Bad, Bad Bluebloods(Rich Boys of Burberry Prep #2) - C.M. Stunich Page 0,59
you’re ashamed, then good: you should be.”
Zack scowls, but I smile. Robin reminds me of Kathleen a little, just a bit … softer? After a moment, she sighs and forces a smile of her own.
“I love you, son. Don’t mess this up. Pulling a girl’s pigtails because you like her isn’t cute.”
“Like her?” Dad echoes, looking between me and Zack like he’s just now figured something out.
Oh god.
Robin chuckles as Charlie narrows his eyes on her son. Meanwhile, Zack just sits there like he always does, a chiseled bunch of muscles and a narrowed dark gaze. When he glances over at me, I suddenly decide we’re sitting too close. But would scooting my chair away a few inches be too obvious? Probably.
“The boy has a crush,” Robin says, and her friends both laugh while Dad sits there with his brow all scrunched up. Zack’s sister, Kelsey, isn’t shy about voicing her opinions either. She doesn’t look like Zack or her mother, so I figure her pale orange hair and light green eyes are a product of their father’s genetics.
“He pined after her all last year. It was absolutely intoxicating.”
Zack growls at his sister, but Robin just tsk-tsks at them and starts to carve the turkey, passing out slices to me and Dad first, then her friends, her daughter, and lastly, her son. She winks at him when she finally passes over the plate.
“I’m just glad they’re both going to the academy,” Kelsey says, smiling prettily at me. She seems nice enough, but I’m so wary of beautiful girls now. I shouldn’t be—that’s some stupid internalized misogyny right there—but it’s true. I’m scared of beautiful boys, too, so at least nobody could call me sexist. “Zack’s basically obsessed.”
“Okay, Kelsey, you can shut the fuck up now,” Zack says, but I’m holding back laughter, and Dad is terrified out of his mind.
“The f-word at the dinner table? Come on, Zack Marcus Brooks, have some class.” Robin takes her seat, and we all serve ourselves from the side dishes. Everything looks so pretty, like it’s from a cooking show or something. It’s prettier than last year, when Zack and I sat at a big, lonely table all by ourselves. This is much better.
I’m overwhelmed briefly by déjà vu, like I’m playing out the same story out, just with a different outcome. Creed with the notebook, Zack at Thanksgiving. But this time, when the bet is won, and hearts are being shattered like fragile glass baubles, it won’t be mine that’s on the ground in bloodied pieces.
No, this time, it’s the Idols who are going to get a taste of their own medicine.
I smile as I scoop up a bit of sweet potato and catch Zack watching me.
Underneath the table, his long leg bumps into mine, and I feel my throat get suddenly tight. Butterflies take over, and it takes all I’ve got to focus on the conversation at hand. Apparently Robin’s friends own a vineyard and they’re looking for someone to create some custom ironwork arches, benches, and beds for their B&B. Dad ends up with a job and a glass of scotch that costs more than his car, while Zack and I retreat to the backyard and dip our legs in the heated pool.
We’re sitting close enough that our thighs line up. It’s funny, looking at them like that. Mine is so much smaller than his.
“You pined for me all last year, huh?” I ask, and Zack’s mouth purses tight. He has such a full lower lip. As I stare at it, I can’t help but remember that kiss at the football stadium, and it’s just … like, all of the feels. All of them.
“Maybe.” He turns to look at me, moonlight catching on his masculine features, that straight Greek nose of his, that full mouth. Goodness. I exhale sharply and turn away, looking out across the water. “Would it make any difference?”
“Not really.” But maybe. I keep that thought to myself, knocking my heels against the side of the pool. “How did you and Lizzie come to make that bet anyway?”
Zack goes still beside me, but after a moment, he exhales, like he’s given up.
“Lizzie was a senior member of the Infinity Club; she was sponsoring me. A sponsor always has to challenge their new recruit to a game with high stakes. She was goaded by the other girls. Don’t let Harper or Becky or anyone else pretend to be innocent in all of that.”