Mercedes
“WHAT DID YOU DO to your stepbrother?” Molly demanded excitedly at lunch. We were in the corner of a crowded lunch room and she was looking at me like I held the answers to all her questions. I didn’t.
“What?” I shook my head and sat down at the empty round table I’d found close to the exit. “Nothing.” Well, that wasn’t technically true. I had tried to screw Rourke once or twice, but he wouldn’t let me. “Why?”
Sitting down opposite me, Molly placed her tray on the table and leaned forward on her elbows. “Word is, you were sidling up to Mason Starr during fourth period. Rourke saw you guys and flipped the hell out.” Molly’s eyes widened. “He is staring at you, Mercy. Like right now.” She pointed to something behind me – presumably Rourke. I didn’t dare look.
“Would you stop pointing?” I hissed, embarrassed.
Thankfully, she did.
“I don’t know what got into him during Biology.” That was the honest truth. One minute, we were taking down notes and the next Rourke was charging out of class like a raging bull. Why Molly thought that had something to do with me, I had no clue. Rourke didn’t care about me. He didn’t want me around. He’d told me it enough times. I was just hoping that one of these days, I would start to feel the same way about him. That day couldn’t come soon enough. “Whatever problem Rourke was having in class has nothing to do with me,” I assured Molly.
She didn’t look convinced. “I don’t know.” Chewing on her lip, she looked from me to something behind me and then back at me again. “Something is off with him.”
“Do you have a thing for Rourke or something?” Okay, I didn’t mean to be so blunt, but I wanted to know.
“What?” Molly’s cheeks turned red. “Why would you ask that?” Molly asked me.
I would give her nothing but honesty. “Because every time we talk, you bring him up in conversation.”
“No,” she choked out. “I don’t have a thing for Rourke.”
I cocked a brow, silently calling bullshit on that answer.
She turned redder.
I remained silent and waiting.
“Okay, fine,” Molly blurted. “I have a thing for someone, but it’s not Rourke.”
I frowned. “Then who?”
“Daryl,” she whispered, blushing wildly.
“Aw. Look at you all blushing and cute!” I couldn’t stop my smile from widening. “Daryl King.” I waggled my brows. “Well, I’ll be damned. You’ve got a thing for Mister Football himself.”
“It’s not funny, Merc.” Molly dropped her head in her hands. “I’m invisible to those guys. I always have been. Daryl King has never once looked in my direction since I moved back to Ocean Bay. Not one single time in two years.” She blew out a frustrated breath. “You’ve spent a half a day at this school and you are the only thing those boys are looking at.”
I folded my arms across my chest as I thought about what she’d just told me. “Are you using me?” I finally asked with a snort. It probably wasn’t something I should be laughing at, but I couldn’t help it. The thought of little Molly befriending me to get close to Rourke’s best friend had me close to convulsions. One look at her guilt-ridden expression and I knew I hit the nail on the head. “I feel so…violated,” I laughed. “Omigod, this is hilarious.”
“Wait, you’re not mad at me?”
“No, I’m not mad.” I waved my hand dismissively and bit back another laugh. “I’m using you too. I need a friend in this place. You’re giving me that.” Shrugging, I added, “Feel free to use me all you want – though, I should warn you now, I threw Daryl in our swimming pool when I first moved here, so I may not be very useful to you.”
Molly’s brown eyes widened. “You didn’t!”
I nodded. “Rourke threw me in to make a point. Daryl laughed at him doing it, so I after I dragged Rourke in, I tossed Daryl’s ass in to keep him company.”
“Holy shit,” Molly squeezed out then.
“What?”
“He’s coming over!”
“Who?”
“Omigod, they’re both coming over.” She began to fan herself.
I gaped. What. The. Actual. Hell... “Molly, are you okay?”
“I can’t,” she squeaked. “I can’t…Omigod…Hey, Rourke!”
The seat scraped beside me. Moments later, he was in my peripheral vision, sitting less than two feet from me.
Why?
“Hey, Molly,” Rourke replied with a smile. I gave him a mental brownie point for knowing Molly’s name. It meant nothing to Rourke of course, but it did to her. He looked at me then and nodded. “Six.”
“Rourke,” I acknowledged, because I had no idea of what else to say. What was he doing? Why was he here? What the fuck did he want? Was he here to humiliate me or something? He’d done enough of that the other night to last me a lifetime.
“Mercy James,” Daryl greeted me with a smirk as he spilled himself into the seat beside Molly. He turned and took a good long look at my friend and smiled. “And Blondie.” He looked harder at her. “How the hell are you, Blondie?”
“Hey, Daryl,” I snickered, unable to keep a serious face. It was hard when Molly looked like she had a bomb under her chair. “And her name is Molly.”
