Forever Golden: Dark High School Bully Romance (Kings of Cypress Prep Book 3) by Rachel Jonas (beach books TXT) 📕

I hop down from my bed and sit beside her instead. When I place my hand on top of hers, she stares at it.

“Believe me, I know what it’s like to have parents who fall way short of expectations, so you’re not alone,” I say, hoping she knows she’ll get no judgment from me.

“I just had no clue I could feel this disappointed. In either of them. I’m so pissed she’s staying,” Joss adds, shaking her head.

I shrug and let out a breath before sharing a bit about myself.

“My dad stayed. My mom was the cheater, and he just kept letting her string him along. Hell, they’re still in that cycle.”

She glances over at me and some of the sadness has faded.

“Damn.”

I nod. “Exactly.”

Her gaze lands on the rug again while she thinks, but then her phone sounds off. When she glances down at it and a faint smile appears, I don’t peek but can’t help to ask…

“Is it Dane?”

“Huh? Oh… no. Just a friend I met last summer in Cuba,” she answers distractedly, while responding to the message. “We spent time there visiting my mom’s side of the family after staying in Haiti a while with my dad’s parents.”

This is the first she’s mentioned the guy to me, but I do recall that day in Headmaster Harrison’s office when I overheard West and Dane’s phone conversation about him. The guy is definitely a bone of contention between him and Joss.

“So… he’s just a friend?”

She glances up with a laugh. “Is that so hard to believe?”

I shrug. “Not as hard to believe as you and Dane pretending not to want to jump each other’s bones.”

Now, her face is red as a beet, which means I struck a nerve.

“Okay, fine,” she huffs. “I’m not saying there’s not something there, but we’ve been friends since we were twelve and we’re just so different, you know?”

“Haven’t you ever heard that opposites attract?”

“Mmm, I think it’s possible to be too opposite,” she reasons. “I’m a virgin and have no plans to change that. Especially now that my dad’s taught me men aren’t to be trusted.” She pauses and rolls her eyes before continuing. “Meanwhile, Dane has no plans to stop, you know, doing what he does. I’m not judging him, just stating facts. This is who we are, and who we are would drive the other insane.”

She laughs, but it sounds to me like she’s making excuses. I don’t point that out, though.

“Besides, what better way to ruin a perfectly good friendship than by interjecting romantic feelings?”

She laughs again when I squint at her. “I hear you, but aren’t you at least a little curious about him?”

At first, I think she might ignore the question, but then she smiles.

“Okay, so I may or may not have fantasized about losing my V-card to him once or twice, but only because we’re already close and I trust him with my life.”

Her explanation sounds vaguely familiar, making me glance toward Scar.

“I might have also had this fantasy because, let’s be honest, he’s fucking gorgeous,” she admits. “I’m also about ninety-nine percent sure he’d be amazing. Plus, with him, it’d actually mean something, you know? We don’t love each other like that, but… there’s still a form of love between us.”

I try and fail to hold in my smile. “I knew it.”

“But,” she proclaims, “I will stand my ground. Never in a million years would I risk losing his friendship should things not work out. So, as far as I’m concerned, this will stay a fantasy.”

For now, I let her think I believe that.

“How’d you two become friends anyway?”

She peers up and there’s a distant smile on her face. “Well, I guess he’s kind of always been my knight in shining armor. Even back then.”

When she pauses, I’m admittedly on the edge of my seat.

“It was the first day of sixth grade and I’d just moved to Cypress Pointe that summer. Dane and I got put in the same homeroom and I was assigned the seat behind him and this other kid who isn’t even around anymore. Back then, I was kind of shy, so I hadn’t said one word. To anyone. But the other kid kept turning in his seat, giving me this mean-ass glare over his shoulder,” she adds, kind of solemnly.

“Anyway, the teacher started taking attendance, and when she called my name, the kid made this ugly, racist comment under his breath that only Dane and I heard. Long story short, Dane got out of his seat and decked the kid, broke his damn nose,” she adds with a laugh. “The school suspended them both once they got the whole story, but when Dane came back a few days later, we were kind of inseparable.”

“Shit, that’s awful.”

Joss nods. “It was. I’d had things like that happen before, but Dane was the first person to ever go to bat for me. I mean, he got suspended fighting for some girl he didn’t even know.”

She’s lost in thought for a few seconds after reliving the moment, then her eyes flash to me again.

“Enough about me, though. What about that Ricky guy? Was he your first?”

I nod. “He was. Actually, Ricky and I have been everything to each other you can possibly find on the relationship spectrum. Just so happens that we’re at our best when we’re friends.”

She gives me a look.

“What?”

“Just wondering if you’re positive he’s buying into that whole ‘at our best when we’re friends’ theory you just mentioned. Because from the outside looking in, it looks like he’s still got it pretty bad for you. I mean, West sure as hell thinks he does.”

I open and close my mouth several times before actual words come out. “Okay, so we didn’t make the cleanest break, but I’ve moved on. I just have faith that, one day, Ricky will find someone who helps him move on, too.”

She’s still giving me a look, but this time it shifts into a laugh. “Whatever you say, heartbreaker.”

I