Page 92 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 11

Saturday

“I don’t have a secret crush,” I said.

Liam laughed. “You really do though. Come on. Just say it.” He leaned forward and I could smell the pot on his breath. “I’m only helping,” he whispered.

Only helping?! “I don’t have a secret crush. I have...a very real one.” I pointed over at Jacob. “And if you’ll excuse me, I need another drink.” I hurried away from the bonfire and over to the keg. Freaking Truth or Dare. Whose idea had it been to play this?

I grabbed a new cup and filled it to the brim. I had narrowed my list down to six. Kind of. It could still easily be Jacob. Or Axel. Or Mr. Halifax. Or a drifter. God.

I took a huge sip of my drink.

“You look upset, baby doll.”

I jumped, accidentally spilling some of the beer over the rim of my cup. Luckily it all fell on the ground. I sighed and turned to see RJ standing next to me with a joint in his mouth.

What the hell was he doing? “Not you too,” I said. I pulled it out and threw it on the ground.

“You probably should have had a hit and then maybe you’d calm down.”

Calm down? CALM DOWN?! “RJ, I’m going to kill you.”

“What did I do?”

“It’s what you’re not doing. You promised to fix the hole in the floor by the end of the week. I’m going to be grounded again.”

“And I told you I had it covered.”

“By covering it with a rug,” I mumbled under my breath.

“Baby doll. Come on. Relax. It’s Saturday night and we just won our first game. I didn’t want to miss the party.”

I sighed. That was actually fair. It was his first win at his new school. This was a big deal for him. “Yeah. I get it.”

He smiled. “How did the blackmail thing turn out? Did you figure out who the mascot was?”

“I...did.”

“So who was it?”

My stomach churned. “I’d rather not say.”

RJ whistled as he pulled another joint out of his pocket. He pulled out a lighter next.

“Where did you even get that?”

He shrugged. “A friend of a friend.”

“Well, you’re hanging out with the wrong people.”

He laughed. “I mostly hang out with you. Now back to the blackmail thing. Does that mean I can remove the cameras in the men’s locker room before someone sees them? Because someone might find out you and Soph put V21s on the kissing booth to blow it up...”

“I had no idea about the V21s. And it wasn’t like we planned to blow it up. It was an accident.”

“Either way. If the principal figures it out, he might search the rest of the school for hidden cameras. So...can I take them down?”

“Yes. Wait. I mean no.”

“Yes or no?”

“I still need access to them.” Just until I figured out 100% for sure who my kiss thief was.

I might be able to capture the person texting at just the right moment.

Or...something. Anything. I knew I was grasping at straws, but I was desperate.

I needed my kiss thief to be Jacob. I could catch him.

I knew I could. I just needed more time.

“So does that mean you actually didn’t find out who the mascot was?”

I’d already told him that I had. But he was high. And if he was asking again, I could change my answer. “It was inconclusive. Just...give me another week, okay?” My phone buzzed and I pulled it out.

My kiss thief had finally texted me back. “I think it’s very clear that you have no idea who I am. Or else you wouldn’t be kissing so many guys on the football team today. Or flirting with underclassmen. Or wearing another guy’s jacket when you know it should be mine.”

My heart started hammering in my chest. Did my kiss thief think I was flirting with RJ right now? Ew. I looked over at Jacob. He and Axel were laughing about something. Both of them knew I’d never flirt with RJ. And the text said another guy’s jacket. As in...not Jacob’s. Screw me.

“You okay?” RJ asked. “You just got really pale.”

No, I wasn’t even close to being okay. My kiss thief had basically just told me he wasn’t Jacob.

I pressed my lips together. But it could just be Jacob lying.

But why the heck would Jacob be lying to me when he’d been so honest at the diner the other day?

God, I just wanted to throw my phone into one of the bonfires.

“Scar,” RJ said and lightly touched my arm. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.” I wasn’t. I downed the rest of my cup.

My phone buzzed again. “And it doesn’t matter whose jacket you wear. We both know I’m the one you’re dreaming about every night.”

I swallowed hard and my throat made a weird squeaky noise. I looked back over at Axel and Jacob laughing.

I didn’t see either of their phones out.

Was Mr. Halifax seriously texting me right now? I was going to throw up. “It’s late,” I said. “I should probably get home so I don’t miss curfew.”

“It’s barely past midnight. Isn’t your curfew one?”

I ignored him and started walking back over to the bonfire to let my friends know I was leaving.

But I froze when I saw the bottle slowly come to a stop, landing on Axel.

