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Not a mistake I’ll make twice.
Or admit to.
Lita never stood a chance at dragging me out of that party.
All it took was a smile from Conner Wiseman and I was eager to fall to my knees and do anything he wanted. After pushing my sister out of the way, I left her scowling miserably in the kitchen as her girlfriend attempted to comfort her. Half the school had crashed Gage Silvestro’s party so there was no shortage of witnesses who saw me cuddled on Conner’s lap, whispering in his ear and then clinging happily to his neck as he carried me upstairs.
But behind the closed door of a guest room in Gage’s castle-sized house, I finally got a taste of what I’ve always wanted, at least for a little while.
Conner.His smile. His mouth on mine. His hands all over my body.
I knew what I was doing. And I regretted nothing that night or even the next day. Then on Monday morning I saw him talking to girls in the courtyard, just like always. I don’t know why I expected anything different. Still, I scrounged up the nerve to ask him to the Emerald Ball, only to see a cloud pass over his eyes. He’d already made plans to go with someone else.
Then I knew. It had never even occurred to him that we’d be more than a random Saturday night hookup.
I was a fool. Now I’m the fucking laughingstock of West Prep.
The glass door opens and Tess Ballerini breezes in with a stack of papers. She gives the receptionist a winning grin.
“Do you mind if I leave these in Mr. Ratzenberger’s mailbox? Signatures for my candidacy in the spring election.”
The woman smiles at Tess, the darling of West Emerald. The chronically overachieving daughter of the mayor, Tess is a petite torpedo of self-confidence. She practically runs the student government single handedly.
Normally that kind of goody-goody energy makes me want to throw sharp objects. Tess is an exception. She’s really Lita’s friend, not mine. Yet she always makes an effort to include me. The effort is usually wasted but she tries.
Tess keeps an eye on me while depositing the sheaf of clipped papers into one of the faculty mailbox slots. She glances at the director’s closed door and then slides into the chair beside mine.
“Lita’s worried,” she says in a soft voice. “She asked me to come down here on a phony errand and try to find out what’s happening.”
Tess focuses on the blood on my shirt. She rummages in her messenger bag, comes up with a pack of wet wipes, and hands them over.
I allow her to shove them into my hand even though I won’t use them. “No one needs to worry about me.”
Tess sighs. “Conner asked me why you hate him now. He says he’d apologize if he knew what he did.”
My fist closes around the pack of wet wipes.
I’m not telling that story.
Tess continues to scrutinize me. “Haven, are you okay?”
Not answering that question either.
But the glass door swings open again and Tess lets out a low whistle of shock.
Standing at the threshold in all his furious six-foot-five glory, is my father.
He must see me sitting here but his sharp words are for the terrified receptionist. “Tell Olivia Davison that Aric Marchenko is here.”
Tess is suddenly in a hurry to escape. She gives my arm a friendly squeeze and then flees. Can’t say I blame her.
My father reaches me in three long strides. Lita and I inherited our pale blonde hair and high cheekbones from him. Though he’s well into his forties he’s in peak physical shape and there’s no hint he’ll be going bald anytime soon. If his two brothers, Estes and Desmond, resent the fact that he’s the head of the family, they’re not dumb enough to complain openly.
He looks me over with cold eyes, noting the blood on my shirt, but says nothing.
I clear my throat. Though I know it’s possible I’ll be kicked out of school, I haven’t been nervous until right this second. “Dad, I’m sorry you had to come all the way out here but-”
“Aric.” Olivia Davison has silently prowled into the middle of the scene. She holds out a slim hand. “What a treat to see you again, though I wish the circumstances were different. You haven’t been at the club in ages.”
