Page 46 of Rush
“This whole time, you’ve only thought about yourself,” I said, giving her the full dose of reality she desperately needed. “Poor you, your fuckhead of a fiancé cheated on you. Poor you, all your friends are backstabbing bitches. Poor you, your job is demanding.Poor you. Guess what, Jade? None of it was forced down your throat.You were the one who swallowed.”
Tears were streaming down her face, her eyes fixed on me. I’d just broken her in two, but she’d just shit all over the one thing I’d struggled with all these years. Unrequited love.
Striding across the room, I barged into the bathroom and slammed the door closed behind me.
She’d used my love against me, and that…that was unforgivable.
The soundof glass shattering made me flinch.
Sitting on the plastic frog, I wobbled back and forth and guzzled my beer. Letting out a loud belch, I tossed my empty bottle and laughed as it smashed against the side of the adventure playground.
“Shot!” Cole exclaimed from the top of the platform. With awhoop, he skidded down the slide, falling at the bottom and doing an uncoordinated barrel roll.
“You guys are pigs,” Sadie called out.
Glancing over at the girls who were sitting in a flock on the picnic tables, I flipped them the bird.
The playground was dark, the orange street lights the only thing that lit our little Year Twelve graduation pre-party.
I’d turned eighteen the week before, so I’d been the one who had gone into the bottle shop to get the slab of beer for the guys and the mixed pack of flavored vodka for the girls. I was legit legal now. No more fake IDs for me.
The day had passed like any other, though Raquel from my second-period math class had lured me behind the art building and let me suck on her tongue, then her bare tits. They were nice and all, but there was only one set I wanted, and they belonged to Jade Forsyth.
Cole kicked the ass of the frog, and I almost fell off the front.
“I’m gonna tell her,” I declared.
“Tell who?” He kicked the frog again.
“I’m gonna tell Jade she’s the one.”
“Yeah, right,” Cole retorted. “You’ve been saying that for, like, two years. You’re never going to tap that. It’s too pure.”
“It’s not like that,” I complained. “We talk and stuff.”
“Yeah, when she’s not sucking Hunter Ballinger’s cock for his trust fund.”
“Fuck you,” I shot at him. “Take that back.”
“You know it’s true,” he declared, shoving his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. “They’re off one second, and then the next week, they’re back together. You really want to fuck with him and his crew? You know I’ve got your back, but we’re about to crash another of their parties. Give it until ten o’clock?, and we’ll be punching on with those pussies. You touch Jade, and they’ll be all gunning for you.” ?????
“So what? She’s worth it.”
“Does honey come out of her pussy or something?” he drawled. “You expecting to get a hit of pure crack cocaine the second your little prick dips in?”
“She’s worth it,” I said, leaping off the frog and shoving my shoulder into his chest. “When she’s not with those assholes, she’s different. Like us.”
He snorted and rolled his eyes. “Your funeral.” He glanced over to the group of girls who were giggling and drinking their bright red vodkas. “If you don’t want Raquel, maybe I can convince her to suck my cock instead.”
“Your funeral,” I shot back at him. Picking up the plastic bag, bottles of beerclinkedinside. “I’m going to meet my destiny.”
“Destiny?” Cole called out after me. “The only destiny that’s waiting for you and me is the slammer, bro! Six months tops, and I’ll see you in Gen Pop!”
Shutting out Cole’s defeatist attitude, I walked down the street toward the sounds of thumping music. I had to do it tonight because tomorrow, she would be gone for good. School was finished, and everyone was going their separate ways. University, TAFE, apprenticeships, jobs, gap years, and for losers like Cole and me, sucking the system dry.
For two years, I’d lusted after the beautiful redheaded girl I’d spotted at the first party I gatecrashed with Cole. That night, I’d saved her from a drunk dickhead who’d been trying to feel her up and stolen a kiss as payment. From there on out, I only ever had eyes for her, but there was one problem. She belonged to the biggest dick of the century—Hunter Ballinger.
King of a boys private school, captain of all the sports teams, a trust fund kid, loaded parents, and a massive ego to match, I was nothing compared to him. Rich versus poor…it was always the same. Jade was his property, and she lapped it up like she was the star of a romance novel.
