Page 11 of Cocky Prince
Adam’s face is frozen, his eyes burning with…something. “Let me get this straight. You were Jaeger’s girlfriend—thatgirlfriend? Beth…” His gaze scans my face and body, as though he’s calculating all the changes and adding them up.
“For a short time, yeah. He broke up with me when he heard about the teacher. I understand you were instrumental in making that happen.” I chomp into another chip and watch the tic in his jaw.
“And that made you leave Lake Tahoe.” He swallows, as if evenhecan’t stomach the truth.
“Well, not the Jaeger part, but yes, the other stuff. I was harassed by students—pretty much the entire town. Chip?” I hand him one, no longer having a taste for it myself.
He doesn’t look at the food in my hand. Adam grabs the back of his neck. “I need another beer,” he mumbles, and pounds the last of his.
Cali walks over and refills the margarita resting against my breasts in the cocktail yoke. Jaeger joins her. “I’m really sorry about that, Hayden,” he says. “I knew it was rough on you. I didn’t realize how bad.”
“You apologized years ago. Water under the bridge.”
Not that those waters didn’t crash rocks against the shore, leaving deep gashes. But the scars that formed had less to do with Jaeger, and more to do with the entire town turning on me. Not having a single person I could rely on, besides my parents, left me feeling empty. Even Adam, who didn’t know me, caused damage.
“Dump her,” Adam said, as I stood around the corner from Jaeger’s school locker, waiting for Jaeger to finish talking to his friend. I’d paused when I caught sight of them together, unsure if I should interrupt.
Jaeger switched out his books, and looked up, absently lifting a hand to a guy passing, whom I recognized as an athlete on the football team. Jaeger knew all the athletes. He was popular. Yet he’d chosen to date me, a mousy bookworm.
He closed the locker and leaned against the metal frame. “You think she did it?”
Adam snorted. “Don’t be stupid. Get out while you can. You don’t need to stand beside her just because you’ve dated her for a couple of weeks. No one will blame you for dumping her.” Adam notched his head up and flashed a grin at a beautiful girl walking by. I’d seen the girl in my economics class. Not bright, but she’d been nice the few times I’d interacted with her.
She smiled sweetly at Adam, and walked on with her friend.
Jaeger’s expression went pensive. “You’re right.”
Adam hitched his backpack higher, his gaze darting away. “Course I’m right.”
That same day, when I was leaving school, Jaeger caught up to me. He broke up with me at the foot of the stairs to the parking lot. Thanks to Adam Cade pounding the last nail in the coffin, my boyfriend turned his back on me during one of the darkest moments of my life, along with the rest of the town. I couldn’t walk into a grocery store without someone pointing a finger.
Small towns are a bitch.
Mira puts her arm around my shoulders, and Gen joins us. “That shit was messed up,” Mira says. This coming from the girl who recently lost her mother to drug abuse.
What happened sucked. It was brutal at the time, and I’ll never forgive Adam for being a jerk during everything, but I’ve returned because I’m ready to move on. “As long as you don’t mind my sordid past, I’m over it.”
She smiles. “Your sordid past has nothing on mine.”
“Or mine,” Gen chimes in. “Most of my life I never knew who my father was. This is small potatoes. And the rumor wasn’t even true. Though, if youhadhooked up with a hot teacher, that would be a good story to tell.”
“I don’t have a sordid past,” Nessa admits. “But now I think you’re even more badass for coming back and kicking ass in this town.” She does a flashy karate chop in the air, and kicks up her platform heel.
Zach leans over and kisses Nessa on the top of the head. “Cutie.” He smiles down at her.
The next hour goes smoothly. No more discussions about nasty rumors. And Adam keeps his distance. We eat, and it’s not until we’re outside, sitting around Zach and Nessa’s new built-in fire pit, that Adam approaches me again. He lowers himself onto the camp chair beside mine and stretches out his long legs. “I was friends with Jaeg in high school.”
I glare at him. “Yeah, I remember. You weresucha good friend.” I let out a breath and stare back at the campfire. I didn’t return to town to hold grudges. “Look, I know you convinced Jaeger to break up with me. Maybe he would have anyway. Regardless, you didn’t know me.”
“Hayden—”
“Even so, that was a long time ago. We were young, and people make mistakes. I can’t say it didn’t affect me, but I’ve moved on.”
He’s silent for a long moment, his handsome face more serious than I’ve ever seen it. “You’re right, I didn’t know you, but that’s no excuse for what I did. And you do judge me for the past, if the way you’ve treated me at Blue is any indication. You have every right to. I’m sorry for what I said to Jaeg back then. It was a shitty thing to do.”
I can’t take the look in his eyes. It’s one of his rare sincere expressions, and it jumbles up everything. Confuses me. And his confession…I never thought I’d hear an apology like that from Adam.
A stretch of silence follows as I process his words. He turns away and stares at the fire pit. “In any case,” he says, his voice soft and low, “I wish Ihadknown you.”
