“Dude, I take it all back,” Jax rushed to say when I entered the kitchen. “You should definitely get her name tattooed on your body. Hell, I’ll get her name tattooed on my body.” He started laughing again, the fucking prick.
“Jaxon, that behavior is not tolerated.” My mother walked in, briefcase in hand. “Don’t think you’re going to get away with it when you live here.”
“Yes, Mom.” He mocked, but honestly, he had a better relationship with my mother than I did.
“Jared. Be home after school. We’re talking.” She pointed her finger at me.
“Yes, Mom,” I mumbled, echoing Jax.
“Jax, honey.” My mother looked to my brother. “Are you done with my laptop?”
“Yeah, I put it back in the case. Thank you.” And he spooned in another mouthful of cereal as he leaned against the sink.
My mother walked over to me as soon as she’d swung her laptop case over her shoulder. I let her put her hand to my cheek, but I still couldn’t manage to maintain eye contact.
“I love you,” she whispered gently. “And be home after school.”
I nodded, and she walked out, the sound of her heels fading away down the hall.
Looking over to Jax, who stood there trying to keep his smile at bay, I was suddenly confused.
“You have a phone. What did you need the laptop for?” I asked, grabbing an apple off the counter and taking a bite.
He just shrugged and stuffed his mouth with more Captain Crunch.
“Are you sure you feel comfortable in that outfit?” I asked as we walked into school, hand in hand.
She didn’t look at me, but her smile reeked of sarcasm. “Is it my comfort you’re worried about or your own?”
She didn’t look even remotely trampy. On the contrary, she was a fucking magazine cover. But the flimsy black dress was short. Tate usually dressed like a tomboy, but it was like she was on a mission to fuck with my sex drive 24/7.
I was on overdrive.
“My concern has nothing to do with me.” I pulled her into my side and hooked an arm around her neck. “I only think of you.”
We strolled through the halls, barely noticed, finally, as the school had pretty much moved on to newer drama. Jax was a genius. I did a web-search after I got home last night, and I couldn’t find the video anywhere.
Everyone was moving on.
“Let’s go for a ride after school today,” I suggested. “Just get on the motorcycle and go.”
Looking up, she raised her eyebrows and grinned, but then her eyes shifted to the lockers at our side, and her bubble immediately popped.
Following her gaze, I saw two girls eyeing Tate and me and whispering. They were being very obvious.
One of the girls I didn’t know. The other one, I definitely knew.
Shit.
“Tate, just ignore them.”
“It’s easy for you, Jared.” Her voice was low and calm, but there was a bite to it. “You could’ve been filmed with ten porn stars, and you’d be the man. I’m the one that’s paying for that video. Not you.”
She was right. While I cringed every time I saw that thing, I wasn’t in her shoes.
And there was little I could do to protect her.
I wanted to get her out of here. Get on the bike right now, and get lost, but she wouldn’t go for that. Instead I just grabbed her hand. “Let’s get to class.”
We started walking through the throngs of people, but she hesitated.
Glancing down at her, I saw her take out her phone, which was buzzing. My eyes shot up when I heard several other phones ringing and vibrating.
Fear hollowed my stomach as déjà vu struck. Everyone was getting a message at the same time, just like Tate told me they did when the video exploded.
My own phone vibrated against my ass, and with a cringe, I reached in my pocket to grab it.
Madoc.
Glancing around, I noticed almost everyone had their noses in their devices as well.
Sliding to unlock the screen, I opened the message.
Really?!
With piss and fury burning my stomach, I watched a recording of Nate, blubbering last night in the hot tub. I was in the video, too, but I was blurred out, and I couldn’t hear what I was saying. All that was visible and audible was Nate Dietrich, pleading for his safety and apologizing.
Fuck!
Heat rushed over my back, and a cool sweat broke out across my forehead as I looked to Tate. She was seeing it, too, no doubt. Others started hooting and laughing in the halls, while some whispered and showed their phones around to other’s who hadn’t gotten the message.
The video was not flattering. It clearly protected me and threw him to the sharks as a spineless joke.
Well, good. I was okay with that, but Tate?
Her eyebrows were pinched together as she looked at her phone, and then her serious and very unhappy eyes zoned in on me.
“Jared? This is you, isn’t it? You’re the one he’s talking to.”
Her breathing was fast, and her face was tense.
Son of a bitch. Just when I was hoping things would calm down. Fucking Madoc and fucking Jax. Madoc obviously sent it to the whole school, but it had to have been Jax that filmed it when my back was turned last night. I was sure of it. Madoc didn’t know shit about how to edit videos. Jax was the smart one.
And that’s why he’d borrowed my mom’s laptop this morning.
“Tate, it’s—”
“Was this last night?” she interrupted.
“It was spontaneous.” I held up my hands and shook my head, inching up to her. “Nate was at Madoc’s house, and Jax and I went over to confront him.”
“You threatened him? What were you thinking?” she accused. “I mean, don’t get me wrong,” she continued, “I appreciate the gesture, but it’s not worth it. Now everyone’s talking about us again, Jared. They all know what this is about.”
I looked around and—yes—people were eyeing us again. Talking and laughing, not to mention whispering. The grins weren’t snide or spiteful, but it was still talk.
And Tate was sick of it.
“Why didn’t you take me with you?” she asked.
I lifted my shoulders a bit and exhaled a bitter laugh. “It seemed like a bad idea to put you back in that mess. You’ve been through too much. I didn’t want you to get emotional—”
“Emotional?” Her voice erupted like an air horn in the otherwise hushed hallway.
Glancing around, I inched closer, feeling my nerves heat up with her obvious anger. “That’s not what I meant—”
“Why didn’t you tell me about this this morning?” Her wall was up, and I stood there in fucking awe of how close I’d been to her a moment ago. “Another video, Jared!” she burst out. “I should’ve known about this.”
“I didn’t know it was being recorded!”
What the hell? Why was she mad? If anything, she should’ve been happy that I defended her honor! Of course, Nate walked away without a scratch, but the video cut off as my blade went in his face. People would assume the worst until Nate showed up to verify that he was fine.
Tate was overreacting, because she didn’t know what had happened.
“That’s the same excuse you used last time!” she retorted.