Pounding footsteps approach, and I sigh, already knowing who it will be.
“Miss Shaw,” Dirk says when he reaches us. “You’re going to be late if we don’t leave now.” Crossing his arms over his thick chest, my bodyguard levels me with a look. One I’m all too familiar with. The sleeves of his black suit jacket bunch with the motion, almost straining the fabric. Dirk is ex-military, and he loves barking orders at me any chance he gets.
“I’m coming. I’m coming,” I murmur, shucking out of my boyfriend’s warm embrace.
“Not yet you aren’t,” Jared whispers in my ear, and I swat his arm as I give him the eyes, silently warning him to behave. Dirk has supersonic hearing, and unlike Keaton, my other regular bodyguard, he isn’t opposed to spilling the beans to my father any chance he gets.
To say Dad isn’t a fan of Jared as my boyfriend is putting it mildly. He liked him just fine until we started dating, and then it’s as if a switch flipped. My brothers have tried talking to him to no avail. Dad is constantly asking me to break up with him. Concerned it’s too serious at our age. But he doesn’t get it. He doesn’t understand Jared isthe one. I don’t care I’m only fifteen. I know my own mind.
Jared is the only man I will ever love.
The only one I will ever want.
The only man I will ever marry.
“I’ll see you later.” I lean up and kiss his cheek. “I’ll text you when I’m home.”
“Love you, babe,” he says, stealing one last kiss.
Jared is very romantic, and he tells me he loves me at least once a day. A girl could really get used to it. “Love you too.” I smile adoringly at him before he heads off in the direction of his locker, and I walk toward the exit.
“Can I grab a ride?” Cayenne asks, looping her arm through mine as we walk behind Dick. I purposely fluff his name on occasions where he’s really annoying me, purely to wind him up. He’s so easy to aggravate. It never fails to get a reaction.
“Of course.” Her house is on the way. Cay is one of only a handful of scholarship students at West Lorian and one of the few sophomores who doesn’t have a driver. She usually walks the six blocks home. I’ll be applying for my learner’s permit in a few months, when I turn sixteen, and then I plan to drive her to and from school. Provided Dad will let me drive myself. I’m already preparing myself for that argument. I don’t see it as a big deal. My stupid bodyguards can always tail me in the Merc or the SUV so I’m still safe, yada, yada.
“I’m done with him this time,” Cay says when we are in the back seat of the Mercedes-Benz with the privacy screen up. Dirk glides smoothly out into the bustling NYC traffic as we get comfortable for the ride.
“I’ve heard that before.” I tuck her hand in mine and send her a sympathetic look.
“He’s withheragain. I just know it.”
Cay is convinced he has another girl on the side, but her boyfriend has denied it. He’s been secretive with his phone, and he disappears for hours at a time with his cell switched off, which is hugely suspicious. I’m with my bestie on this. “You deserve better.”
“I do.” She rubs at her eyes. “I see the way Jared is with you, and I want that. I want someone who adores me and someone who means what they say. Anvil makes all these promises and always lets me down.” Resting her head on my shoulder, she says, “You were right. I should never have put out. I should have waited like you.”
“You can’t turn back the clock, but you can change what happens from now on. He’s never been good enough for you.”
I know Cayenne has a chip on her shoulder because she’s not wealthy like most other students who attend our school. Having a popular guy like Anvil for a boyfriend is a big deal, but she pays too high a price.
Who gives a shit if he’s good-looking and rich if he’s a prick? She doesn’t need him to give her credibility or status. Fuck that jerk. He’s not even that great of a singer. I think he pulls the band down, and they’d stand a better chance of making it without him as their front man. He’s all bluster and hot air and purely in it for the fame and the chicks. Cayenne is smart enough to know this, so I don’t understand why she is still clinging to a relationship that is toxic. She has a tendency to put herself down, which I hate. Along with Jared, she’s the best person I know.
“Things seem to be getting serious with you and J,” she adds, lifting her head and changing the conversation.
“They’ve been serious since that first kiss. You know I’ve wanted this for years.”
“I mean sexually.” She drills me with a look. “Have you given him your V-card yet?”
I shake my head, sending waves of long blonde hair tumbling across my shoulders. “You would know if I had.” We tell each other everything. Or most everything that’s important. “We’ve done everything but the deed.”
“Why wait?” She quirks a brow. “You guys have known each other your entire lives. Your dads are best friends since college, and they know you’re crazy about one another. He’s a decent guy, and he loves you. He’ll make sure your first time is good.”
I don’t tell her Jared is a virgin too because it’s not something anyone knows. He’s been with other girls, and everyone just assumed he was fucking them. Most of the guys I know, and some of the girls, lost their V-cards at fourteen or fifteen. At almost sixteen, it’s quite unusual Jared and I haven’t gone there, but we were waiting for each other. My heart was so full when he told me I almost burst with joy. “I know he will, but he wants to wait until I’m sure, and”—I chew on the inside of my mouth, embarrassed to have to articulate this, but I know Cay will understand and be as angry and humiliated as me—"my father asked him outright to wait until we’re legal.”
Cay’s mouth hangs open, and her eyes pop wide. “Get the fuck out!”
“Truth. It’s so embarrassing. I wanted to die when Jared told me.”
“Your dad is so protective of you.”
