The Punk and the Plaything (When Rivals Play Book 3) Read online

  Wren’s blue-gray eyes widened appreciatively, and then he was stepping aside and pulling Lou with him. I didn’t meet their gazes as I stepped inside their home. I didn’t want either of them to see just how nervous I was.

  Even though I’d been here that night, I hadn’t seen the inside. Jamie had taken me home the minute I’d belted the last note and left as if nothing had ever happened. I was curious if the two strangers had found their fairy-tale ending, but stubbornly, I hadn’t wanted to give Jamie the satisfaction of leaving me in suspense. He clearly didn’t like asking me for help, which was probably why he never bothered and kidnapped me instead.

  Looking around, I noticed how little Wren and Lou had, and yet I still felt the warmth of a home. My parents had filled our house with countless trinkets and antiques, but it had never felt like home.

  Wren and Lou had kept their furnishings simple and cozy, and I knew that by the end of the night, I wouldn’t want to leave.

  “This way,” Lou directed. “Everyone’s in here.”

  Wren took the case of beer from me, and I couldn’t tell if he was being a gentleman or was just that eager for a buzz. It was only a few steps to the living where Ever, Four, Tyra, Vaughn, and… Jamie were all seated on the floor around the long, wooden coffee table. Just like Wren, they all looked more than a little surprised to see me, and I realized then that the only one who’d known I was coming was Lou.

  And of course, the only one who actually seemed pissed by my presence was Jamie.

  He shot up from his comfortable lounge on the floor, and I tried but failed not to ogle him in his dark gray slacks, matching vest, and white dress shirt adorned by a black and white tie. I had no idea what prompted this change in his style, but my watering mouth told me I hoped it stayed this way. That was, of course, until he opened his mouth.

  “What the hell are you getting at, Lou?”

  “Sit down, Jamie. The pizza’s getting cold.”

  Wren only shook his head as he flopped down on the recliner and got comfortable. He didn’t seem the least bit surprised by his girlfriend’s antics. To make matters worse, she pointed to the only empty spot left—next to Jamie—and told me to have a seat too.

  As everyone waited for an explanation, she piled five or six slices of pizza on a plate before sauntering over to Wren and curling up on his lap. He kissed her lips and whispered something that no one could hear before stealing a slice from her plate.

  Feeling awkward enough, I slowly sank onto the floor, leaving Jamie standing alone. He could do what he wanted. It had been nearly a week since I’d seen or talked to him. Given how we left things, his reaction to my being here wasn’t a total surprise, but I couldn’t help wishing he would take a break from being such a dick. I needed this.

  As I felt him seething next to me, I suddenly realized his problem.

  Jamie preferred to be the one doing the preying and pouncing. I’d caught him off guard, and now he felt like he didn’t have the upper hand. Settling in, I grabbed a slice of pizza and decided I’d do my damned hardest to keep it that way. I thought about how much harder he pushed whenever I pushed back and shivered.

  Scanning the room, I noticed Ever had his lips tucked as if he was trying not to laugh while Four rolled her eyes at Jamie before winking at me. Her reaction made me secretly like her that much more.

  I forced myself to relax a little since neither Four or Ever seemed bothered by my being here. Eventually, Jamie returned to his spot on the floor but not before throwing me a nasty glare. I chose to ignore him as I savored my pizza. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had any.

  “So, what’s the occasion for all of this anyway?” Tyra asked after everyone had filled their plates. Ever was the only one to opt for wings only since he steered clear of cheese. “Seems kind of random.”

  “What’s life if not a series of random moments?” Lou answered without actually answering at all.

  “Is that why you invited Medusa?” Jamie quipped. I knew immediately he was talking about me. “Because you felt like being random?”

  “If I were Medusa, I guess you’d be stone since you can’t seem to take your eyes off me.”

  “What?” he snarled.

  Finishing off my first slice, I reached for another. So good. “It’s not like you’ve looked anywhere else since I’ve sat down.”

  “Maybe because I’m still wondering why you’re here.”

  “I was invited.”

