Hellion, a New Adult Romance Novel (The Rebel Series) (10 page)

I rub her back, waiting for her to spill her guts.

“He lied,” she finally says.
 
“He lied about that … that … supermodel assbag.”

“Olga?”

She turns her head to look at me.
 
“Who else would I be talking about?”

“Sorry.
 
Geez, lighten up, okay?
 
I’m not the enemy here.”

She turns her face to look at the floor again.
 
“I know.
 
I’m just … really upset.”
 
She’s crying before the sentence is fully out.

I grab her by the shoulders and pull her towards me. “Come here, Tea-Tea.
 
Don’t cry on your steering wheel, cry on me.”

She leans towards me like she has no bones left in her body.
 
Her arms hang limply by her sides as she heaves out tear after tear and sob after sob.

“Listen, I’m only in the Rebel fan club if you’re the president, so don’t take this the wrong way, but maybe you just misunderstood something.
 
I mean, did he actually lie to you or did this Olga bitch do the lying?”

Teagan sits up suddenly, wiping her face with her hand angrily.
 
“No.
 
It was a lie of omission.
 
I asked him weeks ago whether he was ever with her and he denied it.
 
But apparently, that’s a big fat fucking lie.
 
They were together, Quin.
 
Together.
 
As in a
couple
.”

“Wait a minute … I thought you told me he
did
admit to being with her. I’m confused.”

“No, what I said was that he said he was just in some small thing that was nothing and was very short and no big deal.”

“Somehow I doubt those are his words.
 
There are way too many syllables involved.”

“You know what I mean!
 
He says a lot without saying a lot.”

I snort.
 
“Says you.”

“Quin!
 
Whose side are you on?!”
 
Her face is bright red, and I’m trying really hard not to fish around for a tissue to wrangle the snot coming out of her nose.

“I’m on yours, of course.”
 
I look away.
 
“Gah, Teagan, wipe your nose.
 
My stomach is a mess tonight and you’re making me sick.”

She uses the back of her hand, which doesn’t improve my indigestion one bit.

I get a text, and since the only people who text me at this time of night are pretty much in the car with me right now I look at my phone.

Are you with Teagan?

I don’t recognize the number, but I’m pretty sure I know who it is.

I respond with my own text:
Go away.

“Who is it?” Teagan asks, wiping her nose again.

“It’s Mick, I think.”

“What does he want?”

“He wants to know if I’m with you.
 
I told him to go away.”

Bring her to RW. Don’t let her go to that hole.

“He wants me to bring you to Rebel Wheels.
 
They don’t want you over at the Golden Tooth Legacy.”

She huffs out a snort.
 
“Like they can tell me what to do.”

I chew my lip, trying to figure out how I can manipulate her into going to Rebel’s place.
 
I’m with Mick.
 
I don’t want her hanging out with the break-dancing alcoholics at her old apartment complex where she still has a place.
 
“Listen, babe … don’t you think you’re better off in a safe place where kidnappers can’t snag your ass and punch your face off?”

She hesitates and I hold my breath, waiting for her response.
 
I’m worried I’ve pushed too hard and will end up hitching a ride home.

“That’s not going to happen again. No one’s going to touch me. My step-mother knows they’re watching her.”

“Let’s hope not.
 
But just to be sure, I’d sleep a lot better knowing you have a wall of muscle between you and the bad guys, if you know what I mean.”

“But that muscle is a liar.”

“Only some of that muscle is a liar.
 
You still have Colin, and if you ask me, he’s plenty of muscle all on his own.”
 
I can still remember the pile of wasted human being that greeted us at the top of Rebel’s stairs, when he basically rescued Teagan from their asses.
 
One of them was in a coma for a week and the other one had just about every bone in his face broken.

Teagan sighs out long and loudly.
 
“Fine.
 
Take me to Rebel Wheels.
 
But I am not sleeping in the same room as him.
 
I’m sleeping on the couch.”

“Good.
 
I don’t want you sleeping with that turdle.
 
He needs to come clean and tell you the whole truth.”

“Damn straight,” she says, starting up her car and reversing out of the space.
 
“I’m not putting up with any bullshit.
 
I may still be poor and pretty much totally dependent on him for survival, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let myself get walked on.
 
I’m not a friggin doormat.”
 
She spins her car’s back wheels out as she takes off onto the main road.

“Hell to the yeah, you’re not. And don’t shoot me for saying this, but I don’t think Rebel would expect or want you to be. Doormattage is not sexy.”

“Yeah, well, I thought I knew him pretty well, but now I wonder.”

The rest of the ride to Rebel’s place passes in silence.
 
I come up with no less than six conversation starters, all of which I abandon in favor of saying nothing. I want to believe Rebel didn’t lie and that this is all a big misunderstanding, because without his support, I really don’t know what my friend will do. I could probably get my parents to let her stay on our couch for a couple days, but after that I know they’ll tell me she has to go.
 
Our house is just too freaking small and with Jersey there making everything ten times harder than it would be without him, having guests is just beyond my parents’ stress threshold.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

WE PULL INTO THE PARKING lot of Rebel Wheels as the door to the main office flies open. A girl with long black hair comes storming out, and Teagan barely misses running her over.

She screams in surprise and then glares at us through the windshield.
 
“Watch where you’re going, you crazy bitch!” she screams.

Teagan yanks her emergency brake up in one quick pull and throws open the door.
 
“I know you didn’t just call me a crazy bitch.”

The girl with the hair is no dummy.
 
Even I’m scared at Teagan’s tone.
 
She takes one look at my BFF’s angry expression and hightails it over to her white BMW.
 
She’s in with the doors locked before Teagan even makes it around her Beetle.

