Eden High Series 2 Book 3 (4 page)

SIAN

***

“Y
ou have everything ready for tonight sweetie?” I kissed mom good morning as she poured the last glass of juice to set on the table. I nabbed a slice of turkey bacon and grinned before answering her.

“Sure do, it’s going to be great.” I was feeling better. My wounds were looking much better when I dressed them this morning, in fact it was amazing how far they’d come in such a short time. Next stop plastic surgery to remove the scars. And last night had been amazing. I was still feeling giddy.

“What do you girls have planned?” I filled her in, leaving out the more salient parts of course. Mom tells dad everything, and since my attack he’s worse than Jace. Some things are better left unsaid.

We shared a few laughs as she bustled around the kitchen putting the finishing touches on breakfast and talking about the coming night. The conversation was light and playful the way they had always been before I was attacked and I wondered if Jace had got after my parents too. I’d noticed the last couple of days that no one even mentioned it anymore, for which I was eternally grateful. But I didn’t know until last night that it was his browbeating people that had brought that about.

I overheard him forbidding his mom to even ask me how I was feeling on one of my many trips to the bathroom. In pure Jace fashion he was laying down the law with his bad self. Too cute. It was starting to become annoying when that was all anyone wanted to talk about, when I couldn’t even remember what had happened, and would just as soon put the whole thing behind me.

Though no one had been caught yet, Jace kept me so well insulated that I no longer had any fear of something happening again. Between him, his dad and mine, I had no doubt they’d get to the bottom of it. My only worry these days was the cops and their obsession with Jace. Actually that’s not entirely true. I had one other pressing issue on my mind, but I was making strides to deal with that.

In fact tonight the girls and I had plans to take care of my little issue. Unbeknownst to Jace, Jared and Shane, the girls and I had been sneakily plotting ways to deal with Mandy and her shit. I’d decided that since I didn’t want Jace anywhere near that skank it was up to me to put an end to her crap.

Of course I wasn’t saying anything to him about what was on my mind, he’d have a fit and spaz out like he always does. So I was going to handle this one on my own. I had to lot to talk to Ms. Mandy about. Her clan has been quiet since she went to the hospital, but I knew it was only a matter of time before they started up again once she got out. Not to mention the fact that I’m beginning to see some truth to Jace’s assumption that she had something to do with my attack.

That pisses me off, but unlike Jace, I’m willing to let the cops do their job or whomever else our families had on it. It’s her constant going after Jace that has me out for her blood more than anything else. I know unless something’s done she won’t ever stop, because I’m pretty sure that twit is a sociopath. How Jace ever got caught in her web is a mystery, since he tends to be so smart otherwise.

I could see why she’s obsessed with him though, why she’s lost her damn mind; he’s freaking perfect. If he did half the things with and for her that he’s done for me, which I’m pretty sure he hasn’t then I wouldn’t want to lose him either. But it’s time I let her know that that ship has sailed. If Jace went near her again there’s no telling what she’d come up with this time. Funny, we’re each trying to protect the other from her venom.

Think of the devil. Just as I was about to sit down while the rest of my family tromped their way down the stairs, Jace came through the door. “Morning.” He’s so cute. He walked over to mom and kissed her cheek before taking a seat at the table. “What’re you doing here so early? I grinned at him.”

“Your dad called.” He shrugged but said no more as he reached for a piece of my stolen bacon. His words only gave me a moment’s pause, but I let it go. Dad and Jace had grown really close in the past few weeks, which made my life easier. In fact the two families have been getting along just fine and I knew that part of the reason for that was Jace’s respect for my parents, plus the way he takes care of me. My dad is big on that kind of stuff.

Still it shocks me just a little bit that he had gone for the whole engagement thing and even letting me sleep over at Jace’s. I asked mom once about that and she explained that she, and dad believes in looking at things the way they are, and not the way everyone else thinks they should be. As a teenage dad himself and someone who’d gotten married at a young age, he was better equipped than most to deal with his young daughter falling in love I guess.

She says they’d rather know where I was and who with, than to have me sneaking around behind their backs where I could get hurt. Dad was pacified by the fact that Jace had offered marriage. It helps that he really likes Jace and his folks too.