  Looking into his handsome, scowling face, I began to wonder the same thing. Why had I come? I’d been stupid to believe that Jamie might be eager to see me, too. Six days, and I couldn’t get our encounter inside my parents’ kitchen out of my mind. I’d even go so far as to say that he owed me an orgasm, though I would never be so bold or desperate to demand he pay up.

  I bet he’d like that too.

  “Lou only invited you to piss me off. She doesn’t even like you,” he said, using his words like a whip. Unfortunately, I knew what that truly felt like, yet somehow, Jamie’s words stung more.

  “Actually, that’s not true at all,” Lou said. “I don’t know Barbette, which is why she’s here.”

  “I’ve told you all about her,” Jamie snapped.

  “And now I’d like to get to know her for myself.”

  I felt a warmth spread through my veins at the sincerity in her voice. Just as quickly, I tossed the kernel of hope away. In less than a month, I would be leaving Blackwood Keep. Getting close to anyone was out of the question. It would only make running that much harder—and give my father a chance to find me. I had no idea how far he’d be willing to go to get me back, but I knew I couldn’t risk anyone getting hurt because of me.

  “Good luck with that,” Jamie said, snorting. “Elliot definitely wouldn’t approve of his precious daughter mingling below her station.” Suddenly our gazes met, blue against brown. “Does your father know where you are? I wonder what you told him so he’d let you out to play.” Turning his head, he regarded his cousin. “That you were on a date with your fiancé, perhaps?” Snickering, his cruel gaze traveled to Four, sitting close by Ever’s side. “You three definitely give new meaning to ‘double date.’”

  With a look to kill, Ever started to stand, but Vaughn beat him to his feet. “Did I hear someone mention beer?” he asked.

  “Oh… yeah,” Wren said, tilting his chin toward me. “Bee—” we grinned at each other at his use of my nickname—“brought a case. I put it in the fridge to chill.”

  “Beer’s beer,” Vaughn replied as he stepped over legs and feet until he reached Jamie. “Come and help me in the kitchen.”

  “For what?” Jamie said with a twist of his lips. Vaughn’s only response was to kick his foot hard as hell. With a growl, Jamie shot to his feet and followed Vaughn into the kitchen.

  “Sorry about that,” Tyra apologized with a gentle smile.

  I shrugged, knowing they all saw through my indifference. Everyone seemed to think I was the one in need of rescuing, but I wasn’t the princess in this fairy tale. I’m not even the villain. I’m nothing while Jameson is everything.

  As much as I wanted to hate him, I knew if Jamie had callously ripped out my heart as I had done to him, there was nothing I wouldn’t do to make him feel that pain tenfold.

  So I’d take his lashes and bear the pain with the hope that it lessened his own.

  “Music anyone?” Four offered as she stood. “Luckily, I commandeered Jamie’s iPod before school this morning.” Disappearing upstairs, she came back a few minutes later with an iPod and a handheld speaker shaped like a pill. “Any volunteers for deejay?”

  “As long as it’s not some old country western, I don’t give a fuck what you play,” Tyra replied. “I’m depressed enough.”

  Flipping her off, Four scrolled through Jamie’s iPod. “Just because I’m from the south doesn’t mean I listen to country.”

  “It doesn’t mean you don’t, either.”

  Sauntering back into the living roo
m as if nothing had happened, Jamie butted in. “Good music is whatever sets your soul on fire. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you have bad taste because you stayed true to yourself.”

  “Unless it’s Justin Bieber!” Vaughn shouted from the kitchen.

  “Oh, yeah,” Jamie agreed with a vigorous nod of his head. “Fuck that guy.”

  I noticed he only had two beers in his hand just before he handed me one. Was I mistaken or was this a peace offering? Hesitantly, I accepted it. When I felt his finger caress mine at the very last second, I wondered if he should be tested for mania. He could be so cold one moment and setting me on fucking fire the next.

  When he sat down this time, he was close enough for me to smell his body wash or maybe his shampoo? Whichever it was, it made me lean into him.

  Hmm… maybe I need to be checked, too.

  It was beginning to feel as if we were trapped on an emotional roller coaster—one that wasn’t planning to stop any time soon.

