Betrayal - Chapter 12
Monday
I didn’t know what to do. I was completely frozen. Matt was going to freaking kill me.
“What do you say?” James asked, his hand still on the side of my face.
I finally found my voice. “No.”
James just smiled. “No you don’t like when I touch you like this? Noted.” He turned his hand so that his knuckles caressed the side of my jaw instead. It was both soothing and inappropriate at the same time.
“No, not… No. I’m not going to marry you because it’ll make your mom happy. That’s ridiculous.”
“Do it for me then,” James said, like what he was proposing wasn’t insane. Which it was. Because he was proposing a proposal and apparently every boy at Empire High had lost their minds.
“You don’t even like me!” I pushed his hand away.
“That’s not true. I told you the other night that I did. And it’s the truth that I can’t get you out of my head. I’ve been dreaming about kissing you again.”
“Well, stop dreaming that. And try harder to get me out of your head.”
“No thanks,” he said. “Come on, Rob, help me out here. Don’t you think we’d make a great couple?”
“Actually, yeah I do,” Rob said. “Look how happy he is, Sanders. He doesn’t usually look like that.”
I stared at James. He did look happy. The real kind. Not the fake smile that he gave to strangers. Why was he looking at me like that?
I couldn’t be responsible for his happiness. I couldn’t even handle the weight of my pain. I couldn’t possibly bear his too. I shook my head at the same time James’ eyes landed on my left hand.
“I guess I’m too late,” he said and finally got off one knee. His eyes stayed trained on my left hand.
I clenched my hand in a fist. Of course he’d seen the ring. It was impossible not to see.
“What the hell is that thing?” Rob asked and grabbed my hand.
“It’s a…promise ring,” I said.
“It looks like a freaking engagement ring to me.” He whistled.
I pulled my hand back. “I really need to get going.” I couldn’t be here with them talking about stuff like this. I was in love with Matt. Period. And if that meant I couldn’t be friends with them, then that was how it had to be. Even though I hated when James’ smile turned to his usual frown.
“I thought you were too much of a diva to walk?” Rob said.
“Shut up, man,” James said and lifted one of my slippers off my feet. “She’s hurt. Not lazy.” He tossed the slipper at his brother.
Rob’s eyebrows pulled together. “Shit. I’m sorry, Sanders.” He reached out and ran his thumb along the bandages on my feet.
Why did they both keep touching me? “It’s fine,” I snatched my slipper back.
I didn’t want either of them staring at me like I was some kind of dainty damsel in distress.
I didn’t need saving. The bandages made it look worse than it was.
“James can fill you in on what did and didn’t happen at homecoming.
And you don’t need me to plan a prank against Isabella. I’m just gonna head back.”
“Hey,” Rob said and put his hand on my shoulder before I could move. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were hurt.” He turned his attention to James. “A heads up would have been nice.”
“It wasn’t my story to tell,” James said. His eyes dropped to the ring on my finger again.
I swallowed hard. I didn’t want him looking at me like that. Or being so nice. I needed to get out of here.
“Come on, Sanders,” Rob said. “Stay. It’s gonna be fun. And we definitely need the story about how you got that ring.”
I looked down at the beautiful diamond on my finger. It didn’t feel right to talk to them about this. I’d already messed up just by leaving Matt’s house. “I can’t be here. I promised Matt. Please just let me go.”
“We won’t tell anyone you were here,” James said.
“Come on, I promise I won’t propose again.
” He lifted up a notebook that had been on the floor.
“Isabella deserves to pay for what she did to you. That’s what we meant to talk about.
So let’s just stick with that. Any ideas on how you want to get her back? ”
I stared at James for a moment. He’d just lost two of his best friends.
He was fighting with Rachel. I certainly wasn’t giving him the answers he wanted.
And I shouldn’t have cared, because Matt didn’t want me to.
But I did. I cared about James. The more we hung out, the more his cracks were starting to show.
And just because Matt had stopped worrying about him, it didn’t mean I could shut it off so easily.
If Matt wasn’t looking out for him, who would?
And I’d agreed to come with Rob so that I could try to fix the rift between the Caldwells and the Hunters.
If I left right now, I would have just made everything worse. “Just a silly prank?” I asked.
James smiled again. “Yeah. Something to embarrass her in front of everyone.”
I leaned back. “As long as it’s not revenge.” Matt was right. I wasn’t and never would be more Pruitt than Sanders. And that meant no revenge. Even if I did want Isabella to die.
“It’s not technically revenge,” Rob said. “Because we’d already started plotting before Wizzy tried to kill you. Pre-emptive revenge maybe…”
“Just a prank,” James said. “Something epic.”
Something epic. Hmm. “You know what would make it more epic? Getting the whole gang back together,” I said. “The Untouchables back at it again.”
James shook his head. “The Untouchables? I always hated that nickname.” He doodled something in his notebook. “Who came up with that? Clearly whoever first said it was dead wrong.”
Oh, James. He was trying to hide his broken heart. But random proposals weren’t going to fix things with Rachel or bring the Untouchables back together.
“Well, revenge is a dish best served cold,” Rob said, ignoring James’ comment. “Isn’t that a saying? Maybe we could do something with pudding.”
I laughed. “And she couldn’t kill any frogs that way.”
James jotted down the idea.