Whatever it was I appreciated it, and was trying hard not to do anything to lose that trust. Jace has been very good at that too, though he’s still scheming ways to get me to move in with him. That, I’m sure was not something dad would go for no matter how understanding he is.

“How’d you sleep baby?” He brushed my lips with his and took my hand as the others found their seats. Maggie, who I was sure had a mini crush on Jace was all blushing smiles and of course Jace almost gave the poor girl a heart attack by showering her with attention. He was so good with her, so genuine. The guy was everything I didn’t expect to find when we moved here.

I’d had some expectations, I’d expected spoilt Hollywood brats whose only interest was their looks and the next club outing. There was plenty of that, but in Jace I’d found something I never expected here or anywhere. He looked over at me in the middle of his conversation with Maggie and I melted. His wink before returning his attention to my sister warmed me all over.

I soon got distracted by my annoying brother and his teasing and shifted my focus. The table was a noisy mess as it usually is, and was more so with Jace here adding his brand of crazy to the lighthearted conversation. That all changed when coming on to the end of the meal, dad gave my brother and Jace a look and the three of them got up from the table.

My suspicions only grew when both dad and Jace told me to stay put when I got up to follow. I looked at mom but she only shrugged and went back to clearing the table. “Mom what are they up to?” I knew she would have an idea since dad told her everything.

“Heck if I know. Why don’t you help your sister with her hair?” I looked at Maggie who was looking at mom like she was nuts. “What’s wrong with my hair?” My little sister was going through her rebellious middle school phase. She chose her own clothes, did her hair herself and was generally a pain in the ass to me, and Jared.

“Nothing dear, if you were going for the bird’s nest look.” Mom said tongue in cheek. It really was a mess, but I remembered those days and tried to deflect. “It’s not that bad Maggie, we can just tidy it up a little.” I moved to take her into the downstairs bathroom to give it some order while she pouted.

As grown as she likes to pretend she is, I know she loves it when I pay attention to her and I felt a slight pang at the fact that I’d been caught up in my own world so much lately that I hadn’t been the best big sister in the world. “Hey do you want to hang out with us this weekend?” I could sidetrack her for the first night, but after, there was no reason she couldn’t be part of the fun.

“Really?” She whipped her head around so fast she almost gave herself whiplash. And the look in her eyes, like she’d been given the Barbie doll she’d been dying for, (she’s still a Barbie freak), made me happy that I’d thought to ask.

“Of course, we’ll have lots of fun. Unless you already made plans with your friends.” She’s usually out at a friend’s for a sleepover of her own Miss. Social butterfly. She turned back to the mirror as I played with her hair. “No, I was going to go over to Shelly’s but her little brother has the flu so her mom cancelled.”

She then went on to tell me about her new friends and the things they’d been getting up to. There was mention of a boy named Chad more than once so I thought that might be the boyfriend and reminded myself to tease her about him later. Right now I could hear dad calling for her.

***

I tried grilling Jace on the way to school about what had transpired between him and my dad, but he was being his usual tightlipped self. “It’s nothing.” He led my hand, which he had clasped in his to his lips. I squinted at him with a ‘yeah right’ look.

“Jace…”

“Babe, I said it was nothing, just guy talk.” I left it alone for now, but knew better than to believe him. By the time we pulled into the parking lot I’d all but forgotten it when I saw Belle and Tammy waiting.

“Hey you, where you going?” He grabbed my hand and held me back as I swung the door open ready to jump out. I had a lot to discuss with my girls for the coming night.

He pointed to his lips and I grinned as I turned my head to smooch him. I didn’t think much of the fact that he actually let me go. Jace has been on my ass like a tick since my attack and once on school grounds the only time we weren’t together was when we were in our individual classes.

I turned to wave at him as he got out and leaned against the car to watch me run to meet the girls. Valerie got there just as I did so only Cassie was missing. We did our usual greeting and catching up on the night’s events like we hadn’t seen each other the day before, before I checked over my shoulder to make sure Mr. Nosy was still out of earshot.

