So Toxic(Bad Boy Next Door Book 4)(16)

I turned to do my part in our prank. What greeted me outside set my heart racing again as though I’d not had even a moment to calm it after my run from the barn.

With arms crossed, Tyson Masters leaned against the trailer with his heel on the bumper. “Seriously, JoJo? What the fuck?”

I pushed him aside. “Get out of my way…and quit looking at me like that. It’s not like you’re an angel, Ty. You’ve pulled your share of shenanigans.”

He pushed the bolt into place before I could get the door open. “I have, but that’s on me. You have a lot more to lose, kiddo.”

“Don’t call me that. I’m no more of a kid than you. Quit treating me like a child and get the hell out of my way.”

His brows rose as he clucked his tongue. “I’m trying to look out for you. Seems to me that you need it about now.”

He had been a pain in my ass since I’d gotten tits. Before that, he and I had been friend— of a sort, anyway. The sort that played together outside of the school yard, but never within. Of course, by the time we hit junior high, that was all over.

Ty and I were on different paths, ones that only ever intersected at the corner of Yearning and Resentment. For most of my teen years, I’d longed for my friend to return to me, and then, I fell in love with his gray eyes, the brash boldness of his masculinity, and his gives-zero-shits attitude.

And yet, here he was again, making fun of me. And, as if that weren’t enough, this time, he was standing in my way.

I wedged myself between him and the trailer, slamming the bolt back and yanking open the door.

He stepped aside as the hogs rushed from the trailer, scrambling to the concrete beneath.

I shook my bucket of feed, getting their attention as I strolled inside the building. “Thanks for your concern, but no thanks. How about you mind your business, and I’ll mind mine?”

“You are my business, JoJo…or haven’t you noticed that I—” His words were lost in the echoing noise of two dozen pigs trampling through the school’s hallowed halls.

Stevie’s hand on my knee pulls me from my memories. “But how does that make you owe him—especially something as big as marriage?”

I rub the ache between my eyebrows while I focus on the carpet, at the paint on my toenails, anywhere but my friend’s eyes as I admit my greatest shame. “The cops showed up not long after I let out the hogs. Tyson hollered for me to run, and I did.”

I sniff, trying to chase away the tears stinging the backs of my eyes.

“You ran? What happened to Tyson? The others?” Her voice is soft, as though she’s afraid to frighten me away from telling the rest of the horrible details.

I snatch a tissue from my night table, dabbing my cheeks. “I followed the others out an open window in the computer lab. I ran around the building. Ty saw me before any of the cops did, and he shook his head at me. Before I even decided whether or not to turn away, he loudly told them he was alone. He was laughing, like he’d come up with the whole thing.”

“So he took the rap for everything?”

I let a sigh escape. “Yeah. Thing is, when I ran off into the darkness after they pushed him into the squad car, I didn’t think it would be all that big of a deal. Oh, Stevie—I was so wrong.”

She bites her lip as though she’s keeping herself from saying anything.

I shred my tissue in my lap. “It might not have been such a big deal, but they didn’t get all of the hogs rounded up before the computer lab was destroyed. I’d failed to close the door when I ran inside to escape. There were thousands of dollars worth of damage. Thousands.”

She presses the tips of her fingers to her lips. “Hmm.”

Finally, my gaze meets hers. “Hmm is right. Tyson ended up on probation for Criminal Mischief—a felony charge—because of the cost of the vandalized property.”

Stevie studies me for a few moments, chewing on the tip of her thumbnail.

Eventually, she throws her arms around me. “Aw, honey, I’m sorry, but—you kinda have to get married.”





FIVE





My footsteps echo through the empty house, bouncing off the hand-scraped hardwoods and marbled fireplace.

I pull out my phone. “Hey, Terri, I need you to set up a moving company to get my things from Jake’s place and the storage unit. I want it to be moved into my new place this weekend.”

Terri huffs. “This weekend? You do realize today is Thursday, right?”

“I have faith in you, Terr. Thank you.” I hang up and shove the phone into my back pocket.

Jake lets himself inside, closing the backdoor with a quiet click. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he rocks onto his heels. “Nice pool.”