“And yet you two still almost made a beast with two backs?” she teases.
I slump back in the chair, shaking my head so hard my brain practically rattles.
“Spill, Chica. What’s his name, and what did he do? Read your diary in front of the class? Embarrass you in front of your crush? Tell everybody that you had genital warts?” A sly smile pulls at her lips. “Not speaking from experience or anything.”
At this, I can’t help but laugh. “His name is Jase Rivers, and no, he never bullied me. At least, not directly.”
Maggie frowns. “What? Was he the Golden Boy? Got his minions to do his dirty work?”
“No, that was Trent.”
“Huh?”
It takes everything in me not to knock back the entire bottle in my hand. “To cut a long story short, I was once stupid enough to think Jase had a backbone…or that hewasn’ta dick.” I have to take another swig from my drink, the burn of the alcohol now proving to be the only thing keeping the tears from my eyes. “I thought we had become friends at some point, but as soon as sophomore year began, I was suddenly the Untouchables’ number one target.”
And they never let up, even after Jase was gone.
Maggie’s lips turn down. “The ‘Untouchables’?”
“His friends,” I clarify, “a.k.a. all of the popular kids.”
“How bad was it?”
“Let’s just say a lie about genital warts would have been child’s play. Jase never intervened on my behalf, and they never let up on me. Hell, Sienna and Trent harassed me even during our graduation ceremony.”
Now Maggie’s glaring at me like I’m a special breed of stupid. “Explain to mehowyou didn’t recognize this Jase guy after only one year of being away?”
I shoot the same glare right back. “He moved to California before the end of sophomore year.” Which now explains the tanned skin and sun-bleached hair. A New England summer can’t compete with year-round sunshine. “And before you start, yes, those three years made a difference. Abigdifference.”
Jase had gone from being a bad boy to being a badman.
My best friend still isn’t convinced, so she begins her hunt on social media. Any of Jase’s accounts she comes across are all set to private, and the profile images only show the ocean, but she’s able to find pictures other users have tagged him in. “Daaaamn.”
The last thing I want to see right now is his face, but I lean over to at least verify it’s Jase in the photo. It’s only a few months old, showcasing his rugged good looks and muscled form in a pair of swim trunks out on the beach.
I snatch the phone away from her, and though it takes time to scroll far enough back through the timeline, I find a picture of Jase from sophomore year on his mom’s account. When Maggie sees the discrepancies for herself, there’s no denying it.
He’s not the same kid he was when we started hanging out, tanned skin and lighter hair aside. Five inches in height, forty pounds of pure muscle, the scar, his nose, the facial hair, and—most importantly—the chiseled cheekbones that replaced any hint of a baby face; it all paints a very,verydifferent picture.
I try not to think about it, but my brain can’t stop replaying that kiss. His hands on my body, his hips grinding against mine, the pressure of his lips…
My body awakens at the mere thought—the horny bitch—and I’m forced to literally shake my head, hoping the effort is enough to discard the image.
Thankfully, Maggie does the job for me when she repeats Jase’s last name, the moniker obviously ringing a bell. “Why does that sound familiar?”
“His father used to be in Congress.”
Her eyebrows lift in recognition, only to slam back down as she grimaces. “Wasn’t he involved in some big scandal?”
“Yep.”
“That’s not the same guy who was accused of assaulting his staffer, is it?”
The very mention has bile rising up my throat. “No, that would be Senator Walker.”
“Ah.” Even in her tipsy state, she’s able to recall the headlines from more than two years ago. “That’s the Charlotte Hinckley case, right?”
Indeed.
