Page 30 of When Wrecked Meets Ruined
I’d say this was an all-time low, getting hard for Evie when I was with another girl, but that would be a lie. This was the second time I’d done it while Ainsley’s back was turned.
But I also knew that Evie, the wicked temptress, was doing this on purpose. This show was for me. Luckily, she’d chosen Troy as her dance partner, so I gotallthe benefits with zero downsides.
“We should take this somewhere private,” Ainsley murmured, her lips moving down my neck as her hand slid inside the waistband of my shorts.
Before she could wrap her hand around my dick, I pushed it away and lifted her off me, unceremoniously depositing her on the lounger next to mine. I stood, moved closer to the pool’s edge, and debated diving in and swimming across it, the speediest route to Evie.
The fuck was I doing? I lowered my head and grabbed the back of my neck.
Get it together, Ridge. Not cool.
“What are you doing?” Ainsley asked, echoing my thoughts.
She put her hands on her hips and glared at me. Ainsley was pretty enough, but it was the equivalent of being offered a hot fudge sundae with whipped cream and a cherry on top only to be served a single scoop of vanilla.
Ainsley was like vanilla ice cream. Soft-serve and low cal.
“Sorry. Not feeling it.” I wasn’t sorry. I hadn’t hooked up with Ainsley in months. Not since she told everyone we were in a relationship. Bullshit. I’d never made her any promises. In fact, I’d specifically told her that I didn’t do relationships.
“You’re notfeelingit?”
“Nope.”
She looked across the pool and laughed harshly. “Oh my god. Are you seriously turning me down for that skank?”
That caught my attention. My gaze snapped to her face. “What did you just say?”
I didn’t really need her to repeat it. She’d been loud enough to turn a few heads, but I wasn’t sure I’d heard correctly.
Ainsley laughed and flung her hair over her shoulder, rolling her eyes. “Oh, please. Like, you don’t know she’s a skank. The whole school knows what a white trash bimbo she is.” I glared at her, but she obviously didn’t take the hint because she kept talking, her voice rising so that everyone in our near vicinity could hear it. “We used to take dance classes together. My mom gave her free lessons, and how did she repay her? Shestoletwo hundred dollars from my mom’s wallet.”
I used to love dancing, but I haven’t done it in years… Evie had written that in one of her letters.
“That’s not all. She sleeps with guys for money. Evie Bellamy is a whore just like her mother.” She punctuated her statement with high-pitched laughter like it was so hysterically funny she couldn’t help but be amused.
My jaw clenched, and my hands balled into fists. “Listen to me and listen good,” I told Ainsley. “I wantnothingto do with you. Take your shit and get the hell out of here.”
Her jaw dropped. “You can’t be serious.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and widened my stance. “Do I look like I’m laughing?”
“Didn’t you just hear what I said? I’m not lying. It’s all true. Ask anyone.” She cast around for someone to back up her claims.
“I don’t give a shit.” And I didn’t. I didn’t care if Evie had slept with the entire football team. I didn’t care if she’d robbed every bank in the county and a chain of convenience stores. I’d drive the fucking getaway car.
“Why would you defend a girl like her?”
The way she’d saida girl like herhad me gritting my teeth and taking deep breaths through my nose so I wouldn’t lose my shit.
“Because she’s worth it, andyouare not.” Any girl who talked shit about another girl wasn’t worth my time.
With a sharp gasp, she looked around, suddenly conscious that people were listening and I wasn’t painting her in a good light. I didn’t miss the smirk on her so-called best friend’s face either.
“You’ve just made a big mistake by talking to me that way.”
An idle threat that didn’t even warrant a reaction, let alone a response.
As if Ainsley had any power over me.
