Page 18 of Jump on Three

Bella blew her curls out of her face. “I thought so too, but I was wrong. Felix was just with me to bang, nothin’ else. He doesn’t actually like me.”

“Why do you think that?” I asked.

If someone didn’t like me, I wouldn’t have blinked. But Bella was beautiful, outgoing, funny, and just a general joy. How could someone not like her?

“I don’t think it; I know it.” She scooped up a loaded nacho and shoved it in her mouth, crunching viciously. “Parents weekend is comin’, right?”

Delilah and I exchanged a glance. We didn’t keep track of these things because…well, our parents were too busy to be involved in our day-to-day lives. There were yachts to sail and champagne to guzzle.

“Right. Are your parents coming?” Luc asked.

Bella waved her hand. “Yeah. They live for that kind of thing. Makin’ a big show of their love for me while I’m states away at boarding school. That isn’t the problem.”

Delilah’s shoulders sank. “Are Felix and Isla’s parents coming?”

Bella nodded. “Yep. The Santos wouldn’t miss the chance to check in on their baby boy and baby girl.”

I watched my sister. She appeared to have grasped where things went wrong. I was still in the dark.

“You wanted to meet them?” Delilah said gently.

Another nod. “I know it’s too soon for our families to meet, but I thought he’d be proud to introduce me to his parents. I was lookin’ forward to showin’ him off to mine. When I told him this, he got that deer in the headlights look.”

“Oh no,” murmured Luc. “Don’t tell me…”

Bella mumbled, “Mmmhmm,” and pounded back more nachos. “It’s a no go.”

“Did he say why?” Delilah was so good at being careful with people’s feelings. I recognized the tone of voice she used when I was spiraling, though it didn’t seem to be quite as effective on Bella. Anger burned her cheeks.

“Oh yeah.” Bella’s mouth opened and closed, then opened again, and a painful keening sound erupted from her.

Luc and Delilah moved quickly, surrounding her with hugs as tears rolled from her eyes. Seeing her so sad when she was usually the exact opposite twisted me up inside. I didn’t want her to feel that way, not for even one second longer than she had to. It jabbed at me deep inside to the point where I crawled over to the three of them and took Bella’s hand in mine.

It wasn’t a hug, but I hoped it offered a little comfort.

“He said—” She broke off with a racking sob. Delilah rubbed her back, and Luc made a humming sound. I squeezed her hand tighter. “He said he likes me so much, but I’m not the kind of girl his parents would approve of. I made him tell me what that meant.”

“Okay, if he told you, he really is a rat bastard,” Luc said.

“Oh, he told me.” Bella shrugged Luc and Delilah off and wiped her face with one hand while keeping her other in mine. “He said his parents are serious intellectuals, and they wouldn’t get my ‘in your face’ personality.”

Luc and Delilah hissed, but Bella wasn’t done.

“I asked him if he wished I was less ‘in your face,’ and he said he thought I could stand to relax and not be the center of attention all the time.” She brought her fist down on her knee. “And once he got goin’, he let it fly. He told me I could stand to tone down my hair and clothes and not talk to everyone I see.”

“Your hair is beautiful,” I told her. “Don’t change anything.”

It took a lot to make me mad, and that had done it. If Felix were here, I’d stuff the fries up his nose myself, and I loved french fries, dammit.

She squeezed my hand back before slipping free and covering her face. “I’m pissed and so fuckin’ disappointed.”

Delilah made slow circles on Bella’s back. “I hope you don’t think anything he said is true. He’s wrong.”

“Dead wrong,” Luc agreed. “If he thinks anything about you is too big, it’s because everything about that asshole is too small. If I tell Beckett, he’ll kick his ass. Do you want me to?”

Bella’s shoulders shook as she cried, and my throat swelled with a surge of emotion. Not the drowning kind—the helpless kind. I wished I had a way with words so I could help her. Delilah was right; nothing Felix said was true. Bella was wonderful. That boy was clearly too dumb to understand how lucky he was to have her.

“No. I just want him to melt into a puddle of sludge with only his eyeballs left so he can watch me walk by with my head held high.”

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