The Lie: Rebels of Ridgecrest High (Book 2)

Roman is giving us today, which means I have one day to prove to him that leaving us isn’t the answer to his problems. That I will fight for him and always be in his corner. I don’t give a shit if he says we can’t be friends. He doesn’t get a choice with me. I won’t give him up.

Nothing he’s done will scare me away. I don’t care if he has a police record; he had to survive on his own all these years, never asking for or accepting help. So what if he’s failing at school? I can help him with homework. I can help him pass. His dad’s an asshole, we can’t change that. But we can all deal with his dad. Roman can stay at my house, my dad will understand.

Roman gives me a look; he knows I’m plotting. I smirk and wink. He pushes his hair behind his ear, and I long to braid it again. But it might be a little hard with the cast on. The blond scruff on Roman’s jaw has me itching to touch it. Is it soft? Scratchy? I watch him lick his lips, and I’m drawn to them. If today doesn’t end with a kiss from Roman…

“Hey, wait right here. I have an idea.” Hunter runs into his garage and emerges with three foam swords, a plastic knight’s helmet, and my old tutu from when I was little.

“Oh my god, you kept all this?” I look to Roman’s arm, his tattoo. This is perfect. We will show him the best day ever, and he will have no choice but to keep us.

“Yeah, Mom stored it all away the last time we used it. I found it a few weeks back and thought it was too special not to keep. Play one last game?”

Wow, play a game. I haven’t done that in such a long time. Hell, I don’t remember the last time I played here with the boys. Today, we make new memories, the three of us.

Hunter hands us each a sword and pops the helmet on my head. It’s a snug fit, and I chuckle as he steps into my pink tutu. He struggles to get it over his thighs; it’s elastic but not made for Hunter’s body. Eventually, he manages to get it up over his waist and lets out a loud whoop as he shimmies his hips. It looks absolutely ridiculous on him. It’s so small and tight.

I chuckle. “Are you the princess or the knight?” I ask, cocking my head to the side as he turns in a circle and lowers into an exaggerated curtsy.

“I’m both. Don’t you know that princesses can rescue themselves? I learned that from an old friend.” He winks over at me, and I smile at that memory. I used to say that every time I played with the boys. Hunter remembered. Of course he did.

“Do you want me to knight you?” Roman asks, and I love that he’s getting involved. This might seem childish to most, but it’s not to me. It’s perfect.

“Why, yes, Sir Knight Roman.” I get down on one knee, and he taps his sword on one of my shoulders and then the other.

“Rise, Knight Mila and Knight Hunter. We have bad guys to slay.”

“I’m after the king.” I giggle and slowly jog away. It’s not my finest work, but a slow jog is all I have in me. I can hear the boys play fighting as I run around the pool. I stop to watch them, laughing at the way Hunter prances around and smacks his sword against Roman.

“We must protect the king from a rogue knight,” Hunter calls out, and Roman makes a trumpet sound as they both turn and point their swords at me. I laugh, my chest hurting but in the best way.

I give up trying to “run” from them and instead turn to fight them.

“Ouch,” I cry out as Hunter hits my upper arm.

“Oh shit, did I hurt you, Mila?” Hunter drops his sword and becomes very serious. I bonk my sword on the top of his head.

“You’re dead.” I giggle. The look in Hunter’s eyes has me very aware of the type of punishment he wants to give me for that trick…and I want that too.

“You walked into that one, Hunter,” Roman says as he also bonks Hunter’s head with his sword.

I laugh as they turn on each other and dance around, trying to get each other. Every so often, they turn and gently tap me over and over until I put my hands up.

“I surrender. You’ve gotten better at using swords.”

Hunter laughs. “I train with my sword every night…and sometimes in the morning.” He winks at me, and my mouth drops open. He didn’t just tell us how often he jerks off. Did he?

Roman’s shaking his head. “I didn’t need to know how often you play with your dick.”

“But now you know. You’re welcome.” Hunter does another curtsy, and I just laugh as Roman pushes him over and he rolls onto the grass.

I lower myself to sit on the grass. “You know what’s weird?” I start as both the guys look over at me.

“That I always think of you while I jack off?” Hunter smirks at me.

I try to hide my smile. Stupid ass. “No. But we both know not to shake your hand anymore.”

