Parker

Parker was convinced his ass was frozen to the bleachers. Would it kill Stanton to spring for seat cushions for the aluminum bleachers? The tuition should certainly cover it. Parker rubbed his hands together before jamming them back in his pockets. The game was almost over. Stanton was killing Thornton Park, with Jared leading the slaughter. Every time he scored he came over and blew Beth a kiss. It made Parker’s pork tacos turn sour in his stomach. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Caroline had just slinked her way up the stairs to join them in the bleachers.

Caroline pushed her way between Parker and Beth and sat down. Parker grumbled to himself as he slid over to a new freezing portion of bleachers to make room.

“How’s hot stuff doing?” Caroline asked nodding to the field.

“He scored six times!” Beth replied, beaming.

Caroline raised her eyebrows. “Whoa! Did you pledge to match his scores in the bedroom or something?”

Beth blushed and giggled.

Parker stood up. There was no way he was sitting through another Jared-is-a-jock-god swoon fest.

“Where are you going?” Beth called.

“To get some air,” he grumbled.

“Uh, we’re outside, genius,” Caroline called. She turned to Beth. “Seriously, how is he the smartest person in our class?”

Parker swore under his breath, but kept going. He grabbed himself a coffee at the concession stand, but then he felt guilty for not getting one for Beth, which meant he had to get one for Caroline, too. He went back and got two more coffees, balancing the three cups precariously as he weaved his way back to his seat. This time he sat on Beth’s opposite side before handing out the coffees.

“Thanks,” Beth said, giving him a little shoulder nudge in appreciation.

Caroline took her cup without thanks and dumped in a heavy pour from the flask she always carried. She offered it to Beth, who added a timid shot to her cup and then offered the flask to Parker. He shook his head. It’s not that he didn’t drink, but as a rule, he didn’t drink things from unmarked containers—especially things from unmarked containers belonging to Caroline Voss.

Parker wasn’t Caroline’s biggest fan. Ever since she’d come into Beth’s life a few years ago she’d been nothing but trouble. She was always taking Beth to crazy parties and introducing her to drugs, alcohol and boys, or sometimes all three at once.

Sophomore year, Caroline snuck Beth into a shady club in Boston and then left her to go home with some random guy. Caroline had no regard for Beth or the fact that she was wasted. By the time Beth found a phone and called Parker she was hysterical. To make matters worse, she had no idea where she was. Parker had spent two hours checking every club in Boston until he found her sobbing in a parking lot. It was the one and only time he and Beth had ever truly fought. He’d been out of his mind with worry. Any number of terrible things could have happened to Beth while she’d been drunk and alone, and he told her so in a not so polite manner.

After Parker took Beth home from the club and sobered her up he’d laid into her about Caroline being a reoccurring theme in Beth’s poor choices. Beth hadn’t spoken to Parker for a week after that. And that’s pretty much what solidified Parker’s method for dealing with disagreements when it came to Beth—complete and utter avoidance.

But look where that had gotten him. Sitting next to the girl he loved, cheering for her douche bag boyfriend. Way to go, Park!

Maybe he should’ve taken a hit from Caroline’s flask. It would’ve helped to dull the pain in his chest and made the last few minutes of the game more bearable. Currently, Jared was blatantly flirting with a group of freshman cheerleaders on the sideline. How could the guy be that stupid? Did he forget his girlfriend was in the stands?

But it seemed Jared could do no wrong in Beth’s eyes. She always gave him a free pass. But that sure as hell didn’t mean Parker had to. “Too bad Stanton doesn’t hand out scholarships for flirting. Jared would be golden.”

Beth ignored the dig.

Parker kept going. “The school should really hand out vaccines to inoculate the student population against his pickup lines.”

Beth laughed. “The student body is safe because I’m Jared’s antivirus.”

Parker nearly puked in his coffee cup. Beth said nauseating things like that about Jared all the time. It made Parker’s skin crawl. And not just because he was insanely jealous. But because Parker was sure that Beth deserved better.

Despite the fact that Jared flirted with everything that moved, Parker had a sneaking suspicion something was going on with him and Caroline. A few weeks ago, Parker had seen Caroline drop Jared off at his house late at night. Parker had casually mentioned it to Beth the next day but she said they were probably just at Caroline’s working on their chemistry assignment together since they were lab partners. Yeah, they were working on their chemistry all right.

Parker didn’t buy it for a second. But since Beth didn’t seem concerned, Parker had no choice but to let it go. Until last week, when it happened again. Parker was taking the trash out around midnight when he saw Jared get out of Caroline’s car. Jared walked around her sporty red BMW and bent down to peer in her window. Their heads were awfully close for a few minutes before Caroline finally drove away. And when she did, Parker was left standing on the sidewalk with Jared glaring at him. For an awkward moment, they’d both just stared at each other, silent warning burning in their eyes. Then Jared had turned and gone inside, and they hadn’t spoke since.

Parker didn’t know what to do. Every time he tried to talk to Beth about Jared she brushed it off. He was afraid if he pushed the issue she would figure out it was because Parker had feelings for her, and that was not how he wanted it to come out. Not after he’d hid it from her for so long.