  “Did you know that Rihanna is Jamie’s favorite singer?” I announced with a bat of my eyelashes. My mind needed a distraction before my body did something crazy. “Not someone notable like Elvis or even Michael Jackson. Rihanna.”

  Jamie frowned as he took a sip of his beer. I found myself mirroring him and took a sip of mine, too. “Show me someone else who can be that savage and still sexy. Go ahead. I’ll wait.”

  “Holy shit!” Four interjected, her southern twang ringing loud and clear. Her eyes were wide as she clapped her hands over her mouth. “That explains everything! There were far too many of her songs on your iPod.”

  “You mean the one you keep stealing?” he shot back.

  Four didn’t bother defending herself and bit her bottom lip with a grin. Standing, Lou suggested we watch a movie instead, and while she looked for one, Jamie finished his beer. Setting the empty bottle on its side on the coffee table, he grinned. “You guys want to play spin the bottle? I’ll even up the ante. Instead of seven minutes in heaven, we’ll go for fifteen.”

  “Because that’s all the time you need?” Tyra teased as she came back into the living room.

  When the hell had she left? Vaughn appeared only seconds later, and I realized he hadn’t brought back the beers.

  “Sure,” Jamie said, and I knew by the wicked gleam in his eye that he was about to call them both out. “I guess you can relate. Did you at least take a hoe bath?”

  Tyra’s lips parted. “A what?”

  “You know, one of those baths where you wash your ass and pits in the sink.”

  “It’s called a birdbath, Jamie.”

  “Nah… it’s a hoe bath. I’ve watched plenty of girls do that shit after a hookup.”

  Planting her hands on her hips, she faced off with Jamie. All five feet of her. “Are you calling me a hoe?”

  “Are you telling me you didn’t just sneak away for a quickie?”

  “I’m telling you it’s none of your business.” She sat down next to Vaughn and rolled her eyes at Jamie when he blew her a kiss.

  “You know, I once took a hoe bath.” The room was silent, though Jamie didn’t exactly wait around for permission to continue. “This chick I met in a pub didn’t bother telling me she was a virgin before I bent her over. She bled all over me, and since I couldn’t shower right away, I had to scrub my dick in the sink.” When Jamie looked at me and winked, I wondered if that story had been told for my benefit. I didn’t doubt that it was true.

  “I hope you wore a condom,” Lou replied, wrinkling her nose.

  Stealing my unfinished beer, he saluted the room before taking a sip. “Always.”

  Blushing for some reason, I fixed my gaze on the TV in time to see Lou scrolling past The Conjuring. My love for horror movies took over, and I sat up, but the request on my lips quickly died when I remembered that I was an outsider.

  My disappointment was short-lived when I felt the cold press of Jamie’s lips on my ear and smelled the beer on his breath. “You know this timid act of yours isn’t going to make my dick hard if that’s your goal.”

  “It’s not.”

  “Mmm.” It was all the response he gave before sitting up. “Put something scary on,” he told Lou.

  “Like what?”

  Jamie looked down at me and perked a brow. I guess he wasn’t going to do the dirty work for me, after all.

  “How about The Conjuring?” I asked.

  Shrugging, Lou did just that before hitting the lights and returning to Wren’s lap. He hadn’t said much all night. I had the feeling he wasn’t much of a talker.

  Jamie stayed close while the movie played, and I tried not to laugh whenever he jumped at something scary. I had the feeling Jamie would have rather sat through a romantic comedy than a horror. We’d just gotten to the part where the Warrens were attempting an exorcism when my phone buzzed in my hand. Peeking down, I saw that it was a text from Joe.

  Outside, miss.

  The hollow feeling that I hadn’t realized was gone now returned with swift vengeance. Time to return to reality.

  As I started to stand and say my goodbyes, long fingers curled around my phone, stealing it from my hand. I watched Jamie read the text, and then my lips parted when he started typing with his thumb. Once done, he wordlessly dumped the phone in my lap. Picking it up, I read his reply to Joe.

  Take the rest of the night off. She has a ride home.

