The Peer and the Puppet (When Rivals Play, #1) (16)
“Is your dad still pushing for you to work for him?” Turner prodded Vaughn, whose jaw tightened as he nodded.
“I can’t believe he tried to bribe you with a Lamborghini,” the Franco clone tittered. “What does he do again?”
“He dabbles in a few trades. None that I’m interested in.”
The mohawk clapped Ever on his shoulder. “That settles it. What do you say?”
Ever gave a sharp shake of his head. “Too busy.”
The guys’ shoulders dropped.
“Is it because of that chick you rode in with this morning? What’s her name again?”
“It was a number or something,” the mohawk pondered. “Six or Seven, I think.” Only when they continued to list and argue numbers did Ever deign to correct them.
“It’s Four,” he enlightened with zero emotion.
“Wait, her name is Four?” The Franco clone doubled over. “Four…Ever…forever.” Thinking himself clever, he laughed even harder. “The universe is really screwing with you, huh?”
Ever didn’t respond.
“Dude, she looked like Dorothy in Wonderland when she climbed from your ride,” Turner chortled. “Who is she, anyway?”
“She’s nobody.”
“Asshole,” Tyra whispered.
My only reaction was to clutch the door tighter.
“A nobody wouldn’t make you tense like that,” Turner observed. Maybe he wasn’t as dumb as he looked, after all.
“I’m probably going to inherit the mansion, and she’s bringing down the property value.”
“That’s cold,” the mohawk murmured.
Ever shrugged, and only Vaughn remained silent as the rest of them laughed at my expense.
“A few more weeks and my dad will be done playing house with the gold digger.”
“A few weeks, huh?” The Franco clone rubbed his chin. “I bet I can smash in one.”
Turner sucked his teeth and eyed him skeptically. “Why would she waste good pussy on you when the King of Brynwood sleeps in the next room? If anyone fucks her first, I bet it’s him.”
Ever leaned against the wall and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I don’t want her.”
“What?” his three lackeys hollered.
“I know she’s a little less sophisticated than what you’re used to, but she’s sort of cute,” Turner argued. “Definitely fuckable.”
“Yeah, she’s a little plain, but did you see her ass?” The Franco clone whistled.
“Maybe if she ditched those homeless man sneakers…” the mohawk suggested.
“Who cares about what she’s wearing?” the Franco clone argued. “It’s what’s underneath that counts.”
“Yeah, but nicer wrapping wouldn’t hurt.”
Turner turned to Vaughn for judgment. “What do you think, Rees? Would you fuck?”
Vaughn tossed the ball rapidly between his palms, but the smirk he tossed at Ever made me wish I was anywhere else. “She gives too much lip. Pass.”
“Damn,” the mohawk muttered. “I guess that settles it. Four’s an undesirable.”
The guys didn’t look completely convinced, however, and Ever definitely took notice. “I’ll tell you who I’d fuck,” he said slowly.
The way they leaned in, you’d think Ever was about to tell them who killed Tupac.
“Who,” the Franco clone eagerly prodded.
“Marianne Little.”
The lackeys moaned appreciatively, and I was good as forgotten as they listed her best assets and what they’d like to do to her. I barely felt the comforting hand Tyra laid on my arm. I was ready to fling open the door and rip into them, but the bell chose that moment to ring, prompting Ever and Vaughn to finally walk away with their lackeys trailing behind.
I didn’t have an appetite when the lunch bell rang, so I sat in a corner stewing while Tyra talked my ear off.
“Four?” I looked up from staring at the green beans in the corner of my lunch tray to find Tyra staring back at me. “Are you okay?”
I groaned and pushed away my tray. “I’m not very good company, am I?”
She shook her head and stabbed at her meatloaf. “After what those assholes said about you, I’d be upset, too.”
It wasn’t just those cronies’ words that upset me. Ever had just let them say those things. In just one day, I’d learned who held power in this school, and it wasn’t Headmaster Burns. Ever could have shut them up if he had wanted.
“If you don’t want to go to Ever’s party tomorrow night, you can come over and watch Outlander…” She had been ready to say more, but her voice trailed off at the look on my face.
“What party?”
“The back-to-school bash. Well…it’s also a party for Ever’s seventeenth birthday.”
I swallowed down the lump in my throat. “Where is it?”
“His house. I mean…it’s your house, too.”
I shrugged. “You were right the first time.”
“So are you going? Barbie has been handing out invitations all day. Of course, I didn’t get one. Not that I’d want to go.” Her button nose wrinkled as she stabbed her meatloaf again. I was beginning to think she was picturing someone’s face.