All Pepped Up (Pepper Jones) (5 page)

“Sorry guys,” I tell them as I step away from Jace. “You know Omar,” I tell Jace. “Have you met Rollie?”

“What’s up, man?” Jace asks in greeting.

“Thanks for having us,” Rollie says quietly with a shuffle of his feet.

Jace leads us into the kitchen, where Wes is mixing drinks at the counter island. He leans in for a hug and I introduce him to Omar and Rollie.

“I thought you guys were having people over?” I ask.

“I just texted Remy a second ago. I’m sure he’ll spread the word.” That’s how easy it is for a guy like Jace to get a party started. One text message.

I wait to see if Wes will say anything
about Madeline coming over, but he’s fixated on the liquor bottles lined up in front of him.

“Are Lincoln people coming too?” I don’t know how these things work, and I want to be prepared for another confrontation.

“I didn’t call anyone,” Wes tells me. “Lincoln people might still head over at some point, but I’m hoping to hang with the Brockton Public crowd for a change. Madeline was with me last night, and I could use a break from her.”

I frown at him. A break from Madeline Brescoll? “Seriously? Isn’t she the hottest girl in this town?” I can’t help but ask. It’s just my friends here. I can be candid.

Wes gives me a once-over. “She’s got plenty of competition for that title.”

I roll my eyes. He’s just teasing. Right?

I’ll never be in Madeline’s league, but these
are
my most flattering jeans. Dark-washed and skin-tight all the way to the ankles, I always feel kind of hot when I wear them. They even make it look like I have some curve to my butt and hips. I should start calling them my magical pants.

Wes hands me a drink just as the doorbell rings.
He heads to the front door. Rollie and Omar haven’t said anything yet. “Do either of you guys want this?” I hold out my drink. “Hard alcohol is not for me.”

Omar takes it happily and Jace heads to the fridge. “Beer or wine?”

“I’ve never tried white wine,” I say. I tried red, and didn’t like it. And I’m not crazy about beer either. Look at me. Drinking for a second night in a row.

“His mom has this sweet stuff you might like,” Jace pulls a bottle of wine out of the fridge and pours me some in a real wine glass.

“Fancy,” I remark.

“Only for you, Pep,” Jace says with a wink. He turns to Rollie, who is trying unsuccessfully to look casual sitting on a kitchen stool.

“You want a beer, Fowler, or you gonna mix something?”

“You know my last name?” he asks, startled.

“I’ve lived in this town my whole life. Of course I know the Fowler family. Plus I keep track of Pep’s friends,” he responds with a grin.

“Creep,” I mutter loud enough for him to hear. He only grins wider.

“Beer’s great, thanks.” Rollie pushes his glasses up on his nose. He likely has no idea how to mix a drink and I could see it going very badly. Beer’s a smart choice.

An hour later, the house is packed, and I’m sure I’ll never squeeze my way out of the kitchen. But I’m happy in my spot between Jace’s legs. And the wine is actually quite yummy. I’m still nursing the first glass.

Ryan showed up with Remy and Connor, and I wondered how it worked out that Ryan and Jace share friends. It’s so strange to me.

Ryan said hello briefly, and then went somewhere with Omar and Rollie, who
were thankful to have another friend at the party. But is Ryan really our friend? Since team practices stopped, we’d all stopped hanging out with him. But was that because we broke up? Or is he one of those teammates who only hangs out when it’s convenient during the season? Time will tell, I suppose.

Jace is being especially affectionate, kissing my shoulder or forehead every few minutes as he chats with people, and keeping me firmly at his side. I’m not really paying much attention to the people who keep coming up to talk to him. I prefer to take in the scene, people
watching. This is all still pretty new to me, and I find it fascinating.

Madeline and her entourage haven’t showed up yet. At least, I don’t think they have. Most people come to the kitchen first, presumably to get a drink, but I imagine Jace’s presence has something to do
with it, too. Though the queen bees of Lincoln haven’t made an appearance, their equivalents at Brockton Public – labeled the Barbies by Zoe – were some of the first to arrive.

