Page 14 of Relentless (The Titans of Founder's Ridge 2)

“Yeah,” I shrug, “why not?”

“Don’t you want to hang with your football or basketball buddies? There’s only a week left before camp is over.”

“Nah. I go to school with most of them, or at least play them through the season.” I answer around a forkful of spaghetti.

“Where do you go to school?” She asks.

“Founder’s Ridge Preparatory Academy.” I watch her out of the corner of my eye. Half the time, people start acting weird when they hear that. My friend Connor said it’s because we’re all from rich families, which, I guess, is true. He is an even bigger jerk than me though, so it could just be his attitude.

“Where’s that?”

“Massachusetts.”

“Oh, I live in Connecticut.” Just then the swim coach walks in and looks at Ivy. “Oops. I better go, or she’ll make me run laps instead of swim them.” She jumps up, but I grab her wrist before she can run off.

“Meet me on the dock after room checks.”

She nods and takes off without looking back.

She always leaves without looking back. Someday, she’ll say goodbye and give me a second glance. I’ll make sure of it.

* * *

I leave my weightlifting class early, so I could meet Ivy before lunch. Coach Huffman, the offensive coordinator for the football team, knows how hard I work during the season, so he’s not going to stop me. After seminar, I stopped back by the headmaster’s office to get an extra copy of Ivy’s schedule; thank you stepsibling benefits. I also moved some of my classes around, so we’d have them together.

The door swings open, and a steady stream of people exit, most giving me plenty of space as they notice my presence. It is one of the perks that make being one of the Titans worth the absurd nickname.

“Hey,” I fall in step with her as soon as she exits the room and put my arm around her, “how’s your morning going?”

“Good so far. It’s tolerable although I have caught people whispering when I walk by.” She tries shrugging off my arm again. “Are we going to lunch?”

“Yep, we’ll meet Con and Griff in there.” I guide her across the quad.

“Ivy?” I hear Mason say from behind us. “Ivy Bane?”

We both turn, and I drop my arm.

“Mason!” She takes off at a run and jumps into his arms.

They became pretty close at camp through me, so I am trying really hard not to be jealous. I try, but I fail because, damn, I wish I had gotten a greeting like that. She even let him pick her up off the ground; if I tried that, I probably would have ended up with a knee to the balls.

“What are you doing here? How did I not know?” He looks at me accusingly with the last question.

“Ives is Jennifer’s daughter. I didn’t know until Saturday that Ivy was my new stepsister.”

Mason’s eyes grow at that revelation. I’ve never told anyone the specifics of my relationship with her, but he had a front row show to the summers of us growing closer. He’s more of an insider to us than even Con or Griff.

“They look cozy,” Con says walking up beside me. “You okay with that?”

“Yeah, we all went to camp together. Mason hung out with us a lot the last couple of summers.”

When Mason leaves his arm around her shoulders, she doesn’t push him away. I swallow down that bitter pill and walk between Griff and Con. If she's with Mason I know she's covered, and maybe it'll make her feel less pressure from me. I'll have to pull him aside and tell him to keep an eye on her when I'm not around.

I'm lost in my thoughts, and when I turn back to Ivy and Mason, I see that boring British douchebag, Oliver, is all over Ivy. I'm not sure why the girls go crazy for him, he's okay looking, but he plays soccer so he's skinny. It has to be the accent, and by the way Ivy smiles and laughs, I know she's falling into his trap.

"Oliver," I give him a polite nod, "I see you've met my stepsister Ivy."

"We're getting acquainted," he smirks with a cocky challenge in his eyes. "I was just trying to get her to come out with me this weekend. Miller is having a pool party Saturday."

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