Rush (24 page)

“Really?”

She laughed. “No, not really. He hasn’t
even mentioned you, actually.”

This was interesting. Here I’d been
feeling miserably guilty over cheating on Trent and breaking up with him, and
it was starting to sound like he’d been cheating on me. All-out cheating, not
just a single instance of kissing. And groping.

“I saw you kissing him at the Vegas
party,” I said.

She didn’t even blush. “So?”

“He was still my boyfriend, Tiff.”

“It’s kind of hard to tell. You haven’t
been spending much time with him, like I said.”

Apparently, she hadn’t picked up on my
use of the past tense. I leaned across the table. “Are you trying to tell me
something?”

The other girls were watching us with
wide eyes. Paige nudged me with her elbow, but I ignored her. I’d never liked
Tiffani. She was catty and mean. Trent was welcome to her.

“I’m not telling you anything you don’t
already know,” she said with a smirk.

“Whatever.” I glowered at her across the
table.

“That’s how to keep a boyfriend.
Whatever.”

“Are you trying to save my relationship
with Trent or break it up?”

She smirked again, tapping her long
acrylic nail against her bottom lip. “I haven’t decided yet.”

I smiled at her. “The fact is, I broke
up with him today.”

Tiffani gaped at me.

“You know, I’m just not hungry tonight,”
I said, shoving my chair back and standing up.

“You can’t keep avoiding us and expect
to remain in good standing with the chapter,” Tiffani said, sounding like she
was reaching for any excuse to fight with me.

“Tiff—” one of the other girls said.

“No,” Tiffani said. “Seriously. She
never comes around anymore. She won’t live here. She hardly shows up for any of
our functions. You think you’re too good for us, don’t you, Caroline?”

“No. I just don’t think I fit in.”

“Well,” she sniffed. “You got that
right.”

I sighed. “Merry Christmas, everyone.
Happy Hanukkah, Holidays, Yule, whatever. I’m going home.”

I turned around and left the dining
room. My coat was in the hall coat closet, so that was where I headed. In the
living room, I heard the tap of heels behind me and spun to see who was
following me.

“Paige. You don’t have to leave because
of me.”

“I’m not. Well, I am, but that’s okay.
Let’s go somewhere for dinner together.”

***

We went to The River House and had
sirloin steaks. The restaurant, too, was decked out for the holidays with a
large tree on one side of the room and lighted garland hung up everywhere. The
lights were white, instead of blue and green. I liked that a lot better,
although I could have done without the canned Christmas music.

I have to confess I was glad to get away
from the sorority house. What I’d said to Tiffani—I hadn’t meant for it to slip
out, but it was true. I’d made a big mistake in pledging and I just hadn’t
wanted to admit it. Plus now the news about my break-up with Trent was out and
everyone would want to talk about it. I could live without that particular
discussion.

Paige buttered her bread with short,
nervous strokes. She kept going over the same area, smearing the butter around
repeatedly even though it already had enough on it for three slices.

“Paige, what are you doing?”

“Buttering my bread,” she muttered, head
down. “What does it look like?”

“What’s wrong? Are you mad at me for
arguing with Tiffani?”

“No. Not at all. But...I have something
to tell you that you’re not going to like.” Paige glanced at me hesitantly.

“Okay.”

She shook her head, put down her slice
of bread and picked up another one. “You’ll hate me.”

“Don’t be silly.”

“Okay.” She took a deep breath. “Just
don’t shoot the messenger.”

“Will you tell me already?”

“Trent has been seeing Tiffani.” She
winced. “There. Please don’t kill me.”

I leaned back in my chair and smiled. “Well,
that explains her behavior tonight. Sort of.”

“You’re not mad?”

Actually, I felt relieved. “Not really.
I already broke up with him.”

“So that was true? Wow. I really didn’t
see that one coming. I thought maybe you’d said it just to throw Tiffani. Why
didn’t you say anything to me about it?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been kind of
distracted lately.”

She leaned forward. “I noticed. What’s
going on?”

It was only fair that Paige should know
first. She was my best friend, after all. Only I’d kept my feelings for Max
secret for so long that it was hard to open my mouth and talk about him.

“Well...” I hesitated. “Max and I—”

Paige grinned triumphantly. “I knew it!
I knew you’d hook up with him sooner or later.”

It was way more than that. “I’m not sure
I’d call it a hook up.”

“Oh? What is it, then? True love?”

“I don’t know what it is. I don’t think
I’m in love with him.” I couldn’t help smiling broadly. “But I like him an
awful lot.”

“Ha. Tiffani can take her attitude and
stuff it.”

I smiled even more broadly. “Yep.”

“So...wow, I still can hardly believe
you broke up with him.”

“Me, too.”

“I was starting to think you guys were
going to get married.” She glanced at me. “The other thing is, I think Trent’s
been seeing Tiffani for a while. The other day I heard they hooked up over the
summer.”

I frowned. “He told me he loved me. What
BS.”

“Men.” Paige made a face. “Except for
Max and Dan, of course.”

Chapter 18

Max

Since Caroline was having dinner with
her sorority sisters, I drove out to Brad and Marie’s farm. Several cars
occupied the space near the house because the members of our circle had decided
to drive down for a visit. The lights glowed from the house windows and as I
got out of my car I could hear laughter.

Too bad I couldn’t bring Caroline
tonight. I would have loved for her to meet everyone. We’d have to do it some
other time.

They were gathered in the living room
when I came in. There were only six of us total, but we crowded the small front
room of Brad and Marie’s house. Brad handed me a beer as I came into the room.

“Thanks.”

“How’s that search for truth going?” he
said in a low voice.

I glanced at him sidelong. “It’s going
well, actually. I’ve made major progress.”

