Eden High Series 2 Book 6, page 1
Eden High Series 2 Book 6
Jordan Silver
Copyright © 2019 by Jordan Silver
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
1. Mandy
2. Track
3. Mandy
4. Jace
5. Sian
6. Mandy
7. Sian
8. Jace
1
Mandy
* * *
I woke up this morning, still furious about what happened at the restaurant the night before. I’d spent a good chunk of my morning routine throwing around ideas in my head about what I would do for revenge. What would satisfy me most.
There were more than a few things I’d like to do to that snarky bitch and her insignificant friends. But I’d had to satisfy myself with some of the better ideas I came up with for now, until I could do the real thing. It was the only way to quell some of my anger, and I did come up with some beauties.
But none gave me life more than imagining the look on her ugly face when things go back to the way they used to be, the way they’re supposed to be. Namely, Jace and I back together and her, who cares where the hell the little nobody ends up? As long as it’s not here.
I can already imagine how it was going to happen. Could almost see the day when Jace finally opens his eyes and stops listening to his parents and maybe his friends, and sees her for what she is and comes running back to me.
Everyone knows we’re the perfect couple. Didn’t everyone use to comment on just that when we were together for that brief moment in time? That seems so far away now, like a whole lifetime ago. The one and only time my life had been almost complete.
It was the first time I felt like more than the daughter of a mistress turned wife. For once I was the one in that lofty position, able to look down on everyone else. It’s not like I didn’t I know about the whispers. I’ve spent a lifetime blocking them out.
I knew that as far as we’d come, mother and I, that to these people we were never going to be anything more than the trash we once were. But for that brief time when we were a couple, that dark cloud had been lifted.
I’d seen a whole new way of life. Even though my stepdad had wealth and position in this town, I was never more aware of Jace’s family’s complete dominance in that area.
I knew then that as long as I was with him, just his name alone, who he is, could wipe away the taint of my birth. It’s true I hadn’t planned on falling in love with him.
I never wanted to be that weak. But he’s hard not to love. And maybe that’s part of my problem. The reason I can’t let go. He’s just too perfect to belong to anyone else but me.
I’d been so excited, so giddy in love that for the first time I didn’t use any of my usual tricks. Even though I’d warned myself what could happen if I left myself open, in the end I had no choice. I’d fallen hard and fast
I’d started building castles in the sky from our first week together. I just knew as good as we looked together, that we were meant to be. And seeing the envy of everyone around us, especially my friends, just made it that much better.
But then it had all gone wrong and still to this day I have no idea how or why. I’m still reeling from the whiplash like effect of our break-up. There was no warning, no lead up.
I just know that one day we were fine and the next, it was as if I’d never existed for him. Seriously, that’s how he did it. He didn’t even have the decency to tell me we were over.
I saw him one night for dinner, and the next day when I ran into him, running to his side all smiles and genuinely excited to see him, he’d looked right through me.
I’ve never been treated so coldly in my life by anyone, not even when I was nothing more than the daughter of a prostitute. His behavior had cut deep. It’s a wound that still has yet to heal.
As hard as I wracked my brain then and now, I still can’t figure it out. It wasn’t possible that he could’ve found out about my little side action. That had nothing to do with us, those men that I was using had been in the picture long before he and I became a thing.
They were just the backup I needed just in case. There’s nothing wrong with that is there? After all, I’d suffered enough loss and disappointment in life to know you always need to have a backup plan. I won’t endure what my mother had before she landed on her feet, or back more like.
But as for Jace I’d been too careful for him to have found out, so that couldn’t be it. Though I could think of nothing else that would’ve made him cut me out of his life so coldly, and without an explanation at that.
That, I think, was the hardest part for me to accept, the thing that held me back and refused to let me move on. The fact that he could just walk away so effortlessly, like I was nothing.
No one else had the power to bring me to my knees the way he had. It’s like winning the lottery and then losing it all. Thank goodness I hadn’t quite ended up on the streets penniless.
The wound nonetheless, was still deep, and maybe that’s why I can’t give up. I feel like I’ve been left in limbo. Like there was no closure.
That was the one thing that had given me hope in the beginning. The fact that there was nothing said, and everything seemed to be up in the air.
I held onto the barest hope that I could salvage things, that there was no need to give up so easily. And I wouldn’t have had to if not for her. If she hadn’t moved here I would’ve made things right by now.
There’s nothing I can’t do when it comes to men. I learned how to work them from a very young age and Jace Saunders is no different. Or maybe the difference is that he’s the only one to ever touch my heart.
