Chapter 41 #2
“He asked me if I had a friend! Why would he ask me that if he’s dating me? He made a fool out of me!”
James burst out laughing.
At that point Marvin finally came to his cousin’s defense.
“And I asked you not to be a dick. At least not to her.”
“What’d I do wrong now?” James kept egging the girl on. She met him halfway. Marvin could barely restrain her.
“You humiliated me with that terrible joke!”
“What joke?” asked Marvin.
James lost it. He looked like someone who had felt everything at eighteen, and boredom was all that was left.
“I didn’t want to get into the details, but you’ve given me no choice. The lady here said she wanted to”—James stopped to put a finger on his chin, holding back giggles like a bratty kid—“take a stroll holding hands, and I said no. I’m allowed to turn down a walk, aren’t I, Marvin?”
“Get to the point,” he snapped, irritated.
“And then I said, ‘Unless you have another friend. In that case, I might reconsider.’ What’s wrong with that?”
“You’re an animal! You said something completely different. And besides, am I not enough for you?” squawked Melanie, waving her arms around.
Her intent was anything but friendly. She wanted to get to James at all costs, but Marvin held her back and tried to calm her down.
“This is too much for me, Will. I’m sorry, but I don’t want to stay here and listen to this crap,” I whispered into his ear before walking away.
“Where are you going? June!”
“Inside,” I replied, without really knowing how to find my bearings.
That neon sign had glowed over my head twice, and now the moment had finally arrived to discover what this bizarre place was hiding. I heard the music blasting inside as rays of light shone out the door.
“Wait, not alone.”
William took my hand, grabbed James by his leather jacket, and dragged him in with us.
A bored bodyguard at the front door greeted Will without asking questions, despite us clearly being too young to be in a place like this. I wasn’t planning on staying; I just wanted to take a peek inside once and for all.
“James and I are gonna take care of something, then we’ll go home.” William’s words sounded far away even though he was close enough for our arms to touch.
The bass pounded in my chest, and my eyes took forever to adjust to the psychedelic lights. My vision seemed blurry, or maybe there was just a ton of smoke. The only thing I was sure about was the persistent smell of alcohol that enveloped me along with a hint of a woman’s perfume.
A guy with reddish hair approached me menacingly. It didn’t take long to realize it was Ethan Austin.
“Is blondie with you or Hunter?”
Will didn’t seem to understand, given how focused he was on holding James up by his jacket sleeve.
“Who are you talking about, Austin? Hey, do you have anything here that’s nonalcoholic?”
The only thing that seemed to matter to Will was to make sure his friend was drinking water and then bringing him home.
“Do I look like a waiter, Cooper? I’m the owner. Ask them,” answered Austin, pointing at the waiters with bottle service.
I didn’t notice at first, but they were everywhere. Waiting tables, behind the bar, around metal poles.
My eyes went wide as I realized that I was in a strip club.
I was surrounded by men dressed in somewhat nice suits and girls who danced suggestively as the low lights emphasized their curves.
Their outfits were the definition of what my mom called trashy.
One of them passed by James and winked, but he seemed to focus what little attention he had left on Ethan Austin.
“Hey, Austin, how’s your girlfriend?”
“Is he the guy James owes money to?” I asked Will.
He squeezed my hand harder. “Ethan’s his son.”
“James talks to him like that? Isn’t he afraid of getting beat up again?”
“Why do you think he’s always getting into shit? He’s not afraid of anything, June. That’s the issue.”
William sounded exasperated, and I got frustrated. “I don’t know anything because you never told me about an accident, Will.”
“Trust me, that’s for the best. I don’t want to put you in danger.”
He leaned toward me and touched my face with his fingertips before planting a kiss on me. It was less romantic than usual, maybe because of where we were. I didn’t even close my eyes; in fact, I saw James chug another bottle nearby.
“James, quit drinking! Will, don’t get distracted,” I exclaimed.
Austin disappeared. William grabbed James by his jacket sleeve again and took the bottle of vodka out of his hands.
“You won the poker game, yes or no?”
“Yes.”
“Did they give it back to you?”
James shook his heads. “No gun.” I froze.
I saw James hold back an almost irritating childish smirk that reminded me of his brother. Then he turned around toward me, surprised.
“Fuck, White. You’re here too?”
“Well, aren’t you the sharpest tool in the shed?” I replied acidly as Will leaned against the counter to order some water.
James curved his lips and stared vacantly at my mouth.
