Chapter 8
Chapter
Eight
COOP
I was leaning against Frankie’s car when she charged out of the door at the same time as Jake’s text hit my phone.
We need to talk. All four of us. Now.
The combination of that terse message and the taut, wounded expression Frankie wore knocked the breath right out of me. The moment her troubled gaze locked with mine, however, her face blanked.
Fuck .
It hit me with the force of a truck. My phone vibrated from Bubba and Archie answering Jake. Or maybe they were arguing. Right now, I didn’t care.
“Hey—” I started, but she raised a hand, cutting me off.
“Don’t,” she said and when I would have opened my mouth again, she sliced that hand through the air. “I said, don’t.” The first word had come out harsh, but the last three were husky with elements of pain.
The last thing I should do was let any of it go, especially if she was hurting. Not even the sheen of tears could extinguish the fire blazing within those green eyes. The desire to push the issue was an almost violent urge, because I wanted to fix whatever it was.
Needed to fix it.
The fact she was taking a minute to get her breathing and mood under control wasn’t lost on me. Biting my tongue hurt like a bitch. For Frankie, I could and would do a lot worse. Shoving my vibrating phone into my pocket, I focused, waiting her out in the blazing sun.
After sliding her sunglasses on, she unlocked her car and opened the driver’s side door. I could practically see the balloon of hot air that it released. She leaned in to start the car, then rolled all the windows down before she straightened again.
“Do you need a ride home?” The husky alto of her voice rippled straight through me.
A dozen different answers danced through my head, but none made it to my tongue. Not while I considered her mood and her posture. What did she want to hear? The fact I had absolutely no idea gutted me more than I wanted to admit.
“Are you heading that way? Or do you have plans?” It was a safer response, I hoped. “I don’t want to just assume.”
Cause that was exactly what I’d done that morning, and hadn’t that gone so fucking well?
She frowned fiercely, and I clamped my jaw shut on giving her shit. Not yet. The tectonic level shift in our relationship wasn’t just on her. No way in hell it could be. While her sunglasses still hid those beautiful eyes from me, the tension in her shoulders seemed to ease.
“I was going to take Mathieu home, but he has a meeting with Madame, his exchange advisor, and his host parents.” The little note of loss in her voice stabbed me. “So, yeah, I guess I am going that way.”
She wasn’t looking at me anymore, she’d shifted at the familiar sound of a sports car’s engine. Archie pulled in right behind, his orange classic Ferrari all but purring. Jake’s SUV was right behind Archie.
Fuck. I wanted to wave them off, this was a bad idea. We did not need to be cornering her. The looseness in Frankie’s back vanished as she stiffened. Her chin came up, and I could guarantee the fire in her eyes was back.
The rumble of a motorcycle announced its prowl up past both Jake and Archie. The rider paused on the far side of Frankie’s car and braced his feet to the ground, before he flipped his helmet up.
“Bubba?” Shock shifted Frankie’s tone again as she took a half-step back and bumped into her driver’s side door.
“Surprise,” he said, a real smile on his face. “I wanted to show you earlier, but we didn’t have time.”
“You got a motorcycle?” The bombshell rocked her, clearly.
“Yep, birthday present from my parents.” Another smile, he seemed a hell of a lot more relaxed than the rest of us.
“Is that safe?” Worry drenched her question. That eased the first of tension that had been twisting my guts since she basically disappeared on us for the summer.
“Took a class so I could get my license.” Yeah, I really did envy Bubba for his ease. “Maybe I can persuade you to take a ride?”
Jake’s jaw dropped and Archie whipped off his sunglasses. Good, I wasn’t the only jealous one. That fucking helped.
“I’ve… never ridden on a motorcycle.” Far from sounding put off, she actually seemed intrigued.
“Any time you want,” he said. “I’ve got a second helmet just for you.”
For real dude? I raised my eyebrows, staring past Frankie and meeting Bubba’s brief glance. His grin wasn’t quite smug, but it might as well have been.
Jerk.
“She doesn’t need to ride the motorcycle until you have a little more experience,” Jake announced. He’d turned off his SUV and slid out to stand.
“She is standing right here and can answer for herself,” Frankie retaliated.
“Oh, now you can say something?” There was no mistaking the bite in Jake’s tone.
“Hey,” I said, taking a couple of steps forward. “Ease up.”
“Or what?” Jake flicked a look past her to me. “I got news for you, saying fuck all hasn’t been working.”
“Jake,” Archie snapped as he slammed out of his car and faced off with Jake. “You don’t get to talk to her that way.”
That was gonna end well.
“Talk to her like what?” Jake snarled right back and he went toe to toe with Archie. His temper was already burning and none of this was helping. “Like she’s important? Or like maybe I give a damn what happens to her?”
Fuck me.
Bubba swung his leg off the bike and it too stopped rumbling. He pulled off his helmet and cut behind Frankie’s car to get between the guys and Frankie.
