Fallen Crest Family (Fallen Crest High #2)(76)

"I'm done with them too. I mean it. And that isn't what this is about. I promise."

I heard the insistency in his tone. I wanted to walk away from him, the guy deserved it after what he had done to me, but my feet didn't move. Then I realized what I heard, there was also desperation in him. And something that sounded close to…agony? When I looked again, I was seeing a different Jeff. He'd been a sarcastic badboy, but there was something new now. Vulnerability.

"What do you want?" I folded, but I was cursing at myself in my head.

A grin flared before he nodded, somber again. "Okay. So, we both know our history. I cheat on every girl I date. But I've met someone new."

I already knew where he was going with this. "And you don't want to do that to her?"

He nodded.

"You don't want to cheat on her?"

He nodded again, more eager.

"And you want to be the good guy she thinks you are?"

"Yeah! See you're perfect for this. It's like you know me."

I smacked him in the back of his head. "Because I do and you're not that guy. You cheat, that's what you do. Stop cheating and your problem is solved. Stop wasting my time. I have a mission."

"What mission?"

"I need friends. I have to make friends."

"I'm your friend."

"No, you're not. You're my ex boyfriend. We're not friends."

I started to leave again, but he darted in front. "Hear me out, please."

I growled at him.

"I will help you with your mission."

"You will?" Suspicion slammed against my chest. "How?"

"I know a lot of these girls. I cheated on you, a lot."

I growled at him again.

"You help me learn how to be a good boyfriend and I'll rally some girls to look out for you at your new school."

The suspicion lessened a little. "You heard about that, huh?"

"Everybody did. It's big news when Kade's girl won't be going to our school anymore. The Elite are crestfallen. They can't use you to get to them."

I frowned. "I thought they gave up on that long ago."

He shrugged. "I heard they were regrouping. Miranda's the leader again. She's preaching against any girl who sleeps with Logan Kade again."

I shook my head. "Will she never learn?"

"Who cares. Their funerals if they want to mess with the Kades again. Being burned by being a hypocritical bitch didn't teach her a lesson. Who's to stop her from getting burned again?" He winked at me with a devilish smirk.

"I didn't know you weren't such a fan of Miranda Stewart's?"

He glanced away as his shoulders tensed. "A lot's been going on you don't know about."

"Like what?"

"Look, will you help me learn how to not cheat? I'll get those girls to help you, promise. I'm good for that. I mean it."

"There will be no 'us' anymore. We're clear on that?"

Horror flared in his eyes before he shook his head, grimacing. "You think I want to get killed? No way in hell do I want to mess with either of those Kades." Then his face transformed. The same devilish look came back and he turned into the smooth Casanova I knew he could become. "I wouldn't mind meeting Logan Kade, though. I like to think of myself as an apprentice of his. We're cut from the same cloth."

"The same cloth?"

"Yeah." At my disbelief, he nodded again. "With the ladies. They love us."

"Logan had a serious girlfriend one time."

"He did?"

"You want to know how he handled that and his 'ladies'?"

He leaned forward. "I'm eager to learn. Yeah, how'd he handle having a relationship?"

"He didn't cheat on her." I grabbed his shirt and yanked him out of the way. Then I smacked him on the back of his head again. "Problem solved. Now go away."

As I pushed through the crowd, he called after me, "That doesn't help me, but fine. I'll hold up my side of the bargain, Sam. You'll see and then you'll help me! I know you will."

"Idiot," I mumbled under my breath.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

"You did this!" she screamed at me. Her hands were raised, and she didn't look right. I gulped for breath. I couldn't breathe. My chest hurt, why did it hurt so much? But I couldn't tear my eyes away from her.

I whimpered, "Mom?"

She shook her head from side to side. She kept going, faster and faster, until she slid down the wall stopping in a huddle on the floor. She curled into a ball and rocked herself as her head kept shaking.

Oh god. I fell to my knees beside her. "Mom?" This wasn't right. I knew this wasn't right, but I didn't know what to do. "Please say something, mom."

Her hand twitched on her leg. Her head whipped up, and she hissed before she launched herself at me.

I jerked awake. My heart was pounding.

It was hot, too hot. I kicked at the covers so I could feel some cool air, and then I took deep breaths. I needed to calm down. My heart kept racing. It wouldn't stop. Easing to the edge of the bed, I pressed my forehead between my legs and gulped for more oxygen. My hands were clammy. My forehead was wet from sweat, the same sweat that I felt over the rest of my body.