Page 106 of The Casualty of Us
I scowl at her before looking back down at the phone, staring at the picture of Hayes looking like the quintessential rock starbaby in his torn jeans and black band tee, sitting with her in some kind of orange sundress.
Both of them are laughing as they eat lunch together in freaking Italy.
Italy.
How the fuck am I supposed to compete with that?
Hey, I know it looks like you’ve finally been having a good time this summer with your one semi-competent parent, but do you want to chat about how one of the kidnappers turned into a stalker? Or how about how my brother and I are so far out of sync that I don’t even know what to say to him anymore? Or that I still don’t know what box to put you in either?
Yeah. That’d sure be a great conversation.
“I don’t know.” I press the side of my phone, making the screen go dark, and take another sip of my drink.
“God, you make me want to beat my head against a wall,” she snarks back. “That boy isn’t doing anything but jacking off every night thinking about you.”
I choke on the sip, and she laughs loudly as I cough, shooting her a look of true loathing as my cheeks heat up at the mental picture.
“Hey.” Her voice perks up, green eyes suddenly twinkling in a way that instantly makes me suspicious. “Wanna bet on it?”
“Do I—” I gasp, taking another quick sip to fight off the lingering burn before wrinkling my nose at her. “Do I want to bet on whether Hayes thinks about me while he jacks off?”
“No.” She shakes her head with another laugh before lifting her brows. “Although I see where your head is at.”
“I hate you.”
“Come on, it’ll be fun,” she sighs, turning fully toward me and tucking her knees up. “If I’m right and he hasn’t touched anyone else all summer…then you owe me a favor.”
“Ha,” I snort, pulling a face. “That’s incredibly vague, but nice try.”
“You are no fun.”
“Well, then don’t come to me when you want to do shots tonight.”
“Ophelia!” My mouth pops open at her shout, and she gives me a serious look. “You are nineteen, not ninety-two. Make a bad decision every now and then or else you’re going to have no tea one day.”
And despite the fact I’ve been “just going with it” for a week now, something about the look on her face makes me feel scolded.
Enough so that I don’t even correct her that I won’t be nineteen for two more days and instead just scowl at her. “What would I get out of it?”
“I’m so glad you asked.” She smiles brightly, eyes flicking over to where Talan is playing a game on his phone on the other side of the deck to give us some semblance of privacy. “Are your little friends going to be coming back to school with us?”
I pause, pursing my lips and debating for a moment before curiosity has me answering truthfully. “They won’t be on campus, but yeah, they’ll be nearby.”
“I see.” She brings her eyes back to me while holding up a hand. “Listen, I’m not asking questions about it all or the weird vibes you were throwing out when you first got here.” I frown at her quick summarization, not liking how out of sorts I must have been for even Lisette Conners to pick up on it. “But I feel it’s my duty as your friend to point out that I have a car on campus and that no one pays attention to most of the time.” Oh, shit. “And I might be nice enough to help you escape if you need it at some point.” She lifts a brow. “Only if you want to make it interesting, that is.”
Did she just say—
“Friends?” I balk at the term, some part of me worried she might actually think it’s true. “If we were friends, you would just do it for me anyway.”
That it might actually be true.
“Maybe your other little minions.” She waves a hand carelessly. “But welcome to the big leagues.”
Goddammit, I don’t have time for any more people to worry about.
“I lose either way.” I frown harder at her than normal with the fledgling realization. “If I win, it’s because he fucked around with someone else, and if I lose, you get to demand God knows what from me.”
“Hey, it’s your call.” She shrugs, smiling all the way through taking another sip of her drink. “Guess it comes down to how much you might need a discreet ride at some point.”
