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“I told you already,” Dane snapped. “I’m not saying until we’re with Xander, too. This affects all of us.”
“Whatever, weirdo.” I brushed him off, whistling along to the annoying melody of the pop song on the radio just to bug Dane more.
After football practice, I was tired, but amped up at the same time. I was ready to run, the hot shower I’d taken having soothed my tired muscles but done nothing to dull my excited energy. Practice had gone so well today, and I knew we’d dominate in the homecoming game. So it was with an eager optimism that I was driving us both to Xander’s house, as usual, though there was nothingusualabout the fidgety tension Dane had brought into the car.
When we met after I got out of practice, Dane told me he had to talk to us—Xander and me both—about something important, and I wasn’t exactly known for my patience, but even his annoying ass couldn’t dull the football high. Considering he wasthe least talkative of our little crew, though, Dane wanting to talk at all was weird. The idea of Dane having to discuss something serious was just plain bizarre, though. Every passing moment only had my brain spinning off wilder and wilder scenarios.
Part of me guessed—or rather knew—that it had to have something to do with Jade. She was the only real change in our lives recently, and the most exciting one to boot. We were all a little obsessed. Funny how some good pussy could shake things up so thoroughly.
I parked a little crookedly in front of Xander’s palatial house, and I slammed the door when I climbed out. I waved a hand for Dane to follow me inside, barging through the front door as we always did. Mr. and Mrs. Townsend were so rarely home, and Xander never bothered with arming the security system or making us knock to get inside. We’d even joked before that they should just install some kind of mega-slide outside that went straight to the basement so Dane and I wouldn’t have to track dirt through Mrs. Townsend’s perfect home.
“Xan!” I called as we trounced down the basement stairs. “We’re here, and Dane’s being fuckin’ weird!”
Dane acted like he wanted to fight me on this point—and he knew he’d lose, since I had several inches and close to 100 pounds on him, which only augmented the fact that I wasright—but we both stopped short when we reached the main living area of the basement and Xander wasn’t alone.
Jade Wells was sitting beside him on the sofa, snuggled up against his side like that was totally normal. There was a fuzzy blanket thrown over their laps, and I could have sworn Jade was wearing one of Xander’s shirts, too—an oversized shirt advertising the country club to which his father belonged. Her legs were tucked up underneath her, shrouded in the blanket, so I couldn’t see what was going on downstairs, but I justknewshe was pantsless under there. And damn if that didn’t make my mouth water. I wondered if she had on panties…
“What the fuck?” Dane broke the momentary silence, giving voice to my exact thoughts. “What’sshedoing here?”
“Call me crazy, Dane, but I think we can both assume what she’s doing here,” I piped in, bouncing my eyebrows so he’d really know what I meant. “That looks like freshly-fucked hair, if I’m not mistaken. Nice job, Xan.”
“I didn’t know you guys were coming,” Xander said in a tone that was as close to sheepish as he got. He stood up from the couch, putting himself between us and Jade. At least he was covered—no shirt, but some gray sweats hung low on his slim hips. These two had definitely boned.
“Yeah, well, I had something important to tell you guys,” Dane spoke up, and maybe it was just my constant awareness of Jade Wells, but I could have sworn the air shifted as she tensed like she was getting ready to run. Dane looked at Jade, narrowing his eyes as he spoke. “Our little new girl isn’t who she says she is. She’s fuckingHannah.Like, Owen’s Hannah.”
Silence fell like a dark curtain. Jade winced, biting her lower lip in a way that would have been adorable if my head wasn’t spinning. I waited for her to deny it. For the details to fall into place, make this all start making sense.
“I don’t understand,” I said quietly.
We’d never met Owen Prescott’s ex-girlfriend before, even when she wasn’t yet an “ex”, but we’d all heard stories about her. Owen complained enough about her being a fun-sucker that we all assumed she was some bland, stuck-up princess type Owen had no business dating in the first place. We all knew Owen had cheated on her frequently, too. Every party where our worlds collided with his, he’d have a new chick on his arm, talking to us all with a wink-nudge attitude like he was proud to be getting away with it.
My friends and I weren’t saints, but I knew we’d all gotten bad vibes from it. It was a big part of the reason we didn’t hang out with Owen as much as we once did. I’d gotten used to our friend group being just Xander, Dane, and me these days. Well, Xander, Dane, me, and recently, Jade.Hannah.
“She changed her name and moved schools after she and Owen broke up,” Dane went on to explain, his tone cold. “She’s been playing us. Getting close to us in some… some fucked-up attempt to get back at Owen.”
“It’s not like that,” Jade said softly, and all six of our eyes snapped to her. Slowly, she pulled herself off the couch and stood up, coming closer to us. Her bare legs were just as smooth and curvaceous as I remembered from when they were around me in the locker room. But shit, if this was all a plot to get back at Owen fucking Prescott, that painted the locker room in a brand new light.
“You used me,” I said, incredulous and hurt. The betrayal stung like venom under my skin. Could she have been faking everything, all the pleasure and sweetness she showed to me when we fucked? How could she fake that? I’d seen and felt her with my own eyes, and I knew when a woman was aroused beyond sense, unable to control herself around me. Jade Wells would have to be a goddamn professional actress to convince me.
“You came to the locker room just to… to what? Fuck with me because I’m close to Owen? That’s fucking twisted. Who has sex with someone with an ulterior motive?” I bit out the words with a subtle husk to my voice, emotion welling up inside me.
“No!” Jade hurried to say, coming closer to me. I didn’t shake her off when she pressed a consoling hand to my chest, but it was a near thing. “No, Bryce, I swear to God that’s… that’s not what happened. I didn’t even plan to sleep with you. It just… happened.”
“Or me, I gather,” Xander added dryly. His eyes were ice cold. “This wasn’t all some sick attempt to get back at the guy who cheated on you? Fuck his friends as revenge?”
“No,” she said, her voice cracking. She looked at Dane. “Fuck, you guys. I didn’t… I wasn’t planning to sleep with any of you.”
“Well, good thing you just fucked around with me,” Dane said with cold sarcasm. “No harm done, huh, princess?”
“You’ve—you guys have got it all wrong,” she said, and the shake in her voice told me there were tears threatening. It could have been another manipulation tactic, but Jade seemed to understand that we wouldn’t fall for it so easily this time. She stepped back, separating herself from the three of us. I missed her touch, but I ignored that stupid fact and tried to regain my composure. “I can explain, if you’ll just… give me a minute to do that.”
Dane rolled his eyes, scoffed. Xander remained silent, crossing his arms over his chest. Maybe I was the dumbest one of the three of us, the naivest and too trusting, but I couldn’t dismiss her so easily. I gave Jade a slow nod that she watched with clear wonder in her bright green eyes.
“I want to hear what you have to say,” I said finally. “No guarantees you’re off the hook, but I’ll at least get the story. Better make it a good one, new girl.”
I watched Jade’s throat move as she swallowed hard. Watched her look at each of us, gauging whether Dane and Xander had any interest in hearing her story. Xander gave her a careful nod, and Dane shrugged, and that must have been enough for her.
“I… I did come to Coldwater because of Owen,” Jade explained. I refused to think of her as Hannah—she’d introduced herself as Jade for a reason, and though I didn’t yet know what it was, I couldn’t so easily flip that switch in my brain. She took a deep breath. “And… I did try to get close to you guys as partof a stupid plot for revenge. I’ll admit that, okay? And I know it’s stupid and a little fucked up, but you guys don’t know just how badly Owen treated me. It felt like the only way to get some power back for myself.
