Graham (Scandalous Boys Book 2) (14 page)

“I’m already halfway. Thanks.”

He frowns. “Look. Since you won’t let me walk you back and you seem in a hurry to ditch me, I want to let you know I’ll stop over later today and pick you up. It’s nothing fancy, so you don’t have to get dressed up unless you want to. But I just need to talk to you away from the house. Is that okay?”

I must be looking at him as if he has two heads, because he says, “What? Is something wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong, it’s just … are you sure?”

“Yes. I’m going to swing by around four. Is that okay??”

“I gotta work later tonight. What time will you have me home?”

He looks exasperated. “What time do you need to be home?”

“Can you have me back at six?”

He nods. “Yeah.”

“Okay. See you at four then.”
And you better show up or this is the last time I give you a chance.
I leave that part out.

***

Madison glowers at me as soon as I waltz up to the table. “Where the hell have you been? Did you fall into the toilet?”

“Hilarious. No. I went to the bathroom then looked around a couple shops that caught my eye on the way back.” Not a complete lie, but she won’t know.

“We’re ready to leave the mall and head to Target,” Emily says. “I gotta pick up some movies. They have really awesome deals on DVDs.”

I nod. “Cool. I’m in. Let’s go.” The faster we get out of here, the better our chances of her not discovering either Graham or Bryce are here.

Madison pulls herself out of her chair and gathers up her bags. I get mine from the table too. Emily is carting hers away when she says, “Hey, isn’t that your man?”

Madison laughs. “No, he’s with his … That lying asshat!” She stops laughing and marches over to him.

Shit! Shit! Shit! This is not good at all. Poor Bryce.

“Maddy, stop,” I say. “It’s not what you think. Wait a few weeks, you’ll see. I promise.”

She shoves me out of the way. “You might be okay with dating a dishonest jackass, but I’m not. A lie is a lie.” Then she pivots as I follow, almost causing me to slam right into her. “How would you know whether this would all be okay? Did you see him here on the way to the bathroom?”

“I, uh … did. Don’t get mad. Madison, will you stop and listen to me?” I shout as she storms off.

I roll my eyes, and Emily elbows me. “I knew you were still up to no good. Just leave her alone. Drop this ‘I’m sorry and I’m changing’ act now.”

“It’s not an act.” She doesn’t listen either and chases after Madison. From a distance, I see Bryce looking like a deer caught in headlights. Then he tries to latch on to Madison as she turns to walk away.

Then he shouts her name as she runs out of the mall like a crazy shopper trying to score the last of an amazing deal on Black Friday. So all in all, completely normal on this day. Even though it’s anything but.

I reach the parking lot and find myself stranded. Awesome. Never agreeing to carpooling ever again. “She’s gone, isn’t she?” Bryce’s deep rumble comes from behind me.

“Probably off to Target or home. Who knows. She left me here with some of her damn bags I might add,” I say in a huff.

“I thought you’d at least divert her, Sarah,” Graham prods.

I glare at him. “I tried, but she was really mad. Then she wouldn’t listen.”

Bryce hangs his head. “I lost the best fucking thing in my life.”

“She broke up with you?” I ask.

Graham answers for him. “Yep. Then she told him to never visit her apartment, come by the house, or call her ever again. She couldn’t trust him, and a relationship with no trust is nothing. So they were officially nothing.”

“You don’t need to repeat it,” Bryce says. “I don’t know how or why she thought I was cheating on her.”

Graham stares at my bags and then starts taking some from me. “Looks like you need a ride. Come on. We parked over here.”

I feel like we hike ten miles. Thank God I’m not wearing heels, something the old me would have done. My feet would have been killing me. When we reach Bryce’s car, I say, “Well, looks like I got my workout in for the day.”

Bryce doesn’t even crack a smile. Graham does, though. “He’s going to be horrible company for a while.”

“I can see that,” I say.

Graham puts my things in the trunk, takes the bags I’m carrying, and stuffs them in there too. Then he opens the door for me, and I slide into the back. “Thanks for the ride.”

Bryce grunts. “No problem.” He pulls out a box and drops it into the middle compartment of the console. “I should take it back. What a mistake!”

