Page 92 of Jerk

“Oh, it’s deep,” Ember says. “They’ve been going at it since I got here. Remember the photos? The gallery?” My jaw works. She’s starting to annoy me, but if I let the wrong word slip, Mac will never let me live it down. “Hannah was a mess after I took her to his place. Don’t tell her I told you, but she cried the entire way home.”

A burn fills my chest, my eyes moving to Ember’s before her weird green eyes hit mine. She searches my face like she’s trying to read me, but that won’t work. “Am I meant to care?”

“Don’t you?” Why is she coming at me this hard? “You’re not even hosting your own party. You’re sitting here like a pathetic?—”

“Mac,” I cut her off, bringing the bottle to my lips again. “I need a moment with your girlfriend.” I try to remind her of her place, choosing my words carefully.

But I can feel Mac’s glare. “Why the fuck would you want to talk tomygirl, Rowen?”

“You have nothing to worry about, you have my word. She’s yours and yours only. I don’t cross that line.”

“Crossed that line with Coach,” he says.

My fingers tighten around the bottle. “That’s different. I’d never go there. I just… need a fucking word.”

“Tough.” He laughs. “No way are you having a private conv?—”

“Mac, just give us a minute,” Ember cuts in. “Please.” Silence comes between them before Ember whispers something in his ear.

The muscles in his neck relax before he turns his attention back to me. “I’ll be watching. If anything happens, I’m slamming a fist through that mug, Rowen.”

“Don’t worry,” Ember says. “I’mnot the one he’s in love with.”

“You’re full of shit, Ember. That’s not true.” It’s not until I stand do I realize how much gin is in my system, the room tilting when I move towards the stairs. Ember moves with me, and when I glance back, Mac glares at us over the railing.

“Then why’s that bottle half gone?” She takes the joint from my hand. “It hasn’t been that long since I saw you crack it.”

“You’re new here, but drinking a half bottle of gin at a party isn’t unheard of in The Hill.”

“Sure, but you’re telling me if you weren’t bothered about Hannah, you wouldn’t be whipping that girl with your belt?”Ember uses the joint to point at a redhead with giant tits in the corner of the room, her arms strapped to an X-cross. “Or havethatgirl bent over a bench?” She turns my attention to a girl from the volleyball team in nothing but a red bikini. She’s spread-eagled with a vibrator between her legs. Pretty, but it does nothing for me.

Walking through the double doors to Mac’s yard, the chill of the air hardly soothes whatever the fuck is happening in my gut. “Hannah and I are not good.” Reaching into my pocket, I pull out my pack of cigs, tapping one out.

Ember leans against the wall next to me, finishing the rest of my joint. It’s quieter out here, my spinning thoughts slowing as I stare up at the moon. It shines on the large pool, imported tropical trees surrounding it.

“You know,” she says, choking back the smoke in her lungs. “You sound exactly like I did last semester.”

“Listen, Ember.” I put my cigarette to the end of her joint, lighting it. “Hannah and I are not you and Mac. We’ll never be.”

“No, but that doesn’t mean it has to be nothing. And you listen,Ryung, I never saw your miserable ass relax until you and Hannah did the dirty dance.”

“Ember…”

“She hasn’t called, Rye.” Ember grabs the bottle from my hand. After taking a long drink, her eyes drop to her old Oxfords. “Since she left. She hasn’t called, or texted. Nothing. It’s been days.”

“She left?” A thousand-pound weight lands on my chest. Taking a puff, I try to shake it off. “Good.”

“You don’t mean that,” she says. “I’mworried, and you’ve known her longer.”

“You’re worried because she’s manipulated you into being her friend.” With another puff, I look out at the shimmering pool. “She’ll land on her feet. She always does.”

“You do still care. You’re just angry.”

“Why doyoucare?” The words bubble out. “She did nothing but humiliate you last year. She’s only after one thing and that’s looking out for herself.”

“She’s the only one here who apologized for everything. We’re friends. Even I know that’s rare in The Hill. What’s rarer? Whatever the fuck you two have.”

“Ember, the fuck are you on?”