From a few minutes observing, it looks like Kayla Chambers – the ringleader – is hooking up with Jace’s best guy friend Remy. Andrea Hill has always been on and off with Connor, Jace’s football co-captain. And apparently Lisa is now with Ryan. It’s a relief that none of them are gunning for Jace, but just the fact that they have all been with him in the past is enough to get me worked up.

Ben Hughes was apparently seeing Tina Anderson, one of the Barbies in my class, at one point (according to my gossip source, Zoe) but I haven’t seen either of them around to confirm.

All the drama never interested me before, but now that I’m Jace’s girlfriend, and he is who he is, I can’t stay totally oblivious. So far, Madeline Brescoll seems to be the only threat.

Wes’s buddies from Lincoln Academy, Forbes Townsend and Pierce Malone, enter the kitchen to whoops of greeting. Though it’s mostly Brockton Public people here at this point, everyone knows these two matter.

I stiffen with the realization that
their presence means the queen bees will be arriving soon. “What’s up?” Jace whispers in my ear.

The feel of his warm breath on my skin distracts me, and I squirm against him in response. My back is to his front, and he tightens his hold around my waist. “Pepper,” he says in warning. His voice is gruff, and I love knowing I have some power over him. Because he certainly has some over me.

I take the last sip of my wine, and Jace passes my empty glass to someone. My head leans back against his shoulder as I press harder against him. I feel him against my lower back and my eyes start to drift closed just as he growls and tugs me away toward the stairs.

“You can’t tease me like that with all those people around.” He almost sounds angry, but I know he isn’t. Jace’s angry voice is unmistakable. He’s only frustrated because he lost a little control. I smile to myself as I follow him upstairs, but I pause when I hear Serena
’s and Emma’s voices. I glance down and see them entering the kitchen, with Madeline in front. Had Jace seen her? Was that why he pulled me away? Or was he overtaken by lust, like I was?

“Hey
, lovebirds!” Wes calls to us from upstairs. “Come on out to the hot tub! We can watch the storm.” He walks down the hallway in a bathing suit and flip flops. His body type is similar to Jace’s – lean and muscular – but Jace has broader shoulders and is a little taller.

I laugh. “Oh please, you’ll have plenty of girls following you out there if you walk through the house like that.”

Jace pulls me to him, letting me know he didn’t really appreciate that comment. Yeah, that was probably inappropriate. Oops.

Wes just chuckles. “I’ll save you space.”

Wes slides down the banister, just like I saw him do a million times when we were kids. Still, it makes my heart race every time, knowing he could fall and break his neck.

“That actually sounds awesome. Hot tub in a blizzard? Let’s change.” Jace goes straight to a drawer in Wes’s room and pull
s out two sets of swim trunks.  “You got a sports bra?” he asks, tossing me boys’ swim trunks.

“Even better, I’ve got a bikini,” I say with a smile, thankful I threw one in at the last minute.

When I come out of the bathroom a few minutes later in my polka-dotted string bikini, Jace takes one look at me and rubs his hand over his face. “You need to wear those shorts out to the pool.” He picks up the swim trunks I left on the floor and hands them to me.

Rolling my eyes, I pull the trunks on. I don’t exactly want to strut through the house in a bikini anyway.

I peek through the screen before going outside. I want to run immediately into the hot tub without freezing my butt off any longer than possible. But the tub is full.

“I told him that would happen!” I huff out.

Jace grins and looks out the door. He catches Wes’s attention and in the next minute, two girls come inside dripping wet. “There’s space now,” they announce, not even sounding annoyed that they were just kicked out.

Ah, to be Jace Wilder.
             

I’m surprised to see Omar, Rollie and Ryan in the tub with Wes. There are also two girls on either side of Wes who
m I don’t know. And Lisa is leaning against Ryan. Good thing I’d learned about them earlier that day so I’m able to keep a blank expression.

