the size of silver dollars.
“So that’s her, right? The girl I banged back in high school for twenty points?” Asher asks with a nod to the stage.
I run my hand through my hair. We were such a bunch of punks.
There’s a reason the six of us were referred to as the Classholes. Because we were rich assholes with nothing better to do but make up a list of shit to do for points. One of them being to fuck the good girls.
Our classmates idolized us. Although it was our own little system with the points, rumors were spread and some of the good girls would ask how many points they were worth. We ruled Forest View Academy no matter what we did. Pathetic, really.
“Looks like her,” Ryker says.
“It’s her.” My voice is cold and detached.
“She got better with age. Maybe I’ll see if I can hit that again.” Asher takes the drink from the bartender, pulls a twenty out of the inside pocket of his suit jacket and tosses it onto the bar.
“You can’t even get it up right now,” I say.
“Pfft. Don’t you worry about me. I can get it up for someone as fine as her.” He downs a healthy sip of his drink and sets it back down on the bar.
“You should get off that shit,” Ryker says.
Asher’s usual easy-going demeanor morphs into agitation. “You two need to lighten up. What’s the point of having more money and power than God if you can’t enjoy yourself?”
I turn to step away when my sister approaches.
“Damn, baby Stone is looking good these days,” Asher says with zero thought to self-preservation, his eyes are zeroed in on her cleavage like a pilot to a fog covered runway.
“Jesus.” Ryker shakes his head at Asher.
“Hey, guys.” She gives each of us a quick hug, and my gaze is like a heat-seeking missile to make sure that neither of my friend’s hands stray anywhere they shouldn’t during the exchange.
“I didn’t know you were going to be here, Harper. Do you want a drink?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “No, I’m good for now. Ford invited me.” She gestures to the stage just as raucous applause breaks out.
I’m assuming Ford just officially announced his candidacy. The four of us join in, clapping.
“I can’t believe he’s going to run for mayor,” she says, looking back from the stage to us again.
Ford takes a few pictures with his parents and then they exit the stage, Isla and the other man following them.
“He was practically born to do it,” Ryker says.
“Yeah, but I never really thought he was happy being Colorado’s political prince,” Harper says.
I shrug. “He’s made his peace with his place in this world. Just like the rest of us.”
No one contradicts me. Instead, the four of us down the drinks in our hands and watch as Ford takes one for the team.
4
Chapter Four
Isla
So far so good.
A few people have looked at me with more than veiled interest as Ford’s press secretary for the campaign, but no one has outright brought up why I left town so abruptly.
The only person who was outwardly aggressive with me was Garrin, which took me by surprise. I didn’t expect a hug and tears of joy at my return, but we’d been lab partners our senior year, and I had naively thought we’d formed a friendship. At one point, I’d foolishly thought he was flirting with me and I’d developed feelings for him. Until my dream cloud had popped, sending me plummeting back down to reality when he asked Tara Westover to prom.
So, I can’t imagine what his problem with me returning to town is. Then again, he wasn’t called cruel for no reason. Maybe I was just lucky not to be on the receiving end of his hostility in high school.
“Care to dance?”
I whip around at the sound of the deep voice behind me. Garrin is the only one there. His stone face and dark eyes devoid of emotion don’t immediately give away that he’s the one requesting to dance with me.
Taking a hesitant glance at the dance floor, I look back at him just to double-check he’s the one asking me to dance. Maybe he’s decided he should apologize. So I smile and say, “Sure.”
His hand slides into mine, and I swear his thumb runs along the inside of my wrist right before he leads me out to the dance floor. The heat from his hand runs up my arm until it coalesces as a warm feeling