26. Juliet
26
JULIET
A few weeks after I officially move back into Nolan’s house and have become exactly what Gio warned me I’d be—a Scorpion Girl—I find myself stationed on the bleachers after school. Huddled in an oversized hoodie that isn’t mine, but one of theirs, I flip through a text book, jotting down notes on the little sticky papers I’ve attached to the inside. Midterms are coming up and from my last grade report, I need to step up my game if I’m going to be accepted into Eastpoint University.
To my utter shock, the Scorpion Kings aren’t all brawn and no brain. In fact, Lex has the best grades out of all the guys and often spends extra time at Nolan’s going over various subjects with both of us.
Now I’m sitting here, freezing my ass off in the cold as they hoof it across the field, back and forth with their coach whistling and yelling at them to keep it up. A metal clang followed by a loud curse has me lifting my head and turning to find Roquel and Mads both hopping up the bleachers as they move towards me.
“What are you guys doing here?” I ask, shutting my book as the two of them make it to my side. Roquel slumps down and then squeals.
“Fuck! That’s so cold!”
I roll my eyes but reach for my backpack next to my feet and pull out an extra sweater, handing it to her. She takes it gratefully and puts it down before plopping down on top of it. Mads sits on my other side, wincing slightly at the cold but otherwise not nearly as bothered as Roquel.
“Okay, now that your ass is fine,” I say with a twitch of my lips. “I repeat: What are you guys doing here?”
“We came to see how you were doing,” Mads says.
“And to ask if you’re going to the afterparty this weekend,” Roquel adds.
“Afterparty?” I frown between the two of them.
“Uh, yeah?” Roquel bumps my shoulder with her own. “Don’t tell me they haven’t told you yet. There’s gonna be another bonfire party after the game this Friday. The Scorpion Kings are pretty much required to attend because they’re on the football team, and as their Scorpion Girl, you kinda should be there too.”
A scowl overtakes my expression. “Ugh, do not call me that.”
Roquel cackles. Actually, fucking cackles—like a wicked witch or something. “That’s what everyone’s calling you now.” As if I didn’t already know and hate it.
Mads pats my leg gently, drawing my attention back to her as she gives me a sympathetic look. “It’s just words,” she offers as if it’s compensation. “They don’t have to mean anything.”
I remember the last time I’d seen the school counselor, and Ms. Beck’s voice echoes in my mind: Words are important… they’re weapons that no one even realizes they’re using.
I swallow back the bile collecting at the bottom of my throat. “Yeah, well…” I shake my head. “It’s just annoying that everyone seems to think I belong to them now.”
“You kind of do,” Roquel says, and I want to snarl at her. She merely shrugs, unconcerned. “It’s not necessarily a bad thing,” she points out. “They’ve managed to keep Megan and her cronies off your back because of it.”
“Doesn’t stop them from slipping shit into my locker,” I grumble even if I have to admit that the shoulder checking and hissed insults in the hallway have all but gone away.
Roquel tilts her head to the side, her attention snagging on something below us on the field. I turn my head in the same direction and spot Lex at the edge of the field, his helmet off and his dark hair pulled away from his face, dripping with sweat despite the cold. His eyes find mine as he chugs from a Gatorade bottle. My stomach tightens.
It’s been weeks since that night I fucked him to get back at the others, and though I hate to admit it, it was probably some of the best sex of my life. Compared to the Scorpion Kings, Bran hadn’t been much of a partner. Things are already complicated enough between us that I’m not sure if I should encourage the three of them into that sort of relationship.
“So…” Roquel hedges, her voice curious as she flips her attention back to me. “I gotta ask—which one of them are you fucking?”
I groan and Mads leans forward, shooting our friend an unimpressed look. “You promised you weren’t going to pressure her,” Mads snaps, more than a little annoyance in her tone.
“It’s been weeks since she moved back in with them,” Roquel whines. “I haven’t asked, but I gotta know. It’s killing me inside.”
“I can kill you on the outside, if you prefer,” I offer. Mads smacks my side, obviously thinking I’m joking. I’m not.
“Enough, both of you,” Mads demands.
“You want to know just as bad as I do!”
I swipe a hand through the air, cutting Mads off before she can reply to Roquel’s protest. “I’m not fucking any of them.” Anymore, I silently add.
