Page 14 of Tell Me You Need Me

“Consider it done.”

“Thank you.” Willa shifts on her feet. “I should go.”

“Have a good day at school, Willa.”

“You, too, I mean, have a good day. Doing whatever it is that you do.” I give her a nod. They really don’t know much about me. Do I want them to? Aren't I only here to oversee things? I’d come worried that Rich could be like his father—worried about the girl who resembles my mother so deeply.

Willa pauses in the doorway. “I don’t know what’s going on with you and Teddy, but know that her outer layer might be tough, but she’s all heart, and when you’re all heart, you feel so much deeper than everyone else.”

With that, she departs, leaving me alone. I drop down onto the couch. This is a fucking mess, and I have no clue how I’m going to handle it. I pull out my phone a few minutes later, the alarm going off.

I see the three of them together in an oversized Jeep that Rich is driving. He’s taking them to school. I clench my phone. At least she’s in the back seat. When they vanish from view through the gate, I toss my phone down on the table.

This isn’t going to work. Teddy might be eighteen, but she is in high school. That’s not the worst of what I’m realizing. I’m blind. No way to contact her or know that she is okay. Yeah, this so isn’t going to fucking work.

Chapter Ten

TEDDY

The tension is thick inside the Jeep, but I ignore it. No one is saying a word, but that doesn’t last long. When Rich has something he wants to say, he’s going to say it. He’s not particularly good at biting his tongue.

“What the fuck were you thinking, Teddy?” My eyes meet his in the rearview mirror.

“Don’t talk to her that way.” Willa glares at her twin brother. She is actually the best one to get him under control. He and Karl might have killed each other on more than one occasion if not for her.

That had all tapered down over the last year with how Rich sprouted into a giant. His father wasn’t a big guy. I wondered how he turned out so big, but after meeting West, I see that it runs in the family. Karl just didn’t have those characteristics, and he knew he could no longer push Rich around. West isn’t scared of him, though. That’s for damn sure.

“It’s fine,” I tell Willa. I want him to speak openly and not tone it down because I’m a girl. We’re all practically family at this point. “What I’m thinking is that if I were you, I’d mind my own business. You don’t see me poking into yours, and I know—” I let that last word hang in the air for a second. “You wouldn't betoo thrilled about it if I really decided to.” I respect Rich, and I appreciate his concern, but I can take care of myself.

The quiet falls back over the inside of the Jeep, but I know in Rich fashion that won’t last for long, but he’ll tone it down. He doesn’t want me blurting out his little secret. Not that I would. I’ll keep it tucked away for now unless things get out of control with it. He is an adult, after all. All I’m asking for is the same in return. To let me decide what’s in my best interest.

“Does Eden know?” Did he really go there? No, my mom doesn’t know. She knew I slept in the main house, but that isn’t abnormal. I crash in Willa’s room all the time. Mom merely laughed when I came rushing in to get ready and wished me a good first day on my way out the door, handing me a granola bar.

“Know what? Nothing happened.” A bit of cuddling. That’s no big deal. Right? I’m not in the habit of cuddling boys, let alone men, because that’s what West is. I’d felt every inch of that fact.

“Bullshit, have we ever done that? How many times have all of us passed out in that den? We never woke up that way,” Rich tosses back.

I don’t think that hits me how Rich wants it to because I have to fight a smile. That is true. So it means it had to be more, and maybe I should stop downplaying it. What if there could be something here?

“You act like we fucked,” I toss back.

My mind flashes with images of me straddling West, my hands on his bare chest as I stare down at him. My hair falls all around us as he looks up at me with a smile. It's not a smirk, but a genuine smile I've placed on his face. The idea fills me with warmth.

“Jesus, Teddy!” Rich barks. “You’ve never even been kissed.” Willa glances back to me and rolls her eyes. Rich isn’t wrong,and it’s not shocking he knows that. Lighthouse High isn’t a large school, but it’s not small either.

Rich, however, falls into the popular IT crowd. If I’d been making out with someone, everyone would know because that’s how it is around Lighthouse High. The rumors are plentiful, and everyone has made out with or had sex with someone else's ex. It grosses me out, but we are on an island. It’s slim pickings.

“You’re right; I haven’t, so like I said, nothing happened, and it’s getting real old repeating myself.” I infuse my tone with firmness to ensure that Rich understands that he's reaching my limit.

I’m always calm and understanding. I try to let things slide when people get upset, and I’ll circle back when tempers sizzle out, but I have a limit too, and when I hit it, I’ll match your energy. Willa teases that I have a switch inside of me that flips.

Rich pulls into the school parking lot. Every member of the cheerleading team’s attention swings toward us and Rich. It’s clear nothing has changed. I always get icy glares from them. They think Rich and I have a thing. It’s stupid, but each year they still believe it while trying to get him to take them to bed.

I haven’t seen Rich be public with any girl. There is talk, but I ignore it because, like I said, there has also been talk of him and me, which was bullshit. But who knows?

We hop out of the Jeep. Rich goes one way, toward a black Charger I don't recognize, and Willa and I head to the building. Our first class is together.

"You okay?" Willa asks when we're finally alone for the first time.

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