Graham (Scandalous Boys Book 2) (13 page)

“So he’s not leaving her?”

“Definitely not. More like keeping her forever. But you didn’t hear me say that.”

We find our seats and end up sitting in a middle row. Kyle and Emily are to our left, and Madison and Bryce to our right. During the beginning of the movie, I glance over at Emily and notice her head resting on Kyle. He doesn’t look perturbed by it either, which makes me think maybe he has a thing for her. I, on the other hand, am too stunned to hold Graham’s hand. Resting my head on his shoulder is out of the question. I’m still trying to get over the fact he thinks this is a date.

This is not a date. We’re not even … ugh. The man can’t seem to make up his mind, and I can’t just wait around for when he does. As this thought washes over me, I realize I need a moment to myself. I lower my seat and stand up. “Where are you going?” Graham whispers.

“Restroom. Too much soda.” Complete lie. I didn’t even have two sips from that monster cup they call a small. I hurry to the bathroom and stare at myself in the mirror.

My reflection looks the same. Everything about me looks the same, so why do I feel so broken? Lost? Why do I feel like this skin is not mine? My heart pounds for Graham. My head, on the other hand, is screaming at me to run. I can’t decide which one to listen to anymore. I followed my heart a couple times, and each time he rejected me. I followed my head, and I’ve felt so lonely and abandoned—worse than I ever felt in Arizona. So what does that mean?

“Hey, you okay?” Madison startles me from my thoughts.

“Fine. I just … No. I’m not fine. I’m confused, and I want to go home.”

She studies me for a second. “Confused about what?”

“Him. He’s always confusing me. One minute he’s all sweet and caring. Telling me this is a date. Making me think he really wants to try. Tomorrow or, hell, maybe five minutes after the movie ends, it’ll be the ‘this was a mistake’ thing. I can’t do that anymore.”

“I get that.” She smiles and then pulls me into a hug. “It’s going to be fine. He’s just as confused as you are.”

I lean back. “What do you mean? He’s the one making it confusing. He just needs to decide and stick with his decision. Not string me along on his whole ‘I want her, no I don’t’ process.”

She nods. “I know. I wish someone else would do the same. I think it’s a guy thing. Maybe not, though. Maybe it’s just a Graham-and-Bryce thing.”

“Bryce is totally in love with you, Maddy. You don’t have anything to be worried about. I’m sure it’s not what you think at all. Give him a little faith.”

She narrows her eyes. “Okay. I’ll do it, but you have to do the same.”

“What?”

“I’ll stop thinking of the worst possible outcome for Bryce and me if you give Graham a chance. He asked me to come check on you. Said you lied about sucking down all the pop or something.”

I roll my eyes. “I didn’t think he’d notice.”

“He does. He notices a lot, actually. Like, did you know you kind of snore?”

“Shut up!” I smack her arm.

She laughs. “Don’t look at me. He told me. He also says you have little flecks of light-brown and green in your blue eyes. It reminds him of the ocean.”

“I’m scared he’s going to break my heart.”

“He might, but isn’t it worth the risk?”

I make a noise of protest. “I hate when you might be right.”

We walk out of the restroom and back into the dark theater. I take my seat next to Graham. Instead of resting my hands in my lap, I let my right hand drop into his. He squeezes mine, and then his lips brush my earlobe. “I’m right here. Promise.”

Promises were something I stopped buying into a while ago. But I’ll let him prove himself.

Chapter Twenty-One

Graham

Sarah and I haven’t seen each other since our movie date. It’s close to four in the morning, and Bryce is throwing clothes at me. “Why aren’t we sleeping again?” I ask in a groggy tone. If I would have known his ass would be acting like a goddamn drill sergeant, pulling me from my bed at four in the morning, I’d have told him to go fuck himself. He could hang out with me later when it was a decent time.

“Get up! I’m getting her ring today.”

“Why do I have to get up?” I ask. I’m still sleepy and confused as to why I need to be shopping for rings with him at this damn hour.

“You know her as well as I do. I need you, man. Think of this as one of your best-man duties or something. Come on.”

I pull on my jeans and throw on a shirt. “I fucking hate you for this. If she says no, I’m kicking both of your asses. Just warning you now.”

