“Where are you going?” I ask, walking to the coffee machine.
“I’m taking your sisters for a spa day.”
“Brilliant,” I mutter. Scarlett may have been elsewhere last night, but Harley was here and enjoying the party, surely she should help me clean up.
“Oh no, don’t even think about it,” Mom warns as if she can read my thoughts. “We’ll be out of your way in half an hour. Poppy is just packing her stuff up so I can take her home.”
“Great.” Thoughts of how Poppy and I left things last night leave a bitter taste in my mouth—worse than the lingering taste of the whiskey I can’t shake.
“I suggest you start in your den. There are bodies everywhere.”
She shudders as she says the words, hands me her mug and glides from the room.
Rolling my eyes, I rinse her mug out and place it into the dishwasher.
So much for a New Year’s Day workout with the guys later today then.
I do as was suggested and head toward my den. I don’t need to open the door to know what I’m going to find inside. The smell of weed and teenage boys lingers in the hallway.
“Rise and shine, motherfuckers,” I shout, turning the spotlights on and hitting the button to open the blinds. Grunts and groans sound as bodies begin to stir to life. “Unless you planned on spending your day cleaning this house from top to bottom, I suggest you get your shit together and fuck off.”
At the threat of cleaning up, everyone jumps into action.
Twenty minutes later and Justin is the last to leave as I begin sweeping the room with a trash bag in hand.
So much for being a fucking team. They were all more than happy to fuck shit up last night, but they have no interest in the consequences.
It wouldn’t have been like this at the beginning of the school year. Jake, Mason, and Ethan would have stayed to help. Even a few weeks ago, Shane would have been here tidying up the mess they helped make the night before. But now they’ve all got their girls, they’ve got more important things to worry about than sorting this place out.
I’m in the kitchen getting a new bag when footsteps thunder down the stairs. Female voices fill the room and when I turn around, I find a smug Harley and a sheepish-looking Poppy standing in the doorway.
“Regretting it, yet?” Harley asks, her eyes flicking around the bottles and cups still littering the counters and floors.
“Fuck off,” I grunt, ripping my eyes away from the two of them. Poppy might not have looked up at me but that doesn’t mean she won’t and I don’t have it in me to see the hatred in her eyes, not yet at least.
“Jeez, you clearly didn’t get a kiss at midnight,” she mutters absently.
I fight not to react, but my spine goes ramrod straight.
Spinning back to them, I find Poppy staring daggers into me, begging me not to say anything. And I won’t, not about that at least.
“That’s where you’re mistaken. Laurie only left a few minutes ago. Mom caught us in bed together.”
I watch as all the color drains from Poppy’s face and her lips purse in anger. I want to say there’s some jealousy there but mostly, I think she just wants to cause me pain.
“I’m not sure that should be something to be proud of,” Harley announces to the sound of Mom coming to join us.
“Ready to go?” she asks Harley before the three of them turn and disappear from my sight. Although I don’t miss the “have fun” that Mom calls out to me.
3
Poppy
My stomach twists to the point I think I might puke on the Hunter’s tiled floor as Zayn proudly states that he had a bedmate last night.
It’s not news to me. I watched them both stumble inside as I made a trip to the bathroom before I finally fell asleep last night.
The jealousy, the anger that swelled within me like an angry beast was almost enough to force me to follow them and pull that hussy away from him.
But I couldn’t. It wasn’t my place. And as much as I sometimes want to pretend that there might be something between us, just to allow myself a few seconds where life might not be quite so shit, I know there’s not. It’s all fantasy, a game, where Zayn is concerned.
He’s already proved to be a compulsive liar and last night was just another example of the shit that falls out of his mouth. It makes me wonder how much of it the cheer sluts fall for.
“Are you okay, honey?” Jada asks when both she and Harley take a step to leave, but my feet root me to the spot.
“Oh um… yeah. Just tired.”
“Let’s get you home so you can sleep it off.” I hear the warning in her voice loud and clear. She hates that her baby is now a part of Zayn’s senior year parties. But with Harley being a cheerleader now, she can hardly stop it. Especially when all she’s done is encourage her youngest child to join the squad.
“What happened to Ruby?” Jada asks once we’re backing out of the driveway.
“Um…” Harley hesitates. “I think she might have gone home with a friend.”
Jada’s eyes find her daughter’s in the rearview mirror and then narrow in accusation.
The last thing I saw of Ruby last night was her dancing with one of the guys after I ran away from Zayn. After that, the only thing I know is that she didn’t spend the night in Harley’s room like we’d planned.
I cast a glance at Harley who just shrugs at me, clearly not knowing where she disappeared to either.
The little bit of concern I’d been feeling about our best friend grows even more. I really don’t need anyone else to worry about in my life but she’s changed recently and I fear she’s on a one-way street to self-destruction if she’s not careful.
The conversation in the car falls silent and I rest my head back, watching the passing scenery. I don’t want to go home. But where else am I supposed to go?
“Here you go, honey,” Jada says as she pulls up outside my house a few minutes later.
“Thank you,” I say sadly. “Call you later?” I mutter to Harley before pushing the door open.
“Sure.”
“Have a great day.” I put as much excitement into my words as possible but they still fall very flat. I may have turned down the invitation to join them, but really, I’d love to. A day of forgetting about everything and just enjoying the relaxation and pampering, I can’t even imagine what that must be like at this point.
“It’s not too late to join us,” Harley asks hopefully.
“I can’t. I’ve got stuff…” I trail off, not wanting to go into details.
“I know. Have a good one.”
I wave them both off and watch as their car disappears down the street before sucking in a breath and turning toward the house.
My stomach drops the second I push inside the front door. It’s in silence with only the sound of Cooper’s crying ringing through the house. My stomach drops, I knew I shouldn’t have gone last night.
I drop my bags and make my way through the rooms to find where everyone is. We’re lucky, I guess, we’ve got a decent house on the boundary between the rich and poor side of town. On the outside, it might look like we’re a normal, happy family. But inside tells a very different story.