The Help (Kings of Linwood Academy, #1)(20)

Mom’s car is back from the shop, but Mr. Black insisted his son keep driving me to school, saying it only made sense. Lincoln doesn’t offer to drive me to the party though, even though I know he’s going. I hear him leave around eight, but I take a little longer getting ready, curling my hair a little at the ends for a beachy wave look and touching up my makeup.

I don’t have anything very fancy in my wardrobe, so I hope this isn’t that kind of party. But I pick out a soft blue t-shirt and a jacket I like before I go find my mom to tell her I’m leaving.

She’s downstairs in the study talking to Mr. Black. I’m about to walk through the open doorway, but I pause for a second, lingering in the frame. She’s sitting on the couch, and he just got up to refresh his drink, I think. Her gaze lands on me, and her face lights up—but my focus is on his face, and on the look he was giving her just as I walked in.

Like he was… checking her out.

His features smooth immediately as he notices me too, and the two of them smile brightly.

“You heading out, Low?” Mom asks. She was positively giddy when I told her I got invited to a party. She knows things have been better at school, and I think she sees this as a sign of progress.

“Yeah. I won’t be out too late.”

“I trust you.” She smiles.

“Must be nice,” Mr. Black mutters with a chuckle, and she turns to him.

“Oh, Lincoln’s a good kid too!”

“He is, he is. Just… headstrong.” He shakes his head in bemusement as he brings his drink back to the couch, taking a seat next to Mom.

Huh. I didn’t know they were getting that close.

Then again, Mom’s personable with just about everyone she meets. I swear, she could become best friends with a rock. That look I saw him giving her skeeved me out a little, although it’s nothing new; my mom’s a smokin’ hottie, and she doesn’t even know it. I catch guys checking her out all the time.

“I’ll knock when I get back,” I tell her, then cast my gaze between the two of them. “Uh, have fun.”

“We will! Samuel is going to Arizona on a business trip in a few months, so I’m giving him the inside scoop.” She grins.

Oh, whew. That explains the conversation. Although neither my mom nor I are the best people to ask about what to see and do in Arizona. We mostly kept our heads down, trying to survive.

But I don’t steal her thunder, leaving them to it as I head for the main entrance. I cut west toward the second garage and slip into the newly cleaned and repaired car. Instead of garbage, it smells strongly of lemon cleaner—but I guess that’s the better of the two options.

The party is at a house as big as Lincoln’s, and it looks like at least half the school came. I wend my way through the bodies, nodding to a few people I recognize. I’m looking for the drinks, because even though people aren’t all being assholes to me anymore, I don’t exactly have any tight friends at this school yet. I text Hunter pretty much every day, but we can’t be each other’s wing-women at parties from thousands of miles away.

Therefore, drinks.

I find the kitchen and grab the first thing I see—a fancy looking beer with a name I can’t pronounce. It tastes good though, dark, sweet, and heavy.

Clutching it like a lifeline, I move back through the crowd until I spot a group of kids I know from my Business and Economics class.

I’m heading their way when I catch sight of River. He’s standing near the curved staircase that leads to the second floor, his back to the wall. Lincoln, Dax, and Chase are nearby, embroiled in a deep discussion. But I quickly realize that what drew my attention was the flash of white-blonde hair as Iris approached him. She’s obviously a few drinks deep already, because she wobbles slightly as she drapes her arms around his neck, smiling seductively up at him.

Ugh.

I grimace. Just two days ago, she and Savannah had another blowout in the girls’ locker room over Trent. They both want him, seeing as he’s the fucking football captain, and they keep lying and backstabbing each other as they try to stake their claim on him. But apparently, that won’t stop Iris from sniffing around elsewhere too.

The sight of her grinding up on River bothers me for some reason, although I’m not quite sure why. But he doesn’t seem interested at all. She doesn’t stop when he fails to respond to her advances though, standing on her tiptoes to try to stick her tongue in his ear.

He jerks sharply at that and finally pushes her away. I can’t hear what he says over the noise of the music and the crowd, but it’s obviously a rejection.

That penetrates her drunk skull, and she blinks at him in shock for a second. Then she shoves against his chest, her voice rising to a yell that cuts through the surrounding noise. “Fuck you, River Bettencourt! You think I’m not good enough for you? Is that what you think?”

He shakes his head and mutters something to her as his three friends turn in their direction.

“Any guy at this school would be lucky to hook up with me, you asshole! You think you’re so much better than me?” She’s drunker than I thought, her voice slurring a little as she yells. “I shouldn’t have even bothered going after a loser like you!” A sneer curves her lips. “It would’ve been a pity fuck, and you know it. Why would any girl want someone defective like you?”