“As much as I adore indulging in my favorite topic of conversation – myself – I want to know who shoved giant sticks up both your arses, and why they didn’t call to let me in on the fun.”
Nothing. Noah’s shoulders tense, and Eli shifts his weight between his feet, glancing back at the tennis court like he wishes he succeeded in decapitating me.
I take a guess. “This is about the new girl, the Ice Queen?”
Eli stiffens, and I know I’m right.
Mmmmm. Mackenzie Malloy. Just thinking about those crimson lips, that haughty pout, the way she peers down that perky nose and makes lesser mortals quiver like jelly…
She’s tempting. She’s dangerous. I see myself reflected in those cold eyes. Behind that shell of ice, Mackenzie Malloy is bleeding on the inside. When her pain and my pain crash together, the world better watch out.
But I can’t say that to these two, because you don’t, do you? You can’t talk to your mates about the dark things in the corner of your mind, about the wounds that cut where no one sees, about how nothing you do to yourself can ever hurt enough to make up for the pain you caused someone else. So instead I say what they expect me to say. “I bet the new girl is hot as fuck in the sack, as long as she doesn’t give my dick frostbite.”
“Don’t talk about her like that,” Eli snaps, then clamps his hand over his mouth.
With a snarl, Noah hurls his glass at Eli’s head.
Eli ducks just in time, and the crystal hits the palm tree, shards raining down into the garden.
“What crawled up your ass and died?” Noah’s usually a mess when he stresses about school, which is pointless because he’ll probably be valedictorian unless Eli swipes the crown. But this is worse than I’ve ever seen him. “It’s not as if you’re lining up for a go. Or are you? And you’re pissed I got in first. All’s fair in love and war, and if it’s any consolation, she seems immune to my many charms—”
Noah slams his book shut. He flashes me a murderous look and storms toward the house. While Eli watches him, I tip my Scotch into a planter box.
“Fuck, Gabe.” Eli glares at me.
“What?” I pull a platter of cheese across the table and start loading up a cracker. Whenever we show up at Eli’s house, his maid Maria throws food and drinks at us like she’s afraid we’re being starved. Maria was Eli’s nanny, and she stayed around to look after the house when his dad went away. She still dotes on him like he’s her own son – just as well, because Eli’s mother’s too busy with her yoga instructor to remember Eli exists. And Eli’s dad… the less said about that sanctimonious wanker, the better.
“How can you be so dense?” Eli looks at me like I’ve sprouted tentacles. His Southern accent appears on the edges of his words. That only happens when he’s upset. He assumes I don’t notice shit like that, but I haven’t made a career putting emotion to music by not noticing shit. “You can’t talk to him like that. The new girl is Mackenzie Malloy. Malloy.”
Oh.
Shit.
“As in the Malloy’s Supplements Malloys?” I ask, as if there could be any other Malloys that would elicit such a reaction from Noah.
Eli nods. “And you just told Noah all the ways you want to fuck her.”
“All the ways I want to shag her. You Yanks have no sense of poetry.” I lift an eyebrow. “But you’re right. I’m an insensitive prick. I should’ve made the connection. Blame the distraction of Mackenzie’s glorious arse. I’ll apologize to him. Later. When he’s had a chance to cool off.”
“That’s good.” Eli’s looking out in the distance, and I know it’s not Noah that’s bothering him.
“What’s up with you? Did the Ice Queen freeze your dick, too?”
“If I tell you something, do you swear you’ll keep it to yourself?”
“Of course.”
Eli grabs the bottle and pours himself another Scotch. I notice his hand shake, but I assume that’s because the booze reminds him too much of his father. He leans back in the lounger and closes his eyes.
“We used to be friends.”
“You and Ice Queen?” Curious.
Eli nods. He drains his glass. “We’ve been in the same classes since I can remember. One day at school, some kid made fun of my accent. Mackenzie stole the class snake and hid it on his chair. When he