“You know, next time tell your women to lower down their screams. It’s getting on my nerves. It doesn’t matter if your dad is on the other side of the house. You’re just being rude!”
Nice. No “good morning” whatsoever. She was just ready to go and rumble away.
“Okay,” I responded, not glancing at her. The next time I had to get my groove on, I might just have to take it elsewhere.
My senses were so aware of her that I had to shift in my seat before starting the car. I took my time scrolling through my playlist to zone her out and when I found a song, she grumbled a sigh. I wasn’t sure if she was into The Killers, but she’d have to go with my taste I supposed. Now I was ready to start my day. Shifting gears, I concentrated on driving.
Silently, I was singing along in my mind, but when the music started to lower down, I bit back a growl because Olivia had other things in mind. I wanted to pump the volume up to piss her off. Instead, I remained glued to the road, quietly shouting expletives words because I vowed to remain mum. If I could help it.
“We need to talk about what happened yesterday,” she started. From my peripheral view, I could see her stare at me for a minute, waiting on me to say something.
Alas, I was sticking to my guns.
“I see. You’re ignoring me.” She released a stressed sigh, still looking at me. And just my luck, the stop light just turned red, so I had to simmer under the heat of her stare for a good minute or so until I could concentrate on driving again, rather than getting all hyperaware of this beautiful smelling creature right next to me.
Still staring me down, she continued on, “If your motives yesterday were because you were protecting your friend, I want to assure you that I’m not going to be dating anyone seriously. Gavin knows this, too. My goal is to get through this school year so I can go back to be with Liam. I just want to have fun, nothing more.”
Liam again. If she was so crazy about him and couldn’t wait to be with him, then why the hell was she willing to date other men?Whatever.She could date whomever she wanted. Heck, I wouldn’t even bat an eyelash if she decided to date all the sport teams in our school. Well, maybe she already did.
“I just thought I should get it out there, you know.” She glanced at me. “’Kay, I’m done talking now. Thanks for listening, even if I forced you to. We can resume hating each other now.”
Why was she explaining herself anyway? It wasn’t like I had to know. Our silent bizarre battle was of no importance. I lived in the pool house, so we didn’t have to interact, except for these quick rides in the morning ‘cause she rides back with Josie. I didn’t have to see her at all. I had succeeded in pretending that she didn’t exist for the nearly a decade, I could still keep on pretending.
I wasn’t even surprised when she immediately darted out of the car the second I hit the break in the parking lot. So, for the next few days, we shared the ride going to school, without a word to each other. It was easier that way.
When Friday night rolled in, and both Brett and Laura were spending their weekend in Vegas, I decided it was time to throw my version of Homecoming party, Luau style.
Since the entire senior class was blasted with invites on Facebook, I didn’t find it necessary to mention it to Liv. After all, we were on no-speaking terms.
CHAPTER7
Liv
Greyson Edwards wasthe most loathsome, despicable, self-centered prick known to mankind!
After that cafeteria encounter, he had done nothing but ignore me—literally to the point where he never even looked in my direction anymore. It was as if I was not there. He didn’t acknowledge me when I got into his car; he didn’t utter a damn fucking word, and just pretended that I was non-existent.
Each day that had gone past, the more aggravated I became. I tried to play nice—took a chance at my own way of explaining—even if I knew what the reason behind this whole argument…
Each night, I would look over to the pool house from my window and wondered where he’d gone. He would come home at two in the morning—and yes, I did notice that for some reason. I’d wake up just in time for him to go inside the pool house. I knew he just came from another woman’s house. It was disappointing to see how he was just being the dickwad that he was.
Nor did it help my hate campaign that he radiated sin at every angle. With gravitating hazel eyes, exuding confidence with gesture—be it his smile, the way he pressed his lips together or bit them, the way he talked with that deep timber that seemed to travel deep into my core, or the way his eyes just pulled you in… with cocky curiosity and with a predatory gleam. No woman—young or old—could ever seem to look away. He was mesmerizing to look at, plain and simple. He was that jackass that everyone adored, all but excluding me, of course. And yet, Greyson still remained an enigma to me.
It was my last class of the day and all everyone could talk about was the damn party Grey was throwing tonight. When Josie asked me what I wanted to wear tonight during lunchtime, I merely shrugged because I wasn’t even sure if I was invited. We shared a house, but that didn’t mean I was welcome to his own party. So when she dropped me off afterwards, it didn’t even surprise me that she already had plans for this evening.
“Okay, so I’ll be swinging by say ten-ish? I don’t want to be too early to the party. Besides, I want to make a grand entrance.”
“Enjoy the party. I’m going out with Gavin tonight.”
She smiled before blowing kisses. “You better give me all the juicy details later. I’ll see you tonight, even if you’re not going to join the party, I know my way to your bedroom, so we cool.”
Of course she did. “Yes and yes. See you.” I waved her off. I was just entering the door when my phone started ringing. Grinning, I picked up. “Great of you to remember me.”
Liam chuckled on the other line. “You’re always in my thoughts, never fear of that.” He paused. “So, tonight’s the night, yeah?”
He was referring to Gavin. Hearing his cool, sexy accent gave me a heady dose of nostalgia. God, how I missed him! He went on his date yesterday, but I didn’t want to know what the heck happened ‘cause I didn’t think I could handle it. If it were up to me, I didn’t want this whole “let’s test the waters” shenanigans, but I had to think like an adult, and, at our age, it was the most reasonable solution. We didn’t want to ruin what we had with cheating, so if our connection was that strong, we’d survive it.
“Tonight’s the night,” I repeated as I strolled towards the kitchen, in need of refreshment.