As we pull away from the mall, Graham says, “Dude, all you have to do is show her what you were planning, but do it earlier.”

I bounce in my seat. “That’s it! Oh my gosh, yes! We can help.”

“Um. What?” Graham asks. “I didn’t say I’d help.”

We’re almost back to my house. I smack Graham. “Yes. You are.” Then I get excited. “We can set up twinkle lights all throughout your tree house. Ooo, ooo, and we can do a whole candlelight dinner. It’ll be awesome. Not exactly the gallery show you were wanting but still just as amazing.”

“I can have Mom make her that white lasagna she loves so much,” Graham offers.

Bryce pulls into his driveway and sighs. “It sounds great, you two. But you’re forgetting one main thing.”

“What’s that?” I ask.

He turns in his seat and faces me. “She never wants to see or hear from me ever again. How can I convince her to have a romantic dinner with me?”

I wink at Graham. “Leave that to us.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Graham

I swear I have no idea how in the hell I get roped into this shit. But here I am hanging up white Christmas tree lights all over the inside of Bryce’s tree house. The only good thing about this deal is Sarah’s help.

I loop a cord around a hook we tacked up. As I’m unwinding the mess of lights to latch on the next hook I’m quickly distracted by her very shapely butt. Sarah bends over to pull some more lights from the crate labeled “Lights and Stuff,” which Bryce tossed up here.

Her gaze catches me in the act. Her eyebrow pops up, and she says, “Are you finished over there?”

“What?” I look over at the lights along the trim work near the ceiling and say, “Almost.”

She shakes her head. “Doesn’t look like you’ve gotten much done from over here.”

“Well, if you don’t like the progress so far, you’re more than welcome to chip in there, honey. Don’t forget you’re the one who happily volunteered us for this little escapade.”

Her hands rest on her hips. “Oh, I’m sorry. I thought you’d like to help out your friends. My mistake. You know what? Never mind.” She marches over to me with a fire blazing in her stare. “Give me that!”

“Now hold on, Miss I-Can’t-Take-a-Fucking-Joke! I’m doing it. It would go a lot quicker, though, if you helped me untangle this shit. And you did actually plug these in and make sure the string lit up, didn’t you?”

“Of course I … Wait. Crap! I don’t think I did. Shit! Pull them down. We need to check them.”

I shake my head, walk over to the far corner, and grab the extension cord. I pull it over to the string of lights and plug in the end. Thank God, the dumb things all light up. I swear, if this set was a dud I would have been pissed.

“Okay. Help me untangle this shit,” I say as I hand her the ball of lights.

She wrinkles her nose. “I do not understand how this could happen.”

“It’s simple really.” I wrap another set around a hook. “This is what happens when you throw everything in a box.”

“Yeah, but then you spend like, what, twenty wasted minutes untangling them. Seems annoying and not worth the hassle. Just wind up the lights and put them away.”

I smile. “I’d love to say I never just toss lights in a box, but I can’t. You saw my house. My mom is obsessed with Christmas. When she used to make me help her undecorate the house I would be so pissed. Because, one, it takes her literally three days to deck the halls. And that means it takes three days to take all that shit down. She’d always pick the worst weekend to do it.”

“What weekend is that?” she asks.

“First week of January. You know, when all the kids are out sledding, boarding, or nursing a hangover, and I’m stuck inside helping her fetish.”

She laughs. “Awwww, poor you. I think your mom’s fetish is cool. Could be worse. She could love stealing.” She smirks, but I know she’s only making the joke to hide behind her family’s shit. I’ve never met her parents, but from what I’ve heard about them on the news and seen of them from the many stations reporting on their case, they look like assholes. And I know I shouldn’t say this, but I’m glad her parents got caught. Not saying I’m happy they basically crapped all over Sarah’s life or that making her feel unwanted was a part of the good deal. I’m just saying that if her parents weren’t shit parents, well, we’d never have met. That would have been a shame.

“My mom would have made a terrible thief.” I laugh with her just to ease the growing tension.

We staple the lights on the ceiling, all along the trim, top and bottom, and around the windows. Sarah and I cleaned and organized the stuff still in the tree house, put it in one corner, and threw a white sheet over it.

“You think we should cover the floor in something?” Sarah asks.

“Like what? More bed sheets?”