RJ started to ask me a question, but I was just staring in horror at Axel.

It felt like spin the bottle from sixth grade all over again. And I knew I was here with Jacob. And that I’d kissed like a freaking million people today already. But...still. Not again.

“Truth or dare?” the girl asked who spun the bottle.

“Dare,” Axel said.

“I dare you to make out with me.”

“Desperate much?” RJ said under his breath.

Axel turned toward me.

I wanted the hurt to not be showing on my face.

But I knew it was there. I felt like a kid seeing the boy of my dreams give his first kiss to someone else all over again.

The ache in my chest was stronger than ever.

It was like I was watching the beginning of our end on repeat.

And I couldn’t bear to do this again. Not when the first time had broken a piece of me that still hadn’t healed.

I knew I’d just been thinking about how Axel was cruel.

But he wouldn’t do this to me again, would he?

Now that I’d told him I’d saved my first kiss for him?

I knew he remembered that conversation. Don’t do this to me again, Axel.

It would be like taking the worst moment of my life and throwing it in my face.

And as I stared at the scene unfolding, it felt like I was watching my past in slow motion.

In sixth grade, I’d been quiet during spin the bottle.

I’d told him it was fine if he kissed Ava Williams. When it had been anything but.

I’d had a chance to stop him, and I hadn’t taken it.

If I didn’t want Axel to do the dare, I needed to say something this time.

I opened my mouth but no words came out.

Axel cleared his throat and turned back to the girl. “Lame. Let’s do something more fun.”

I stared at the side of his face. Maybe I was wrong before. Maybe he wasn’t as cruel as I’d painted him to be.

Axel turned to Jacob. “Dare me something better, Jacob.”

Jacob laughed. “I dare you to throw someone in my grandparents’ pool.”

“Much better.” Axel stepped over the log and walked toward me.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

He didn’t respond. He just lifted me over his shoulder.

I screamed and put my hands down for purchase. My palms collided with his butt. And I was very aware that this was the third time I’d had my hands on Axel’s butt recently.

“Put me down!” I screamed.

He chuckled. “Gladly. In the pool.”

“Axel!” I slapped his butt.

He didn’t respond.

So I spanked him again.

“I didn’t know how much you loved your hands on my ass,” he said.

“You’re one to talk!” Because his hand was on the back of my jean shorts right now. “Put me down!”

“Then stop acting like someone I don’t know.”

Me? ME?! I slapped his butt again.

He chuckled.

“Axel Stevens, put me down this instant.”

“No.”

“If Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell catch us I’ll never be able to leave the house again. My dad will ground me for eternity.”

“They’re out of town. Or else Jacob wouldn’t have told me to throw you in the pool.”

“He didn’t tell you to throw me !”

“Same difference.”

I heard laughter behind us. I lifted my head to see everyone from Truth or Dare following us through the woods.

“Axel, I’m serious. I can’t come home soaking wet. My dad would freak.”

“Your dad really would freak if you came home soaking wet.” Axel’s hand shifted down onto the back of my thigh.

I tried to ignore the tingly sensation and the way his touch made my heart race. “So put me down!”

He didn’t respond.

The ground beneath me shifted from fallen leaves to plush grass and I knew I was running out of time. “Axel.”

No response.

I screamed and slapped his butt again.

He chuckled.

And then I heard the squeak of a fence gate opening.

No.

And the ground turned to cement.

“Axel! Please!”

He slowly lowered me. Right on the edge of the pool.

“Axel, you can’t throw me in the pool. I...I...I have my phone on me.”

He reached into Jacob’s varsity jacket and pulled it out. “And now you don’t.”

I opened my mouth, trying to come up with another reason.

“Maybe next time you’ll think twice about making out with guys on my team, Scarlett. Just so we’re clear. I’ve added an amendment to our deal. Don’t flirt with anyone on my team. Or I’ll hook up with the whole cheerleading squad.”

I didn’t even get a chance to respond, because he put his fingers in the center of my chest. And then he pushed me.

I fell backwards, splashing into the pool. The most ungraceful backwards bellyflop.

The water was completely freezing. And my clothes weighed me down more than I was used to. My sneakers finally found the bottom of the pool and I pushed off. My head broke the surface of the water and I gasped for air.

“Cannon ball!” someone yelled and splashed me.

I wiped the water out of my eyes to see everyone stripping down to their underwear and jumping into the pool.

Everyone else looked sexy and spontaneous. And I looked like a fully-clothed drowned troll.

I glared at Axel.

He smiled back. And then he slowly peeled his shirt off.