“You think she’ll say no?” He looks as if he’s about to puke. Jesus. He’s turned into one whipped pussy.

“No. I don’t think she will. She loves you, man. I need some breakfast and coffee, though. If you want me functioning now, those two things are a must.”

“All right.”

I lace up my shoes, grab my wallet and coat, and follow him out of my room.

***

This is the seventh jewelry store we’ve been in. At this point I’m about to kill my best friend. The douche in a suit helping Bryce is annoying as hell. He slides his gaze to me and says, “Are you looking for anything special?”

Bryce glances over at me, and I roll my eyes. “No. I’m only here for support.” Which has about run out. If he doesn’t pick out a ring soon I’m going to punch him in his nuts and walk home.

“Oh. Well, that’s nice. What do you think about the ring your friend is holding then?” the dude asks.

That’s it. I’m done. “I think it looks like every other damn ring we’ve seen, from here all the way to Pandora.” I glare at Bryce. “You know she’s a simple kind of girl. She doesn’t want something flashy. She probably wants a small band because of her dainty hands. And that right there isn’t dainty or simple. It looks like something some grandma would wear.”

The salesman gasps like I completely offended him. I honestly don’t give one shit. Bryce stares at the ring and sighs. “He’s right. She’s simple. She has thin piano fingers. She’d see this big, massive ring and hate it immediately. Do you have anything simple yet, I don’t know, girly? But not too girly—she hates pink and flowery stuff.”

The sales guy pales. “Um. Uh. Let me look. I believe we do.”

Yeah. As far as I can see, he doesn’t. In fact, that’s probably why I’m so aggravated. If Bryce paid attention to all the rings in the cases he’d know only a few of the stores have had what he’s looking for. Which also means we’ll have to go back to them.

I’ve learned a lesson here, though. I’ll never shop for an engagement ring with my friend. In fact I’m not getting my ring in a store, period. Online. Click and done. No need for all this bullshit!

While dip-wad goes searching his inventory, Bryce snaps, “What?”

“I still don’t know why you’re hell-bent on doing this now.”

“I love her. She’s always been the one for me. Now I have her, I need to make it forever. No doubts.”

I get that. Maybe. Maybe not. It’s his funeral. Not that Maddy is evil or anything. “Are you planning to marry her right after you put a ring on her finger?”

He shrugs. “Can’t. Kind of promised her dad I wouldn’t. I would do it, though, if that’s what she wants. But I like my nuts where they are, man.”

“Aw, jeez, you asked her dad? And he let you live? That’s some mighty big balls you have, bro. Wait, I need to know: does Kyle know? Did you ask him too?” Because honestly, this is probably the only thing making this whole damn experience better.

Bryce rubs the back of his neck as his cheeks turn crimson. I just start laughing. “Shut up.”

“That’s why Kyle was evil-eyeing you during the movie. Dude, did he even give his blessing?”

“In so many words. Not that I actually give a fuck what Kyle thinks. I just did it out of respect.”

The sales guy comes back. Sweat is beading his brow. “I’m sorry, sir. The only thing I have is in the catalog. We can order anything you want.”

Bryce flips through some pages. “How long will it take?”

“To deliver? We can have it here in two weeks.”

He shakes his head. “That’s too long. I wanted to have everything before the first week in December.”

“We can certainly expedite the shipping.”

I snort. “Have him pay extra? That’s funny. Dude, let’s get the hell—” I start to turn, and fuck me, Sarah is marching her way toward us.

“Hey! I need to talk to you, right now!” she says.

“Me?” I ask.

She scrunches her nose. “Not you! You!” She points at Bryce.

The winning salesman clears his throat. “Is this the lucky lady?”

That question flicks my inner annoyance. “No, she’s mine. Now go do something useful and butt the hell out of this.”

The guy scurries away, but when I turn to face Bryce and Sarah, Sarah has a full-on glare directed at me. “I’m not yours.”

I know she’s not. One movie date doesn’t make her mine. Sharing a tub of popcorn doesn’t make her mine either. But I want her to be. I’m done avoiding her. Problem is we haven’t had this conversation. Not really. I told her I wasn’t going anywhere. But she could have taken that to mean I wasn’t leaving her in the theater. Or I wasn’t going to the bathroom.

“I know,” I say as I run my fingers through my hair.

