Page 49 of Reckless
Eyes were on us the minute we showed up, and I knew we’d be the talk of the school next week, but I didn’t care. I was done worrying about what people thought of me, what they said about me. I was done trying to prove to everyone that I fit in, that I wasn’t an outcast, that I was Brittany’s perfect boy toy.
Brittany was gone, and now it was time for me to actually live my life.
Some people were inside, grinding on each other in the living room near the speakers. The house had speakers everywhere, all of them hooked up to the same music, though it wasn’t nearly as loud outside.
We found an empty poolside table, and she and I sat down. I couldn’t see Jacob, but I knew that didn’t mean he wasn’t around here somewhere.
“So,” I said, rubbing my hands together.
“So,” Jaz echoed, smiling at me softly. “Here we are.”
“Here we are.” It seemed she and I were just going to repeat each other all night. I pointed to the house. “Do you…” And then I trailed off, because I remembered what happened the last time we were at a party together and drank. Bad things happened. To both me and her, I think. Brittany had wanted to make us both pay.
“No,” Jaz said, knowing what I was going to offer. “I think my tongue will go dry tonight.” She stopped herself from saying anything else for a moment, adding, “That was a weird way to put it, huh?”
All I could do was cough, because now I was thinking about her tongue. Her tongue was nice. It felt amazing when it touched mine or ran over my lips.
Jaz leaned on the metal table, crossing her legs under it, her foot grazing my ankle in the process. “How’s your mom?”
Under the dark sky, I looked at her. The moon was only a sliver, and yet its silver light danced beautifully across her face. This didn’t feel like us starting over. We didn’t feel like eighteen-year-olds going to a party; it felt like we were older, trying desperately to grasp at something neither of us could reach.
I could’ve lied. I could’ve sugarcoated my answer, but I didn’t. “She’s been better.”
“And there’s nothing anyone can do?”
Shaking my head, I said, “No. We’ve spent the last few years taking her to doctors, trying to get answers, but…they can’t pinpoint what it is.”
Jaz reached for me, her hand resting atop mine on my lap. She squeezed my hand, whispering, “I’m sorry, Archer. I can’t imagine what that’s like. I—” She was going to say more, but she was interrupted by a sleazy, tattooed guy in a leather jacket.
Dante.
He grabbed the back of a chair at an adjacent table—a chair someone was actually sitting in—and he pushed them off it, pulling it and flipping it so its back was closer to us. He sat less than two feet away, his legs spread around the back of the chair, his arms leaning on the top of it.
“So, what are you cool kids talking about?” Dante spoke, his eyes spotting her hand on mine immediately. He didn’t even care that he was getting cussed out by the kid who was sitting in the chair before. He only had eyes for Jaz, and the fact our hands were touching.
Jaz was slow to pull her hand off mine, giving Dante an unimpressed look. “Dante. You made it.”
“Yeah,” he shrugged. “All I had to do was beat up a few kids after school.” He shot me a smirk. “I’m kidding. Or am I? I guess pretty boy here will never know.” His fingers tapped the back of the chair. He looked like he wanted to lunge out of that chair and gouge my eyes out for daring to look at Jaz.
Yeah, I get it. He was extremely possessive of her.
“Is Vaughn here, too?” Jaz spoke, glancing all around. “I said you guys could come, but this is supposed to be Archer’s time with me, not yours.”
Archer’s time. Like she had slotted time for each of them—
Maybe, I realized, she did.
Would I want to join that mess? I’d liked her a lot more than I should’ve from the beginning, but I didn’t know…
Dante flicked his icy blue eyes between us. “Are you telling me to leave you guys alone?” He sounded aghast, like that was the absolute last thing he wanted to do.
Jaz nodded. “Please, Dante.”
With a groan, Dante got up. “Fine, but know I’m going to be watching.” He lifted two fingers and brought them to his eyes, flicking them at me.
Ah, so he’ll be watching me, making sure I don’t make any moves on her like I did that day when I’d taken her to the park, away from everything. That day…it’d been the last day I’d tasted her. God, I could really go for tasting her again.
He sauntered away, and the kid who he pushed from the chair took it back.