“That’s right!” Teagan yells at the back of the car as it roars past us.
 
“You better run!”

I look at Teagan and start laughing.
 
Her hair is all over the place and one of her boobs is almost out of her dress.

“What are you laughing at?” she says.

“I’m not sure, but I think I’m looking at a very angry hooker.”
 
I point to her chest.
 
“Your fun bags are coming loose.”

She looks down and takes a moment to stuff her boob back in her dress.
 
“Better?” she asks, looking up at me.
 
For the first time in an hour, she’s grinning a little.

“Better.”
 
I look at the entrance to the parking lot.
 
The car is long gone.
 
“Who was that chick?”

“How the hell do I know?
 
Maybe she’s one of Rebel’s old girlfriends who wasn’t a girlfriend.”

I put my arm over her shoulders and guide her to the front door.
 
“Don’t be like that.
 
Come on, let’s go have a beer.”
 
The incident with the Beemer girl has somehow let off some of the stress that was bogging us down.
 
I’d send her a thank you text if I knew her number.

“I’d rather have a chocolate milk,” Teagan says, pouting.

“Fine.
 
If you insist on giving my lactose intolerant behind diarrhea, then so be it.
 
Chocolate milk it is.”

“Ew.
 
You can have a beer.
 
I’ll have a chocolate milk.”

“Okay, if you say so.
 
But just know that I would sacrifice my digestion for your happiness.”

She walks into the office ahead of me, waiting and locking the door behind me as I pass through.
 
“Thanks.
 
That means a lot.
 
I’m not sure that anyone has ever made that pledge to me before.”

We make our way upstairs and before we’re even to the apartment door, we can hear music booming out of Colin’s place.

“I guess that was Colin’s date,” Teagan says, opening up Rebel’s door.

“She didn’t seem very happy about it,” I say.

“Maybe he kicked her out of bed.”

We’re only in the room long enough for me to sit on the couch before there’s a knock at the door.
 
A blonde head pokes itself in, and then two dark eyes are staring at me.
 
“Teagan in here?”

I point to the kitchen.
 
“In there.”

Teagan comes out with a beer for me and stops when she sees Colin’s head.
 
“What?” she asks, annoyed.

“Hey, don’t shoot.
 
I’m just making sure you’re here.
 
Rebel’s worried about you.”

Teagan says nothing, but her jaw hardens and her eyes narrow.

“Tell Rebel to go punch himself in the junk,” I say, joining Teagan with a hard look of my own.

“Wow.
 
That’s pretty serious.
 
What’d he do to earn a junk-punching?”
 
Colin comes in the rest of the way as he types out a text.

“He lied,” I say.

“Quin, don’t say anything,” Teagan says, going back into the kitchen.

I wait until she’s busy in the fridge before talking again.
 
I use a low whisper so she won’t hear me.
 
“He told her Olga was nothing, but tonight Olga told her differently when we were at the club.”

“Oh.
 
Shit.
 
That’s not good.”
 
Colin drops into an armchair next to me.
 
“So what’s the deal?
 
Is she super pissed or just kind-of pissed?”

“Super.
 
As in, she wanted to go sleep at her place tonight.”

“Damn.
 
What exactly did he say to her …? About Olga, I mean.”

“Not sure.
 
Something like it was nothing.
 
Maybe they hooked up once or twice.”

Colin shrugs.
 
“I don’t think it was much more than that.
 
I mean, I wasn’t around all the time, but I never saw anything serious.”

“What are you guys whispering about?” Teagan asks, walking into the room with her chocolate milk.

“The weather,” I say with a bright smile.
 
“Tickle your ass with a feather?”

“What did you just say?” she says, playing along with me.

“I said, isn’t it particularly
nasty weather
we’re having?”

Colin stares at us confused as we giggle like idiots.

“Sorry.
 
Time warp throw-back.
 
What were you saying?”
 
I look at him, my face the picture of maturity.

He looks askance at me and then addresses his answer to Teagan. “I was saying that I wasn’t around all the time, but I never saw Olga over here as Rebel’s girl.
 
If he told you she was nothing, I’d believe him.”

“Of course you would,” says Teagan, dropping onto the end of the couch opposite me.
 
“He’s your brother.”

“Yeah, but if he’s being a dick, I’ll call him a dick.
 
He’s never lied that I’ve ever known about.”

“Well said,” I smile in respect.

He grins back.
 
“I’ve got a special way with words.”

“So who was that chick that almost got her ass kicked on the way out of here?” Teagan asks.

Colin looks first at the ceiling and then the floor.
 
“Just some girl.”
 
He gets up and helps himself to a beer from the fridge.

I exchange knowing looks with Teagan.
 
This is almost as interesting as analyzing Rebel’s statements to try and detect lies.

When he comes back in the room, I get him with my laser-beam eyes and determined eyebrows.
 
“
Just
some girl?
 
Do tell.
 
Where did you meet her?
 
What’s her name?
 
Do you like her?”

He laughs once and takes a swig of beer.
 
“You guys are bad.”

“Bad?
 
How so?
 
We call it curious.”
 
I lean towards him.
 
“Tell us all your secrets.
 
You cannot escape.
 
Our will is strong.”

He takes another drink before responding.
 
“Her name’s Juanita and I met her at a club.
 
We went out a couple times and then we stopped.”

“Who stopped? You or her?” I already know the answer, but I like walking down the path anyway.

“Me, I guess. I mean, she wasn’t the right one.
 
We both knew it, but she just kept hanging on.”

“Oh, man.
 
That’s harsh.”
 
I cringe inside on her behalf.
 
No wonder she was acting so crazy.