” Maria snips.
“Not fucking now, Maria.”
I don’t want to be the cause of another fight tonight. I’m pissed, and I’m tired, and I just want to go home.
I walk into the house, a woman on a mission, and scour the crowd, but the mansion is massive, and I have no clue where I’m going.
With a gentle nudge on my back, Ryder steers me through a labyrinth of rooms.
“You know he wouldn’t intentionally leave you and walk off with some other girl, especially Jacinda. We’ll find him, don’t worry.”
His words of reassurance don’t lessen the queasy, uneasy feeling I have in my stomach.
It’s impossible to take more than five steps at a time because we keep getting stopped by people wanting to congratulate him on the fight. He brushes off their platitudes and keeps walking, carving a path through the crowd.
My worry elevates when we unsuccessfully search the first floor of the house for over half an hour and don’t see Jayson anywhere. Eventually, we spot Fallon in the kitchen, smoking a joint with a few seniors from our school.
“Where’s Jay?” Ryder asks him.
Fallon takes a drag from his blunt and dangles it from his bottom lip.
“Hey, kitten.”
I glare at him.
“Fallon, we need to find Jay. Have you seen him?” Ryder asks again.
“No.”
He walks off. What an asshole.
“Holy shit! Look at this.” Maria holds up her phone.
Someone posted a video of the fight. Dammit . The boys could get into real trouble—legal trouble, especially Jayson.
We head upstairs, opening each door we come across.
“Jayson? Shit, sorry.” I quickly shut the bedroom door.
Gross. I’ll need to bleach my eyes after seeing that.
Maria replays the video a few times. “It’s too dark to make out who anyone is. You can’t see faces, only their backs.”
“That might not be the only video, Mar. A lot of people had their phones out. This is so messed up.”
Ryder checks the room to the left. I already feel lost with all the rooms and hallways that look the same.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” he says and heads to the end of the hall.
He opens the door. Maria and I slam into his back.
“Maria, take Elizabeth to the car and wait for me.”
I try to wriggle past him. “What’s going on? Move, Ryder. Is Jayson in there?”
Ryder tries to block me, but I duck under his arm.
Everything grinds to a standstill.
My heart, my lungs, my brain, all sounds around me.
I blink.
One by one, my senses click back on. My breathing returns, my mind runs rampant, and my heart breaks.
Sitting on the end of the bed is Jayson. He’s hunched over, elbows resting atop his knees, face blank, eyes staring straight ahead like he’s in a trance. And he’s shirtless. What happened to his shirt? But that’s not what fills me with a rage unlike any I have ever felt. My hands curl into tight fists, and my eyes narrow on who is wrapped around Jayson from behind, tonguing his neck and writhing all over him half naked.
Jacinda Blanchard .
At least she left some of her clothes on, if I count the red push-up bra and panties.
Maria sucks in a gasp. “ Ho-ly shit! ”
“If you don’t get your skanky-ass hands off my boyfriend right now , I’m going to rip every fucking piece of hair off your whore head, you conniving bitch!”
The sound of my voice seems to break Jayson from whatever suspended stupor he’s in. He looks up at me, and for a second, a smile spreads across his face, like he’s happy to see me. His loopy smile disappears when he notices Ryder and Maria. It gets better, almost comical, when Jayson looks down at his chest and the feminine hands running across it. He looks back at me and leaps off the bed, trips, then stumbles into a chest of drawers.
I can’t watch anymore. The hurt and betrayal flaying me alive almost bring me to my knees.
“Ryder, please take me home.”
I’ve seen all I can handle tonight.
I won’t allow myself to cry, not in front of Jacinda. She doesn’t get to see me break.
Maria threads her arm through mine, and I allow her to walk me downstairs.
Jayson shouts my name, but I’m done. This party has been one giant nightmare.
I vaguely remember texting Julien as soon as I step outside. I don’t remember much after he arrives and walks me to Ryder’s car.
I stare straight ahead the entire drive home, my heart completely shattered by the boy who said that he loved me.