Page 55 of Filthy Little Pretties

He looks back at his cereal, jaw tensed, but she doesn’t notice.

“Thank you. Okay. So friends again, no overthinking things. Just back to us.”

Her shoulders relax as she says it, and I smile tightly. This feels like foreshadowing, the moment that I will look back on and be able to say,“That’s when the destruction was set in motion.”

She comes around the counter and kisses Liam on the cheek, then mine. “I’m going to change, and then can we get out of here and stop for burgers?”

“Absolutely.”

The moment she’s out of sight, Liam looks at me. “Can we just be good and figure this shit out later?”

I nod. “Yeah. Brothers, always. Nothing changes.”

Liam agrees, tapping the counter as a smile grows on his face. “Watch this,” he says quietly to me, before yelling up toward the stairs, “Hey, Van.”

Her “Yes?” is faint but heard before Liam adds, “Since we’re just friends again, you wanna make out?”

I laugh loudly as she screams his name with venom, and I push his shoulder. He’s such an asshole, but it’s the exact kind of icebreaker that’s needed.

“This might be more fun than we’re giving it credit,” he laughs.

We’re both grinning as we continue eating our breakfast and let last night become a distant memory. At least that’s the hope. Except one of us is comparing every bite to the taste of Donovan, and it’s not Liam.

Donovan

THE PHONE INSIDE MY BAGhasn’t stopped vibrating all through my art studies class, and it’s made the smile grow on my face until it’s impossible to hide anymore. I know it’s them—God, they’re impossible. But what do I expect? It’s Grey and Liam—overbearing insistence is par for the course.

My fingers smudge the edges around the oranges I’ve drawn, tilting my head to look at the bowl of still art, appropriately called oranges in a bowl. The earthy, kind-eyed teacher who’s always in some kind of corduroy pant walks behind me, watching as I deepen the contrast in my sketch by rubbing my finger against the pencil.

“Really nice use of shadow, Donovan. You have a great eye for detail.”

I look up from my easel and smile. “Thank you.”

He raises an eyebrow before speaking. “But I don’t know how you concentrate with all the incessant cell phone interruptions. Perhaps next class you turn the problematic thing off?”

Shit. My nose wrinkles as I stare at my paper. Busted.

I’m going to kill them. Grey and Liam manage to get me in trouble even when they aren’t with me. But in the last few weeks I’ve been more forgiving, just wanting us to fall back into our rhythm. For the most part, we’ve done just that, but sometimes, they look at me for too long or maybe it’s me looking at them.

Glancing up again, I wince as I mouth, “Sorry,” smiling only when he looks amused and nods.

He passes behind me, taking in other students’ work, and I quickly steal a glance over my shoulder. I make sure I’m being ignored, before dipping my shoulder sideways to reach into my bag. I fumble around as my fingers search for my cell, before grabbing and turning it off. There. Ignored for the rest of class.

Scooting a bit to resituate on my stool, I place a foot on the floor and look at the bowl in the middle of the circle of students when the door flies open, catching everyone’s eyes, including mine. My mouth drops open in surprise as Liam and Grey breeze through the doorway like arrogant gods, straight toward me, much to the teacher’s dismay.

“Excuse me, Mr. Brooks…Mr. McCallister. I’m teaching. Leave.”

Liam shrugs, uncaring, spinning from the teacher to face me and smiling deviously with a damn toothpick between his teeth. He bends to grab my bag and throws it over his shoulder. “Hey, Van.”

What the hell is going on?I don’t answer, opting for a grin because when they’re up to no good, it’s hard to say anything to stop it.Been there, done them.

Grey looks over his shoulder at the teacher. “Don’t worry, we’re leaving. We apologize for the rude interruption.” Hitching his thumb at me, he adds, “But I left something in here I need.”

Grey’s hand finds mine, tugging me up with a blush on my face, as a laugh bursts past my lips. “Oh, and I’m your ‘stuff’ that you left? Classy.”

Grey throws me a wink, and I would keep giggling, but the very unamused teacher looks sternly at the boys and then to me, effectively shutting me up.

“Miss Kennedy, I will write you up for leaving early and without permission.”