I’d let him in, opened myself up to him in ways I never have before with anyone. And yet I had meant nothing to him, and that was never more evident than after she moved here.
Not only did she move to my town and try to take over the cheering squad, that bitch had the nerve to go after my man. To add insult to injury, no one seemed to mind that they were together. No one questioned how he could give up a catch like me for that little hayseed.
What’s worse, he’d given her a ring just weeks after they met. The ring that should’ve been mine. Don’t think I don’t know people laughed at me behind my back because of that debacle. Though they had the good sense not to do it to my face.
Then as if as a direct challenge she’d gone and befriended the very people I hate, a direct slap in the face. And now she’d gone too far, this is the last straw. I won’t put up with it anymore. Won’t suffer anymore humiliation at her hands.
How dare that little nobody make me look bad in front of Jace and my friends? In front of the whole damn town for that matter. How dare she even think that she could be one of us? Sure her father had money, but it’s nowhere near what my stepdad has I’m sure
They weren’t even part of the entertainment industry, and were barely acceptable if you ask me. No wonder she’d gravitated to the dregs of our little society. Who else would have her?
It should’ve been easy to get rid of her. In fact, I thought that the job would be done by now. If things had gone my way she would be dead and buried by now. But the bitch had nine lives like the stray cat that she is.
I’ve made up my mind once and for all to take care of her myself. I’m no longer willing to wait for others to do it for me because it was obvious no one else could get the job done. And I’m more sure that I could handle her on my own. Something I should’ve done from the very beginning.
Those thoughts had helped calm me down some after my early morning mad, and my imagination had ran wild. I’d been feeling pretty good the rest of the morning, even when I arrived here at school for another mindless day of classes that I was never going to use in this lifetime. And now this.
Jace has just made a public statement in front of the whole school acknowledging that hillbilly tramp. Why? What did it mean?
I tried picking apart his words to find the meaning behind his announcement, slash threats, but my mind couldn’t get past the sight of him holding her hand in front of everyone like that, making a statement of intent I’m sure.
And why did he have to show off that rock that he’d put on her finger? Not that it was easy to miss to begin with.
It was bigger than my mom’s and hers was plenty big. If I had to guess I’d say it was probably the size of his mom’s or bigger, and that stings.
I stood stone faced as if the events taking place had no effect on me whatsoever. I knew others were looking at me, awaiting my response. And though the humiliation was almost more than I could bear, there was no way I was going to show weakness here.
I will not be outshone by her. I have her beat in every way. That’s what I kept telling myself as the blood boiled beneath my skin. She wasn’t good enough to beat me, I won’t let her. Not after all the hard work I’d put into getting where I am. At the top of the food chain at Eden High.
So I bit the inside of my lip until it bled and dug my nails into my palms. All so that I wouldn’t let my emotions show, because I knew that all those eyes that were on me weren’t friendlies. In fact, I was beginning to think I had no friends here.
If I looked too hard at the faces around me it was easy to see the
My eyes happened to scan the crowd of gathered students just then and a cold chill ran down my spine. That Track person was not even trying to hide the fact that he was looking at me with murder in his eyes. As if!
I’ve never counted him as either enemy or friend, he just never mattered. Until he showed his dislike for me in front of Jace. He was one of the first to do so. At the time I didn’t think much of it. After all who was he, and why should he matter?
But that was before I got to know Jace a little better and got to see the kind of person he is. He actually cares about his friends, something I never quite got the hang of. I’ve never been able to drum up more than a passing interest in them or their lives.
Now I looked back at Track and the disdain and dislike in his stare made me feel small. So small that it was as if the years between abject poverty and moving up in life had never happened.
And when the rest of Jace’s little crew followed suit before leaving the room after him with those…those, inferior things that I’ve crapped on my whole life in tow. I hit a new low.
2
Track
* * *
I’ll never forgive her for this, for doing this to him. I’m not sure at this point what I’m more pissed about. What she said to my wife, or what she just did to my friend. It doesn’t matter that I’d tried to warn him. That shit was moot.
It mattered that she’d fucked with him ever since, like he didn’t have the right to move the fuck on. I never asked what made him come to his senses, but I’ve had the whole night to think after getting back to my girl.
As usual her old man was out of town and I stayed the night at her place. Soon I’ll be able to take her home with me. It won’t be long now before everyone notices the ring on her finger anyway. My only problem is having to leave her again once I got her settled.
After I’d left Jace the night before I headed right to her place. There are times when I miss her so bad I can feel that shit in my gut. Last night was one of those times. Not only because of her little run-in with that snipe, but because of what I’d seen in my friend’s eyes.
