RAMSAY.

We were leaving when Kira, Ciara, and Leanne were walking in with a few other people. I scanned the guys, but Clint wasn’t with them. As we passed, Kira turned around. Her friends had gone inside so she was alone.

“Ramsay.”

My whole group stopped with me.

I could feel Theresa’s tension, but Kira didn’t acknowledge her.

She tipped her chin up, instead saying to me, “You can let Scout know that I won’t say anything.”

I frowned. “What’s that about?” And a follow-up, “Why me?”

She was giving me a smug and knowing look before flicking a glance to Theresa. Then her eyes chilled. “He’ll know. We’re doing a Homecoming planning meeting next Monday, and we might go to my house afterward. Bring your suit. I’ve got an indoor pool. Oh, and Gem is cool, but you might want to educate yourself about who else you’re hanging with here. Wouldn’t want anything to bring down your cousins.”

What the fuck?

I frowned.

Theresa growled and started to move forward, but Kira rolled her eyes and headed inside.

Once the doors closed, Theresa exploded. “I hate that bitch! Hate her. God. She’s so condescending.”

Gem closed in on my side. “What was that about?”

Alred was on my other side. “Do not be fooled by her. She’s nasty. Even the girls at my school hate her.”

“She wants war again?” Theresa was muttering to herself, under her breath. Her glare trying to burn down the door. “War’s on.”

“War?” I was reaching for my phone.

Gem hissed, “Theresa, relax. I’m on the Homecoming committee with them.”

“Not everything’s about you.”

Gem tensed. “Come on, Theresa. That’s not what I meant.”

Theresa suddenly jerked her hands in the air, starting to go for her hair, but Alred hissed, “Not your hair!”

She froze before fisting her hands and letting out another growl. “God. I cannot stand her.” Her gaze swung my way. “I don’t get along with them. I’m sure that’s been established, but there was a temporary ceasefire. Looks like that’s over.”

I frowned. “Do my cousins know about this?”

Gem looked up before sharing a look with Theresa.

Theresa answered, “Cohen does. I have no clue with Scout. I don’t think your cousins would know. Girls don’t really blast that out, you know?”

My phone buzzed.

Clint: How’s it going? Kira just texted, said she saw you.

Me: Yeah. It was something.

Clint: What do you mean?

Me: We can talk later.

Clint: ? Okay . . .

“How bad is it going to get with those girls?” I asked.

Theresa startled, looking as if she’d forgotten I was here. “Oh.” She shook her head. “It’s nothing new. If you’re worried, Kira won’t do anything to you. This is my battle.”

I had to laugh a little.

“What?”

“I’m not scared of a fight.”

She let out a deep breath, her shoulders falling down. “I’m aware. I got front row seats to your takedown against Gabby, remember?”

“Is that going to be a problem?”

Her gaze was sharp. “What do you mean?”

“The overlap. Kira. Homecoming committee. Gabby.”

Her mouth tightened and she glanced at her cousins before shrugging. “I guess we’ll see.”

I guess we would.

I was also starting to get a better feel for the social hierarchy here. I had a hunch more surprises were coming. The other thing I had a feeling about? Was that I didn’t have a feeling about Theresa.

That’d be a stay-tuned thing as well, but I luh-ved Alred.

SCOUT.

I was leaving the gym when my phone rang, and since I was expecting Cohen to call about plans for after the football game, I answered. “Yo.”

“Sweetie!”

Shit. I stilled, just about to open my truck’s door. “Mom.”

“You don’t sound happy to hear from me.”

“Well, what do you think?”

She sighed. “Listen—”

I opened my door and tossed my bag to the passenger seat. “I don’t have time, Mom. What do you want? If you’re calling to recite the usual family bullshit, you know how the rest of that conversation will be.”

“I’m not. I’m not calling because of that.”

I waited, frowning, wanting to go back inside and pummel the bag again. “What do you want then?”

“I miss you.”

Goddamn it. This was the problem with her. She meant what she said. “You miss me, then why’d you send me out here?”

“You know why.”

“Yeah,” I snapped. “Because you have a dictator father. I have a dictator asshole grandfather, and instead of telling him how it’s going to go for your son, you shipped me off to hide.”

She sucked in some air. “It’s not like that.”

“Like fuck it isn’t.”

“You don’t have to yell at me.”

I drew in some more control and said through gritted teeth, “I’m here because you’re hiding me behind my uncle, the one person who’s stood up to Grandfather, and you miss me because I’m your son and you want to be around me, but again, that’s on you.”

“If you’d just—”

“Just what?” Rage was slowly seeping through me, burning every inch of its path until it was going to cover me completely. “If I’d what?”

She was scared of her father, and while I could say something and had, it wasn’t my place. It was hers.

My tone went cold. “You want to see me? You tell Grandfather that not only do I not have any interest in attending his private boarding school or his special Ivy League college but also that I won’t be joining the family business. And no,” I talked over her as she started to intervene, “I’m not going to play along, then do my fighting on the side.”

“Scout, you’re being unreasonable.”

I reached for the handle, and if I could’ve, I would’ve ripped the whole door off its handle. “I’m not being unreasonable. You want to see me? You know what to do.”

“Scout—”

“I’m not talking about his whole plan he’s laid out for me.”

She got quiet.

She knew what I was referring to.

“Scout.” Her voice was so low now.

Fuck. I could hear the pain from her.

I could feel it, and I was back there, hearing—“You don’t know what you heard that night.”

“Bullshit I didn’t.”

We’d never talked about it, but she and I both knew, and the next morning she had a plane ticket for me to Oregon. There was the reason she claimed for sending me away and then there was the real reason she’d done it, and I just brought it up for the first time.

“Scout Jamison—”

“Don’t full name me. Don’t do that. I know what he told you to do, what he demanded you to do, and—”

Her voice rose, “And I did. Me. I did it, and it’s nothing I’m proud of, but I did it. You have the wrong idea about what you think happened.”

A hard laugh ripped from me. “That’s the thing, Mom. I didn’t even say anything, and you know what I’m talking about. Lies have to be explained. Truth doesn’t.”

I wanted to hurt him.

“I was just calling because I miss you. We’re doing franchise visits, and I could line one up to come see you and your uncle. I was calling to see if you wanted me to do that.”

My blood was rushing through my body. My pulse pounding in my eardrums.

When I didn’t respond, couldn’t respond, she said, still so quietly, “I can tell you’re not ready for that, so I won’t come to our franchise site in Pine River. I love you, Scout. I’ll call you again later.”

There was silence. I had nothing to say to any of that.

I didn’t hang up, but she didn’t either.

“Don’t tell your uncle.”

Right. More lies.

She ended the call.