Page 7 of Never His Girl
I haven’t even carried this secret long and, already, it’s wearing on me. Never one to care much what others think of my actions, this time is different. While most of the assholes who reached out through text or DM are giving me props for the stunt they think I pulled, they’re nonfactors. Whatdoespiss me off is that this whole thing has caused those who actually count to see me in a different light. My brothers, Joss, my mom.
Don’t even get me started onthatconversation. There are just some things a mother should never know about her son, certain things she should never witness her son doing. So, I think it’s safe to say I probably won’t be able to look her in the eyes again untilmykids graduate.
“West?” Joss says again, using that scolding tone Dane loves and thinks of as foreplay.
Me? Not so fond of it.
“If I tell you, and you breathe a word of it to anyone, Joss, I’m ruined. Not only willmylife crumble, but … someone else’s, too.”
I feel her studying me, but my eyes never leave the road.
“Okay,” she says solemnly. “You have my word.”
Breathing deep and second-guessing the hell out of what I’m about to do, I just go for it.
“It was Parker,” I confess, feeling my heart race twice as fast.
Joss stares, taking several deep breaths. That usually means she’s trying desperately to hold her tongue.
“She sent a vague text before we left for regionals. Then another after we got to the hotel.”
“Didn’t she get the hint when you ended things at the Monster Bash?” Joss asks.
“This is Parker we’re talking about,” I answer with a sigh.
“Oh, right. Facts.”
“At first, shedidonly want to talk about us, but when I didn’t say what she wanted to hear, and when I pressed her to tell me what was up with the cryptic text she sent, she finally got to her point.”
“Which was?”
I glance over at Joss before answering her question as simply as I can. “She wanted to know what happened with Casey.”
Hearing me speak that name, Joss’s brow quirks just as I glance her way. It isn’t a name we say out loud often because it’s one of those things best left in the past where it belongs.
“How on Earth would Parker, of all people, find out something like that? Only me, Dane, and Sterling even know about it, right? I mean, aside from Casey herself, but she sure ashellwouldn’t tell anyone.”
When I don’t have a rebuttal to that, Joss reaches her own conclusion.
“Wait… Casey told?” she asks, sitting forward in her seat to shoot me a look.
I draw in a breath, ignoring how my chest tightens.
“They ran into each other recently. At least that’s the story Parker’s sticking to. She says Casey had a little too much to drink and told her everything.”
Joss falls back against her seat again, then says something unexpected.
“The party.”
I peer over. “WhatParty?”
“Casey’s nineteenth. The one I came back early from vacation to make it to,” she reminds me. “A bunch of the girls from the CP dance squad were invited. Also, most of Casey’s former squad-mates from Everly Prep, plus some of her college friends.”
The pieces are beginning to fall together.
“I didn’t even think anything of it at the time, but she and Parker were hanging pretty tight that night. And there was definitely tons of alcohol, so…”
I’m at a loss for words. Not that I had all that much to say before this conversation.