Page 17 of Hold ‘Em Tight (Solidarity Academy #4)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“ W hat about this?” Serenity asks, holding up a dress.
“That's cute,” I murmur, casting a glance at it before going back to mindlessly shifting through the racks.
“It’s God awful.” She snorts. “Babe, you’re not even paying attention."
Sighing heavily, I turn back to her. “I’m sorry. My mind is all over the—dear God, that is ugly.” My face screws up and she starts to laugh. “Put that away.”
“I wasn’t going to buy it.” She giggles, before coming over to me.
“Good. I’d have to burn it before we got home.”
I do my best to keep my mind in the moment. Just me, my best friend, and shopping. Normal. Safe. Fun.
Until we make our way to the baby section.
“Ugh,” Serenity groans. “They always make the cutest baby girl things,” she sighs dreamily. “I hope I have a girl some day. I’d dress her up like a doll.” She laughs. “Well, not really, but still. Look at all this.”
I stand there frozen as I look at a onesie. “Mommy’s little Princess.”
Tears sting the back of my eyes as I rip my gaze away. Turning around, I swallow down my pain and walk away.
“Wait up!” Serenity calls after me. “Sorry about that. Got distracted."
“It’s okay.” I don’t look at her, afraid she’s going to see it in my eyes that I’m not okay right now.
“Come on. Shopping clearly isn’t something you want to be doing. Let’s go grab something to eat.”
Eating isn’t something I think I have the stomach for either, but I honestly can’t remember the last time I ate. And I have a feeling, if I don’t get food soon, it’s either going to draw attention to something being wrong, or I’m going to pass out.
None of those sound like options I want, so I nod my head and follow her to the food court.
I’m still tired, drained from everything that’s happened in the past forty-eight hours. Maybe coming back here wasn’t a good idea. All I want to do is go back to Florida and relive those few weeks of fun we managed to have. I want more of that.
Not all this bullshit that reality is hitting us with.
“I can’t believe he had the balls to bring that bitch to the house,” Serenity grumbles as she shoves a fry into her mouth. “Did he think we would welcome them with open arms? Fuck, no. We already had Missi’s shit packed, just waiting for her to come get it. That's how much we all wanted her gone.”
“Really?” I laugh, trying not to think about the look in Lennox’s eyes when he saw us. The whole thing was off. Like what he was saying didn’t match up with his demeanor.
I don’t believe what he says, and I sure as fuck don’t trust the words that come out of her mouth.
Yet, he’s with her. He chose her. And fuck that hurts so damn much.
“Oh yeah.” She nods her head. “The other girls on the team can’t stand her.”
“So there won’t be any hard feelings that their queen bee is gone?" I ask, taking a spoonful of my ice cream.
So, food really isn’t something I want right now, but desserts, on the other hand, always make things better. For the most part.
“Nah. Trust me, they are all happy to see her go.”
“The guys have been working on a way to replace her,” I mention.
“I saw the email for tryouts go out.” Serenity’s eyes light up. “I’m so excited. I hope we get some good candidates. This could really boost our chances of winning Nationals this year.”
Talking about cheer gives me a little lift to my mood. “Colton wants someone good. Better than her.” I roll my eyes.
“Not going to be hard.” Serenity laughs. “Not saying she didn’t have any talent, but she was… average? There's a lot of girls out there with her level of talent, so it won't be hard to replace her.”
“Colton opened it up to people who don’t attend the school too. He got approval for a cheerleading scholarship, if whoever we pick doesn’t attend the school.”
“I thought you had the scholarship.”
I shake my head. “After talking it through with the guys, I decided to take my dad’s offer of paying my tuition.
As much as I’m still unsure about what kind of relationship I want with him, if he wants to help with my education, I’m going to let him.
Normally, I don’t like using other people's money, but seeing how my mother broke her back providing for me her whole life, I’ll let him give it back. ”
“Perks of having a rich daddy.” She winks. “Well, I mean, you already have a few of those.”
“Stop it.” My eyes go wide and a real, true laugh—the first one in days—bursts out of me. “Gross.”