Roman gives off a deep chuckle, and I can’t wipe the grin from my face. I love that sound.

“It’s that one day, we played this game and went home. And that was the last day we did that. Without knowing, it was the last day you played with your friends like that. No more fun with fake swords or dress up tutus. It became all about makeup and football, parties, and drinking. And just like that, no more innocent fun like a sword fight with friends.”

There’s only silence as we all look at each other, processing my words. Because it’s true. Hunter’s mom kept these things for next time, only there wasn’t a next time. And none of us saw that coming. How could we have known that was the last time?

“This is that moment, right now.” Roman is the first to speak. He pulls up some shards of grass and throws them as he looks over at the pool. The sun shining on the blue looks like glitter, so inviting.

“Yeah, this is it,” I reply. The fun and laugher are gone. I killed the happy mood.

“Wanna go swimming?” Hunter asks, changing the subject. I give him a puzzled look. “What? You can borrow something to swim in.”

That’s what he thinks I’m worried about? I hold up my arm, showing him the cast.

His brows raise and he shakes his head. “Oh yeah, I forgot about that. We can wrap it in a plastic bag.”

I smile at him. It would be nice to swim before the weather changes and it gets too cold. Today’s nice, but storms are expected over the next week. So, it’s maybe the last chance I’ll have.

“Yeah, okay, go get a bag…and a t-shirt. I’ll swim.”

Hunter jumps up and runs to his house, leaving me alone with Roman.

Roman reaches over and holds my fingers with his right hand. I hold still, my pulse picking up at the touch. He moves closer and runs the tip of his index finger over my cast. I realize he’s looking at the drawings. But I can’t think straight, the butterflies in my belly intensifying at his touch. He runs a finger over a few drawings, and I see the smirk on his face when he finds a hidden cock and balls. I designed around them with the intention of blending the vulgar drawing into the surrounding images so you have to really look for it. But teachers won’t call me out on it at school.

“Did Hunter draw all these?” he asks.

I snort. “And Asher. The two of them had a dick-drawing competition on my arm. I would have preferred anything but dicks. But boys and their junk.” I shrug. Could have been worse, they could have drawn boobs too.

Roman laughs. He actually shows teeth. Holy shit. I need to find more things to make him laugh again. I’ve missed that sound and I want it back.

Hunter comes running back toward us, holding up a black trash bag and a white t-shirt. I shake my head.

“Really? White? You didn’t happen to have any other colors?”

He looks to the tee in his hand, and I watch as the light bulb goes off inside his head and he chuckles to himself. “Ah, yeah. Actually, I wasn’t thinking. You can have the one I’m wearing now.”

Dropping the white one and the trash bag, he takes of his tee in one swift move. Holy shit. That was smooth. No idea why, but that’s the sexiest way to take off a t-shirt.

“Okay, both of you turn around, and I will pop this on.”

I take off my tee and shorts. My bra and underwear will be fine getting wet since I can dry them in the sun after. Plus, I can always borrow some boxers from Hunter if I need too. But I don’t want to give anyone an eyeful, or for Roman to see my bruises. Hence, the tee to cover me and for them to turn around. Hunter’s shirt smells just like him, and it’s warm. I hug my waist and take a deep breath of his scent. His cologne is yummy.

When I turn around, both of them are facing away from me in their boxers, blue for Hunter and black for Roman. Those are some tight asses. I chuckle to myself.

I spot the fading bruises on Roman’s back, but I don’t linger on them too long. If this is truly the last day he will give us, I’m not going to bring up anything about the day of the accident.

“Ready.”

They turn. Roman holds out the trash bag, and Hunter grins widely with duct tape. Oh god. Really? I look at my arm and hope it won’t rip out hairs. Or skin.

“All right, cover me up.” I hold my arm out, and they work together to make it secure. I’m still a little worried, but I don’t want to miss out on this. This has been a really nice afternoon, and I don’t want it to stop.

Hunter is the first to run and dive in. He’s gotten much better at that. Roman holds out his hand to me, and I take it with a smile. He leads me around to the stairs, helps me in, and I sit on the first step. I’m a little worried the bag won’t hold and I will mess up my cast.

“Just wait there,” Roman instructs, and he dashes off to the garage. It doesn’t take long before he emerges with a purple pool float lounger. It’s all pumped up and ready to go.