Jace eases in behind me and arranges himself along a headrest with his feet out before pulling me onto his lap. We have the clutch seat – the one that’s shaped for lying down with a curve and a head rest.

The snow is dumping all around us, and I immediately feel some gather on my cheeks and eyelashes.

“So what’s your plan for track this season, Pep?” Wes asks.

I shrug. I haven’t given track season much thought. I was so wound up for Nationals that when cross season ended, I didn’t want to think about what was next. Plus, I’ve been consumed with Jace these past couple of months. “Just the usual, probably. I’ll run the mile and 2-mile at State, and hopefully we’ll have a distance medley relay.”

“Carrie and Lauren here run track,” Wes informs me. I squint through the steam, trying to place them.

“Cool, what events?”

“Same as you,”
Lauren says.

“We do cross too, but you know, we don
’t really race Brockton Public,” the one named Carrie explains.

“We thought you’d go for Nationals in track this year since you won Nationals in cross. Plus they have the 5k at Nationals, and you
’re better at longer distances,” Lauren tells me.

I shift in Jace’s lap. I’m still getting used to the idea that strangers talk about my running.

“Nationals will probably be a last-minute decision for us,” Ryan speaks up. “Track season is so long as it is, and there’s tons of competition in Colorado, so track Nationals isn’t as big a thing.”

Oh
. I didn’t know that.

“Yeah, plus are
n’t there like two big national meets and the best people aren’t at both of them? Kind of kills the idea of a national meet,” Carrie adds.

I didn’t know that either. I actually have no idea what the qualifying times are for my events.

“You should look into the records, Pep,” Omar says. “I bet you could go for one of them.”

Does he mean state or national records?

“I don’t want to think about it yet. I’m still winding down from cross season,” I announce. My good mood
– from the wine, hot tub, cookies, and the snow day – quickly fizzles at the mention of track season.

Until this conversation, I didn’t realize how much I’ve been avoiding thinking about competition. I haven’t been avoiding thinking about running, because I love to run and do it nearly every day. But I’m not ready to think about times, races, and goals. Cross took more out of me mentally than I realized. I was so focused, and now I just want to have some fun.

The conversation moves on to baseball, but I feel Ryan’s gaze on me.

Is that all it is? Wanting to be a normal teenager? Does the pressure of winning really get to me that much? Am I burning out already? A cold fear takes hold of me, and I shiver despite the hot water. After winning Nationals, there’s nowhere for me to go but down.

By the time we get out of the hot tub
, everyone seems to be a bit drunk except for me, Jace and Ryan. I watch the others stumble inside as I lift the hot tub cover.

“We got this, Pep,” Wes says, taking the cover from me.

Jace grabs the other side of the cover and I head inside. As I close the sliding glass door, I hear Wes say angrily, “What the hell, man? I thought you were going to tell her! We just talked about it.”

“Not when people are over. Now’s not the time,” Jace says sternly.

“That’s why you invited people over, isn’t it?” Wes asks.

“Dude, we always p
arty when there’s a snow day. I’ll talk to her tomorrow morning after everyone leaves.”

Jace has a knack for responding to questions he doesn’t want to answer, without actually answering the question.

“People aren’t going to leave. It’s a snow day. That’s the point.”

“They will if we tell them to. Besides, what’s the rush? It’s been years. One more day won’t hurt.”

“Your mom’s back now, Jace.”

A deep unease settles over me. I can’t even begin to imagine what it is
they’re talking about. And what does Jace’s mom being back have anything to do with it?

I hear them making their way to the door and I pretend to be engrossed in drying mys
elf off. Should I ask what they were talking about? Or wait until tomorrow?

The decision is made for me when Carrie and Lauren
call Wes over, and he heads off with them. Has Wes always been such a slut? I frown, realizing I have no idea. He was with Madeline last night and now two new girls. That’s a lot of action. Maybe all the popular guys are like that.