Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CADEN
“This is ridiculous,” I muttered as I parked my car in the school parking lot, paparazzi lining the fence to try and get a good photo of Tyler. He’d ridden with me today to avoid using his car, Jensen was in Lukas’, and Rory drove the Corvette.
She was tense, not used to this shit like we’d been when we were younger, and I was worried about how she’d react if it went on much longer.
With all of our parents making big names for themselves in the business world, we’d been dragged around to interviews and parties forever, especially Tyler, when he’d had to handle red carpet events.
It had been a while since they’d felt the need to follow us, but this wasn’t going away any time soon.
“Why the fuck would they mention where I am on national TV?” Tyler spat, angrily grabbing his bag and opening the car door, hearing people already calling his name.
“Because they’re assholes,” I sighed, grabbing my bag to follow him.
Cameras clicked and flashed as school security tried to deal with the crowd that had followed us from the house, and Rory moved towards us with the guys, tucking herself against Tyler’s side as his arm draped around her shoulders.
“They’re not allowed on school property, right? They’ll stay by the gate?” she asked as we headed into school together, students eyeing us from all the attention.
Some filmed us on their phones, trying to get their own little piece of the action, and I walked on Rory’s other side as we entered the building.
“They’re not allowed, it’s private property, but that doesn’t mean one of them won’t risk it. Be careful today,” I said as I took her hand now that we were out of view.
They’d have stormed the school for sure if they saw one of us touching Rory. They’d see it as another high paying scandal.
They’d find out eventually, but I didn’t feel like dealing with that first thing on a Monday morning.
“Not like we can let our guard down anyway. The Soldiers could show up too,” Lukas reminded us, his hand firmly in Jensen’s. “Let’s stay inside today. No one sneaks off alone, okay?”
We all nodded our agreement, dumping our things in our lockers before heading to homeroom, my phone buzzing with a message as I sat.
Skeeter: I’ve put D, Jonah, and Brick at your house today while Josie sorts out reliable security. One of the vermin tried getting through the window after you guys left, spotted them on the cameras, so they went and handled it.
“The fuck?” I growled, staring at the message. One of them tried to break into the house?
I called him, ignoring the others as they watched me, waiting for an explanation.
“Josie’s fine,” Skeeter said the second he answered, calming me slightly.
“Can you spare them all day? I can head home if I need to,” I replied, but he chuckled.
“My guys are pissed, but the guys I put there don’t mind. They’d rather work security than come to Wet Dreams for a meeting with me. Stay at school, we’ve got it handled. Psychos being on the property should keep people away.”
“It might keep people outside, but news stations will be all over that shit. Holloway Industries hiring thugs for security? Scandalous,” I sighed. “Thanks, man.”
“Don’t thank me yet. I’ll charge you for it,” he joked, cursing after a moment. “I need to go. Matteo is getting in Hendricks’ face about something.”
He hung up before I could say goodbye, and Rory looked ready to roll as she sat on my desk.
“What happened?”
“Some creep tried to break in when we left. Skeet’s put some of his guys there for the day.”
“Can’t Josie get them arrested?”
“Skeet didn’t say she was freaked out so I don’t know if Mom was even aware of it. He saw them on the cameras and sent the guys over to handle it,” I replied, hating to stay at school, but if we all ran home and Mom didn’t know what was happening, we’d only panic her for no reason.
I didn’t trust the Psychos, but Brick and Jonah didn’t seem too bad. I knew I could trust Diesel though, he’d protect Mom with his life.
“Diesel won’t let anything happen to her,” I said confidently, and she gave me a small smile.
“I’ll check in with him throughout the day.”
I tugged her onto my lap when Mr. Franklin entered the room, and we managed to make it through the morning classes without a problem.
By lunch, we could feel it. There was a shift.
“You don’t even give a shit about the school now that you’re with her,” Claire scoffed, inspecting her manicured nails as she stood beside our table in the cafeteria.
“Spit it out, Davidson,” Jensen muttered, picking at his food. We’d gotten a bunch of sandwiches and snacks to split between us since we weren’t exactly that hungry with all the drama.
“I think we need new leaders.”
“It’s not a cult,” I huffed, eyeing her. “What’s the problem? We’ve had personal shit going on. Feel free to pick new people to obsess over, I don’t give a shit, but those who make us out to be the enemy won’t be coming to Saturday’s party.”