“Guys,” he said, pitching his voice down and even. If she said anything after that, I didn’t hear it. But both Jake and Archie pivoted to glare at him. Physically, Jake and Bubba were pretty much evenly matched. Archie wasn’t a slouch, but he didn’t have their muscle mass.
That said, I wouldn’t put money on any of them except Jake.
Archie could eviscerate someone without breaking a sweat when it came to words.
Jake, however, was mean and brutal in a straight fight.
He also didn’t wait for anyone else to start it.
The fact his right hand was curling into a fist made up my mind for me.
“I got this,” I said to Frankie as I passed her. The heat sweltered around us, rising from the parking lot in waves. Sweat had already soaked the back of my neck and left my hair damp.
Bubba nudged Archie aside even as I collided with Jake to push him back. Good, I wasn’t the only one who’d seen the imminent explosion.
“What the fuck?” Jake hissed, transferring his glare to me.
“You want to punch Archie? Do it later,” I advised, not raising my voice either. “Not here. Not now .”
His glower promised me his temper was definitely on a razor thin wire. Probably the only reason he listened was because it hadn’t snapped yet.
I flicked my gaze to the side, as though I was going to look over my shoulder. That snared Jake’s attention and he followed the gesture to where Frankie stood. With my focus on Jake, I couldn’t read her expression. If she was well and truly furious with all of us, well…
Right now, we probably deserved it.
“We should move your cars so Frankie can back out.” Her vehicle was the only one still on and probably to let the a/c kick in, which it had plenty of time to do by now and we were just wasting her gas.
Archie blew out a breath. With the rigid line of Jake’s shoulders relaxing, I spared a look to where Bubba had backed Archie up to his car. Hopefully, the crisis had been averted.
“Why don’t you just follow us over to the diner?” Archie focused on Frankie and I managed to not slap a hand to my face. “Start of school tradition, we can work out our schedules.”
A muscle ticked in Jake’s jaw and that surprised me. He didn’t want her going to the diner? Really? When I raised my brows at him, he shot me a bland look right back. The demand of his earlier text message resurfaced.
Right. He wanted to talk about Frankie. That meant her being there was a bad idea.
Honestly, I didn’t think excluding her was a good idea either.
He shrugged, because what else were we supposed to do right now?
It was a whole conversation in a few glances. One Frankie could probably interpret. We’d all known each other so long.
“Maybe she has plans,” Bubba suggested, then added, “But you’re more than welcome to come with. Archie is right, it’s tradition. We usually talk about homework and how we’re handling stuff.”
“And who I’m tutoring and when?” The snark in her tone was undeniable.
Yeah, still a bad idea.
“If you don’t want to tutor anyone,” Bubba said, picking up the sarcasm she’d lobbed at him without missing a beat. “You don’t have to. Senior year is gonna be tough on all of us—but if you need a hand with anything , I hope you’ll give us a shot at being able to return the favor.”
“Smooth,” Jake muttered and he wasn’t wrong. Though, now Archie was giving Bubba a sour look.
“You know what,” I said, jumping in. “If Frankie has plans, then we can do a call tonight.” Twisting, I faced her. “You know, we can do it on video chat, if you want, or voice call. Then you don’t have to feel pressured to make any decisions right now, and we can get out of this heat.”
It would give everyone time to chill. She licked her lips, and I swore I could feel her studying me. Come on, Frankie, give us an opening. “Do you still need a ride home?”
The guys were really going to owe me for this one, but I jerked a thumb at Jake’s car. “I’ll make him take me home, that way you can do what you need.” It was a concession. “Then just text when you want us to call.”
It was handing her all the control and I caught Bubba elbowing Archie when he opened his mouth. The air whooshed out of him, but he didn’t say anything.
“Okay,” Frankie said, then she raked a hand through her hair before she pulled it back and up into a ponytail. “I do have some stuff to do. But I’ll text—probably after six, but hopefully before seven.”
“Works for me,” Bubba said. “Just let us know.”
“I will.”
It was like winning the goddamn lottery, I could breathe again because she’d agreed.
“Okay, move your car,” Bubba said to Archie and I caught Jake glancing from us to her and then back.
“You too,” I said, then moved around to get in the passenger side of Jake’s SUV.
I half-expected both guys to argue but after a seriously dramatic pause where they glared at each other, they nodded and retreated to their cars.
Bubba just shook his head before he turned to Frankie. Whatever he said earned a flicker of a smile from her then he was on his bike.
“I fucking hate this,” Jake said as he started the engine and the air conditioning started blasting.
“Yeah,” I said. “I know.” Archie pulled away first, then Jake followed. I glanced over my shoulder as Frankie climbed into her car and slammed the door.
Leaving her there felt plain wrong .
“But,” I told him as I faced forward again. “She agreed to talk to us later and that’s something.”
“We need a plan,” Jake said and he cut out of the lot and across traffic with a little more recklessness than I cared for, but I got it.
He was pissed.
And scared.
I got the last really hard.