Deke and I slowly sit back in our seats.
“What time was that movie, babe?” Becky asks him.
“Eight thirty,” he answers her but smiles at me. They both reach in and devour the cupcakes, and I watch Austin smile as she talks to Becky like nothing ever fucking happened. It makes me wanna know what else Kellan said to her. She’s obviously choosing my side, but why? Did he threaten her? Blackmail her? Does she think I’m the easier one of the two? I’m gonna find out.
“Yeah, I’d love to go.” Her voice gets my attention.
“Go where?” I ask.
Becky answers. “To your guys’ swim meet next weekend. It’s only an hour away.”
“If it’s okay, we could bring Lilly,” Austin adds. “I know she would love to watch you.”
Deke smiles through his cupcake, and I can see the chocolate in his teeth. I refrain from throwing one at his face.
She’s getting to you.
Yes. She is. And I’m not sure what to do about that anymore.
_________________________________
I close the door after telling Deke and Becky goodbye to find Austin in the kitchen washing dishes. I lean back against the wall, watching her rinse them off before placing them in the dishwasher. “You know your father pays people to do that, right?”
“When living with my mom, we didn’t pay anyone. If something needed to be done, I did it.”
“Stop,” I say, coming up behind her. I spin her around and grip her hip with my right hand. My left hand pushes her hair from her face. “What did Kellan say to you to make you change your mind? Did he blackmail you?”
She laughs at that. “No, but he is a lot like you in other ways.”
“How?” I ask, my hand pausing in her hair.
“He pinned me against the lockers.”
“He what?” I bark.
“Told me to end it with you and drop out of the group before you make an even bigger joke out of me.”
“Austin …”
“If you’ve learned anything about me, it’s that I don’t like being cornered. I don’t like being told what I can and can’t do.”
I smile softly down at her. Glad to see that fight back in her gorgeous green eyes. “Yeah.”
“He gave me until tomorrow to make my decision.”
My teeth clench at that. “And what if you don’t choose what he wants?’
She shrugs. “He didn’t say. But I remember hearing you say that you like to perform.” My brows rise. “So …” She wraps her arms around my neck. “We are going to give them all a show, baby.”
I laugh at the way she calls me baby. It’s the first time she’s ever said it, and I hate how it makes chills run up my spine. “What do you have in mind?”
She reaches up and gently kisses my lips. “Right now, I want you to take me upstairs and rip this dress off my body. And fuck me like they’re watching.”
AUSTIN
Sunday evening, we pull up to the barn at nine o’clock. We were supposed to be here thirty minutes ago. We spent all day in my bed, then took our time getting ready. Cole walks around and opens the passenger door for me. I smile up at him, and he has a smirk on his face.
He takes my hand in his and opens the barn door for me to enter. We come in, and all chatter comes to a stop. Deke sits on the couch texting on his phone. Shane and Bennett lean up against the table to the right, and Kellan stands facing them.
“Hello, everyone.” Cole says cheerfully.
I watch Kellan’s brown eyes narrow on him.
“Finally.” Deke jumps up. “Let’s get this over with. We shouldn’t even be meeting tonight. We don’t have a dare to do.”
“That’s because Cole is taking his sweet ass time fucking Kaitlin,” Kellan says, looking at me. “Not sure why. She’s a guaranteed lay.”
I tighten my hold on Cole’s hand. He ignores Kellan.
“I called the meeting,” Bennett says and turns around to dig into a black drawstring backpack. Identical to the one that lies under my bed. He opens it up and pulls out five white envelopes. “Here you guys go.” He hands one to Shane and Kellan. Then he walks over and hands Cole two. He tosses Deke the last one, and he catches it midair.
“What is that?” I ask.
Cole hands me one of them. I take it and feel the thickness.
“This …” Deke holds his up and smiles at me. “Is payday.”
“Payday?” I ask confused. “I don’t—”
“That laptop you stole from Jerrold’s,” Bennett interrupts me, “had several accounts on it. I’m draining them one at a time into an account I set up. This is the smallest one. And this is your cut. We each got ten thousand.”
“What?” My mouth falls open in a gasp. I shove my envelope into Cole’s chest and let go of it. It falls to his feet. “I can’t take that.”