Rory and the guys gave me questioning looks, and I couldn’t blame them. We really shouldn’t have been having parties right now, but our control here was slipping. Being at the top of the food chain meant information, and we needed to hear gossip to stay safe.
Not to mention, if Claire took over, she’d go after Rory, and Rory would probably beat her to death over it. Mom couldn't exactly get her out of a murder charge if she snapped and did it publicly.
Claire blinked at me, seeming surprised. “You’re throwing a party?”
“Yeah. It was supposed to be a surprise, but you ruined it,” I shrugged, standing and speaking louder for others to hear. “Party at mine on Saturday! Everyone’s invited!”
People started chattering with excitement, and Rory pointed at Claire while glaring at me.
“Except her, right?”
“Obviously, she’s made it clear she doesn’t like us,” I replied, and Claire winced.
“Caden—”
“Rory wouldn’t let you in anyway. You want to disrespect her, send your dogs after her, and burn her? Then ask her if you can come to her home? Fuck off, Claire. You and your cronies can have your own party.”
“I didn’t burn her. We’re busy anyway. I’d invite you, but Aurora’s banned from the Shed,” she huffed, and I gave her a blank stare.
“Thought the Psychos were trash?”
“Not all of them,” she replied before flouncing off to find her friends, and Rory gave me a weird look.
“She’s kidding, right? They hate rich kids hanging around, it causes problems. We’re the exception,” she stated, and Jensen handed her a sandwich.
“Look into it later. Don’t let her see you thinking about it. She’s just trying to get under your skin. Ask Skeet after school, he won’t lie if she’s been hanging around.”
“Why the fuck would he even let her hang around?” she scoffed, and I shot her a look of warning.
“You’re doing what she wants. Wipe it off your face and deal with it at home.”
She rolled her eyes but took a bite of her sandwich, letting Tyler manhandle her as he pulled her onto his lap.
Their date had definitely made me jealous, but he’d told us about other things she wanted to do, like go to the sushi place. He could have kept that information to himself but he’d told us so we could take her instead.
That definitely made me feel better at knowing he wasn’t trying to be selfish with her.
She’d looked stunning in the dress too, something I made sure to tell her when we’d stripped her out of it last night.
I was pretty sure all of us had needed that because we slept like rocks afterwards.
Skeeter had been called to the Shed with Diesel for something, much to his annoyance. He’d been looking forward to getting her out of the dress too.
“We can’t throw a party, Holloway. Apart from the fact the paparazzi are parked out front of your house all the time now, we still have the Soldiers hanging around.
Josie will find out about the party fast and come home, or the Soldiers will be able to sneak in undetected and do fuck knows what,” Lukas said quietly, his eyes on Rory as she laughed at something Tyler said.
“Do you have any other ideas? We need to keep the peace here or we lose control of the school. Maybe having Skeet and his guys there will show the Soldiers not to mess with us.”
“You mean the crew that shot the Psychos’ shed to pieces and killed their boss? Sure, I bet they’d be shaking in their boots,” he deadpanned, looking down at his food as he picked at it. “I’m not going.”
“Wait, what?”
He glared at me, anxiety and anger swirling in his eyes.
“I’m not fucking going, Caden. You want to throw a party to keep the peace?
Sure, be my guest, but I’m not going to sit there and risk someone in the crowd open-firing on the dance floor.
They won’t show up and throw hands, they’ll bring guns. ”
“They won’t make a move like that, dude,” I sighed, rolling my eyes as he stood.
“You can’t promise that. You're on your own. If anything happens, that’s on you.”
He stalked off, making Rory frown as she watched him go. “What’s wrong?”
“He’s being a drama queen,” I huffed, but Jensen snorted and stood too.
“He’s not wrong though, man. I bet Skeet will tell you the same thing.”
“Of course you’d side with Luke. Run off to comfort your sulky boyfriend,” I growled, not caring if anyone heard us at this point. Why didn’t they see this was a good idea? We needed it.
Jensen put his hands on the table and leaned down, his voice low.
“You want to pick a fight with me, all you have to do is ask, Holloway. Keep Luke out of it. I’m siding with him because you’re a fucking idiot. I’m not going to your party either.”
He walked off without another word, and I could hear a few people around us whispering. We couldn’t fight like this, it caused disruption to the food chain here.
“Deal with it after school,” Tyler warned, his eyes on me as he dropped a kiss on Rory’s shoulder. “Eat lunch so we can get to class.”