Page 41 of Undeniably Corrupt

He laughed and nudged me with his shoulder as he took a sip of his beer. It was hot as hell out here, and with my parents in Boston that weekend, we’d taken over our private part of our lake.

“You still with that girl in Boston?”

I made a noncommittal noise as I sipped my own beer. The truth was, there was no girl in Boston. The girl was Liora, and I’d had a thing for her for the last couple of months. I’d simply told him there was someone in Boston so he’d stop asking why I wasn’t fooling around with anyone. I didn’t want anyone but her. Other girls held no appeal.

I wanted to tell him. I wanted him to know that my girl was his sister and that he didn’t have to kill me because it wasn’t just a hookup or a summer thing. I really, truly, genuinely liked her. A fucking lot. More than I’d ever liked any other girl. I realized it was complicated. But I’d be good to her.

Even if I wasn’t always known for being so with girls in the past.

But Liora begged me not to tell him. In fact, she begged to keep us a secret from everyone. Her parents especially. I didn’t fullyunderstand it, but she was more adamant about keeping the secret than I was about telling it, so I told her I would.

“You don’t know how lucky you are, man.”

I turned away from watching Liora as she sipped on a lemonade wearing her cute hot-pink bikini top that matched her nails and toes and her cut-off jean shorts that showed off her long legs, back to my friend. “How’s that?”

He shrugged. “Just that you get to go to Boston. You get straight A’s without even trying. I’ll be here for life.”

My brows scrunched at the almost despondent way he said that. “But you’ll work for your dad, right? You’ll get to take over his company one day.”

He chugged down the last of his beer and chucked his empty bottle toward the trash, just missing it, but it was the heft of his throw and the slightly bitter line of his mouth that had me twisting to him. He was lucky it didn’t break, or I’d be fucking pissed.

“What? What am I missing?”

He plastered on a smile as he went to the cooler for another beer. “Nothing. Yeah. I’ll work for my dad. It’ll be awesome. Just saying it must be nice to have Boston. College. Life outside of this small town.”

“You could come with me,” I offered in that idealistic way teenagers do when they don’t think things through and the world feels limitless. “If not MIT, then somewhere else. Boston is full of colleges.” MIT was my endgame, and I was going to make damn sure I got in. Outside of Cass, who had been my best friend since we were in diapers, and now Liora, there was nothing holding me here. My best friends, who were my other family, were in Boston, and other than Mason, who would likely go to Alabama for school since that was where his father went for football, everyone else would likely stay local.

But the thought of leaving Cass, of leaving Liora, didn’t sit well with me.

He didn’t say anything, and I felt like shit for offering something I knew would likely never happen. “Whatever. I’ll be back plenty.My parents are here, and you’re my best friend. My brother. That shit is for life.”

He glanced at me over the end of the brown bottle he was tipping up to his lips.

“For sure.” He gave me a fist pound. “I’m just saying, sometimes I wish it could be different. That I could have your parents instead of mine and get out of this town. The same for Liora.”

I looked back at her and found she was heading our way. A stupid smile hit my lips before I could get it checked. “Hey,” I said. She was with that Megan girl who immediately latched onto Cass. They started talking—flirting—and all mention of swapping families and life after graduation came to a halt as he engaged with the blonde.

Good thing too, because I had my own.

“Hi,” she said in an almost shy whisper.

I angled my body and stood close, reaching for her in a way where I could latch onto her pinky with mine. I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to drape my arm around her shoulders and hold her against me. But I settled for her pinky and the fluttering high I got with it.

“Having fun?” she asked.

“I am now.”

“Do I get a beer?”

I grinned. “Nope. You’re fourteen.”

“So?” she cried indignantly. “You’re only sixteen.”

I shrugged and looked around, and when I was positive Cass wasn’t paying us any attention, I leaned into her ear. “I want you sober when I kiss you later, Angel.”

“Is that your plan?” she retorted, trying for sass, but the glaze to her eyes told me it was what she wanted too.

“If you’ll let me. Can you say you’re sleeping at a friend’s?”