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Chapter One
Super Cool Party People
Mom’s new boyfriend was Archie’s dad. Archie’smarrieddad. The guys knew. Had known. I—I couldn’t deal with this.
“Wait,” Archie said, tightening his arms around me. He pitched his voice low, probably a good plan to keep it from carrying out to the pair still locked together below.
Acid churned in my gut, and I think I threw up a little in my mouth. As much as I wanted to storm out, I didn’t dare draw attention to myself. Not if it meant I had to talk to Mom right now in front of all of them.
The fact they’d known was bad enough.
My legs wobbled, and if not for Archie, I probably would have landed on my ass. As it was, I pushed away from him and crossed to one of the chairs they’d abandoned. They were farther back, invisible from below. There were four open beers on the table.
Well, good to know they started the party early.
Grabbing one, I took a long pull from it and grimaced.
That was so foul.
“Easy,” Jake said as he crouched next to me. When he put a hand on my leg, I jerked my knee away, and he lifted his hands in surrender. One by one, the others sat down, and I tipped the bottle up and drained the rest of it, then shook my head at the horrible taste.
“Are they gone?”
Archie was the only one not sitting or crouching. He glanced over his shoulder, then back at me. “Almost.”
“You knew.” It wasn’t a question.
“Caught them last week,” he admitted.
Last week.
Caught them?
“That’s why you weren’t at school on Monday.” I wiped the back of my hand against my mouth. The air was still cool, even if the sun was warm. The covered deck added to the chill racing over me. Had to explain the goosebumps somehow.
“Pretty much,” Archie admitted.
“And when did you tell everyone else?”
Coop sighed. “Tuesday—when you were at lunch with Mathieu.”
Okay. That fit.
My mom was having an affair with Archie’s dad.
She wasn’t out of town at all.
“Your parents were supposed to be out of town.”
“Yeah well, not the first time Edward and Muriel made different plans.” Archie crossed over to a small outdoor bucket I hadn’t noticed. He pulled out a bottle of wine.
It looked pretty familiar, and heat scorched through me.
It was the same kind we’d had the night before. He retrieved a glass and carried it over.
“If you’re going to drink, drink something you like. And give me your keys.”
Ian had said nothing; he just sat forward, elbows on his thighs and hands clasped together as he stared at me. When I caught his gaze, he gave me a small smile. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you.” I’d gone to his place on Tuesday. We’d…made out in the pool. “I didn’t tell you later because—Frankie I have no idea how to tell you something like that about your mom.”