His brows climbed into his hairline, but
I didn’t linger to talk. Instead, I hovered on the edge of the living room
wondering where to sit. Selene was on the couch and if I sat near her, she’d
see it as encouragement. I hadn’t spoken to her since that booty call and I
didn’t want her thinking I was open to another one. The problem was, the only
other option was sitting on the floor, and if I did that it would be obvious I
was avoiding her.

In the end, I took the seat next to
Selene, who turned on the couch and gave me a lingering hug. “How are you?”

“I’m doing well. You?”

“I’m fine.” She let go of me and
examined me. She wore a smile, but there was something not so happy lurking in
her eyes. “I heard you’ve got a new girlfriend.”

I leaned back against the couch with
studied carelessness. “Marie told you?”

“Brad, actually.”

“They have big mouths,” I said lightly.

“Isn’t it true?” Her dark eyes searched
my face.

“Yeah,” I said. “It’s true. Her name is
Caroline.”

“How come she isn’t with you tonight?”

“She had a prior commitment.”

Selene was wearing a thick, tunic-length
sweater with a v-neck so deep I could see almost all of her cleavage. Nestled
between her breasts was a silver pentacle on a long chain. Her black hair was
decorated with a scattering of multiple skinny braids decorated with silver
beads.

“I’ve missed you,” she said in a sultry
voice.

“Uh, yeah. Me too.”

“Seattle isn’t the same without you.”

Really? She’d never had any trouble
finding lovers, and I’d been only one of a string.

“I like it here,” I said.

“It’s cute,” she allowed with a slightly
dismissive movement of her head.

“Yeah.”

“I might be able to get used to it
myself.”

I gave her a skeptical look. “I thought
you said it was full of rednecks.”

Selene shrugged artfully, the gesture
briefly enhancing her display of curves. “You convinced me the last time I was
here that it’s more interesting than it looks at first.”

I made a noncommittal noise. She
probably wasn’t serious. There wasn’t a single compelling reason I could think
of for Selene to move to Avery’s Crossing.

She inched closer. “Are you still doing
ritual work?”

“Not as much as I used to. I’ve been
busy with other things.”

She pushed out her lower lip. “That’s
too bad. You’re so talented.”

“I’ve got a lot on my plate right now.
The business, school...”

“And this girl you’re seeing. Caroline?
She’s not into magic, is she?”

I frowned at the note of regret in her
voice. “No. She’s new to it.”

“I see.” She smiled flirtatiously. “Well,
if you ever need a partner, let me know. I’d be happy to drive down and help
you out.”

“That’s really nice of you, but I don’t
think it’ll be necessary.”

Another artful shrug sent her tunic
sliding off her shoulder on one side. “You never know.” Her smiled deepened. “Does
she know about you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your polyamorous nature.”

I gave her a dry look. “That was your
thing, not mine. If I recall, you didn’t want to give up any of your other
partners to be with me.”

“Oh, come on, Max. You know you liked
the threesomes.”

I didn’t answer. If I’d known she was
going to behave this way, I’d have taken a spot on the floor instead of the
couch.

Marie came over and knelt on the floor
next to the couch. “Have you gotten in touch with Carter yet?”

In most circumstances, I would have been
severely annoyed by anyone bringing up Carter. In my circle, though, it was okay.
Everyone knew about him already and, as far as I could tell, they didn’t judge
me for what had happened. I thought they should, but they didn’t.

“No,” I said. “Not yet.”

She scowled. “Why not? You shouldn’t
wait.”

“It’s Dead Week. Once finals are over, I’ll
do it.”

Marie shook her head at me. “It isn’t
wise to make him wait.”

“Why not? It’s not like he’s going
anywhere.”

“Because he might have something timely
to tell you. What if he can’t get the information to you until it’s too late?”

“Marie, I really doubt that’s the case.
And it’s only two weeks.”

“What’s this about Carter?” Selene
asked.

The others perked up their ears, too. If
I didn’t watch out, this would turn into a project involving the entire circle.

“He’s been trying to contact Max,” Marie
said. “But he’s having trouble getting through.”

“I’ve had other things going on,” I
said.

“Such as Caroline?” Marie gazed at me
knowingly.

“Maybe.”

“I don’t blame you for wanting to spend
time with her, but you need to deal with Carter too. Especially since Caroline
is involved.”

Selene’s eyes turned round as saucers. “Wait.
Caroline is involved? How’s that?”

“It’s nothing.” I gestured dismissively.
“She’s only peripherally involved because we’ve been seeing each other.” I sent
Marie a warning glance.

“It sounds like you could use some help
with this,” Selene said.

“Nope. I don’t need help.”

“But—”

“I’ll take care of it myself.” The words
came out a lot more harshly than I’d intended them.

Selene gave me a hurt look. “Okay. I don’t
mean to intrude.”

Good. I didn’t want the involvement of
my circle in any of this. It was too private. It was something only I could
deal with, and I had to do it alone.

***

The next morning, Caroline showed up at
my door with her overnight bag. She smiled at me and there was both hope and
uncertainty in her face. “Hi. I brought my stuff.”

I let her in. “Good. I missed you last
night.”

“Me too.” She twined her arms around my
neck and we kissed for so long I forgot what we were going to do.

I pulled back to nibble on the delicate skin
of her neck.

“I found out last night that Trent was
cheating on me,” she said.

“What a fucker.”

Caroline laughed. “It’s no worse than
what we’re doing.”

“I think it is, because I can’t imagine
wanting to cheat on you. What’s wrong with him, anyway?”

“What a nice thing to say.” She caught
my lower lip between her teeth.

I scooped her into my arms, still
kissing her, and carried her into the bedroom. She was addictive. I couldn’t
get enough, no matter how many times we came together.