Page 49 of The Way the Heart Breaks: Jade’s Story

“She can’t see past all that charm of yours.” He chuckles.

“And the blonde?” I nod to the two of them swimming in.

“Hates me.” He smirks.

“Yeah, let’s not go there again.” I huff.

My best friend, my brother from another mother, my ride or die, could have any girl he wants, and yeah, that theory has been proven. Sadi Black is the only one he’s ever tagged with the girlfriend badge, and that’s because she played a game with his head, then with his life.

I’m on the pill… yeah fuck that. Fucked him up too. She got pregnant and then made demands that he caved to, determined not to be like his old man. Tried to get him to skip football camp, but Lucas has a real shot at the pros, and he knows that would have been viewed poorly by scouts. She terminated while we were there. Her choice and all but it fucked him up pretty bad. He moved on, and she threatened suicide. He tried, really fucking tried, but the minute she knew he was back in, she broke up with him and started banging someone else.

“Fuck that bitch.” He sneers.

“She’s Ithaca High’s problem now.” I remind him.

“Don’t care whose problem she is as long as she’s not mine.”

The blonde stands out of the water and rushes past us to grab her shirt. And then, the one I plan to make mine rises out of the water like a goddess, reaching behind her, she squeezes the excess water from her hair.

A shirt wiz’s past me and hits her in the face.

She catches it and laughs. “Gee, thanks for the heads-up.”

She’s got a good laugh, too.

“Come on.” The blonde stomps toward the truck they were in the back of.

“Where are you pretty ladies heading off to?” I ask as she passes me.

“Places to go,” she answers without slowing down.

“Ouch.” I laugh.

The blonde yells back. “I’m taking the truck. Catch a ride.”

“Okay, TT,” Alex calls to her from the raft.

“Let’s go do this thing,” Lucas says and dives into the water.

I follow.

“Say what you will about Blue Valley but look at that sky.” I float beside him, staring up at the streaks of gold starting to cut through the late afternoon clouds. “Sun’s out, no parents, no country club bullshit, no one pretending they actually care what college somebody’s dad went to.”

Lucas laughs beside me. “You do realize we are the country club bullshit here.”

I splash water toward him. “Point is, this?” I motion toward around us, the trucks, the bonfire pit, the trees, the fields. “This feels real.”

Lucas glances toward the raft where Ryan and Alex are standing with a couple of other players, very obviously talking about us. “Pretty sure Ross and Brooks still think we’re public enemy number one.”

“They definitely think you are.”

“Please. Ross Girl hasn’t stopped staring at me. That’s on her, not me.”

I laugh loud enough that birds take off from the trees. “She glares at you like she hates your guts.”

“Hates me passionately,” he corrects. “There’s chemistry there.”

“Or a potential restraining order.”