“Molly,” Daryl repeated, with a flirty wink. “Cute name for a cute girl.”
“Thank you,” Molly choked out, looking like she was about to faint.
Reaching over, Daryl snagged a fry from my tray and bit the end of it. “So, what’s happening, girls?”
“Nothing much,” I replied, feeling incredibly unnerved. Rourke was sitting beside me, and while he wasn’t saying anything to me, he was looking. He was staring so hard at me I was finding it a struggle not to pant. “Just…uh, eating.” Lame, Mercy. Lame as hell.
“Mercy and I were discussing our plans for the weekend,” Molly added, lying.
I frowned at her.
What the hell was she talking about?
She begged me with her eyes to go with it.
I sighed. “Yeah, we were. I was telling Molly here, I’m really looking forward to her party.”
Daryl’s brows rose in surprise. “Party?”
“Uh-huh,” Molly replied in an uncertain tone.
“When?”
“After the game on Friday night,” I offered with a nod. “It’s going to be sick.”
“The game?” Daryl asked, brows furrowed. “Our game?”
“Uh-huh.”
“We’re playing on Thursday night this week,” Daryl explained.
Well shit…
“Mercy meant Thursday,” Molly offered lamely. “Um, yeah. Big party plans for tomorrow night.”
“On a school night?” I asked, gaping at my friend.
“Yes,” she hissed, telling me with her eyes to shut the hell up and go with it.
“On a school night!” I repeated in an enthusiastic voice. “Molly here’s a little rebel.”
“Will there be beer?” Daryl asked, giving Molly his full attention.
“Three kegs and a DJ,” I couldn’t stop myself from saying. I was such a lying bitch. “Not to mention her father’s top shelf collection.”
“I guess we could swing by your place for a bit?” Daryl mused, rewarding Molly with a huge, beaming smile.
“That would be great,” she breathed.
“Who said you were invited?” I shot back.
“He is,” Molly squeaked, kicking my foot under the table. “Invited that is.” She chuckled nervously and played with her hair. “If you want to come, that is.” She looked across at us and smiled. “You’re invited, too, Rourke. And Reebo and Mason. In fact, invite the whole team if you want. Anyone you like actually. There’s plenty of room.”
“Are you going?” Rourke asked then.
I wasn’t expecting him to speak and I jumped slightly in my seat. Goddamn, his voice did something to my insides. “Me?” I asked, not daring to look at him. I couldn’t.
“No. The man in the fucking moon.” He sounded irritated. “Yes, you.”
I shrugged. “Probably.”
“Then I’ll come,” Rourke replied, tone gruff.
I swung around and glared at him.
What was he doing?
“On second thought, I won’t be able to go,” I bit out. “I have a prior engagement.” Prior engagement? What the hell was wrong with me?
Rourke cocked a brow. “What?”
“A date,” I lied. “I have a date on Thursday night.”
“No, you don’t,” Molly snorted.
Gah. Get with the program, Molls!
“Yes,” I shot back, cheeks flushed. “I do.”
“With who?” Rourke asked, smirking at me. “Rourke Junior?”
Molly laughed. “Rourke Junior?”
“Six has a dick in her drawer.”
I wanted to kill him.
I wanted to inflict harm on his sculpted body almost as much as I wanted to jump on it.
Rourke turned and smiled innocently at them both. “She gets off with it at night and screams my name while using it.”
“Bastard,” I hissed, elbowing him in the ribs. “He’s lying!”
“No,” Rourke laughed, holding me back from my attempt to pummel him. “I’m not. She sleeps in the room next to mine and keeps me up all night moaning my name.”
“Dude!” Daryl threw his head back and roared laughing.
“I’m sorry, Mercy,” Molly covered her mouth with her hands, trying to hide the sound of her obvious laughter.
Ugh. Screw this. Shoving my chair back, I climbed to my feet and made to storm off, only to think better of it. Turning around, I walked back to where Rourke was still sitting, laughing his ass off at my expense.
Cupping the side of his neck with my hand, I leaned down to his ear and whispered, “Laugh all you want, but Rourke Jr.? Yeah, he makes me scream in ways you never could.”
Rourke’s eyes narrowed and I gleamed in silent victory.
Take that fucker.
Rourke
“ROURKE JR.? YEAH, he makes me scream in ways you never could.”
I watched with my jaw hanging open as Six sauntered out of the lunch room, flipping me the bird on her way.
Was my stepsister trying to ruin me?
If she was, then it was working.
I was, without doubt, a fucking mess.
My eyes followed her until she was out of sight and even then, I stared at the door she had walked through like an idiot.
She was fucking beautiful.
