His eyes slide over to Jamie, and she smiles.
I arch a brow. “You two dating?”
He pulls his lip back at that assumption. “No. I’m her cousin.”
“Gross, Hen.” She pretends to vomit.
“Oh.” I see. “How was I supposed to know?”
“Transferred here for my senior year. I’m staying with Uncle Bob and Aunt Jenny,” he says.
Jamie’s parents. “Well, it’s nice to meet you.” I offer a soft smile.
He nods. “It sure is.” He shoves another bite of my food into his mouth. “There’s a party tomorrow night after the game. You guys wanna go?”
“No,” Jamie rushes out. “We’ll skip this one.”
I look over at her. Her eyes go from mine to her cousin’s and then back to mine before they drop to her plate. Sure, I’m not a popular girl at the moment, but this is what I need. I need to get myself out there and prove I’m not afraid of these bastards. A place to make my move. “What?” I ask.
She lets out a sigh. “The party is at Lisa’s house.”
Law’s mother.
I perk up. A party at his house? I’m not surprised. He used to have them all the time. Law’s mom is the only single woman out of the guys’ mothers, so he gets to run the show at his house. His mother owns her own company, so she works all the time and is out of town a lot. He treats her mansion like a frat house during rush week. The doors are always open, and the staff always looks the other way but cleans up his messes. Pretty sure he has dirt on all of them.
I look over at them sitting side by side at the head of the room with some other football players. Rellik sits back in his seat with his eyes on his phone. Law sits next to him, stuffing his face. Laney is now perched on Scout’s lap, and his hand rests on her exposed thigh. That’s where I used to sit. He’s whispering something in her ear, and she’s laughing. Anger fills me, and I clench my hands, wanting to rip her off his lap by her hair. I want to say he’s doing this to get to me, but as Jamie already stated, he’s been this way with girls ever since I left. My eyes move to Dax, and he has his signature shades on. But I know he’s staring at me. I can feel it—a coldness seeps into my bones, making me shiver.
I’ve had four months to wonder what-ifs. And I realized that none of the scenarios in my head would come true. I’m going to have to force the truth out of him. And I’m going to have to spread my legs to do it. Men act stupid when they’re thrown some pussy. I only need to turn one of them onto my side, and then the rest will follow. And no matter what I did to Dax, I know for a fact that Scout will throw a fucking tantrum if I touch another guy. But the problem is, no one here will even look at me. Except for one …
I look at Datson and give him a big smile. “We’ll be there.”
He knocks his knuckles on the table. “We’ll pick you up. Ten o’clock.” Then he stands and exits the cafeteria.
Jamie turns to me. “What the hell are you doing, Hen?”
“What, I can’t party?” I ask, pulling my tray back toward me. All of a sudden, my appetite has returned.
“This isn’t the time for some personal vendetta,” she growls, lowering her voice.
I ignore that. “What’s the story with Datson. He single?”
“Son of a bitch,” she whispers to herself. “You need to stay clear of them, Hen. Do you hear me?”
I take a bite of my fries since Datson ate my cheeseburger in four bites.
“Henley?” She grabs my shoulder and forces me to face her. “I’m serious.”
“I have it under control.”
Her eyes soften, and her shoulders sag. “Do you want to end up like her?”
My heart beats faster at her question. “What?”
Her eyes slide to the table that holds the jocks before coming back to mine. I see that Scout and the bitch are making out. His hands are tangled in her blond hair while she straddles his hips. Her skirt pulled up so high you can practically see her pussy while she grinds on his lap, and that feeling of betrayal returns. The urge to throw Jamie’s drink at their heads is strong. But that’s what they want. They want a reaction from me. I won’t give it to them, so I turn my attention back to my friend.
“That’s what will happen if you try anything with them. And … and I can’t lose you again. If you choose to leave again, I will respect that, but not like that. I don’t want them to hurt you like they did Brenda Nash.”