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TJ felt his hands fist at the thought of the jocks placingbets on who would get some on prom night.
Dennis Sims had bet he could get the nerdiest girl in schoolto give up her virginity.
Over his dead body.
“See, you look like a dude who’s about to get expelled,” Coopersaid like he’d known it all along. “Have we thought about talking to Lou andletting her handle it? Maybe we could go to her parents.”
Kala’s eyes rolled. “Yeah, let’s break Lou’s heart and bringher parents in so we can all end up in some therapy session. Fuck that. We canhandle our own shit.”
“The last time you tried to handle your own shit, you gotkidnapped,” Cooper pointed out.
TJ waited for Kala to explode, but she merely turned achilly smile Coop’s way. “Yeah, and I learned a lot about myself. You feel freeto go crying to our parents all you like, Coop. I’m going to pull up my biggirl panties and get the job done. If you don’t…”
“Hey, I’m sorry.” Cooper reached out, grasping her hand. “Ishouldn’t have thrown that in your face. You’re right. Let me come with you.Not for your sake. To stop TJ from losing his shit. And I know you’re a blackbelt in several martial arts, but you just had your nails done.”
No one knew how to talk to Kala like Cooper. She sighed, herI’m-going-to-give-in sigh. “Fine, but we have to hurry. He’s in a class withLou for second period.”
They caught up to Dennis, who was walking into the eastwing. Dennis was a senior, a year older than TJ, and in excellent shape.
That wouldn’t help him if TJ decided to take him out. He’dbeen called a pit bull in a fight, and he didn’t have a problem with that. Pitbulls could be quite sweet when they were treated right, and they could handlebusiness if they weren’t.
Dennis’s blue eyes widened when he realized who was behindhim. “Hey. How’s it going, Kala?” He nodded Cooper’s way. “Hey, man.”
He ignored TJ entirely.
“You’re going to gently explain to Lou that you won’t betaking her to prom,” Kala said, not waiting for niceties.
Dennis frowned, obviously surprised at the turn. “Why wouldI do that?”
“Because I’ll break every bone in your body if you don’t.”He’d already planned out how he would do it, too. He’d sat up last nightthinking it through. He would start with the small ones and work his way up.
Dennis was suddenly interested in him. “What the fuck,Taggart? Is this about the whole ‘you don’t want her but no one else can haveher’ thing you have going? You’re an asshole, you know.”
“We know about the bet,” Kala stated flatly.
Dennis’s gaze immediately went to Cooper.
Coop held up his hands and shook his head, his expressionutterly unapologetic. “Damn straight I told them. Don’t think I’m one of yourjock friends who treat girls like trash. Lou’s a friend of mine. I wouldn’t letyou do this to any girl, much less someone in my family circle.”
“Guys, that was locker-room talk. I like Lou.” Dennisflushed a nice shade of pink. “That hasn’t gotten back to her, has it?”
“No, and it’s not going to. I already talked to the assholesyou made this bet with and explained if Lou found out, I would be visitingthem.” TJ hadn’t taken Kala on those talks. They’d sat down and made their planto cover all of this crap up. Lou could handle some jerk blowing her off. Hewasn’t sure how she would take the whole school knowing they were making betson her virginity.
So he’d handled the problem.
Dennis’s head shook. “I get it. I was an asshole, but thetruth of the matter is I like her. I’m not going to make anyone pay up on thatstupid bet, so you can back off. You know you’re the reason she can’t get adamn date, Taggart. You’ve got the whole school terrified of you. Do you thinkthat’s good for her? Is she’s supposed to be alone for the rest of her life?”
She wouldn’t be, and he would have to deal with thatsomeday. Not today. “Break it off with her. Gently. I don’t care what you tellher but make it sound good.”
His expression went stubborn. “And if I don’t? I know youTaggarts think you run things here, but you’re all freaks.”
“Hey,” Cooper began.
Kala waved him off. “That’s fair. Dennis hasn’t even met mydad. He has no idea how freaky we can get. But he’s going to find out if hedoesn’t break things off with Lou. Today.”
“Fuck you. I’m not scared of you,” Dennis announced. “Ithink I’ll tell Lou about this conversation right here and see what she thinks.I know she feels awkward because she’s younger than the rest of us, but she’s acool girl. I think it’s being around you assholes that holds her back. I thinkshe’ll do better with my friends. We’ll show her what normal looks like. Yeah,that’s a much better plan. I’ll tell Lou who you people really are.”
“And then I’ll release the proof that you cheated on yourtrig final and get your scholarships revoked,” Kala said, cool as a cucumber.