I was not myself by the time I walked through her door, but as always she just opened her arms and held me. She’s the only one who can do that, that’s why I’d married her. That wasn’t much of a surprise, the men in my family have always gotten married young.
Could be because most of them were in the army, I’m not sure. I have no plans on joining up. Not because I don’t want to follow in their footsteps, and not because of the wealth that came with the family name. But because of the girl I’d made my life mate.
I can’t leave her and go too far away where I can’t get back to her if she needs me. Some might say that her childhood illness is nothing to revolve my life plans around, but those people have never seen someone they love at death’s door because they can’t fucking breathe in a room full of air.
If her illness wasn’t heartbreaking enough, she had no one. Her dad, the only parent she had left, was never there. She was basically all alone in the world. Sad, lonely, scared, and doing all she could to hide it.
But I’d seen it. The first time we met I saw it. Something about her had reminded me of my sister. Add the fact that she’s hands down the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen and that easily I knew that from then until the end of time I’ll be hers.
The list of people that I love had grown by one, one more person for me to worry and stress over. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I wouldn’t give up any of them for anything. And now two of them had been offended by the same evil twit. Make that three. Sian is Jace’s; that makes her one of us.
So last night when I took my baby to bed, I made love to her like I meant it. We spend so much time apart, and though sex is not the leading factor in our marriage, I miss her like hell when we’re apart for so long.
Now she caught me looking across the room at that witch and tugged on my hand. I gave her one of my winning smiles to distract her and lifted the hand with her ring to my lips.
Just a few soft words whispered in her ear was enough to do the job and soon we were leaving the room. Once I get her settled in her class I’ll go see what the hell Jace is up to.
When he said he had to talk to us that shit sounded like ten degrees of ominous. And if he’s about to do what I suspect, then I’m really going to fuck Mandy’s shit up. That’s if Jace’s dad, or even his mom, doesn’t get to her first.
* * *
SHANE
* * *
I couldn’t sleep last night, I knew some shit like this was going to happen, but I had no idea to what extent. I couldn’t help but mourn what we’d just lost. I wonder if the others in that auditorium even understand what they just witnessed.
And now this other little situation. The whole thing is fucked. I didn’t mind the move from the classroom my last year of school. If it meant saving Jace from being there in that room by himself, I can do that shit in my sleep. Not that he would mind either way the mood he’s in.
It’s like watching someone metamorphous into something else. I know my boy’s mettle, know what he’s made of, but I never thought we’d see this day for a long time to come. Poor kid hadn’t even made it out of high school.
I’d walked Tammy to class, along with the others, my mind deep in thought. A lot had happened this year and all in just a few months at that. Shit feels like years. And though some were bad, like what happened here this morning, falling for her more than tipped the scales.
She seemed a little spooked by the whole thing and though she still believed that the explosion had been an accident, Jace’s actions that night and now, were probably tipping her off that I’d lied to her.
That’s something we’d promised not to do with each other. But when it comes to protecting her from bullshit that shit’s null and void. I don’t feel bad about it either. There are just some things she doesn’t need to know about.
But now I don’t know how I’ma tell her about this move. We’ve spent a lot of time together in the last few weeks, in fact when we weren’t with the others as a group she was usually at my house under the pretense of doing homework. My mother had long since given up acting like she’d lost her mind when my girl came over and now usually gave us our space.
So having spent that much time with her, when I wasn’t trying to talk her into having sex, we spent hours just talking. So I know that until we became an item she never felt quite at ease here. Even with her dad being a teacher here. In fact, she seems to think that makes it worst.
Because her family doesn’t have a lot of money like most of the kids here, some people tend to look down their noses at her, one of those people is the girl I stupidly dated for a while. Liz, Mandy’s best friend.
Come to think of it, it’s like Jace and I had both lost our minds when we went playing in that murky pond. At least I’d lucked out there. Liz wasn’t nearly half the nut Mandy is.
Just thinking about her makes me want to knock the hell out of her. She started this mess. It’s been one thing after the other since Jace moved on. And now we’d come to this. She can’t die soon enough!
* * *
CASSANDRA
* * *
I hurried to class feeling happier than I had in a long time while walking these halls. For the past year or so life has been hell. Having to come here each day and see her, knowing what she’d done, and so much more. It was getting harder and harder to face coming here.
I don’t know what I would’ve done had Sian and her family not moved here. Or had she and Jace not become a couple. It was only my association with them that had saved me, and my sanity I’m sure.
