The Punk and the Plaything (When Rivals Play #3) - B.B. Reid Page 0,107

phone, but he wisely remained silent. “I can’t exactly force you to be with me, so what else should I have done?” Bee challenged.

I couldn’t help but explode. “Fight for me!”

“What is there to fight for if you won’t forgive me?” she screamed back.

“How can I forgive you when you’re still lying to me?”

“I’m not—” She suddenly paused, making my eyes narrow. “I told you everything.”

“How could you trust Ever more than me? You failed to mention that.” I knew it sounded like a question born of jealousy, but it truly didn’t make any sense. Back then, anticipating Bee’s every want and need had been my sole focus and only pleasure. Nothing else mattered. So imagine how crushing it was to find that, when she was actually in need, she’d turned to someone else instead. It mattered less now in the face of the truth, but it still hurt like hell.

“It wasn’t like that,” Ever responded when Bee went mute. “After her parents came to our place and told you to stay away from her, I went over there to check on her. They’d said she got hurt and that you were responsible. I wasn’t sure they’d let me see her, so I snuck inside. I overheard her parents talking. What they were planning to do…”

Bee suddenly swayed on her feet, her face ashen. Reacting on instinct, I helped her to the chair behind the teacher’s desk, where she collapsed. She still wouldn’t meet my gaze.

“It was so fucked up,” Ever went on. “I left, but as soon as I saw Bee at school… I couldn’t just pretend like everything was normal. I confronted her, and she made me swear not to tell anyone. Especially you. I was her best friend, man. What was I supposed to do?”

“Convince her not to lie to me? Did that ever occur to you? She might have been your best friend, but I’m your goddamn blood!”

“If you think I could have convinced her of anything, you don’t know her as well as you think.”

I wanted to bash his face in for that comment. There wasn’t a person alive who knew Bee better than me. Reading my thoughts, Ever smirked, knowing he got to me. His phone chimed a moment later, and he read the message before saying, “We should get back. Four says everyone’s lined up. The procession will start soon.”

“I can’t believe we’re graduating,” Bee whispered. I could see the relief in her eyes. She’d finally be free of the place that had judged her without a second look. I’m not sure when they started calling her Barbie, but I knew the name must have cut each time it was uttered. There was so much more to her, and for some reason, she stopped letting them see.

Ever must have seen it too because he muttered, “You should have been running Brynwood. Not me.”

Like true royalty, Bee dismissed Ever’s claim with a flick of her fingers—as if the issue was of little consequence. Not to Ever. And not to Vaughn and me.

She’d been our queen, once upon a time, and we’d been ready and willing to fall on our swords for her.

At least that much was still true.

“How can you be so sure when your own cousin was so eager to overthrow me?”

I didn’t miss the jab she’d thrown and smiled. Bee wanted to pretend I wasn’t in the room, but that blush on her cheeks gave her away. I’d bet my fortune those sensitive nipples of hers would be too if she weren’t hiding beneath that gown. I wonder if she knew that I was just as hard for her. Harder, actually.

Pushing away from the dry-erase board, I slowly strolled to where she was sitting in that chair, long legs crossed as if they hadn’t been wrapped around me half the night. I’d ridden her hard, and though it took all my concentration not to come quick, I’d ridden her long. It still wasn’t enough.

Gripping her chin, I forced her gaze to finally meet mine. “Is that what you call making you fall in love with me?”

“I didn’t,” she breathlessly lied.

“Right,” I countered, smirking, “because you were too busy hiding your crush on my cousin to notice that your heart had been stolen.”

From the corner of my eye, I saw Ever pause, and after a moment of tense silence, he barked, “What the hell are you talking about?”

Before Bee could deny the claim and lie yet again, someone else spoke. “I’d like to