Trials and Tiaras (Untouchable #7) - Heather Long Page 0,114

walk to the hall. Pressing a kiss to Jake’s cheek, I murmured, “Library later?”

His eyes flashed hot, and he grinned. “Anything you want.”

Excitement feathered through me, and I made it to the bathroom where Archie was showering. I found him with his hand wrapped around his dick, and when I leaned in, his whole expression lit up. “Birthday girl wants that,” I told him, and he pulled his hand away and I grinned wider. My jaw was going to be so sore this morning.

Worth it.

We were a little late to school. It just meant we didn’t hang out in the cafeteria. Worth it. I rode in on Ian’s bike, body humming still. The weather was gorgeous. Sunny skies and cool breezes. I had on my Torched shirt, my ripped jeans, and all the jewelry they kept loading me up with. More, I was freaking floating. When we got there, Rachel was waiting.

Her hug was intense, and then she snagged my coffee before she pressed a wrapped box in my hands. The thing was heavy, and I stared at her. “Before you open that,” she told me, “just remember, I adore you.”

“Why does that worry me?” Archie asked as he slung an arm over my shoulder and glanced down at the rectangular present I was holding.

“Because you happen to be a highly intelligent man who is gifted at reading people,” Rachel told him.

“Buttering me up or just calling it like you see it?” Just the barest amount of suspicion edged his words, and Rachel laughed.

“Why can’t it be both?”

“Fair enough.”

I snorted at both of them and moved over to Jake’s SUV so I could set the box on the hood before I started tearing the wrapping paper off. I tried to follow the seams where the tape was to preserve the paper. She’d actually wrapped it in this really pretty rose foil paper.

“Oh my god, I forgot how anal you are about paper.”

“It’s not anal, Rach,” Coop told her as he slung an arm around her shoulders. “She thinks the paper is gorgeous, or she wouldn’t try to save it.”

“Hmm,” was Rachel’s only response.

Jake closed in nearby, and they all watched as I got the paper free, then opened the box inside. It was a scrapbook. I glanced over at Rachel, and she just gave me a little smile.

When I cracked open the first page, I let out a little breath. It was us.

All of us.

Images from the first day of senior year.

There was even a shot of me glaring at Coop as he dragged me into the cafeteria. The guys by themselves. The looks on their faces as they saw me. Every page that followed was like another chapter in our story. She even got shots of them at the party, and there was one of me sitting in the garden that night. When the hell had she taken that?

Pressed roses appeared on some pages. Copies of the notes she sent me.

More shots of the guys. Different quotes and lines from them. Some I could pick out just because of the wording.

The earlier tears were back. The dance. The Halloween party. Oh my god, she had pictures of us the morning after, sitting at the police station waiting for the guy. Rachel had written, “True love doesn’t need a sentence or a charge, it just needs to be there.”

Christmas photos I’d sent her. Some of my boudoir shots. More snap shots from when Archie and I went dress shopping. There were a lot of pictures. Some she’d clearly hijacked off social media, but more she’d taken herself. She had to have. There were quiet moments, intimate moments captured when we weren’t paying attention.

Ian performing his song to ask me to Homecoming. Me hanging over Jake’s shoulder as we watched some video on his phone. Another where Archie had a lock of my hair twirled around his finger as he read something on his phone. There was another of me and Coop horsing around somewhere.

There were so many. She even caught the guys unawares. Jake and Archie discussing something intently with plans spread out between them. Another with Ian writing what looked like music. Shots of the guys on days when I hadn’t been at school. Including one she’d sent me about them being so forlorn.

It was magical.

I stared over at Rachel. “This is beautiful.”

“There’s a few open pages for graduation pics and for prom. I’ll make sure you have the pictures for them.” The sober expression on her face tugged