“What? You don’t do the daddy kink with the guys?” She wiggles her brows, making me laugh harder. “Mateo has total daddy vibes.” She's not wrong there. “Alex loves it. Gets his cock real–”
Before she can finish that sentence, I lean across the table and place my hand over her mouth to shut her up.
“I do not want to hear anything about my best friend's dick. Okay?"
“Fine,” she mumbles against my palm, and I move my hand. “Not like you haven’t seen it before.”
“Don’t remind me.” I groan. “Disadvantages of rooming with a guy.”
“More like advantages.” She laughs.
“You think me being roommates with your boyfriend was an advantage?” I raise a brow, trying not to smile. “Do you think I should have tried harder for something more?”
Her smile drops. “No,” she mutters. “Okay, conversation over. He’s mine.”
“Down, kitty cat.” I laugh. “Put the claws away. I don’t want your man. I have enough as it is.”
“I pity you sometimes,” she says. “Sure, all those dicks must be nice, but men are like toddlers sometimes.”
“You're not wrong there.”
We laugh then go back to talking about cheer auditions.
That is something I am excited about. And it's an excuse to lose myself for a little while. Something to take my mind off of everything.
Is it healthy? Nope. Do I care? Again, nope.
When we get back to the cheer house, I’m glad to see that Lennox and Missi are gone.
“Where are the guys?” I ask, after coming down the stairs to the living room. All their bags are in their room, but they’re nowhere to be found.
“They went out,” Ursula answers, sounding bored from where she’s sitting on the couch.
“Out?” My brows furrow. Grabbing my phone, I groan when I see three missed calls and a few messages from the group chat, letting me know the guys went out for drinks.
“Yeah. Out.” She glares at me. “Like outside.”
“I know what that means.” I roll my eyes. “I meant, where?”
“How the hell would I know? Careful, Rylee, if you can’t keep track of your men, someone else might.” The corner of her lips lift, and my hand itches to slap it off her stupid face.
I could really use a drink right now myself.
“After you all left, Missi grabbed her things and left too. Sobbing and complaining about her ankle the whole time,” Felicia adds. “But not before talking about her baby shower.” She rolls her eyes.
“Why the hell was she talking about her baby shower?” Serenity asks. “We all hate her.”
“I don’t.” Ursula huffs.
“No one cares about what you think,” Serenity mutters, and I can’t help but laugh.
“What are you laughing about?” Ursula sneers. “Shouldn’t you be sad or something? I mean, my girl is marrying your ex.” She pouts. “And having his baby. Poor Rylee.”
“Keep talking, sea witch.” A burst of anger hits me, and my normally controlled responses with this girl are gone. I hate letting her see how she gets to me, but I also have no fucks to give right now.
“Or what?”
“Just because I haven’t kicked your ass in the past, doesn't mean I can’t.”
“She’s making it some big pool party bash here, and invited us all. Said it was a big deal, and we all had to be there,” Felicia adds, trying to defuse the situation.
“You're really going?” Serenity asks.
“Ah, no.” Felicia laughs. “What about you?”
“I’d rather drown,” I deadpan.
“I can arrange that. I was almost successful last time.” Ursula grins.
“How about you fuck off before I make your nose the same color of green and blue as your eyes,” Serenity threatens, butUrsula just rolls her eyes.
Felicia laughs. “Trust me, none of us want to go.”
“Of course, I’m going,” Ursula scoffs. “It’s going to be amazing.”
“Are you going to be swimming?” I ask her, and she looks at me oddly.
“Yeah,” she says slowly. “It's a pool party."
“You know what, maybe I should go.” I grin. “How long can you hold your breath under water?”
Ursula's eyes widen as she scrambles to her feet. “You're crazy, you know that?”
“What's wrong, Urs?” I call out as she takes off in a huff. “I thought you loved being besties with the crazies.”
“I hate it here!” she calls out, and we all burst into laughter.
“It’s not so bad.” I grin at my best friend. And now that Missi is gone, I know living here is going to be a lot better than it used to be. At least, there’s one plus side.