She glares at me. “No. I was thinking rose petals. Or a bed sheet with rose petals on top of it. Maybe shaped in a heart?”

“Don’t think that will work. When you lift the entrance hatch all the petals will scatter.”

She pouts. “Yeah. Maybe just petals then. They don’t have to be in a design. Just all over the floor.”

I shrug. “Fine. We can pick them up on the way over to my house to get the lasagna.”

She glances at her phone. “I can’t. I have to go get ready for work. Don’t worry though. I have enough time to help you with the table, and I can leave you and Bryce instructions. I mean, you two are capable of following simple directions, right?”

“Yeah. But, um … How are we getting her here? If you’re going to be at work?”

“I’m going to call her while I’m at work at exactly seven. I’m going to tell her that I got sick and my friend who said she’d drive me home dropped me off on the wrong street and I’m stuck on Bryce’s fence in the backyard. Near the tree house. And I need her help because I feel like I’m going to pass out and vomit at the same time. Possibly die while choking on my own puke.”

I grimace. “That’s disgusting and brilliant. Nice job.”

She smiles and taps my fist with hers. “I am a genius when it comes to evil plans.”

She and I leave the tree house, and as we cross the lawn, Bryce comes out of the house with a tie strung around his neck and a jacket on. Half of a white dress shirt is tucked in, half is out. One dress shoe is on, and a tennis shoe is on the other foot.

“Dude. What the hell are you doing?” I ask.

“I’m … Fuck. I should dress up, right? I feel stupid. Plus, I’m sweating buckets up in here. This is dumb, isn’t it?” He turns to go back into the house. “I’m taking this shit off.”

“No. Stop,” Sarah says. “It’s really good. She’ll think you’re being serious if you’re out of your comfort zone for her. To impress her. It’ll mean something. Just, um … You need to tuck that in.” She points to the shirt as Bryce faces her. “I’m not good with ties. That’s Madison’s thing. But I think Graham might be able to help, right?”

“Yeah, man. I got that covered.”

“Awesome,” Sarah says. “Last thing, and this is just my opinion, but I think you should go with the dress shoes. Not one dress shoe and the other causal. Kind of throws all of this off.” She motions her hand up and down in front of him.

Once Bryce is back in the house, Sarah grabs her uniform from her room and gives me a ride back to my place. After she drops me off, I pick up the lasagna I begged my mom to make. I told her it was for Madison, and soon as I said that, she was thrilled to cook. She loves Maddy as if she were her own daughter.

I swear there have been times she’s asked me when I was going to take Madison out on a real date. We hung out a lot when I moved here and throughout high school too, but I just never saw Maddy as anything but a friend. And I swear I never really thought Bryce had a thing for her. I mean, he teased the hell out of her. Tortured her any chance he got. But I thought it was all for fun. I never knew it was because he wanted her to take notice of him.

I still can’t believe he’s ready to settle down with her. It really blows my mind. I’m not hitching myself to anyone until I’m thirty. Hell, maybe older.

My mom pouts when I stop in real quick to pick up the dish then leave immediately after. I have to get roses. That’s what Sarah said. And harder, plastic-type plates since we’re not taking a chance with real china. In case those two decide to skip dessert for later and use each other for the time being. Sarah’s words, not mine. That’s also the reason we didn’t put candles all over. Sarah said it’s romantic and all, but the couple might knock one over while trying to seduce one another and end up burning down the tree house.

I can imagine that. It still kind of makes me chuckle when I picture the two of them streaking across the lawn, calling 9-1-1, and then explaining to not only their parents but the fire and police department what exactly happened and what they were doing at the time.

I reach the flower shop. They aren’t open though. Son of a bitch! So I do the next best thing. Looks like Sarah’s going to help me some more after all.

***

“I just want to know why it matters?” I argue with Sarah and her friend Michelle, who are both getting on my last nerve. They’re just flower petals. Who gives a shit if they’re pink or white or even a little wilted? They’re going on the stupid floor.

“Because he’s proposing!” Sarah bips me in the back of the head. “It’s got to be perfect.”

“They’re just going on the floor,” I grind out through gritted teeth. There’s a discount on the wilted roses. I like to save money. Sue me, ladies!