“You know who probably makes a good pudding?” I asked. “Mrs. Caldwell. I bet if we looped Matt and Mason in on this…”
“Sanders,” Rob groaned. “We said we wouldn’t talk about your engagement to the enemy. So stop mentioning the enemy’s name in our treehouse. This is a sacred place.”
“But…”
“No buts. When you hang out with us, you’re one of us.
When you hang out with them, you’re one of them.
” He made a gagging noise. “No in the middle. Right now you’re a Hunter.
Be a gross Caldwell later. Unless you want to sleep in my bed tonight instead.
” He winked at me. “I’ll buy you a nicer ring. ”
James cleared his throat. “I kind of like the pudding idea. Could you imagine how much Isabella would freak if she got that in her hair?”
I tried to focus on James instead of Rob. I couldn’t handle any more teasing today. And seeing James smile again made being here feel like less of a mistake. He needed this.
“Or we could shave her head,” Rob suggested.
I laughed.
They went back and forth, making me laugh, harder and harder as I looked around the small treehouse.
There were toys and comic books on the floor.
It looked so much more lived in than James’ room had.
Pictures lined the wall. Photos of James as a happy little boy.
He had the same facial features, in an adorable little boy kind of way.
"You used to be so cute,” I said and leaned over to look at one.
“Used to be?” James asked. “You’re just not looking hard enough now.”
I laughed at him and then looked back at the pictures. “Is this all four of the Untouchables as kids?”
“Again with that terrible nickname,” James said with a laugh. He leaned over and unpinned the picture from the wall. "But yeah. That was taken one summer when we were little."
“We look ridiculous,” Rob said.
I smiled down at the picture. James and Mason both had braces and looked so scrawny, sitting on the edge of a pool.
It looked like the pool in Matt’s backyard.
Rob and Matt looked even scrawnier. Rob was pushing Matt into the pool in the picture and the expression on Matt’s face was priceless.
The four of them were having so much fun.
How could they just let this friendship fade away?
“You can keep it, if you want,” James said. “I don’t really want it anymore.”
I pressed my lips together. Maybe he didn’t want it right now. But he would again one day. I’d make sure of it. “Thanks.”
“No problem. And I’m still cute.”
I laughed. “Sure.”
He ran his fingers through his hair. “You’ll see, Brooklyn. One day you’ll look back at all of this and wish you would have said yes to me.”
I smiled. “You never know.” But I did. I looked down at the picture. I wanted Matt. And I wanted what was in this picture too. Yes, their friendship had fallen apart. But that just meant it could be put together. I knew that. My heart was being put back together too.
And as I looked down at the picture, it made me want something else too.
I could so easily picture Matt and my kids hanging out by the pool.
With smiles that big. I’d never thought about kids before.
Hell, I was still a kid. But it was so easy to picture it with Matt.
Maybe because he seemed to have pushed down the gas pedal on our relationship.
And one day, I wanted our kids to be friends with James’ kids. And Rob’s.
I looked up at James. “I just think that maybe you’re all sorry. And that there’s no reason to throw away a lifetime of friendship over a misunderstanding.”
“Well…if you accept my proposal, I guess I could forgive him.”
I rolled my eyes.
He groaned. “Don’t do that. I like it too much.”
I laughed. “When I roll my eyes?”
“So sexy.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
He laughed. “Yeah, but you like it.”
I shook my head. “Can we please focus?”
“Sure thing.” He tossed me his notebook.
I looked down at what James had written.
Drop her off in the middle of nowhere. Take her clothes.
Point a gun at her head. Threaten to kill her best friend.
“Best friend” was scratched out with “minion.” Make her disappear?
A chill ran down my spine. Matt had wanted me to be the bigger person.
He didn’t want me to stoop to Isabella’s level.
He’d said I was better than her. But God, I desperately wanted to make her disappear.
And I was pretty sure the Hunters had the resources to make it happen.
I should have corrected James. Convinced him that I just wanted it to be a silly prank like I’d insisted before. But I just kept staring at the question mark after the word disappear . Like he was asking me for my permission. Like he was offering to do it for me.
And I wasn’t sure why, but I wrote down yes and then handed it back to him.
His eyes locked with mine. For a second I’d forgotten that his life was just as tangled up in Isabella’s as mine.
Maybe his mom just wanted him to marry a Pruitt because she liked Isabella.
Or maybe it was more sinister like Isabella had said – that the Hunters owed my dad a debt.
And they’d paid it with James’ future. Either way, Isabella was going to ruin both our lives. Unless we ruined hers first.
James raised his left eyebrow at me.
And I nodded.
“New plan,” James said. “I think we all know what we really want here.” He tossed his notebook to the side. “We want to make Isabella disappear for good. What do you say, Rob? Got something in your evil genius mind for that?”
“Now we’re talking.” Rob rubbed his hands together. “Oh! We’re going to need pizza for this. Nothing like pizza to plot murder.” He pulled out his phone and sent a text. “So what are we thinking, cheese or pepperoni?”
How could Rob think about what kind of pizza we wanted when he just said we wanted to kill someone? Disappear was different than kill. Right?
“Cheese sounds good,” James said. “Unless you want something else?” he asked me.
I shook my head. James wasn’t freaking out. Apparently he’d meant kill too.
“Perfect,” Rob said. “Cheese it is. Now how do you want to kill the troll?”