Roquel snorts. “As if I believe that.”
“Believe what you want.” Everyone else already does and it doesn’t mean it’s true.
Quiet descends between the three of us as we all go back to watching the action on the field. Lex is called back to the others and together, he and the rest of the Silverwood Scorpions football team continue their practice. All the while, I think about the afterparty Roquel mentioned. It’s been a while since I’ve attended a party and not been concerned about what would happen to me.
One thing is for sure, though. I’ve gotten accustomed to being a Scorpion Girl, whether I like to admit it or not. It’s like walking around with a bubble surrounding me. Sure, there are still nasty looks, the bullshit stuffed in my locker, but overall, it’s nothing I can’t handle. Life under their reign is… easier, even if I hate to think of it that way.
“I’ll be there,” I eventually decide. Mads’ brow crinkles in confusion, but Roquel knows exactly what I mean and she squeals, throwing her arms around me.
“Fuck yes!” She tightens her hold. “This is gonna be so awesome. We’re gonna get you so white girl wasted!”
I roll my eyes, but don’t mind the hug. “I doubt I’ll get that drunk,” I admit, “but I don’t mind a few beers.”
“It’s gonna be great,” Roquel insists, wiggling her body against me in barely repressed excitement. “You’ll see.”
I turn my gaze back to Mads. “You’re going too, right?” I ask. “Do you need a ride?”
Mads looks on, a contemplative expression on her face. “Actually, I picked up an extra shift at work, so I think I’m going to have to sit this one out.”
My interest in the afterparty diminishes the moment the words leave her lips, but it explains why Roquel was so insistent on me coming. If she knew Mads was already out, then it makes sense that she’d want another person there when she isn’t chatting up that team member she’s always trying to hook. I have a feeling that the only attention he gives her happens at parties. A part of me wants to tell her to move on to greener pastures—find someone who actually gives a shit about her and not whether or not she’s willing to put out, but it’s none of my business.
“Oh, well, I hope you make good tips then,” I say lamely.
Mads grins and nods. “Me too.”
“You can’t go to the afterparty in your normal shit,” Roquel says suddenly, pulling away from me. “You need to actually dress the part.”
Another groan threatens to spill forth. It takes considerable effort, but I manage to swallow it back. “It’s going to be cold as fuck,” I remind her. “I’m not going dressed like I’m hitting the club.”
Roquel latches on to my arm and shakes me. “At least promise that you won’t come in sweatpants or leggings,” she demands. “A low-cut top, please?” She pokes the side of my tit and I yelp, ripping away from her and cupping my boob as I gape at her. “It’s not fair that you have so much and the rest of us have nada.” She looks down at her own somewhat flat chest before spearing me with a frown. “You don’t even bother to show off the goods.”
“Maybe because I’m not a damn supermarket,” I snap. “My body isn’t ‘goods’ for someone to buy.”
She rolls her eyes. “You know what I mean.”
Still cupping the side of my tit, I shift a bit on the hard metal of the bleacher seat. “I’ll dress the way I dress,” I mutter. “Deal with it.”
Roquel opens her mouth as if she might protest, but before she can, the loud scream of the football coach’s whistle echoes up to us. The three of us look down to find that practice is coming to a close. I frown. Surely, they’re not done yet.
Releasing my abused boob, I reach into my pocket and fish out the phone that the guys insisted I keep. The time is far closer to five o’clock than I thought, but they’ve only been at it for a few hours. As if sensing the direction of my thoughts, Mads bumps my side, catching my attention.
“Practices on the week of a big game usually don’t run as long,” she murmurs. “It’s to make sure that they don’t get too tired out.”
I wonder if she knows that because her ex used to be a football player. Probably. Then, I wonder what happened to the asshole. All I know is that after the douchebag ruined her life and reputation by spreading videos of the two of them having sex, he disappeared. Off to college, or something like it, I assume.
Despite my wondering, I know better than to ask something like that. Mads has never mentioned the bullshit she went through. I wouldn’t even know it if Roquel hadn’t told me. Or maybe I would…
As the players exit the field, some of them look up, and though a couple of them seem to appreciate Roquel, sitting beside me in an unnecessarily short jean skirt that doesn’t match the weather, more than a few of them also stare at Mads as if hungry for what they’d seen in those videos.
