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I cracked a grin. “Aren’t you curious about what I plan to study at Harvard?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Uh, sure?”
“Well, it won’t surprise you that I’m interested in law,” I started, twisting my pencil in my fingers. “But unlike my parents and the other lawyer Townsends, I’m not in it for the money.”
“Uh, yeah, I’d hope not,” she half-laughed. “You’ve already got a fat trust fund. How much more could you need?”
“Oh, you’ll pay for that later,” I told her in a low voice, and it was absolutely delicious how easily I could get her thinking about sex. It was clear in every pink blotch on her cheek, the way her breath caught in her throat, the way she avoided my eyes until I pivoted away from flirting.
“But no, Jade. It’s not about the trust fund, though I do recognize that having that helps.”
“Duh.”
“I’m interested in going into human rights law,” I admitted with pride. “Unlike my family members, I give a shit about the state of the world, and I’d rather go broke working toward something important than get more and more rich for nothing.” Why did her opinion on this matter so much to me?
“Wow. And here I thought you were more interested in human wrongs,” she teased, but her expression was kind, moreopen than I probably deserved. “If you care so much about the world, why do you let everyone around you think you only care about yourself?”
I squirmed under her serious gaze. I didn’t have an answer for her, not really, so I gave her an undignified shrug.
“I like soft, good person Xander,” she said quietly, laying her hand over mine on the desk. She didn’t even look to make sure no one was watching, and that filled me with pride. “I’m just saying you should show him off more. That’s all.”
I swallowed hard and gave her a silent nod. We needed a hard pivot away from talking about me, now. “Speaking of showing off, I’ve got a proposition for you, Jade.”
She smiled a little, her brow furrowing in confusion. Adorably confused. It made me want to bite her. “What kind of proposition?”
“Come with me to the homecoming dance,” I answered easily. That gave her pause. She blinked at me a couple of times, her brain seeming to buffer.
“You mean… as your date?”
“Yes. Is that so crazy, after everything?”
“No. No, of course not. We may have gotten the order a little backward, though.” She laughed, her cheeks flushed that sweet pink that reminded me of the rest of her sweetness, hidden now under clothes that didn’t keep me from wanting her. Mischief glinted in her eyes when she went on, “Won’t Bryce and Dane be jealous, though?”
“Maybe,” I allowed with a grin. “I suspect you’ll have to save a dance for each of them, too. But you’ll be on my arm when you walk in.”
I knew I had her before I even asked, but it was still satisfying when she agreed. Claiming her in front of the whole school would be satisfying to me on a deep, primal level I didn’t oftenallow myself to follow, and even sharing her with my friends feltrightsomehow.
My own lack of jealousy, my willingness to share Jade, surprised me. I’d always had everything I wanted, and learning to share hadn’t been part of my childhood since my sister was several years older than me and we were rich enough to have two of everything, regardless. But Jade wasn’t some stupid childhood toy, either. She was a beautiful woman with plenty of attention and affection to spread around, and Bryce and Dane were my two best friends.
Even when the overwhelming sense of rightness, of belonging, swept over me at the thought of Jade, Dane, Bryce, and me, there was something about all of this that was hard for me to accept. The taboo of it, maybe, or how it just wasn’t what I’d always pictured for myself. If I allowed myself to consider the possibilities of an unconventional long-term relationship among the four of us, though, I thought it just might work. If I could get over my rigid idea of the Townsend way, accept the emotions I was used to suppressing, this might just turn into something amazing.
24
JADE
When I first gave Leah the full run-down of everything that had happened since we last spoke, her jaw fell open and refused to close for the rest of lunch. She ignored her food as she probed me for more details. “So what’s next, Miss Bachelorette? Are you gonna make the guys all fight to the death to determine who gets to be your full-time boo?”
I smirked, taking a dramatic pause before I revealed the new development of the day. “No, noHunger Gamesshit like that. But today, Dane did ask me out on a sort-of-real date.”
Leah squealed and bumped the table, nearly knocking over her energy drink. “So you’re going out withthebad boy hottie of Coldwater High? Girl, you’re so lucky. How did you swoop in and get that kind of action so fast? I’ve been struggling for years over here.”
“Well, it’s really just for show. Part of the revenge plan. He says we’re gonna post pictures online and really rub salt into Owen’s self-inflicted wounds.” I shrugged, trying to hide the butterflies that were definitely fluttering in my stomach, fake date or not.
“That is literally straight out of a rom-com. Oh, my God.” Leah shook her head at me. “That makesthreedates, right? The football game with Bryce, the dance with Xander, and now this thing with Dane. That’s a goddamn harem, Jade! You’re literally living my dream.”
“It isnota harem,” I told her, but after a second thought, I let out a short burst of laughter. “Technically, I think it would be a reverse harem? One of my old friends at Worthington used to read tons of those smutty e-books just like this, actually. But it’s not like that!”
“You’ve literally got three whole boyfriends,” Leah marveled.
