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I nodded.
I’d always liked Alex’s mom. She’d been nice, smelled nice, liked to make cookies or whatever the guys wanted, but I also knew that making Kira an enemy? Totally fine. I wasn’t going to sweat that, but Mama Maroney? No way. She terrified me.
Ramsay wasn’t looking my way. She was focused on her mom, the expression on her face was as if she’d just been ripped open, but she was trying to administer aid to the person bleeding out right next to her.
No matter if she was my enemy or my next fuck, I didn’t want her to feel that way.
Alex bumped my arm. “Cohen’s coming?”
“I texted him.”
He started off. I moved to follow, but Clint got in my way.
His eyes were narrowed on me, suspicious.
I got ready. Trenton was the wildcard, but Clint liked trouble. “What?”
His head cocked to the side. “I don’t want to think about why my cousin just lied for you, but I know she did. You kept that shit from Alex on purpose?”
I hesitated before shrugging. “Figured it was hers to share.”
“That’s part of the reason you called Alex that morning?”
There was no hesitation this time. “I called because I meant what I said. I meant my apology for my part, and I was wrong. I should’ve believed you, and I shouldn’t have threatened you guys or Ramsay. And”—this was beyond what he asked, but I was showing him respect by offering him this—“I wanted Alex, and now you, to know that if that guy comes anywhere near her, I’ll rip his head off.”
His eyes lit with surprise, but I moved past him.
Whatever he took from that, well, he’d take from that.
I didn’t care about that either.
25
RAMSAY
Mom went off the rails, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought. We made the call to the detective, and I was instructed to leave the room after. I knew my mom would have a more in-depth talk with him. And after that, hanging out with everyone wasn’t so bad. The guys voted to send the girls home, but I vetoed them, which they totally saw right through. I’d done it so they couldn’t be all about me. If Kira, Ciara, and Leanne were there, then there’d be no talk about my stuff. And score, it worked.
It also worked further because Cohen showed up and he had no clue anything had happened. The guy was oblivious to tension. And double score because I invited Gem to the house.
She freaked, in a good way, not in a bad way, and the night ended up being in the basement. Movies were watched. The guys horsed around. Video games were played. We snuck booze, then we got snacks. And Gem and the girls totally planned stuff for Homecoming.
I was a reluctant participant, but I was backed into a corner.
I was scared to leave Gem’s side or any of the girls, who took it the wrong way. They now thought I genuinely liked them, which for the record, I still wasn’t sure if I did. I wished I could’ve gone against my gut and let myself befriend them more, but my gut was sending the alarms to keep them at a distance. So, that was what I did, but I also didn’t want them to know that I was doing that so I was faking it at times. I must’ve done it successfully.
Kira gave me a tight hug at the end. Ciara and Leanne followed suit.
“Girl, you don’t need to worry about a thing. We’ll put out the word that everyone needs to shut up about your situation.” Kira gave me an exaggerated look before glancing in Scout’s way. Her mouth tightened, but she and the girls left after that.
That was odd, but okay then.
Any help was appreciated because I did not want a take-two from my old school, not that I expected that to happen considering my cousins were top tier.
The rest of the week was interesting too.
Gem hung out at my locker when my cousins weren’t there, though that wasn’t a lot, and we went back to having lunch together. Cohen and Scout were scarce. I saw them a few times at Alex’s locker, but that was it. Scout kept to himself in our classes, and I didn’t see him in study hall again.
Now it was Friday, and besides a few nasty comments, almost everyone had moved on from talking about my situation.
I was thankful.
Also, they were talking about the football game instead, which I was down for. Yay football. Yay for not gossiping about me. But I wasn’t stupid. I knew it wasn’t going away. It was just a matter of time before someone came at me about it.
Until then, only football, please. I was fully planning on making up for missing last week.
“What’s your plan for the game?” Gem asked in sixth period.