She turns to Bryce. “Why does Madison think you’re cheating on her?”

“She does?” He looks baffled.

She jabs her finger into his chest. “Yes! You told her you couldn’t go out with her today. You told her your mom needed you. This doesn’t look like your mom!”

Bryce pales. “It’s a surprise. Can you keep your mouth shut?”

“Keep my mouth shut?” She takes a step back and balls up her hands. “I’m not keeping this from Madison. I’m telling her what a liar you are. Then you can stand here and explain yourself to her when she comes in here.”

“She’s at the mall right now?” Bryce looks over at me.

I shake my head. “What do you want me to do? Go hunt her down and distract her?”

Sarah smacks me in the arm. “You are not going to help him. Maddy is your best friend too!”

I throw up my hands. “Just tell Sarah what you’re doing. She can probably help better than I can.”

Bryce sighs. “Fine. I’m going to ask Madison to marry me right before her art show. I’ve been looking for the perfect ring for her. I’ve been searching for a month now, but I haven’t found anything that I can see her wearing forever.”

Sarah goes from angry to shocked . “Really? No way! Oh my God! I want to jump for joy and then smack you all at the same time. This is monumental.” Sarah glances over at the display cases and says, “Well, first things first. We’ve got to leave this place, because she’ll hate everything here.”

“See? I told you,” I chide.

Sarah narrows her eyes and pulls Bryce out of the shop. “Main thing we need to do is avoid running into Maddy. I don’t want her getting the wrong idea or anything.”

“Neither do I. I only want her,” Bryce snaps as he pulls his arm away from Sarah.

Sarah points at a store a few yards from us. “She was actually in there today looking at stuff. She and Emily were playing the ‘if I were … this is the ring I’d want’ game.”

“For real?” I ask. “You guys actually do shit like that?”

“Yes. Sometimes. It’s just for fun. Anyway, the ring she wants is in there.”

“Dude, come on,” Bryce says as he bolts toward the store.

I nudge Sarah. “If I ever act like this, please put me out of my misery.”

“What? Act like you’re in love? Yeah, because that’s such a tragedy.”

I shake my head. “People in love do not act like that. I’m not sure what that is. All morning he’s been snappy and ordering me around from store to store. It’s too early for this shit.”

She shrugs. “I think it’s sweet.” We enter the store, and she hurries to one of the cases. “That’s the ring right there.” She points to a white-gold one. It’s simple and has a thin band. Small diamonds are embedded in the band, while a decent-size rock sits in the center.

“Thanks. Crap. Let me see your hand,” Bryce says.

“Why do you need to see her hand?” I ask, a little more defensively than I should.

“To see if her fingers are about the same size as Mads’s.”

Sarah holds up her hand and says, “She’s probably a six. If it’s a little big or small it’s okay, they can fix it. I gotta go, though. I’ve been gone too long.”

Bryce nods. I follow her out of the store while he talks to the saleswoman. Sarah glances over at me. “Why are you following me?”

“Protecting you from the crazy Black Friday shoppers.”

She laughs. “The only crazy person here is you. I’ll be fine.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Sarah

Madison has been sad all morning. Emily and I had to drag her out of the house to go shopping. I thought she was over this whole “Bryce is cheating on me or leaving me soon” business. Apparently not. She had a huge meltdown when we stopped for coffee.

Emily was no help at all. She told her, “This is what you get for being in a relationship.”

Of course this made Madison sob even more. I told them I was going to the bathroom. That’s when I spotted Bryce. I decided to corner him and demand to know what was going on. If he told me he was leaving Madison or seeing another person I was going to kick his ass. Or at least try.

Now Graham is following me back to Madison, and I don’t want her to see him. It will only cause her to have a bigger meltdown. If she sees him, she’ll probably look for Bryce. Call me silly, but I really want her to be surprised by the ring. Not find out here in a mall. I hope whatever Bryce has planned for her will be romantic and amazing.

“What’s up with the dreamy look?” Graham asks.

I shake myself from my silly daze and answer, “No, look. I don’t think you should follow me. If Madison sees you, she’ll likely ask about Bryce, and no offense, but you suck at lying. And she already knows when I’m fibbing.”

“Fine. I’ll just walk you halfway.”