“So, are we still on for tonight?” We’d come up with a plan of attack so to speak. Since I was sure Jace would loosen the strings because all I was doing was hanging out at home with my friends, it was the perfect time to pay Mandy a visit in the hospital.

“How do you plan on getting around Jace? The last time we had a sleepover he showed up, remember?” Belle thought that was funny and Tammy soon joined in the laughter. The sound was like a ray of sunshine in a cloudy sky. It was the little moments like these that I had learned to cherish most. When we could laugh and joke like carefree teenagers who didn’t have a viper in our midst trying to destroy us.

Sure Mandy’s venom seemed mostly directed at me, but I couldn’t forget that she’d made the others’ lives miserable as hell before my family and I moved here.

“I’m glad I met you guys.” They stopped mid laugh and smiled at me before we all fell into a sappy group hug. “Hey what about me?” Valerie joked and we let her in with a laugh.

“Don’t worry about Jace. I know just how to deal with him.” I hope. None of them looked too sure but we changed the subject as the guys walked over to join us and walk us into the building.

MANDY

***

O
oh, home at last. I looked around my newly redecorated room with glee. The parents had gone all out, probably out of guilt over me almost getting murdered under their watch. I ran my fingers over the new patterned paint on the wall in my favorite colors, and smirked at my new bed. Fit for a princess of course.

The place seemed bigger somehow and I realized they’d knocked out a wall and made the sitting room larger. Sweet. I knew if I played this right I’d get something out of it. I’d called mom with some sob story about missing home and being well enough to leave that hellhole of a hospital last night.

That’s all it took to have her flexing her maternal muscles and insisting that I be released into her care. I still had to go back for checkups and whatnot, but for now I was free. I kicked off my three-inch heels that were killing my calves and stripped as I walked around the room.

I plopped down on the new mattress once I was sure mom wasn’t going to come back with her Florence Nightingale routine. That shit like all the rest of her maternal bullshit was growing old fast.

She talked my ear off all the way home about all the fun things we were going to do together. I guess she’d fallen hard for my innocent little girl act and thought we could have some kind of bonding session or some shit. She seemed to think my getting hurt was an excuse for her to remember she was supposed to be a mom. Hah, later for that. I didn’t need a mother, I’m on to better things.

I went through my phone for any messages and sighed in relief at the freedom of being out of the hospital and back in the privacy of my own room. I had some calls to make that were better done without fear of being overheard.

I had the usual messages and the ‘oh so glad you’re okay’ bullshit, but I wasn’t much interested in those. I was looking for word from Carter since he was my last conquest. While in the hospital I hadn’t given much thought to our last night together, not beyond the fact that I almost died anyway.

But now that I was home and back on my game, I could take care of shit. Did he say he was breaking up with me? He wishes! No one breaks up with me. Except… I let that thought fade away since I had all intentions of rectifying that shit right quick.

First order of business, getting the girls over here to find out what I’d missed. It hadn’t slipped my mind that they’d barely come to visit me in the hospital and where the fuck were they now? I’ll be sure to let them know what I think of this total disrespect. This is what happens when you don’t stay on top of things. It was almost like they didn’t like me, or some shit. Which I’m sure could not be the case. I’m the one who made them popular, if not for me no one would even give them the time of day.

I knew with me back on the outside they’d soon fall back in line again so I wasn’t worried. I texted Liz and told her to get her ass over there now and bring the others with her. Her quick reply eased some of my annoyance but not by much. At least she didn’t give me any shit about having to go to class or any of her other dumb ass excuses.

Next up was Carter. I sent him off a cryptic message letting him know that I was home and that we were a long way from done. Let him chew on that. I never ended one of my little trysts until I had another mark already primed and ready and since I had no one waiting in the wings, he was still on the hook.

The only reason I wasn’t going full tilt was because I’d decided to concentrate on getting Jace back and dealing with that small town hick once and for all, so I needed all my energies focused there. Which means, I couldn’t put in the work needed to prime a new pump.

