I bit down on the inside of my cheek before clearing my throat. “Really?”
“Mhmm.” She smiled, and I couldn’t tell if she was bluffing. She was a better liar than I gave her credit for, but there was something I knew about him that she didn’t. “That sounds like fun. Maybe we should all bring dates.” I held her gaze for a long moment before I turned to the girl next to me.
“Want to go to a party with me?” I asked before pressing my lips against her neck and eliciting a giggle from her before she nodded. My eyes went back to Henley, challenging her.
“Are you sure you don’t want to leave your bed open for Payton?” She snapped.
I shrugged before smiling wickedly. “That’s not a bad idea.”
“I’m going to go to the ladies room,” the girl said at my side, clearly noticing the tension. Henley’s eyes widened as she fought against a smirk.
“I’ll join you,” Henley called out, practically laughing as she followed behind her.
“Henley,” I yelled, pushing from the booth and hurrying after them. “Henley!”
They disappeared into the crowd as Beef grabbed my arm.
“What’s up?”
“Henley,” I groaned as I strained to see them. I caught sight of them as they disappeared into the hall leading to the bathrooms.
Beef just laughed, shaking his head. “This should get interesting.”
“What’s going on?” Gigi asked as she returned from the bar, drinks in hand. She gave one to Beef, and I grabbed the one intended for her and drank it back as she swore at me. “What the hell?”
“Nothing,” I bit out the word as I glared at her, knowing she had been behind this from the beginning with Henley. Did Beef let her know that he’d told me what she said? Did she tell Henley? “You’re all mad,” I snapped as I stormed toward the bathroom. I reached the hallway just as the girl I’d been flirting with walked out. She gave me a disgusted look before walking around me. Henley followed only seconds later, smiling broadly in victory.
“Hey, Lucas.”
“What did you say to her?”
“Don’t worry, I didn’t tell her about your micropenis,” she replied as she stepped around me to make her way toward Gigi.
“Micropenis?” I yelled after her, garnering me some odd looks from the people around me. “There’s no reason to go to spare just because I wanted to take someone else home. You’re jealous, yeah? That’s what this is about.”
“Beef, can you tell your friend to leave me alone,” she asked, folding her arms over her chest.
“Oh, bollocks,” I snapped from behind her. “You couldn’t pay me to come within ten feet of you!”
“Oh, please. I turned you down, remember?”
“Gigi, could you tell this... this... gash that I could do better on my worst day than some bloody minger!”
She scoffed as she pulled out her mobile and began to type furiously.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m googling what you just called me, so I know how hard to kick you in your balls,” she snapped before Gigi pulled it from her hand.
“Maybe you two need to work this shit out somewhere else. People are staring at us!” She looked to Beef who nodded in agreement.
“Want to find Noah get out of here?” Beef asked Gigi before wrapping his arm around her. She handed Henley back her phone before they made their way through the crowd.
“Perfect,” Henley snapped, glaring at me.
“This is your fault.” I shot back trying to figure out how the hell I was going to get home. I began to walk toward the bar, stopping to turn back to Henley who hadn’t moved. “Are you coming or not?”
Reluctantly, she began to move, cursing under her breath with every step.
“What are we supposed to do?” she asked as I flagged down the bartender to order us a few shots.
“Hire a car?”
“In the middle of the night? I don’t have that kind of money.”
“Didn’t you say your mum lived around here?”
“No,” she began to shake her head. “That’s not an option.”
I paid for our drinks and picked them both up, holding one out to her.
“Thanks.” She tipped it to her lips, and I watched her wince as she drank it down before I followed suit.
“We could get a room.”
“You really are crazy if you think I am going to sleep anywhere near you.”
I shrugged, turning back to the bar. “We can each get our own... if you can afford it. I don’t have that kind of money on me.”
She sighed as I waved to the bartender for another round.
“I can’t believe Gigi left with Beef,” she mumbled angrily before taking another shot.
I snorted, shaking my head as I tried to contain my laughter.
“What?”
“You can’t believe it, huh?”
“Unlike you, we are loyal to each other.”
I bit back a curse at her jab. “I didn’t know Payton was Beef’s ex at the time. I told you that. And Gigi isn’t as loyal to you as you think.”
“Oh, I’m sure you only slept with Payton once.” She rolled her eyes, completely missing the comment about her friend.
I leaned in closer to her so I wouldn’t have to yell and she’d be forced to hear my words. “That’s exactly what I did. That’s what I always do. I never hid that fact from you, and if you assumed that you would somehow be different, you are even dafter that I thought.”
Her eyes began to glisten, and I knew I had taken this too far, but I didn’t care. She had been playing games with me from the beginning, and I had long drank away my filter. She scoffed, shaking her head.
“I never wanted to sleep with you.” Another lie. Her chin quivered, and I forced myself to resist the urge to reach out and press my palm against her cheek.
“Really?” I asked, my eyebrow raised in challenge as I moved closer, my lips brushing the shell of her ear and causing her to shiver as my fingers closed around her hip. “You don’t want me right now?”
“Don’t talk like that.”
