Page 30 of The Pact

MILA

Iwalk outside my house, unsure how I’m getting to school. I never heard from Ella about who would be driving me. I know, deep down, it won’t be Jace. Still, a part of me is holding out hope.

I notice movement out of the corner of my eye and turn to find Grady running toward me as he hollers my name. Wrapping me in a bear hug, he says, “Holy shit, you’re back. I didn’t know. I had all this extra stuff I had to do yesterday, but today I’m all yours. Tell me all about New York, about yourself. You have really grown up, Mila.”

My cheeks heat at his words.

Grady pulls away from me and looks at what I’m wearing. Once again, I’m in jean shorts and a tank, which is showing off some nice cleavage. His eyes pause on my neckline before raking down to my bare legs. It’s gonna be a hot day.

“You’re my driver?” I point to a white sedan on the street, assuming it’s his car.

“I drew the short straw. Sorry, Mimi, you get me today.”

My ears catch on the old nickname. He’s the only one to ever call me that. I hated it when I was younger, but now I can’t wipe the grin from my face.

“So, I got football training after school, like always, but I finish at six. If you have something after school, or you wanna wait around and watch me pump weights and run drills”—he wiggles his brows at me—“you’re more than welcome to stay.”

I tap my finger on my chin, as if I’m really contemplating it. “I don’t know…that’s not very enticing, a bunch of sweaty guys and their big muscles sounds boring,” I jest with a wink. “Do any of these practices end up with you tackling Jace and putting him on his ass? Because if so, I’m so in.”

Grady lets out a huge laugh. “I’ll see what I can do, Mimi.”

The ride to school isn’t long enough to catch up, but it’s still great. I’m mostly grateful Grady isn’t pissed at me. We don’t talk about Jace, just about football, his parents and their romantic weekends, and how sad his love life is.

Which is hard to believe. He’s attractive, and I’m sure he’s exaggerating that his love life is sad while, in reality, his sex life is on fire. Because there’s no way girls don’t throw themselves at him.

There’s a guy waiting for him when we pull up. His bag is slung over his back, and he’s wearing cute black-rimmed glasses. He’s not a football player, but he’s obviously friends with Grady.

“Makai, meet my neighbor and old friend Mila. She just moved back from New York.”

Makai, who is cute in a nerdy way, gives me a small smile and wave. They walk in with me, talking about some Xbox game they both have; I haven’t a clue what they’re saying but they obviously enjoy gaming with each other. They leave me to go to their lockers.

I’m floating as I walk to my locker and find it on the first try. I almost cheer, happy I studied the map this morning over breakfast. I’d just grabbed my books and closed my locker door when I feel the air change around me.

“You’re fucking a King?”

I spin to see Jace, Hunter, and Roman behind me in the hall. Their seething expressions causes me to press my back against the locker. I’ve never seen them like this before.

What the hell are they talking about, fucking a King?

“Asher James, wide receiver for Lakeview Prep Kings.” The way Hunter spits out Kings makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. His eyes flash with anger.

“You should have gone to Lakeview. You can’t be here and fuck with a King,” Jace warns me, and that’s when I notice we have an audience.

Is he for real? Why would he even think…oh, fuck. “You’re spying on me.” It’s more a statement than a question.

Jace crosses his arms over his wide chest, and a few students make sounds like they’re scared. What, like Jace is gonna hit me? He might be angry, but he would never hurt me. Not physically, at least.

“It’s hard to miss you and Asher cuddling up in your driveway.” He cocks his head as if to challenge me to tell him he’s seeing shit that isn’t true.

I burst out laughing. It’s not gonna make a difference what I say. He’s made up his mind that I’m sleeping with Asher. They all have.

Jace clenches his teeth, and I swear I can see the steam coming out of his ears from the way his face is a deep shade of red. He’s mad.

And me? I turn and walk away.

This doesn’t warrant an explanation. If Jace and the others want to think that, let them. I’m not going to correct them today, or any day. He thinks he saw something and jumped to the conclusion I’m fucking Asher.

“Hey,” Hunter calls out.

---