“Ignore me, I’m a fucking asshole. Come lean on my car and look cool with me, babe. We were just talking about the party I’m throwing at mine on Friday night. You’re coming, right?”
I cringed as I took the cigarette and lit it.
I didn’t do big parties, and I assumed these rich pricks knew how to throw a fucking big one.
Don’t get me wrong, I liked to party as much as the next bitch, but crowds of strangers made me nervous.
“How many people are going?”
“Everyone, but you’re our queen, so you get to hang out in the cool kid’s corner with us and avoid people, if you like.”
“I do like to party,” I finally mumbled, causing Lukas to frown.
“You do?”
I met his gaze and raised an eyebrow.
“Well, I like being drunk or high. So yeah, I guess.”
“You smoke weed now?” he choked out with surprise, earning a snort in return.
“Who said I just get high on weed?”
I had a drag of my cigarette before glancing over my shoulder as the sound of power rumbled into the parking lot and a blood-red Lamborghini came into view that I’d seen in Jensen’s garage that morning.
Caden’s Challenger drove in behind him and they parked next to the Camaro, Jensen climbing out and making a show of checking the Camaro over for damage as if he thought I’d take it off roading or something.
“Looks like you handled her okay then?”
I smirked, flicking the ash from my cigarette.
“C’mon, I’m a good driver, Jense, and I have a high respect for muscle cars and V8’s. Why be so surprised that it’s in one piece?”
“I’m more impressed than surprised, babe,” he grinned, jerking a thumb in Caden’s direction and turning serious. “Someone has something to say to you.”
I glanced over at Caden, noticing the awkward expression on his face, and my eyes instantly jerked back to Jensen accusingly.
“You fucking told him, didn’t you?” I hissed, a sigh leaving him.
“No, but I told him to fucking apologize for making it seem like we were going to rape you tag-team style.”
Lukas choked on his cigarette, staring at me with wide eyes.
“You told Jensen?”
Before I could take more than two angry steps in his direction, Jensen’s arm went around my waist and pulled me back against his chest, his lips tickling my ear as he spoke loud enough for only me to hear him.
“Please let Caden speak, and I’ll tell Lukas to back off, okay?”
I relaxed against him slightly, taking a deep breath as I nodded, but he didn’t move back from me as he leaned against the BMW beside Tyler, pulling me back with him as his eyes met Lukas’s.
“Dude, shut your mouth, okay? It’s not your business.”
“What the fuck did she tell you?” he growled, Jensen narrowing his eyes with irritation.
“The truth. Fuck off and leave her alone.”
Caden watched us suspiciously for a moment before he set his jaw hard, speaking firmly.
“I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t think it would scare you like that. I’d never force myself on someone. I figured you’d be down since I thought you were fucking Jense too.”
I glanced at him before looking away, shrugging slightly as I tried to look like it wasn’t a big deal.
“Okay.”
“Okay?” he asked with a frown of confusion, and I looked up and met his gaze again.
“Yeah, okay. I heard your apology.”
He looked torn for a moment, before giving Jensen a silent conversation and heading off to class, jerking his head at Tyler to follow, leaving Jensen and Lukas with me.
Lukas’s expression became soft suddenly, and he took a small step in my direction without getting too close.
“I’m worried about you, I really am. Did you seriously talk to Jense about it?”
I was tense but nodded. “Yeah, I did.”
“All of it?”
When I was quiet, Jensen spoke gently but sternly, proving I was right about him having my back.
“She doesn’t have to tell me all of it if she doesn’t want to. Jesus Christ, Lukas, let her deal with it in her own fucking time. Stop bringing it up in front of the others, too.”
Lukas seemed to be processing it for a moment before finally sighing, defeat filling his almond eyes.
“You think I turned my back on you, but I didn’t know what else to do, Rory. You didn’t know about the other players in his game.”
That made me frown, an uneasy feeling washing over me.
“Other players? There weren’t any?”
“Yeah, there were. Like I told you, you never let me explain it all to you.”
Jensen moved past me and scruffed him firmly by the front of his shirt, anger rolling off him in waves.
“Explain how you could walk away after what you saw? Give it a fucking crack Lukas, we’re all ears.”
“Max’s debts went way past that one filthy piece of shit. She was promised to more than just him, but I’d managed to pay most of them off myself behind Max’s back. That one guy didn’t want the money though, and he refused to meet up with me. He wasn’t the original deal either,” he explained with venom in his voice, a shiver rolling through me.
His eyes were full of pain and apology as he kept speaking, my heart tearing open in the process.
“Max tried cutting me a deal to help with some of my mom’s debts to him that weren’t even that fucking bad, he just claimed he didn’t want the money. He thought if I roughed you up a little and some other shit, that you wouldn’t be such a bratty fucking child, then Mom would be square with him.”
“What do you mean, roughen her up?” Jensen growled, the pain spreading across Lukas’s face as he continued.
“I was meant to do to her, what that piece of shit did. He even threatened to kill Mom if I didn’t. Obviously, I told him to fuck off. I loved you, Rory. I didn’t think he’d actually let anyone else hurt you like that. When he called and told me to go peek in your window, I did. I had to make sure you were alright, and when I turned away from the window, I was heading inside to fucking kill whoever that prick was, but your father stopped me on the way in. He told me he had someone at my house watching my mom, and all he had to do was give the word and they’d kill her. When I got in his face and tried to get past him still, he told me if I helped you in any way, he’d get someone new to visit you every night instead of the once, and that’s what stopped me. I couldn’t face you after that, knowing what you thought of me. I was a kid, Rory. Max was super powerful at the time, and…”
I couldn’t listen to it anymore as I flung myself at him, wrapping my arms around him tightly and burying my face in his neck as I tried to hold my emotions in.
I wasn’t going to fucking cry in the school parking lot.
Fuck no.
After a moment, his shock seemed to wear off, his arms going around me tightly.
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t stop any of the hurt. I’m so fucking sorry.”
I finally looked up at him and gazed into his eyes.
I’d never noticed the guilt he’d obviously been carrying over the last few years, but now I saw it all.