Rich Prick – Tijan Page 0,86

down.

I’d only moved to Fallen Crest my senior year, and I didn’t want to do the speech. Whoever was salutatorian and the third in line deserved it more than I did. They had likely attended Fallen Crest Academy all their lives, and they’d been competing heavily for the top two spots, according to one of the secretaries in the front office who liked to gossip. So I was good with that.

Coming to the ceremony was plenty for me, and afterward was the best part.

I met Blaise’s mom, who started crying. And I met Stephen, Blaise’s real dad, but after a quick hug, he had to leave. Roussou’s ceremony was starting in thirty minutes.

Then Zeke came over and picked me up in a big hug. He twirled me around, and I felt the entire world watching us. Blaise scowled at him, but there was no threat in it. He tucked me under his arm, and the two started trading joke insults.

Nate came over with two friends in tow. One was a big, muscular guy named Matteo. The other was a girl who introduced herself as Grace.

Zeke was beside himself, his eyes all wide and bulging as he turned into a bumbling choirboy.

Nate had told our parents, and it was then that Mom and Dad came over.

Mom was crying. Dad looked like he’d shed a few tears.

He was right. Blaise was right. It was right to have them here.

As much as I didn’t confide in my mother, she was my mom. She was Owen’s mom too, and as soon as she hugged me, she broke.

This day wasn’t about me—that’s the thing that hit me.

It was about my family, because we all loved Owen. We’d all lost Owen.

My mom started to pull away, but I held her tight and whispered, “He’s here, Mom. I can feel him.”

That set her off again, but eventually she pulled back and blinked at Nate.

“I just want all my babies happy.”

“Mom.” Nate opened his arms, and she went to him. They had their own moment.

My dad caught me up in a hug, and I introduced my parents to Blaise. Their reaction could only be described as cautious. Blaise didn’t seem to care. Nate thought it was funny.

Slipping my hand in his, I rested against Blaise’s side.

His arm came around my shoulder.

In this moment, everything felt good. Everything felt right.

So why was I worried?

40

Aspen

We were parked in his Wagon at the recently reopened Fallen Crest drive-in.

Blaise’s mouth was on my throat, and moving south. I was about to burst out of my clothes, not to mention my seat.

“Blaise.”

I had about three seconds before my mind shut off and I wouldn’t give a crap where we were. So I needed to disentangle his arms—and more importantly his mouth—because we were so not somewhere that we could move this where we wanted to go.

It had almost seemed a joke when a local business owner had announced his plan to reopen the drive-in, but it’d been up and running for the last two weeks, and based on the number of cars around us, it was proving to be popular. The grand opening had been a week after our graduation—same as the night Blaise’s mom had talked him into letting her have a graduation party for him.

It’d been a rocky event.

Marie wanted to go big and bold, and Blaise only wanted Zeke and me there. After a few exchanges, Marie had compromised. We were still getting to know each other, but I liked her. The guest list ended up being Zeke, Brian, Branston (all guys I was starting to get to know and becoming more comfortable around), Stephen (who was lovely), Taz (who I adored instantly), and Taz’s boyfriend, Race. He seemed intense.

The last two weeks had been interesting for my family.

Nate had stayed almost the entire week after graduation, because his friends were all coming in the next weekend. So that meant my parents were around the entire week, and since meeting Blaise, my mom was like a dog after a bone. Blaise had attended three family dinners, two family breakfasts, and every time he picked me up, he had to come into the house.

“Pick me up” was a relative concept, because Blaise was still sneaking into the house and sleeping over.

We’d slowed down on the sex, but there’d been a lot of nights of sweaty moans, and a lot of me cursing about why he wanted to slow down. Yes, he did. Not me. I was like “get in me now,”