Rose petals cover the ground in one spot, and I stop, thinking of what put them there Saturdaynight.
I pick up a rose that’s broken off its bush and lying on the path. The petals are intact, the purple rich and royal and defiant in thetwilight.
My hand squeezes into a fist, and I clench my jaw at the pain before setting the rose carefully on the flagstone wall bordering the garden and continuing on myway.
The hum from the pool drifts into my brain, and it takes me a second to notice the splashing as I emerge onto the openpatio.
Through the pool’s electric-blue water, her body is just visible. Her hair billows behind her like a cloud, her dark-blue bathing suit has me remembering the red one that made her legs look miles long Saturdaynight.
I pull out my phone and type out a text to the soph I met at UT Dallas back inJanuary.
Tyler:Come overtonight.
Imovethrough the pool house in the dark, dropping my phone on the bed. In the bathroom, I strip off my clothes and step into the shower. The spray washes away a day of frustration andanger.
Kellan’s lucky. He might not think so icing his face tonight, but he has no idea what I’d have done if he’d hurther.
When I moved to Dallas, I hadn’t planned on being the rich kids’ fascination, but it made everything easier—catching up in school, blendingin.
It’s easy to stay on top when people don’t know what you careabout.
When they know how to hurtyou…
You’reweak.
I can’t afford weakness. Not when I’m so close to making something ofmyself.
I want to get through graduation and leverage my work with Jax into session gigs in LA, New York. I’ll have enough to provide myself, enough to leave my shitty home life behind and befree.
“Spoken like someone who’safraid.”
Annie’s wrong. I’m not afraid of fame, but I’m not dumb enough to think it’s for me. And even if it wants me… I don’t wantit.
So, why does it bother you somuch?
Because I don’t want to want it. I’m never going to make the same mistake my fatherdid.
When people get a taste of that life, it fucks with their head, destroys them and everyone aroundthem.
When the prospect of six figures turns to seven turns to eight… it stops being about the music and starts being about somethingugly.
The spray goes cold, and I step out and toweloff.
Despite my current surroundings, I don’t accept kindness easily. A favor is a debt indisguise.
The favor Jax did me by bringing me here isn’t a newdebt.
It’s a payment on an oldone.
I’m drying my hair when I jerk open the bathroom door and stepout.
The hall light’s on. I realize it a second before the sharp intake of breath has mefreezing.
Annie Jamieson’s in the doorway, her eyes round with shock. The dark bathing suit is painted on her slow curves. Her wet hair is the color of melted toffee, and she’s dripping on my floor. “Holyshit.”
Her attention isn’t on the puddle she’s leaving beneath her. It’s not even on myface.
It’s squarely between mylegs.