“Like what?” My grip on her hip tightened. “I thought you liked when I spoke to you like this. You didn’t seem to mind the other night in your bed. Or are you just afraid someone might hear me and Gigi would find out that this whole time you were messing with me, you were really hoping I’d sleep with you?”
“What – I wasn’t –,” she stuttered.
“Yes, you were. You’re a liar and a hypocrite.” I didn’t need to look at her to know she was probably turning pink all over her body.
“You’re the liar,” she snapped as I wrapped my other arm around her waist, splaying my fingers across her lower back to pull her body flush against mine.
“What did I lie to you about, love?” I pulled back to search her eyes as she struggled to find the words.
“Payton.”
“I didn’t lie about her. I told you, she was a mistake I made long before I met you. What I don’t understand is why you even care? This was all just a little game for you and Gigi.”
“I know she was in your room,” she pulled against my grip, but I couldn’t let her go as her eyes welled up again.
“I’ve had a lot of girls in my room. She wasn’t the first, and she won’t be the last.”
She pushed against my chest, pulling herself from my grip before she disappeared through the throngs of people.
“Henley,” I yelled as I grabbed her arm. A man stepped between us, shoving his palm against my chest and causing me to lose my grip.
“She wants you to leave her alone.”
I rolled my eyes as Henley turned around to face me on the other side of the stranger.
“You have no idea what she wants. Why don’t you mind your own fucking business,” I snapped, my eyes locked on Henley. He shoved me again, causing me to stumble backward a step. I swung, my fist connecting with his nose and causing the bones to give beneath my knuckles.
??
?Lucas,” Henley screamed as she grabbed my forearm, struggling to pull me off the guy who was now on his knees in front of me, desperately trying to stop the steady flow of crimson from his face. I snapped out of my anger as she said my name and spun to look at her. Her new outfit was now smattered with tiny drops of blood, and her eyes were wide with fear as tears flowed freely over her high cheek bones.
“Perfect.”
“I’m sorry,” I mumbled to her as she took a step back. There was a ring of people around us, gawking. I looked over their faces before I followed after Henley who was now making her way outside.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
HENLEY
I stepped out of the building, wrapping my arms around my waist to protect myself from the chill that had settled in the air.
“Henley,” Lucas called from behind me. I let my eyes fall closed as I shook my head. I had let myself get too close to him. I knew this was going to end with me getting hurt. He had said so himself. “I didn’t mean to ruin your dress.”
He placed his palm on the small of my back, and I stiffened. “You ruin everything you touch,” I replied, my voice shaking.
He let his hand fall. I pulled out my phone and dialed my mother’s number. She answered after two rings sounding exhausted, but I knew she was probably up. She rarely slept at night anymore.
“I need you to pick me up.”
***
The car was silent on the way home. Lucas pulled me closer to him, but I would scoot away as soon as he did. My mother’s eyes flicked to mine in the rearview mirror, disapproval in her expression. I couldn’t blame her for judging him when she saw my tear-stained face and blood-stained dress.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered in my ear. I pushed him away and looked out the window. He took his hand and wrapped his fingers in mine. His knuckles were bloody and swollen, and it must have pained him.
“You don’t have anything to be sorry about,” I snapped, trying my best to pretend that I didn’t care. But what was really upsetting me was the fact that I did care. When did I start caring?
We made it to the house without another word, and I couldn’t get out of the vehicle fast enough, desperate to put some distance between us so I could think clearly. I stalked off to my bedroom and slammed the door behind me. As soon as I was alone, tears began to fall, and sobs racked my body.
“Henley?” he knocked on the door, waiting for a response.
“Be out in a minute,” I yelled, wiping the tears from my cheeks. He came in as I pulled off my dress, ruined by the splatters of blood. I turned my back to him as I unsnapped my bra and slid it down my arms before pulling on an old gray PT t-shirt that read ARMY across the chest. When I turned around, Lucas was staring at me. I glared at him and left the room, unable to look him in the eye. I made my way down the hall to the spare bedroom where mom kept her scrapbooking supplies.
“You can sleep in here.” I turned to face him, and his eyes danced around the small room, landing on my brother’s crib that still stood in the corner like a shrine filled with stuffed animals.
“I’m not tired,” he groaned.
“Then you can hang out with my mom. I’m going to bed.” With that, I went back down the hallway.
I closed the door behind me and cuddled under the covers in the cold, empty bed.
Chapter Thirty
LUCAS
I shoved my hands into my jean pockets, wincing as the cuts on my knuckles skimmed against the rough material.
Henley’s mother was sitting on a chair in the kitchen, flipping through the pages of a novel. She looked exactly like her daughter, auburn hair and all. Her eyes flicked to mine, and her lips pressed together in a thin line as she sat her book down on the kitchen table.
“Is it okay if I sit out here for a while, Ms. Brooks?”
“Isla,” she corrected. “I don’t mind. I can’t sleep anyway. I’m guessing my daughter is avoiding me.”
“I think she’s avoiding me.”
Isla laughed, shaking her head before tucking her hair behind her ear. “How did you two end up stranded in Savannah tonight?”
