Page 101 of The Ruthless Boys (Adamson All-Boys Academy 2)
“I’ve got news I suppose I should share with you,” Church begins, and then sighs.
“News?”
“Not yet,” Spencer snaps, sitting down heavily in a wingback leather chair. “Let’s get through this first. Chuck can date … in this circle, I guess. Until we all sort of figure things out. Does that work?”
“Does it work for you?” Tobias retorts, and Spencer shrugs.
“Fair is fair, I guess. And you guys are my real family, like my forever crew.” As soon as he says the words, I feel this warm spot in the center of my chest. I’ve had that thought, too, about a forever crew. I lick my lower lip. “I’m not thrilled about it. Ideally, Chuck and I would just be together, but I can’t lose you guys.”
“You’d never lose me,” Micah tells him, sitting on the edge of Spencer’s chair. They give each other a weird sort of bro hug before separating. “But really, I appreciate you guys waiting to talk to us.”
“Sure thing,” Ranger growls, glancing away. He’s clearly ashamed, maybe a bit confused. So am I. I think we all are?
“Do you think we need a morning-after pill or something?” Spencer says, and everyone turns to stare at us. “We didn’t use a condom, but I pulled out …”
“Fucking Christ.” Ranger puts his head in his hand for a minute before standing up. “I’m going to bake a cobbler to calm down. You can take your stupid ass to the store for a pill if you’re that goddamn stupid.”
Only, he doesn’t mention that something similar almost happened between him and me just a short while prior.
I sit there, praying to the God of Holes for Embarrassed People as I try to puzzle out what’s going on. Am I dating … four guys now? Five? I glance over at Church.
“What news?” I ask him, and he smiles, reaching into the pocket of his blue jacket and pulling out a velvet box. I take it, expecting another Adamson All-Boys Academy Student Council pin.
Instead what I get is … a wedding ring.“I’ve been having so much sex lately,” I groan, putting my forehead on my knees, blond hair dripping saltwater across my towel. Monica pats me gently on the back, but we’re not quite back to the level of friendship where she’s allowed to hug me just yet.
“That’s normal for a virgin,” she says, and I look askance at her, one brow raised. The last few weeks have been … interesting. With the Student Council boys, they recover as quickly as they get angry, and everything seems normal, but there’s an underlying tension. Ranger and Church haven’t expressed anything further in regards to the whole dating thing, but you know, maybe they didn’t feel the need to, considering I’m now engaged.
I grit my teeth.
“Yeah?” I ask, and she nods.
“Perfectly normal. You’ll slow down eventually.” Monica pauses and lifts her shades up, dark eyes studying the guys as they practice with their surfboards. I’ve been giving lessons all day, and the only person who actually seems to have any skill at the sport is Church. Shocker, right? “Actually, no, I lied. I don’t think you slow down until you’re like thirty. Or maybe forty or fifty.” I put my forehead back on my knees.
Dad’s here now, in Santa Cruz, but so are the guys.
After my time with Mom in Los Angeles, I came up here to spend the Fourth with Archie, and the boys scattered to their various families across the US. To them, though, it’s no big deal to just hop on a plane and zip around, and so here they are.
Pretty sure Dad hates them now.
Maybe because he found the packaging for that morning-after pill in my backpack?
I almost—almost—quoted him this really great line from the TV show, the United States of Tara, where the teen girl snarkily asks her father if she should’ve let that fertilized egg implant itself in her uterus. But that would not have gone down well at all.
“I’ve got this big party on Saturday,” I tell her, lifting my head up and sighing. I can’t very well tell her it’s sort of my engagement party, now can I? That the only way Church was able to get me back into Adamson was to go to his parents.
They all keep mentioning the Montagues with this deep-seated fear in their voices, but I haven’t been able to figure out why just yet. Guess I’ll be learning soon enough? Church’s plan was to tell his parents we were engaged, and then let them put pressure on Dad. They clearly haven’t done that just yet because he hasn’t murdered me in my sleep, but they’re going to. After the party, apparently.
I’m terrified out of my fucking mind.
“A Montague party, I know.” Monica sighs and sets her phone down on her towel. “As far as high society shit goes, that’s the cream of the crop. If you want to get more prestigious, you only have a few choices. There are the Cabots—they’re richer than god—but they’re new money. Maybe a Vanderbilt soiree? Or something to do with the Blackwells?” She shrugs, and I sigh. I honestly couldn’t care less about a fancy dinner party, but if this is the only way to get me back into Adamson, I’ll take it. “Where’s the party being held? Maybe I could crash?” She grins at me, but I shake my head.