  My heart pounded in my chest for two reasons. One, Jamie hadn’t even bothered disguising that it wasn’t me texting back, and two, I’d get to stay in this fantasy just a little bit longer.

  Before I could say anything to Jamie, there was a knock at the front door. Wren started to lift a sleeping Lou so that he could answer the door, but Jamie beat him to the punch. I watched mesmerized as he swaggered lazily from the room.

  I could hear him speaking to someone, and the moment I heard Joe’s voice rising angrily, I shot to my feet and rushed from the living room. Joe seemed visibly relieved the moment he saw me enter the foyer while Jamie reluctantly stood back, allowing him to see me fully.

  “Hey, Joe! Sorry. I should have texted you,” I said with a pointed look at Jamie. “I decided to stay a little longer than I planned, so Jamie is going to give me a ride instead.”

  “That’s fine, miss.” The frown Joe wore now was troubled. “I’ll just have to let your father know.”

  My heart sank to my stomach. I knew my father would demand I come home if he found out that I was with anyone other than Ever.

  “Or don’t,” Jamie snapped with a scowl.

  Without thinking, I placed both hands on Jamie’s chest, hoping it would silence him. It did, but I could tell he didn’t like it. Joe hadn’t missed the exchange, and I knew we were no closer to convincing him to risk his job by lying to his employer. He’d already bought me the beer. Maybe I was asking too much. Remembering the wife and daughter he had to consider, I dropped my head. I couldn’t allow Joe to lose his job because of me.

  “I’ll just be a sec.” Spinning on my heel, I hurried back into the living room. The movie had been paused, and everyone was staring at me when I entered.

  “You have to go?” Lou asked as she stood and yawned.

  Wordlessly, I crossed the room and pulled her into a hug. “Thank you,” I whispered so only she could hear. She’d probably never know how much tonight had meant to me. Sometimes, the smallest gestures made the biggest impact.

  “Anytime,” she whispered back.

  Letting her go, I waved goodbye to everyone else, and that was when I realized Ever was missing. When I stepped out into the hall, I noticed two things: rain was falling, and neither Ever nor Joe seemed to notice as they spoke in low whispers at the end of the drive. The expression on Jamie’s face as he looked on was so intense that I had the feeling he was trying, or at least hoping, to read their lips.

  I attempted to slip past him, hoping to escape without making this harder, but of course, Jamie grabbed my hand, and I knew there was no such thing as e
asy when it came to us. Reluctantly, I met his gaze, and those brown eyes of his seemed to plead with me.

  Don’t go.

  It felt like tearing off my own limb when I slowly pulled my hand away.

  I have to.

  I STOOD IN THE RAIN, watching the taillights of the SUV until they disappeared. Ever had already run back inside without even an explanation on what the hell he’d said to Joe or why he was suddenly so tense.

  I wanted to go after Bee.

  To steal her away from whatever the hell had caused that haunted look in her eyes. I wasn’t blind. I knew she wanted to stay, so why the hell hadn’t she? Her father was a prick who hated my guts, but did it really matter how she got home as long as she made curfew?

  It was just more questions that needed fucking answering.

  Shouting from inside had me realizing that I was still standing in the fucking rain like a complete jackass. I stepped through the front door, and I gritted my teeth because I couldn’t stop replaying Bee walking through it.

  “I need money!” Lou shouted when I returned to the living room. “How else am I supposed to get it?”

  “I give you money,” Wren snapped.

  With one hand on her hip, Lou gave him a withering look. “I’m a modern woman, Harlan. Mama’s gotta bake her own bread.” She waved what looked like Vaughn’s wallet in the air as if picking pockets was her idea of a job. Vaughn snatched it from her hand, but Lou simply shrugged. I was pretty sure she’d pilfered his cash already.

  “Who the hell invites someone to their home and then steals from them? Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?”

  I started to laugh at the perplexed look on Vaughn’s face, but then I pictured the solemn expression on Bee’s face right before she pulled away, and my laughter died. My friends had all returned to their normal lives while I still felt like I’d had a hole punched through my chest. Right where my stolen and then broken heart wasn’t supposed to be.