"Huh?" She lifted tear-stained eyes to me.
"Who?"
A soft sob and she whispered, "James Kade."
"James Kade?"
She nodded and wiped her arm over her face. "He has two boys your age, honey. You might know them."
Know them? Everyone knew them. Mason and Logan Kade. While they were rich, their dad owned five of the factories that our town thrived on, they chose to go to public school. Everyone knew the Kade brothers. They could've gone to the private school, where most of the rich kids went, or where I went because my dad was the football's coach, but they'd shaken everything up when they chose public school.
And now I was going to be living with them?
As I watched my mom, who sobbed as if she'd been the one cheated on, something shriveled up inside of me. I would never be like my mother. Never. And sorry, Jeff, but that meant he wasn't going to be getting laid by me for a very very long time.
However, after I had spent most of the afternoon and evening packing my things, he wasn't excited to hear my change of plans when Lydia and Jessica picked me up for the party that night. In fact, he'd been a jerk. Not surprising. A few choice curse words, a few beers guzzled, and he wiped his mouth clean of me.
"I'll get someone better, bitch. You're not the only hot chick here." And off he went. His jeans rode low, a beer in hand, and his hair gelled into badass spikes.
I rolled my eyes and went in search for my friends.
Heaven help me, but Jeff would be back. I was at the point where I wasn't sure I cared or not.
An Escalade wheeled into the slot beside mine. At first I didn't pay attention, lost in my world-ending daydreams, but when someone shouted all my attention snapped back to reality.
Four boys spilled out of the vehicle and two passed by me.
I sucked in my breath.
"Fuck that, man. Let's go to Molly's instead," one boy laughed as he hung on his friend. He threw his head back and laughed on a carefree note. His brown curls danced and he seemed invigorated. "You'll get pussy there. Promise."
He laughed another maniacal laugh before the two disappeared inside.
My hands clenched the gas nozzle tightly and I couldn't take my eyes off of him.
Logan Kade, my soon-to-be-roommate. While I watched through the window, he laughed at something his friend said. Lydia and Jessica saw who was in the other aisle and quickly went to flirt with them. The friend looked interested, but Logan skimmed a bored eye over them and went back for something more inside the store.
I hadn't seen the Kade brothers up close, not in a long time, but I'd heard plenty about them. Logan was a junior, like me. Mason was a year older. Both were good looking and Mason was rumored to be six foot one with a muscular build. He played defensive lineman for a reason on his football team. Logan had the leaner build, but he was an inch shorter.
I snorted to myself. I couldn't believe I even knew these details. As I cursed my friends inside for their gossiping ways, I glanced back at the Escalade and froze once more. Two green eyes stared back at me.
Mason had been filling up his vehicle and watching me the whole time.
I swallowed painfully and was barely aware that my gas was done. I couldn't look away from him.
Logan was handsome. There was no doubt about that, but he had nothing against his older brother. Now I understood why so many gossiped and whispered about the Kade brothers. The hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up and my eyes were locked with his in some sort of battle.
I couldn't look away. I just knew that.
His friend rounded the vehicle and leaned beside him. Both watched me and I saw the grin come to his friend. He crossed his feet and looked like he was at the movies, popcorn and all.
Then he said something and Mason smirked at me.
"Mase, dude. Candy flavored condoms." Logan leapt across the lot and did a small dance when he handed a box to his brother.
I knew I shouldn't have been watching, but I couldn't stop myself. I was riveted by both brothers. Logan was bobbing his head in rhythm with the music that blared from the gas station's speakers while Mason hadn't taken his eyes from mine.
That's when I knew without a doubt that he knew who I was.
I sucked in my breath and my knees trembled for a moment. What'd I do? Did I do something? Then I remembered my mom sitting in between all those boxes, tears down her face, and an empty bottle of wine beside her.
Fuck them. And fuck their dad.
My mom wasn't a saint. I knew that for sure, but she'd been with my dad for the last seventeen years. Now she cheated? Now she decided we should move in with her new boyfriend and his family?
Fuck them all.
My eyes hardened. Mason's narrowed. And I sneered at him before I went inside to pay. When I came back out, Lydia and Jessica were still in the bathroom; Mason passed me to pay inside. He wore a black leather jacket over a black shirt and jeans. His black hair was cut short and his eyes held mine in some form of trance as he passed by me. His jacket rubbed against me, he passed so close, and we both turned to watch the other.