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Nash walks over, pats my shoulder, and dips his head until I meet his eyes. “No one gets to torment you but us,” he teases, making Nix chuckle.
I smile, nodding. This is the first party of theirs that I have been allowed at, and it’s only because I fucking live here, and they can’t exactly keep me away. I know my brother is popular, but I didn’t realize how popular. I’ve never wanted to attend public school before.
This experience hasn’t changed my mind.
I head downstairs, shaking off the memory. I ended up attending public school my senior year after all the shit that happened the summer before. I didn’t have much choice. It was just easier for everything. I gave up dancing that year too. My back pain was too bad to spend eight hours a day practicing.
Between doctors visits and everything else…a lot of things changed that year.
“Ready?” Ren asks, and I nod. After they kicked Leanne out of the party that day, Ren and I played chicken in the pool with Nix and his date for the night.
I can still feel his hands gripping my thighs… I had bruises, he was holding onto me so tightly. He saw them the next day and freaked out. They didn’t even hurt, and I even had this sick sort of satisfaction knowing he’d marked me…
See what I mean? I’m fucked up.
Fortunately, the mall isn’t far from the frat house, which is great because being in close quarters with Ren makes me nervous.
After his birthday party, things changed a little bit between us. He still defended me if someone else bullied me, but during our senior year of high school, he had this girlfriend that hated me, so every time I walked into the room, he’d either leave or start groaning about one thing or another about me. But at least he didn’t stuff me fully clothed into a cold shower like Nash did once.
“Why are you on your knees, Rose?”Nash had asked, looking down at me like he was personally offended that I’d fallen down. Tripping up the stairs. I’m impressively graceful. You’d think years of dance would have helped. Nope.
When I just stared at him, Nash groaned, helped me to my feet, and then stuffed me in the shower. I screamed when the cold water soaked me. Of course, my brother and his other two best friends just laughed.
I feel like I still owe him some revenge for that.
“So, how’s, uh, life?” I mumble, adjusting in my seat because I feel silly.
“Great,” he says, not really sounding all that great, though. I nod, nibbling the skin around my fingers as my nerves take over.
He’s so different from the man I once knew. When we were just teens, he was cocky. Worse than Nash, even. He had a chip on his shoulder and something to prove to everyone.
Then he met Kelly. She was sweet and preppy. Just his type. The opposite of me. Not that that's relevant, of course.
Last I heard, she moved here with him, but that was years ago. Come to think of it, I haven’t heard anything about her since then. They clearly broke up.
Maybe she’s the reason he changed, or rather their break-up is the reason. I’d ask, but bringing up someone's past relationships can be risky.
The last time I saw Lorenzo was seven months ago. I was in town looking to transfer here for my senior year and visiting Holden. Nix was here as well at the time, crashing on the couch for the week. The guys were partying, like always, and Ren was…just there. He kept to himself mostly and occasionally mingled, but he didn’t flirt or try to hook up with anyone.
It was odd. On the rare occasion that I crashed their high school parties, he would flirt with half the school in one night. Hell, he even hooked up with someone the night of his seventeenth birthday party. In the pool house.
“Look. I know having me as a roommate isn’t ideal. I swear, I won’t get in the way of a single blow job! No cock blocking here!” I tease, but one look at his face tells me he doesn’t know what I’m talking about.
“Who called you a cock block?” he asks with a frown.
“Um, you, Nash, and Holden. Well. I guess Holden didn’t outright say it, but you and Nash said it a few times.” I shrug, watching him carefully.
“That was like once! You were the biggest cock block all four years of high school. Even before Holden moved in. Everyone thought we were sharing you between the three of us or some shit. It’s why I even dated Kel–” He cuts himself off, adjusting his position in his seat, and lifts his chin. “That's why we tried to keep our distance. We didn’t want the unhinged rumors to get back to you. Some were brutal.”
“Rumors? What kind of rumors?”
“That you were our…uh. There’s no way to say it politely. But basically, the rumors were that Holden was not just your stepbrother. And that you two, plus Ren and I, were, you know, doing stuff…it didn’t help that we told every guy in town to stay away,” Ren chuckles. “That just made the girls hit on us even more too.” He shakes his head with a stupid grin on his face.
“Wait. Go back. What did you say?” I narrow my eyes at him. Did he just say what I think he did? Were my brother and his friends the real cock blocks?!
“Oh, that the whole town thought Holden and you were…you know…you get it, right? I don’t have to say it?”
“That wasn’t what I was asking. But we’ll circle back in a second.” I turn to face Ren fully. “When you say doing stuff, you mean people thought I was fucking all three of you, including my new stepbrother?” I clarify, and Ren grimaces.
