Caroline smiles, cocking her head, before swishing her long brown hair over her shoulder. “Smarter than you look.”
She’s a bitch and a half, and if she thinks because I’m choosing to play nice that I can’t roll around in the mud, she’s also an idiot. I loathe mean girls, but that handbook came with my last name. She may have read it faster when we were young, but I’m all caught up now.
I pull out my lip gloss and open the tin top, sweeping a finger over it and running it over my bottom lip. “Problem is, Caroline, I’m already in my place. But thanks so much for keeping my seat warm.”
The silence stretches out over the table, and as much as I want to get up and leave, I don’t. I’d never give her the satisfaction. No, I stay focused on the little snake that’s glaring back at me. Liam edges my chair closer to him, draping an arm along the back and spreading his legs so that I’m in between them, as he whispers into my ear, “Welcome back, Van.”
I don’t bother to stop the smile that plays out on my face. The boys knew I could handle her, but they’re still going to pay for sitting silent. Kai takes Caroline’s hand and kisses the back, leaning in to say something that seems to appease her, and calls a truce before he looks to Grey. “Word is, Paul is calling extra practices in the hopes he’ll beat us.”
Grey shakes his head, and the talk of rowing and secret matches infiltrate my ears before I tune them out and take another bite of my food, studying Kai and Caroline. Liam leans in again, answering my thoughts.
“Kai’s bi, a powerhouse on the team, likes to stir the pot, clearly…and occasionally fucks Caroline. His mom’s an actress in LA, dad owns some all-powerful agency here in New York with initials I don’t give a shit about, but we consider him family. Caroline, well, she’s a bit more complicated to explain.”
I’m nodding, but Liam could be telling me the secrets of the world, and it’d be lost because all I see is Caroline raising her eyebrows to me in challenge. Guess the truce is over. She’s dying to talk as much shit as possible.
I lean forward, palms down on the table, not breaking our matching disdainful glares. “Don’t stay quiet on my behalf.”
She smiles big, matching my pose, and blinks her big blue eyes innocently. “That’s the last thing I’m planning. I wouldn’t spit on you if you were on fire.”
The tension is so thick it could suffocate anyone within breathing distance because while boys handle these kinds of things with clumsy brute force, girls go straight for the jugular. We’re strategic. And fucking mean.
“Then, by all means, say what you want to say. I’m all ears, Caroline.”
“I already did. You still haven’t answered.”
Her voice is so sharp I know she hopes it will cut me, but all it does is give away her weakness. You should hide your jealously better, Caroline.
“No. We’re not fucking yet. Today’s my first day, after all. You have high expectations for me. I mean, maybe by the weekend. Want me to report back?”
Grey growls beside me, scooting closer. Her eyes shoot to his, then cut back to me. That’s right, Caroline. He has my back.
“Report back? You look like the type that would spread your legs and your business.”
“Enough,” “Caroline,” and “Care” are said in unison by Grey, Liam, and Kai, but we’re too far in to turn back now.
I glance down to her chest and smirk as I meet her eyes again. “Your tits might be a bit smaller, but it seems you haven’t changed. Once a bitch always a bitch, I see.”
Caroline brushes her long hair over her shoulder and smiles sweetly, but her whole face is tight, like a spring ready to snap.
I’m ready whenever you are.
Grey must anticipate what’s coming because his voice is nothing less than a precisely wielded threat. “Caroline. Be very careful with what you say next unless you’d like this year to be unbearable for you. She’s proven herself more than equal. And let’s be real, she never really had to.”
“I second that,” Liam adds, leaning in to play with the feather again.
Boys forgiven.
I give her a wink before picking up my water to take a drink. But a tiny piece of me wonders what price I’ll pay for my win. I didn’t