All of my life I’ve fought to keep Jade safe, just the way my brother fought for me, and now here we are spilling her around the room like water.
“I thought Jet knew.” He jumps back as if outraged himself. “But he didn’t have a clue as to what I was talking about.”
“That’s because he doesn’t know about her!” I riot the words right over his face. “You!” I slap my hands over his chest three times hard. “How could you think I would make something like that up?” Tears come—hard, choking sobs, and I make a half-hearted attempt at wiping them away. “I love my sister. I would never use her for personal gain—certainly not to elicit your sympathy. What else did you tell my brother?” A thousand thoughts clog my mind, and I can’t sift through them fast enough.
Lawson shakes his head just enough to let me know there’s more, but he’s not going there.
I give a quick swat over his chest and jump in his face once again. “What else did you tell my brother?”
“He said you were popular. You hung out with good kids.”
I almost want to laugh. Lawson ran the gamut from my bloody cherry pop to my social standing in high school. And here I thought he was missing me with an aching passion, and all that was happening was some demented inquisition.
“You know what I don’t get about you?” I take a step into him, and he pulls away ever so slightly as if he were afraid, and he should be. “Why did you take cash to keep an eye on me?”
“That was all your demented brother, honey.” He holds his hands up.
“Don’t call me honey. You found me annoying—you told me so yourself. That can only mean one thing—the going rate was pretty good. And to think you didn’t take me out to a single dinner with that money. I hope you spent it well. You won’t be getting another dime.”
Without thinking, my hand lands a crisp slap right over his face, and the room stills around us to a whisper.
“That’s for pretending to care about taking my virginity.” I offer another sharp slap, and a round of gasps circles the room this time. “And that’s from Jade.”
I storm out of Beta house numb with pain.
I never thought I could hurt so badly after I let Lawson go last week.
I was wrong.
Lawson
“Lucky!” I don’t give a shit that we’ve just put on the best show in town or that the entire Row knows about our one-and-hopefully-not-done sex life—but what kills me, what guts me on a deeper level is that she’s clinging to the fact her sister existed, which can only mean one thing—she did.
I blow past Rush and Grant as they try to hold me back, barrel down the porch, and start on a mad sprint toward campus. I spot Lucky’s hair blowing back like a dark flame just before she makes that hard left toward Hallowed Grounds. I hurdle bushes and dodge trees trying to cut her off at the pass, bolting around the back of Cutler, only to crash into her as I round out the corner.
“Shit!” she squeals, her body still pressed to mine. “How did you do that?” she pants, looking behind her as if I might show up in duplicate.
“Lucky.” I wrap my arms around her and sigh into her hair. “I believe you. If you say Jade was your sister, then that’s my truth, too.” I saw the hurt in her eyes back there, the utter disbelief that I had denied her one very special sibling. Sometimes raw emotions are far more potent at telling the truth than words, and with Lucky that seems to be the case.
She pulls back, tears pooling in her eyes. “My mother told me about Jade when I was five. She was our little secret. And when my mother died, I figured my brother already had too much to worry about, so I never told him. A part of me liked keeping her all to myself.” Silent tears rain down. “I needed someone else, and I found that in her.”
My heart breaks for this beautiful girl in my arms. My lips twitch involuntarily as I succumb to the grief I feel for her. Lucky has both my heart and my soul molded over hers. I could never want any other girl again. As far as I’m concerned, other girls simply don’t exist. In a world full of people, Lucky is the only person I yearn for—the only person I need. She’s the oxygen I need to survive.
“I’m sorry.” I pull her in, and my own tears rain over her hair. “I’m sorry for everything. I was an ass for taking a dime from your brother—but in truth, I had already figured out that I didn’t want any other idiots coming around. I wanted you for myself, only at the time I didn’t know why.” I had suspected it, though. Even in the beginning, I had an inkling this girl was special—deep down, I knew she was for me.
“Do you know why,now?” The moon kisses her features just right, and Lucky glows like a paper lantern.
“Yes.” It comes from me sharp and caustic. “I know exactly why.” I’m about to dive into the long list of reasons that I want this beautiful girl all to myself when she lays a finger over my lips, rendering me silent.
“Just FYI, I wasn’t popular.” She gives a playful swat to my arm, unlike those hard blows she was doling out in Beta house. Honestly, I almost suggested she try out for girls’ softball. Her arm is that good. “Jet has no idea what he’s talking about. My brother saw what he wanted to see.” Her lips quiver, and it takes herculean strength not to cover them with mine. “And I’m sorry about the virginity thing.” Her lids lower. “I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal.” She ducks an inch. “I thought… Never mind what I thought.”
“Tell me.” I land a kiss to her earlobe, and my stomach bottoms out. Lucky’s skin is smoother, softer than anything I’ve ever felt before. I’d die to be with her again, to take my time and make sure she enjoys the hell out of herself. If given the chance, I will make love to every square inch of her body and enjoy every last kiss, bite, and lick. “I want to know what you’re thinking.”
“I thought you wouldn’t have acted on it.” She hikes her shoulders to her ears. “You would have said the laundry room at Beta wasn’t the right place for something like that to happen.” She glances away while doing her best to swallow down her emotions. “You would have said you wanted it to be special for me.”
A lone tear falls from her like a star, and I catch it on my thumb and kiss it.
A smile comes to me, still and peaceful. “You’re right. I wouldn’t have acted on it. The laundry room at Beta house was not the right place for something like that to have happened.” I run my finger along her jawline and pull her up a notch by the chin. “I demand that the next time we’re together it is special for you—and it will be.”
