Never His Girl (Kings of Cypress Prep #2) - Rachel Jonas Page 0,47

the party, but not once was he spotted behaving like he’s single, if you know what I mean. Either there’s a secret rekindling to a certain twosome that’s slipped past me, or… someone’s hoping like hell to prove he’s a changed man.

Only time will tell, I suppose.

In other news, MrSilver and PrettyBoyD MORE than made up for the girls KingMidas passed up on tonight. Wonder how VirginVixen feels about watching her “bestie” get super familiar with the female student body tonight. Or, should I say bodies, plural?

Things are certainly heating up, folks. Keep an eye out for the next update.

Later, Peeps.

—P

Chapter 18

WEST

As far as awkward Thanksgiving dinners go, this one’s right up there with the worst of them.

To start, Vin and I are barely speaking to one another, and those seated around the Harrison’s enormous dining table have taken notice. It’s made things pretty fucking tense. Especially seeing as how the two of us haven’t even made eye contact since two servers brought out hors d’oeuvres roughly an hour ago.

Vin went from being pissed about the video, because he assumed—like the rest of Cypress Pointe—that I was the one who leaked it, jeopardizing my own future. To, now, being pissed because he’s thoroughly convinced I’m making a fool of myself over a girl he insists isn’t worth it.

A girl he also claims to have once had mutual feelings for, before deciding to end it.

At the thought of it, I glare up at him over the dry-ass turkey that’s just been brought out on a platter.

Lucky for me, my douche of a father’s been following Pandora’s updates super close. Ever since first catching wind of my involvement with Southside. So, naturally, he’s kept up with what Joss has now dubbed Mission: Lobster. Apparently, that’s some lame-ass Friends reference I don’t even pretend to understand, but it’s how she sums up everything I’ve done to show Southside I’m not giving up.

Meanwhile, my father’s had a front row seat of me trying to earn Southside’s forgiveness. Which, by the way, is pretty fucking hard when I’m limited in what I can and can’t say to her right now.

When he does speak, it’s to let me know what a pussy he thinks I’ve become, pissing away my reputation, turning soft.

Fuck him.

Not gonna lie, though. Getting the silent treatment from his toxic ass has been well worth the emasculation and shit-talking. Being honest, I’ve considered it more of a vacation than anything. It’s been so effective, Dane and Sterling are seriously considering getting on his bad side just so he’ll stop talking to them, too.

Highly recommended.

But this dinner was unavoidable. Apparently, we owe Headmaster Harrison for the favor he did Vin, which consisted of him keeping me off the team’s suspension list. In a way, I suppose I’m grateful for that, too, but it’s not lost on me that it’s kind of shitty to appreciate being given a pass. Especially when I know Southside wasn’t afforded that same luxury.

Anyway, here we sit. Stuck at a table with Headmaster Harrison, his stalker wife, and about eight empty chairs.

“Bon appetit!” wifey says with a smile.

For a woman her age, she isn’t bad to look at. She definitely has a little help, though—fake tits, and she lives in the tanning salon. She keeps highlights in her dark hair, and it’s cut a bit shorter than usual, hitting just above her shoulder now.

Her eyes shift around the table to each of us, but I don’t miss that her stare lingers on Sterling a bit longer than anyone else.

Hence the whole ‘stalker’ comment.

I started noticing she has a thing for him around the time we turned fifteen. First incident I picked up on was during the weekend our parents went away for their anniversary and left us here. It was small shit at first—giving Sterling the bigger guest room, letting him choose what movie we went to see. Those things were petty, of course, things that could’ve been passed off as coincidence.

But then, shit just got weird.

Like, how on our last night with them, she claimed to have “accidentally” walked in on Sterling after he showered. According to him, though, she didn’t leave his room all that quickly and she sure as hell checked out his junk.

Since then, she’s gotten much bolder, shamelessly flirting with him when our folks and her husband aren’t within earshot. It’s sick, really, but the one time Sterling mentioned it to Vin, the advice he gave was that Sterling should ‘lean into her fascination’. With