He jogs back over and places it in front of me. With Roman holding my hand, I stand, and he helps me on so I don’t fall off. I wiggle to sit up, the plastic sticking to my thighs and making horrible sounds as I try to get comfy. I laugh; it sounds like I’m farting. I lie my head back and close my eyes.

“Ready?” Roman asks and I hum. I haven’t been in a pool in ages, and I haven’t been in this one in four years. I forgot how much I love the water.

He moves the lounger, and my eyes fly open as I grip the edges, worried I’m going to tip over.

“I won’t let you fall. Ever. You can trust me, Mila.”

I reach out slowly to his face. He watches my hand but doesn’t move away, so I push his hair behind his head. “You need a haircut,” I tease, thinking back to that day, of our first kiss. And I can see he remembers too.

His eyes grow darker as he looks out over at Hunter, who is messing around with a speaker to get some tunes going. “I don’t want to.”

Roman’s deep voice goes straight to my core. I feel hot and needy. My breathing picks up, and I watch as his eyes lower to my chest as it rises and falls faster.

“Why not?” I whisper, leaning as close as I can to him. He’s right there. I could move only a few more inches and my lips would be pressed against his.

“Because you won’t push it away anymore.”

Our eyes lock, and I can see he’s struggling too. I know he doesn’t like to be touched but holding back is killing me. I want to touch his lips and kiss him. Hold him close and feel his hard body against mine. God, I want him to be mine. Always.

He’s conflicted, but he said he would give us this one last day. Kiss me. Kiss me again, Roman. I lick my lips, my eyes never leaving his as I will him to make the first move.

I reach out to his face, wanting to show him I want this. But his wet hand comes up and grabs my wrist, his eyes still on me, intense and burning though me. His other hand comes over and caresses my face; it’s wet and I feel the droplets on my borrowed tee soaking through. He doesn’t let go of my wrist. Instead, he tightens his grip a little more in a warning before letting it go.

I understand. No touching.

His thumb brushes over my lower lip and my tongue darts out to lick it. He groans. His eyes glaze over as he moves in, and my heart starts to race as I close my eyes.

“Mila June Hart, get out of that pool at once.”

At the sound of my dad’s voice, my eyes fly open, and Roman moves away. The lounger rocks as I try hold on, but I’m so startled that I flip it, and the next thing I hear and see is the water around me and the chlorine in my eyes. I hold my breath, but it’s too late—I already got a mouthful of pool water.

The oversized tee is heavy in the water as I try to right myself. Four arms grab at me and lift me above the water, and I cough and splutter as I try to wipe the strands of hair from my face.

My dad and Kate are standing on the side of the pool, and Asher’s on the other side, laughing his ass off. I glare at him as I try to hide that I swallowed some of the pool water. I hope Hunter doesn’t do anything but swim in here.

“What are you doing here?” I ask my dad.

The boys place me on the tiles, and I cough again as Hunter pats my back.

“Hunter told us you were here, and we got you a surprise so I thought we would come surprise you here. I didn’t expect you to be in the pool with a cast on, though.”

“I was on the lounger, and I have this bag on just in case. I was fine until you startled me.”

And Roman…Dad came and ruined that moment for the both of us. Nothing says cool down like your father using your full name as he scolds you for being in a pool.

Dad hands me a towel, and Kate helps me stand, rubbing my hair and arms. I need to lose the t-shirt, but that would be a little awkward with Dad and Kate…and Asher.

We’ve finally come to an understanding I think. It’s been better—not so sexually charged between us anymore. There’s a good chance our parents will marry, and then it would be weird. Or awkward if we didn’t work out.

“Let’s get you changed, hey?” Kate asks as she wraps another towel around my shoulders.

Nodding, I grab my shorts and tee from where I left them. Hunter leads us inside his house to a bathroom where Kate closes the door and smiles down at me.

“I think your dad might have ruined a moment?” She arches her brow.

“Did Madison tell you?” I ask with a giggle, and she nods. “And you don’t think it’s wrong?”

“Not at all. If I had two handsome guys wanting to date me when I was your age, I would have in a heartbeat. You only live once—take all the chances and live without regret.”

It’s the best advice, and I plan to follow it.

I’m going to take chances and live without regret.