Chapter Eight

On Monday at school I waited for Rylee but she never showed up and her number on my phone wasn’t working anymore. I was standing at my locker when I saw her emerge from the bathrooms but she saw me and walked the other way.

The day dragged on and Rev kept giving me these odd looks. I was quiet and thinking about everything I remembered and everything that had happened between me and Rylee. I saw her walk into the cafeteria but she didn’t look at me although she didn’t look like herself either.

We all looked up at the same time as JD jumped up from his seat and Carson pushed him backwards. Rylee was looking at him with fear in her eyes and his face was red with rage as he looked at her and then at Rev.

“Shit,” I whispered.

“You slept with him!” JD yelled at Rylee and I saw her flinch and stood up.

“Did you?” Carson asked her loudly.

“No,” she said loudly and looked him in the eye.

“Then how do you explain this?” he asked her. He shoved his phone in her face and her eyes widened as she looked at the picture.

“Just because I was at his house doesn’t mean anything happened,” she said as she looked at him.

“Why were you at his house?” he asked her as he sat down again and looked at her.

“My drink got spiked at Josh’s party and I went home with Christina and Rev took me home the following morning,” she said. They weren’t shouting anymore but I could still hear every word.

“Stay the fuck away from Rev, he’s a weirdo,” JD hissed at her and released her arm. I had only noticed now that he was gripping it and she rubbed the spot where he had held on to her.

She stood up from the table and walked out of the cafeteria but I caught her eyes for a second and I knew that if I followed her out now then all hell would break loose. I signaled to Jax with my eyes and he nudged Preston as we all stood up and walked out of the cafeteria.

I felt JD looking at us as we walked out and I headed to the girls bathroom. We stood outside the bathroom leaning against the wall when the door swung open and Rylee came out. She shook her head when she saw me.

“Don’t talk to me,” she said as she walked past me.

“We need to talk,” I said to her.

“We can’t, JD already suspects the worst,” she said and walked past me.

“Worse than the truth?” I said loudly and she stopped walking for a second before continuing.

“Okay seriously Lucas, what the fuck is going on with you two?” Jax asked me.

“Not here,” I said to him as we walked outside towards the quad.

“Spill,” Jax said as we sat down at an outside table.

“Friday night I almost slept with Rylee when Tessa barged into my room and freaked out, threatening to out Rylee to JD,” I said.

“But you didn’t?” Preston asked.

“No, not Friday night,” I said.

“Oh geez man when did you sleep with her?” Jax asked.

“The first time or the second time?” I asked and Rev looked at me.

“You’ve slept with her more than once!” Jax said loudly.

“Keep it down moron,” I said to him, “the first time was a year ago and the second time was Saturday morning.”

“So that’s why she was crying,” Preston said almost to himself and Rev shook his head.

“So what’s the problem?” Jax asked me.

“I like her and she hates me,” I said.

“Well obviously you two have something going sleeping with each other all the time,” Jax said.

“It was twice and I didn’t remember the first time, I sort of said something to her afterwards and now she hates my guts and I don’t blame her,” I said.

“So fix it,” Preston said.

“Or just let her get on with her life, she’s Lower District and we’re Upper District, she’s JD’s girl for crying out loud,” Jax said.

“I can’t really do much more, I told her we need to talk, the ball’s in her court now,” I said as the bell rang and we walked back inside the school.

Rylee didn’t come to school for the rest of the week and JD kept giving us dirty looks. Something told me that Rylee wasn’t fine but I didn’t know where she lived, although it wouldn’t be hard to find out and I didn’t have her number.

I cornered her friend Sharon one afternoon after school as Carson and JD watched me. I had no other choice. Preston blocked their view from one side and Jax from the other side as I stood in front of her and Rev’s back touched mine as he watched our rear.

“I need Rylee’s number,” I said to her.

“Why?” she asked me.

“I just need to talk to her, why isn’t she in school?” I asked her.

“She’d kill me if I told you, but I’ll give you her number,” she said and I handed my phone to her. She punched in Rylee’s number and handed my phone back to me.

“Thanks,” I said to her.

“Can I go now?” she asked me.

“No, why isn’t she in school?” I asked her.

“Please, I really can’t tell you,” she said in a pleading voice.

“Is she okay at least?” I asked her.

“She will be,” she said and pushed past me and ran to her car.

We walked to our cars, I threw my keys to Jax, and he smiled as he got into the driver’s side. We pulled away from the parking lot and I dialed Rylee’s number.

“Hello,” she answered.

“Rylee, don’t put the phone down,” I said to her.

“Lucas?” she asked me.

“We really need to talk,” I said to her.

“No we don’t, forget what happened, forget what I said and just carry on with your life,” she said to me.

“I wish it was that easy,” I said to her.

“Please don’t complicate this,” she said to me with a sigh.

“Rylee, when’s your birthday?” I asked her.

“What? Why?” she asked me.

“Just answer me,” I said.

“In a few days,” she said.

“Shit,” I said.

“Why are you asking me this?” she asked again.

“Because JD isn’t your bonded half,” I said to her.

“He has to be. How can you be so sure?” she asked me.

“Just trust me. Are you okay though?” I asked her.

“I’ll be fine,” she said and I knew she was lying but she put the phone down and when I tried calling her back her phone went straight to voicemail. This was frustrating as hell

We drove in silence as I leaned my head against the window and Jax slowed down as we neared the house. He glanced at me and I didn’t really want to have this conversation with him and I knew he had a thousand questions.

“Is she your bonded half?” Jax asked me.

“Yes,” I said to him.

“How the hell do you know that?” he asked me.

“Because I could feel it after we slept together,” I said to him.

“Shit Lucas,” he said.

“I know, she’ll only realize it on her birthday,” I said to him.

“Did you two have sex at school?” he asked me and I closed my eyes again.

“No, Saturday morning,” I said.

Jax parked my car and we headed inside the house. Chris came running down the stairs and looked at me with wide eyes, trying to catch her breath.

“What?” I asked her.

“Rumor has it that Rylee spent the night here with Rev,” she said and Rev’s head snapped up.

“What?” Hannah asked as she looked at Rev and he shook his head.

“That’s old news Chris,” I said to her already having figured that part out.

“Okay I bet you don’t know the next part,” she said and folded her arms across her chest.

“Which part?” Preston asked her listening intently now.

“The part where JD’s going to give her a promise ring on her birthday,” Chris said and Jax looked at me.

“It doesn’t mean anything,” I said to her.

“It does when he plans on marking her as his bonded half,” she said and I froze for a few seconds.

“He can’t mark her,” I said.

“Why not? They’ve been dating for close to a year, they’ll probably be bond-halves anyway,” she said.

“They’re not,” Jax said and looked at me.

“What are you guys hiding?” she asked and Rev grinned suddenly.

“Nothing,” I said as she tapped her foot against the marble floor.

“Then you guys probably wouldn’t want to know that he plans on doing it right after school,” she said as she looked directly at me.

“Shit,” I said.