He was clearly rip-roaring drunk, and his red cheeks didn’t point to anything good either. “And why are you here again?” he whispered in a tone that sent a chill down my spine.
I was overwhelmed by conflicting emotions a moment later.
His cobalt eyes looked so bright in the dark that they reminded me of the brushstrokes my mom used to intensify the ocean in a storm.
A cocktail of conflicting sensations surfaced in me.
I was reliving what he’d said in his room.
It wasn’t just sadness that seeped into his story last night.
There was fear, rage, and lack of understanding.
I’d just seen the tip of the iceberg while the rest remained under the cold waters of his eyes. It was too deep to swim there.
“He’s drunk. We’d better get him home. And I’m not a fan of these people,” Will said, handing a water bottle to his friend, who pretended to take a sip.
I saw a group of shady guys around a table overflowing with glasses and half-open bottles.
They were most likely from the Austin family.
I decided I’d play detective another time because the oldest one was looking at me in a way that made me uneasy.
We left. Neither Jackson nor Marvin were there, nor was his cousin.
Will pointed at Jackson’s fire engine–red pickup truck in the parking lot as James kept laughing. He’d managed to steal a bottle of tequila without anyone noticing, and he found that particularly exhilarating.
“Lie down in back and don’t make a mess,” Will commanded.
“Why is White here?”
James was distracted by me, so William turned around to the back seat and took the bottle out of his hands. “This. Well, no. I won’t give it back to those assholes. Here, June, I’m gonna call Marvin and Jax. Let’s go home.”
Will gave me the bottle to hold.
“Will, don’t leave me here . . .” to babysit.
James pushed himself out of the car far enough to grab me with both his arms.
“What are you doing?” I yelled, feeling myself yanked across the front seat. In the blink of an eye, I found myself straddling him.
“James.”
“Eh?”
I was still holding the bottle in the air for fear of spilling it.
“Are you out of your mind?”
“Have you always been this beautiful?”
I was stunned. This guy seemed capable of scrambling everything in my brain, but most of all, he had a disarming ability to manipulate my emotions.
“You’re trashed. You’re confusing me with someone else,” I stuttered.
James didn’t seem to care about what I’d just said and started to play with my hair, forming little blond ringlets around his index finger.
“Tell me something, princess.” Oh no.
I felt trapped.
He’s drunk, and he’s just messing with you, I told myself to calm myself down, but that calm didn’t last long.
“Do you think I’m attractive? Tell me the truth.”
My bare thighs scorched against his hips.
“What’s gotten into your head? Of course not—” I whispered weakly. On the one hand, James’s pout was almost endearing; on the other hand, I was playing with fire. And as inexperienced as I was, I knew that the first time our eyes met. I didn’t want to play with that.
“Come on, admit it, White. It doesn’t mean you want to bone me.”
“Don’t talk to me like that. It’s repulsive.”
“Maybe to hear, but not to look at.”
“Be quiet. We’re talking about serious stuff. The vice principal caught me red-handed. He said we have to do the assignment together.”
James put both hands on my bare thighs with a shit-eating grin.
I tensed up at his touch.
“So that’s why you already put yourself in position.”
Shivers radiated up to the nape of my neck, but it lasted only a second because James grabbed my hands and put them on his chest
“You idiot! The homework. We have to do the homework together.”
“Keep thinking that. I don’t think so, Snow White.”
“And you’ll do it. I can’t write ten pages alone, you know? I did my part, and you’ll do yours.”
“No.” He sneered, biting his lip.
“James!”
At this point he stretched his chin out to repeat it with more conviction. “No.”
“I’m coming over to tutor Jasper tomorrow. I’ll leave the homework with you. Do it, and we’ll hand it back in. We don’t have to be in the same place to do it,” I explained, putting a finger on his chest.
“You afraid of being alone with me?” He was provoking me, this time getting up on his elbows.
His face came closer to mine, and I could get lost in his dark eyes. There was nothing soft, warm, or beguiling in his electric irises.
“No. Not at all. You’re the one who’s established that you don’t want me in your house.”
“Because you always give advice instead of requests, White.”
“I’m just trying to help, Hunter.”
“But we’re not friends,” he declared, staring at my mouth.
I felt a shiver so strong that it made my head spin.
I looked down, feeling guilty.
“James, look, I don’t know what you’re thinking, but—”
“Exactly, you don’t know,” he said sarcastically, sounding more lucid than I expected.