I did take the time on the way home in the car to check on the new deposits in my offshore accounts. I’d decided to go ahead with my ploy to threaten to name names to the cops working my case, so after my call to mom, I’d sent out some texts. It’s amazing what the fear of exposure could do. Especially when you’re a freak that don’t want the world knowing you like underage pussy. Add suspicion of attempted murder and they were all running scared.

I could probably milk that shit for a long-long time, but I had enough sense to know how far to go before they push back. Pretty smart for a poor girl with the nonexistent mother and shitty life, to this. I’m pretty sure that some conservative hack might call my actions questionable, but they just didn’t understand the survival instinct.

I was never going to be poor again. No matter what it takes, I would make sure of that and really don’t care what anyone else may think. Mom had landed pretty well on her feet using her body hadn’t she, so why the hell shouldn’t I?

I was younger, prettier and way smarter than she’d ever been. She landed a millionaire. I’m aiming higher. Jace is the perfect candidate. He’s filthy rich, handsome, hot and he would look so good on my arm. Of course once we get married I expect him to keep me in the lifestyle I deserve, but a girl could never have too much. So in the meantime, I’ll just build my little nest egg.

As soon as I win him back I plan on getting him to the altar as fast as humanly possible sans the pre-nup of course. The thought that anything might stand in the way of me getting what I wanted most made my stomach hurt, but only served to make me that much more determined to get my way. If Jace Sanders thought I’d used up all my resources where he was concerned he was sadly mistaken. I’d find a way around that bitch he calls a mother yet, and I’m sure with her out of the way, it will be smooth sailing.

I scrolled through the old pics on my phone and relived some of our happier moments together. We are such a cute couple; everyone thought so. Everywhere we went people were always commenting on how perfect we looked together. I want that back. I touched his face through the screen and my heart hurt a little. I refuse to accept that he was lost to me forever. I will find a way to get him back and this time I won’t let anything take him away from me.

I rolled my eyes at the knock at the door and put my shit away just as mom opened it and came in with a tray of soup and crackers or some shit. “What the hell is that? I told you I wanted real food.” She stopped with an odd look on her face before regaining her composure. Damn, I’d forgotten to put on my act. Time to turn on the waterworks.

“Sorry mom, I’m just a little irritated and hurt. No one even bothered to come see me in the hospital and it’s my first day back and they haven’t even called.” Her face changed again and she placed the tray on the bedside table, before taking a seat next to me.

“It’s okay baby, you’ve only been home for a little bit. I’m sure they all missed you.” I almost barfed when she ran her hand over my hair. Who the hell is this woman? Okay, in all fairness, she’s been trying to be more of a mom since marrying up than in my former years, but little did she know the damage had already been done. By the time she decided to try, I was long past caring.

I listened to more of her corny bullshit and conned her out of a new bracelet I wanted before telling her I was tired and needed to rest. “Okay baby but eat your soup before it gets cold and we’ll see about cook making you that steak you want for dinner. Try not to worry, everything’s going to be okay.” Nothing was okay. It hasn’t been for a long time now. Not since I lost Jace.

As I laid there after she left I grabbed my little black book. I flipped through it the way I do when I need a pick me up. Some girls like ice cream I love reliving my conquests. It was headily powerful, knowing that I had these powerful men by the balls, plus it always helps to soothe me.

I came across a name that I hadn’t thought of in ages. Sick bastard. The mere memory of him made me want to rush to the bathroom and throw up. Until the night I’d almost died, he was the closest I’d ever come to real danger. I thought I could handle his edge, that slight hint of danger I picked up on during one of our sexual encounters. But I was in way over my head with that one.

He was the only one in my little book whom I hadn’t tried my games on. Lucky for me I’d followed my instincts and dodged him ever since. Weeks after I’d given him the slip there’d been a write-up on him in the tabloids. Something about him almost killing some young starlet. Of course the whole thing was swept under the rug because of who he is, but I’d dodged a bullet; though he still texted me every once in a while.

A slow smile flitted across my face as a most delicious thought suddenly played out in my head. “Vinnie, Vinnie, Vinnie; perfect.” I felt a sweet tingle between my thighs at the picture forming in my head. “We’ll just see about little Ms. Sweet as pie.”