I shouldn’t have made the rubber dick joke in front of the others, but her reaction? The way Six fucked me over just there? I was impressed and painfully turned on. God, I needed in her so damn bad.
“And that, little Molly, is how you sink Rourke Owens!” Daryl snickered, thoroughly enjoying the floorshow Six and I had just given him.
Turning my attention back to him, I narrowed my eyes in warning. “Don’t go there, D.”
Daryl threw his head back and laughed. “You’re so fucking screwed, Rourke.”
No, I wasn’t. “Shut the hell up,” I muttered through clenched teeth.
“Wait – do you like Mercedes?” Molly squeaked excitedly.
“No,” I replied at the same time Daryl said, “Yes!”
“Dude,” I snapped, feeling flustered. “Shut the fuck up.”
Daryl raised his hands in defense. “The sooner you accept it, the sooner you’ll be back to your old self on the field.”
He was right about that.
If I didn’t get inside Six soon, I was going to explode.
Britt walked over to us then, causing the smile on Daryl’s face to transform into a snarl. “Put your tongue away, Daryl,” she sneered, leaning against the table so I had a full view of her barely covered tits. “You look desperate.”
“No, Britt, that title will always go to you,” Daryl shot back coolly. “Run along now.”
“Screw you, Daryl.”
“No thanks, Britt,” Daryl shot back without hesitation. “I wouldn’t touch you with Mason’s dick.”
Molly sniggered and I bit back a smirk.
“Are we hanging out after practice tonight?” Britt asked then, tone huffy as she turned her attention to me.
I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think so?” She looked at me with an incredulous expression. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“It means he’s done with your ass,” Daryl chimed in happily.
“I am not talking to you, Daryl King,” Britt shot back.
“Tough shit, because I’m talking to you,” he countered. “Rourke here? He’s done messing around with your trashy ass.”
“Daryl,” I growled in warning. “Leave it alone.”
“Rip the band aid off, Rourke,” Daryl shot back heatedly. “Quick and painless, man, and be done with the bitch.”
“Rourke,” Britt snapped, clearly furious. “Can we talk outside for a minute? In private.”
“Don’t do it, man,” Daryl warned. “You don’t owe her shit.”
I knew I didn’t owe Britt anything. She’d done me wrong on more occasions than I cared to remember. But she was looking down at me with those blue eyes and I felt my resolve waver. Reluctantly, I shoved my seat back and stood up.
“You dumbass,” Daryl muttered.
Britt smiled victoriously and walked ahead of me as we left the lunch room.
I didn’t look back at Daryl. I knew he thought I was a fucking idiot for hearing her out. He didn’t get it though. Deep down, I hoped he never would. I wouldn’t wish the pain of what I’d been through with Britt on anyone.
“I can’t believe you let Daryl King speak to me like that,” Britt hissed the moment we were in the hallway outside of the lunch room.
I shrugged. “He’s my best friend, Britt.” I wasn’t making excuses when I said that. I was simply explaining. “You know what you did. So does Daryl.”
“Really?” Britt cocked a brow. “Five years of being your girlfriend says you should have defended me to him.”
I bit back the urge to growl. “Pity you didn’t remember you were my girlfriend several times during those five years.”
“Is that what this is about?” She pouted. “Payback for cheating?” She took a step towards me and placed her hand on my chest. “Because I’ve said I’m sorry, Rourke.”
“I know.”
“Rourke.” Curling her fingers around the fabric of my shirt, she tugged me closer. “I never meant to hurt you.”
“But you did.” Holding my hands up, I took a step back, putting space between us. “I loved you, B, and you screwed me over.” That was the truth and it hurt. “You made a fool out of me,” I added, tone gruff. “Out of my feelings.”
“But…” She blinked rapidly, trying to figure out what I needed to hear to get over her betrayal. There was nothing she could say, but she tried anyway. “You forgave me,” she pressed. “We’ve been together many times since.”
We had and it was only now that I was beginning to see how fucking bad that was for me – how toxic she was to me. “That’s done with,” I told her, refusing not to look away when her eyes flared in anger.
“Is this because of her?”
“Who?”
“The bitch responsible for bruising my face,” Britt snarled. “Is it serious? Do you love her?”
I folded my arms across my chest. “That’s none of your business, Britt.”
“Then why can’t we just go back to the way we were?”
“Like when you were sneaking around behind my back and I didn’t know anything? Is that what you’re talking about?”
“But…”
“I think it’s too late.”
“Don’t say that.”
“Sorry, Britt, but I’m moving on.”
“With her?”
I didn’t answer.
“I’ll ruin her.”
“You’ll stay away from her,” I warned in a deathly cold tone of voice. “I mean it. I’m not fucking around here. You mess with her and I’ll come down on you like nothing you’ve ever seen before.”