Astor Prep kids are weird as hell. I study her face. “If I agree to this, we’ll be even?”
“Even Steven,” she chirps.
Swallowing my irritation, I fling open the car door and flop onto the driver’s seat.
“Well?” Jordan hovers at the side of the convertible, her expression expectant.
“I’ll think about it,” I spit out. Then I start the engine so I can drown out the sound of her laughter.
* * *
Reed
When I get home from practice, I find Ella curled up on her bed, wearing what looks like a pair of my old sweatpants and a tiny, tiny tank top. I’m surprised to see her.
“Steve know you’re here?” I ask warily.
She nods. “I told him I needed to study for a chem test with Easton.” Her chemistry book is beside her, but Easton is nowhere to be found.
I grin. “Do you actually need to study or was that an excuse?”
“No, I really do have to study,” she answers glumly. “But we both know your dumb brother isn’t going to help me. I figured if I studied here, at least I could see you. Steve’s downstairs, though, so we need to be quiet.”
I walk over to the bed to give her a quick kiss. “Let me change into sweats and then I’ll help you. I took Chem last year, so I remember all the work.”
Before I can duck into the bathroom, she sits up and says, “Wait. I need to tell you something.”
My gaze sweeps over her barely there tank top. Knowing I’m only going to have a few more weeks with Ella makes the fire burn hotter every time I lay eyes on her. “Can you tell me while your shirt is off?”
She grins. “No.”
“Fine. Be that way.” I hop up on the bed and roll onto my back, folding my fingers across my abdomen. “What is it?”
She clears her throat. “You need to take Jordan to Winter Formal.”
I bolt upright. “Are you nuts?” I stare at her in astonishment. “I didn’t know we were even going. I thought we’d do something else. Just the two of us.” I freaking hate Winter Formal.
“I thought everyone went.” Ella tosses her phone toward me. “See?”
I pick it up and see Astor Park’s Instagram feed, which is full of pictures of the Winter Formal preparations. The school’s obsessed with this dance, and I’ve been grateful for that, because it’s taken some of the heat off of Ella and my brothers over my case.
“The girls go because it’s the social event of the semester. The guys go so that they can get laid afterward,” I say bluntly.
“Nice. Well, you don’t have to sleep with Jordan after the dance. The bargain was for you to take her to the party and nothing else.”
“Bargain?” I’m losing my train of thought because Ella’s shirt is riding up and I can see a sliver of skin above her waist.
“For me being on the dance team and going to the away game.”
I swallow a groan. “So this is what you promised her? That I’d take her to Winter Formal?”
“No, it was just a debt to be called in later.”
“Why does she want to go with me? I thought she hated me.”
“I don’t think she hates you. I think it’s some kind of weird notoriety thing. You go with her and she gets to parade you around like a dog on her leash. The beauty and the beast sort of thing.”
“She’s the beast, right?”
Ella responds by tweaking one of my nipples. Which hurts, dammit.
“Oh, and she wants to be crowned Snowflake Queen or some shit,” Ella adds. “She thinks going with you will up her chances.”
I grab her fingers and drag them to my mouth. “I don’t want to go to a dance with Jordan. If I go, you’re holding the leash.”
“I’m not a leash holder.”
I place her hand at the base of my neck. “I belong to you. Everyone at Astor knows that.”
She turns an adorable shade of pink. “I belong to you, too. But I made a deal.”
“Why are you even paying off this debt? No one’s holding you to it.”
Her fingers trace my collarbone, sending a buzzing sensation down my spine. “Because a deal’s a deal. I always keep my word.”
“Deals with the devil don’t count.”
“If you don’t do it, then she’s going to tell Steve I lied about the away game,” Ella admits, pulling her hand away. “And she said she’ll try to convince him to send me to another school. Maybe even out of state.”
The school thing, I could handle, especially since I won’t even be around after January. But another state? No way. That means Ella wouldn’t be able to visit me. Plus, my brothers need her and she needs them. This is her family. She doesn’t deserve to be separated from them.