She pushed out another chair with her foot and motioned for me to sit. I did, as my eyes danced over the cover of her romance novel. “We went out with some friends, and they ditched us.”
“But you stayed with her?”
I nodded, and her gaze dropped to my bloody knuckles.
“They don’t sound like very good friends.” She paused, eyeing me. “Thank you for making sure she was safe. I know she probably didn’t want to call me.”
“She’s a bit hardheaded.”
“She’s always been that way.” She pointed to a picture sitting on the mantle of the fireplace in the living room. “That was her at prom.”
I laughed as my eyes danced over an image of Henley scowling angrily next to a guy with dark hair.
“She was livid that I wanted to take pictures. She wanted me to take some when they got home, but it was a good thing I did beforehand because she ruined that damn dress. Rhys was the only one who could calm her down.”
“Rhys?”
“Her boyfriend.”
I could tell I hadn’t done a very good job at hiding my reaction by the subtle smirk on Isla’s lips.
“She didn’t tell you about him?” It wasn’t really a question.
I cleared my throat, shaking my head. “She seems to like her secrets.”
Isla pulled a cigarette from the pack on the table and lit it, inhaling deeply before exhaling a cloud of smoke into the air. “She always has.” She shook her head as her eyes narrowed on the image. “They were good together.”
“Where is he now?” I asked, sinking back in my chair and ignoring the twisting feeling in my gut.
Isla shrugged, staring at me for a long moment before her tongue ran over her lips. “You like her, don’t you?”
“We’re just friends.” I forced a smile, and she nodded, but I could tell she wasn’t convinced.
“That’s probably for the best. Henley’s a small town girl. She likes to create drama to keep things interesting but she will always end back up back here with Rhys.”
I nodded, biting back a curse.
“But I’m sure you will be heading back overseas as well?”
“Yes.”
“Then maybe you could do me a favor, since you’re not staying and you two are only friends.” She leaned onto the table with her elbows before taking another drag from her cigarette. “Henley isn’t happy here. She won’t talk to me. I don’t want her to be alone.”
I felt my heart began to pound against the inside of my chest. Did she want me to stay? To take Henley with me when I left?
“Anything.”
“Maybe you could help her see that there aren’t any better options out there for her besides Rhys?”
I felt the color drain from my face as I struggled not to show my shock.
“She may play games with other... boys, but she loves Rhys, and she knows he loves her.”
“I don’t think I am the right person to play matchmaker with Henley.”
Her eyes danced over me again before she smiled. “So you do like her.”
“It’s not like that,” I lied. My stomach began to churn, and all I could picture was my fist slamming into that smirking asshole’s face.
Isla sighed, relaxing back in her seat. “That girl knows better than to play with someone else’s heart.” She shook her head. “I just hope you aren’t too invested in whatever this is.”
I stood, walking closer to the mantel as I looked over the other pictures. My head was spinning. There was one of Henley with her mother and a soldier in uniform, which I assumed was her father.
“That’s Arlo,” Isla called out from behind me. “He’s in South Korea right now. Apparently, they don’t have telephones there,” she added, her words dripping with sarcasm.
My eyes landed on a small black object with a brass center. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew I’d seen
one before. “What is this?” I asked, picking it up and holding it where she could see.
“A violin mute. It softens the sound. I can’t believe she didn’t freak out when she forgot it here a few weeks ago. It took a long time to find just the right one.”
I sat the small object back on the ledge as a strong case of déjà vu swept over me. Blonde hair, a strange dorm room, the girl vomiting on the bed before slapping me across the face... Gigi. I had made out with Gigi before I’d ever met Henley... in her room. Did she remember? Did Henley know her friend had tried to hook up with me? Is this why Gigi had helped Henley mess with me all of this time?
Next to it was another picture of a very young Henley being held by a man covered in tattoos, much like mine. They had the same eyes, and it didn’t take a detective to figure out that he must be her birth father. That single image explained a lot about why Henley kept me at arm's length.
“And that,” she began as she pointed one of her long pink nails toward the image, “is why it will never work for you.” She shook her head, clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “You never stood a chance with her.”
“Like I said, we’re just friends.” Was this all some sort of sick joke? No... It couldn’t be. Could it? I knew Henley had been messing with me, but this was too much to take in. I watched Henley walk out of that club tonight with some guy, who I thought was my friend, and wished it was me who’d had the courage to ask her to come home with me. Here I was, while she sulked in her room, and I listened to her mother drone on about how I would never be good enough; how Henley thought I was nothing more than a pawn in her game of boredom.
“Then why not help me make sure she’s happy?” She cleared her throat before shaking her head. “I’m going to level with you, Lucas because you seem like a reasonable guy. Henley doesn’t need someone causing trouble in her life. She hasn’t had it easy, and I take the blame for most of that, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want what’s best for her. And you are just going to take her heart and run. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
I flexed my knuckles, wincing as the cut pulled apart sending a fresh shock of pain through my wrist. “Yes,” I bit out the word as a new wave of anger surged through me.