Page 98 of Reckless Vengeance

I tugged her onto my lap when Mr. Franklin entered the room, and we managed to make it through the morning classes without a problem.

By lunch, we could feel it. There was a shift.

“You don’t even give a shit about the school now that you’re with her,” Claire scoffed, inspecting her manicured nails as she stood beside our table in the cafeteria.

“Spit it out, Davidson,” Jensen muttered, picking at his food. We’d gotten a bunch of sandwiches and snacks to split between us since we weren’t exactly that hungry with all the drama.

“I think we need new leaders.”

“It’s not a cult,” I huffed, eyeing her. “What’s the problem? We’ve had personal shit going on. Feel free to pick new people to obsess over, I don’t give a shit, but those who make us out to be the enemy won’t be coming to Saturday’s party.”

Rory and the guys gave me questioning looks, and I couldn’t blame them. We really shouldn’t have been having parties right now, but our control here was slipping. Being at the top of the food chain meant information, and we needed to hear gossip to stay safe.

Not to mention, if Claire took over, she’d go after Rory, and Rory would probably beat her to death over it. Mom couldn't exactly get her out of a murder charge if she snapped and did it publicly.

Claire blinked at me, seeming surprised. “You’re throwing a party?”

“Yeah. It was supposed to be a surprise, but you ruined it,” I shrugged, standing and speaking louder for others to hear. “Party at mine on Saturday! Everyone’s invited!”

People started chattering with excitement, and Rory pointed at Claire while glaring at me.

“Except her, right?”

“Obviously, she’s made it clear she doesn’t like us,” I replied, and Claire winced.

“Caden—”

“Rory wouldn’t let you in anyway. You want to disrespect her, send your dogs after her, and burn her? Then ask her if you can come to her home? Fuck off, Claire. You and your cronies can have your own party.”

“I didn’t burn her. We’re busy anyway. I’d invite you, but Aurora’s banned from the Shed,” she huffed, and I gave her a blank stare.

“Thought the Psychos were trash?”

“Not all of them,” she replied before flouncing off to find her friends, and Rory gave me a weird look.

“She’s kidding, right? They hate rich kids hanging around, it causes problems. We’re the exception,” she stated, and Jensen handed her a sandwich.

“Look into it later. Don’t let her see you thinking about it. She’s just trying to get under your skin. Ask Skeet after school, he won’t lie if she’s been hanging around.”

“Why the fuck would he even let her hang around?” she scoffed, and I shot her a look of warning.

“You’re doing what she wants. Wipe it off your face and deal with it at home.”

She rolled her eyes but took a bite of her sandwich, letting Tyler manhandle her as he pulled her onto his lap.

Their date had definitely made me jealous, but he’d told us about other things she wanted to do, like go to the sushi place. He could have kept that information to himself but he’d told us so we could take her instead.

That definitely made me feel better at knowing he wasn’t trying to be selfish with her.

She’d looked stunning in the dress too, something I made sure to tell her when we’d stripped her out of it last night.

I was pretty sure all of us had needed that because we slept like rocks afterwards.

Skeeter had been called to the Shed with Diesel for something, much to his annoyance. He’d been looking forward to getting her out of the dress too.

“We can’t throw a party, Holloway. Apart from the fact the paparazzi are parked out front of your house all the time now, we still have the Soldiers hanging around. Josie will find out about the party fast and come home, or the Soldiers will be able to sneak in undetected and do fuck knows what,” Lukas said quietly, his eyes on Rory as she laughed at something Tyler said.

“Do you have any other ideas? We need to keep the peace here or we lose control of the school. Maybe having Skeet and his guys there will show the Soldiers not to mess with us.”