“The fuck are you telling her all that shit for? It’s not just your shit to tell, Jense.”
Jensen shrugged. “It’s common knowledge, so it’s fine. Besides, all kings need a queen, right?”
“Right?” He replied slowly, making Jensen smirk.
“Well, you’re welcome. I made her ours.”
Lukas looked annoyed as fuck now.
Well, good.
Asshole.
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“It means, between Caden sticking up for her and me telling our teacher in class this morning that she’s one of us, she is officially part of our group,” he exclaimed proudly to Lukas’s horror.
“Bad idea, Jense,” he hissed, but Tyler laughed like a fucking hyena, smacking his knee as he hooted.
“Claire’s gonna blow a fucking gasket! Do you think people will just bow down to Rory?”
I listened to them talk it over, only half paying attention, but I perked up instantly when we arrived at the house to find Caden’s Challenger parked in the driveway.
We all walked inside together, and Caden looked up as he leaned against the bench with a teasing smirk on his face.
“I know you guys can’t handle it when I’m not around, but a welcome home party?”
Jensen rolled his eyes playfully.
“As if. We were coming over to swim in your pool and hang out with Rory.”
Caden’s eyes landed on mine and his expression softened instantly.
“Hey, how’s the face?”
“It’s okay,” I shrugged, not knowing how to act in case he got into trouble, but he finally raised an eyebrow and smiled at me.
“Well, are you gonna just stand there, or give me a hug?”
I hesitated before walking across the room, a strange sense of relief washing over me as he pulled me against his chest and held me tightly, kissing the top of my head. “You sure you’re okay? I would have checked on you, but Mom kept my phone here.”
“Did she send you to your dad’s?” I asked softly, his body tensing before he replied with bluntness in his tone.
“You know about my dad?”
“Only that he exists and you stay there sometimes,” I mumbled, instantly feeling bad for upsetting him, but he just chuckled.
“Liar. What have the guys been telling you?”
Jensen leaned against the wall and crossed his arms.
“Basic shit. You get sent there when you’re naughty, and your dad’s mean.”
“When I’m fucking naughty, huh?” He asked with amusement plastered on his face.
“Yep.”
“So, what did I miss at school today?” He asked, not moving back from his hold on me.
Tyler laughed like a maniac, waving his arms around with sudden enthusiasm.
“Oh, you should have been there, man! Jensen stood up for Rory in class, so you can imagine the gossip around that, but he took her from class with this big speech to the teacher that she’s one of us. Guess the school just got themselves a queen. Lukas and I weren’t even in their class and we heard about it within minutes of it happening.”
Caden finally moved back from me, giving me a frown.
“Why did Jensen need to save you today? Everyone knows to leave you alone.”
Tyler kept fucking laughing.
“Save her? Fuck no! He told Claire to fuck off for her own safety, or he was going to let Rory kick the crap out of her. Kinda wish he’d just let her to be honest. I love a fucking girl fight.”
Caden scowled, ignoring his friend’s opinion as he turned to me.
“Claire started her shit on you?”
I rolled my eyes.
He was acting like I’d had the fucking shit kicked out of me, not a little girl tiff.
“She just figured without you there to protect me, that she should see how far she could push me. She didn’t do anything other than sit next to me. Jensen told her to get out of his seat before she could say much, though. It wasn’t a big deal.”
“His seat, huh?” Caden asked, a hint of sarcasm in his voice that I didn’t understand.
I gave him a casual shrug that he didn’t seem to really like.
“Yeah, he decided to sit with me so people backed off.”
Caden and Jensen shared a silent conversation for a moment before Tyler spoke up, breaking their standoff.
“Let’s all go swimming, yeah? Good to see you, Holloway,” then he took off outside with Jensen and Lukas behind him.
Caden sighed before looking at me again with curiosity.
“So, they looked out for you today? No other problems?”
I fiddled with my hands and shook my head.
“No problems, but we left morning class and hung out till lunch before coming home, so I guess no one got the chance. I still find it fucking weird that we get out at lunch most of the week.”
Seriously, study period wasn’t compulsory, so unless we had a scheduled assignment or extra lesson, we never had to stick around once lunch was over.
He seemed confused for a moment before raising an eyebrow.
“They’ve seriously brought you into the crew, huh? Never thought I’d see the day.”
I frowned, not following what he was implying.
“What day?”
“The day that a fucking girl brought them to their knees,” he stated casually, taking my hand and leading me out to the pool to join the others as if he hadn’t just dropped that little fucking bombshell.
Fuck me.
“Want a beer?” Tyler asked as he climbed out of the pool hours later, glancing around the group.
The other three nodded, but I hesitated, not particularly wanting Max to bust me drinking.
“Max would kill me.”
Caden grinned, pulling me firmly against him and causing the cool water to splash around us.
“Mom and Max took off for a week. Mom’s got some business stuff to do, and Max wanted to go with her.”
“They left us alone?” I asked, anger lacing my tone.
I hardly knew these guys, and Dad had just left me there?
He was lucky that I was actually getting along with them, or I’d have blown a fucking fuse right about now.
He looked amused for a moment before winking at me.
“Well, they think I’m still at Dad’s. Dad doesn’t give a fuck what I get up to, so I came home when I heard they were going away for a bit. Figured you’d want company.”
Jensen smirked, giving Caden a tormenting waggle of the eyebrows.
“Hey, I would’ve kept her company for you.”
“I bet you fucking would’ve,” he snorted, but gave me a small smile and continued, “Anyways, have a beer. It’s fine.”
I finally nodded and Tyler wandered inside to get everyone a drink, but Lukas watched Caden with a frown.
“What’s the deal? Her dad isn’t here for you to upset but you haven’t kept your hands off her.”
Great way to freak me out.
Thanks, Lukas.
My body tensed and I swam back from Caden slightly, but he rolled his eyes and gave me space as he replied.
“C’mon, I’ve got a hot stepsister. Why would I keep my hands to myself?”
“Oh, I dunno, because maybe if you knew what really fucking happened to her, you wouldn’t…”