Mads pretends like she doesn’t notice, but I watch the way her back stiffens and her shoulders hunch ever so slightly. The thought of some strangers knowing how I look without my clothes because someone I trusted thought it would be fun to release videos of me without my permission makes me… murderous. I decide right then and there, if I ever meet Mads’ ex, I’ll make him pay for what he did to her.
“Welp, I’m gonna head home,” Roquel announces now that practice has ended. “I’ll catch up with you guys later.”
Both Mads and I wave as she hops down the bleachers and grins at the footballers as they wave her way. I pick up the extra sweater I’d brought and stuff it, along with my textbook, back into my bag. Together, Mads and I stand and make our way down too, albeit a bit slower.
By the time the guys have finished grabbing their shit and showering—or rather, Gio and Lex shower, Nolan always waits until he gets home—I’m standing against Nolan’s motorcycle and Mads is long gone.
“You’re with me,” Gio calls out, gesturing to his Firebird.
I frown. “What? Why?”
“I’ve got work,” Nolan answers as he passes me, squeezing my hip as he reaches for the helmet dangling from his handlebars. He’s taken to forcing me to wear it when I ride with him and not using one himself like the idiot he is, but now I watch as he unbuckles it and loosens the strap to fit his own head. “Gio’ll bring you by tonight when I get home.”
“Work?” I repeat the word, narrowing my eyes on him. “Or work? ” They don’t need to ask what I mean. From the way his shoulders tense underneath the plain black t-shirt he wears, I know he understands my intention.
Nolan shoots me a dark look. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answer to, Jules,” he warns me. Which tells me all that I need to know. Nolan’s not going to the garage he works at today. He’s doing something for Darrio Vargas.
I bare my teeth, but before I can say anything, the grip on my waist eases and Lex grabs at me, pulling me away from the bike and enfolding me in a massive bear hug. I grumble against his chest where my face is smooshed.
“I’m still annoyed,” I huff moments later when he releases me.
With a chuckle, Lex pushes back a lock of my hair and hooks it behind my ear. “And you’re fucking cute when you’re annoyed too,” he informs me.
Which one are you fucking? Roquel’s earlier question comes back to me. How shocked would she be if she found out that I’ve fucked nearly all of them. Nearly being the key word there. My eyes slide to the side as Nolan swings one leg over the seat of his bike and fits the helmet over his head.
“Come on,” Gio calls out from where he stands at his car, the driver’s side wide open and the engine running. “We’ve got somewhere to be.”
“We do?”
Lex turns me around and urges me in G’s direction. “Go on now, baby,” he says. “We’ll catch you later.”
I blow out a long breath, but dutifully make my way to the Firebird, rounding the vehicle until I’m at the passenger door. Gio gives me a big ol’ grin as I pop it open and slide inside.
“Where are we going?” I ask as soon as we’re both situated in the car and Nolan’s bike revs as it flies past us on the way out of the parking lot.
“Your favorite place,” Gio tells me, his grin growing. “Cory’s.”
Just like that, I’m smiling too. It’s been forever since I’ve been back to Cory’s gym, and Gio’s right—it’s become my favorite place, practically the only place where I feel like a person and not a character in some fucked up play that I somehow don’t have lines to. If anything, Cory’s gym is the one place I can get some of my anger out in healthy bouts of sparring.
I eye the man sitting next to me. “Are you working out with me today?” I ask.
G shoves his tongue into the side of his cheek as he tries not to smile quite as hard as he is. The act fails, but it’s still adorable.
Adorable? What the fuck? I jolt at the realization that I’m sitting here and thinking of one of the Scorpion Kings as “adorable.” That is so not what I need to be focused on.
“Practices are shorter on game weeks,” Gio says, reminding me of what Mads had said. “I’ve got more than enough energy to spar with you if you want.”
“I want,” I say quickly and that drives a laugh out of him.
Glittering earth rich eyes glance at me from the driver’s side. “Then consider this a rematch, Prep Girl. Best me if you can.”
“I’m going to wipe the fucking floor with you,” I inform him, and from the return of his tongue pressed against the inside of his cheek, I know he doesn’t believe me. That’s alright. I have every intention of proving it to him—over and over again until they finally get the hint.
I’m not some damsel in distress that they need to fawn over. I can be just as deadly as any scorpion.