“Yeah, maybe you don’t understand. If I’m helping Jasper, I’m doing it for him. It has nothing to do with you.”
His glare pierced through me. “But sometimes you look at me like that.”
“How?”
“The same way you were staring at me yesterday at my house.”
“I—” My words got stuck in my throat when his thumb brushed my lower lip “I wasn’t—”
James stared at me in a way that made me feel like I had to shower.
“Like you’re staring at me now.”
My body went weak. I felt like jelly.
Without applying too much pressure, James hooked a lock of hair behind my ear and brushed absentmindedly against my neck with his fingertips, making me shiver again.
My eyelids got heavy from all the tension.
Then he reached for my hand that held the tequila.
He grabbed the bottle, leaving me with my jaw dropped.
“You fell for that? Really?” What an asshole.
“Give me back that bottle, Hunter!”
“No!” he exclaimed, laughing.
I grabbed it again in one fell swoop, but when I tried to get out of that position, he wrapped his arm around my waist, forcefully pushing me against his pelvis.
I almost lost my balance and to avoid being all over him, I pushed him onto the seat with a hand on his chest.
“Are you a dumbass? I spilled everything! Jackson will have a fit!”
I saw him shake his head to break free of the hair covering his eyes. “White! Give it!”
“No!”
He held me still with one hand and fumbled behind my back with the other. As soon as he realized how ticklish I was, he decided to be merciless.
“James, no. Please. No, really, we’ll spill everything.” I couldn’t stop laughing and howling out of frustration. “James, we’re making a mess, look at how—”
I swallowed another curse word because it was too late. My fingers were soaking wet. The bottle fell out of my hands, spilling part of its contents on Jackson’s leather seat.
“Oh shit.” I heard him laugh louder.
“You got the seat wet, you idiot!” I tried to breathe normally.
“You’re the one who got the seat wet, you moron!”
“What’s so funny?” Oh for god’s sake. It was Will.
“Nothing,” I exclaimed, suddenly jumping out of the truck.
James’s hair was messy; he was flushed and out of breath. Just like I was. William was looking at us like we were crazy.
“Nothing. Snow White said Austin looks like a koala with a wig.”
I laughed as I got out of the car.
“Will you sit in front, June? With me?” I noticed a hint of gruffness in William’s words, but I decided not to pay attention to that.
“Jackson?” I asked as I got into the passenger seat.
“He’s going back with Marvin. He left the car here and asked me to take care of it. You guys didn’t do any damage to it, did you?”
“Who, us?” James quipped from the back seat; I held back a laugh.
“Of course not.” I wasn’t in a position to tell Will we’d already done a few hundred dollars’ worth of damage in there.
James bashed his forehead against the back of my headrest, then reached his arm over to play with the hair on the nape of Will’s neck.
“Cut it out,” Will admonished him patiently. It looked like he was used to James’s bizarre behavior when he was drunk.
He snapped in reply, turning around with his shoulders on the seat.
“Austin seemed preoccupied with other things tonight. I wonder if he really meant to—” Will started to talk, but cut himself off as soon as he realized his friend wasn’t listening.
Something tickled my side, and I almost jumped out of my seat. “Everything okay?” Will asked when he saw me squirming in place.
“Yeah, everything’s fine.”
I shooed away James’s fingers by elbowing the seat as he started to laugh again. Obviously he was drunk.
“James?” Will tried calling him, but he was on the phone.
“Will you take me to Tiffany’s?” he asked at a certain point.
“You sure?” Will raised his eyebrow.
“Actually, no, Taylor’s.”
“Sure, what is that, an auction? To whoever offers more?” I grumbled, irritated.
“No, it’s a pajama party.”
“What does that mean?”
“You don’t want to know, Snow White.”
After a quick ride, we reached an exclusive gated community with guards and railroad crossings. The security guy stopped and looked in the car, but when he saw James he motioned for us to pass.
The car stopped in front of a mega mansion. I’d never seen such a big building.
Will seemed mildly concerned; James looked the total opposite.
“We’re at Taylor’s, man. You sure you can do this?”
“I don’t know, Will. Ask her about it tomorrow.”
James planted a kiss on his friend’s cheek, then turned his chin to look me right in the eye, trapping me in the depth of his eyes. And that moment of distraction was enough for him to take the tequila bottle out of my hands.
“Hunter!”
He laughed and got out of the car.
“Work on your reflexes, White!”