I leaned back and closed my eyes. So much for a lovely afternoon.
It took only an hour and a half for the pool deck to be full of shirtless guys and giggling girls in bikinis. It looked like Kingston had gotten his wish, because the guys were outnumbered. Some of the girls had given Abby a greeting when they first came in and gave me side-eye when she introduced me as a friend, but they quickly flocked to where Maverik and the other guys were.
Neither of the guys mentioned that I was their new sister, and I certainly wasn’t going to volunteer that information. I was perfectly fine being the weird girl in the one-piece outside of the crowd. I did think it was odd that Abby was on the outside, too - I thought she would have been one of the most popular girls at school.
“Do you see what I mean?” Abby asked me quietly. “Where those two guys go, everyone wants to follow.”
I shrugged. “Not everyone. Do you want to get out of here? We can-”
I knew Abby was a lost cause when I saw her eyes light up at the sight of someone coming into the pool area.
“Who caught your eye?” I teased her.
Abby blushed. “No one.”
“Uh, huh. Let me see if I can guess.” I squinted at the two guys who had just walked in. The darker haired guy was lean with a swimmer’s body, while one with the sandy brown hair and the great tan was more muscular. I tapped a finger on my lip.
“Which one is more your type?” I mused. I turned to Abby. “I feel like as your best friend, I should be better at this.”
Abby laughed. “You get a one-week learning curve.”
“The buff one?” I guessed.
Abby wrinkled her nose. “Kaine? Ew, no. He’s Chloe’s boytoy.”
I rolled my eyes. “Do I know Chloe?”
“You will,” Abby told me ominously. “Now, be a good bestie and be my wing woman.”
“And risk the mysterious Chloe’s wrath?”
“You can take her,” Abby said confidently. “But Maverik hates her, so I doubt she’ll show her face here.”
“Hates her more than me?” I mumbled to myself as I followed Abby over to her crush.
“Hey, Trent!” Abby said as she bounced over to him.
I sighed when it was obvious that Trent was mostly interested in the parts of her that bounced the most. Kaine just watched our arrival in silence.
“Hey, Abs,” Trent said as greeted her breasts. He briefly looked up at her eyes before glancing over at me. “Who’s the new girl?”
“This is Kat,” Abby introduced me. “She’s about to start junior year at Bedford.”
“No one starts junior year,” Kaine interrupted skeptically. “If you don’t get in by seventh grade, then you don’t get in.”
“Obviously, some people do,” Abby told Kaine irritably before turning back to Trent and flashing her brightest smile. “Your birthday’s next week, right? Have anything exciting planned?” Trent took the bait and pulled her in close to him so that he could murmur in her ear.
Kaine took a sip of his beer and watched me over the bottle. “Who are you, Kat?”
“Abby’s friend,” I said with a shrug.
My plan of trying to live life and enjoy it as much as Abby did was falling flat. Kaine was anything but friendly, and I couldn’t just brush off his attitude like Abby had.
“Abby doesn’t have friends,” he informed me coldly. “She’s a debbie, always trying to ingrate herself to people who matter.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Abby’s smart, funny, and fun to hang out with. Why wouldn’t I want to be her friend?”
Kaine chuckled. “That wasn’t my question. I’m asking who you are that she would want to be friends with you. And someone had to pull some serious strings to get you into Bedford. Who’s writing the fat checks, Kat?”
Doubt trickled through me. Abby had known who I was before she even met me. Was she genuinely my friend?
I glanced over in her direction, and my doubts eased. I might be the Wilders’ almost step-sister, but that didn’t make me anyone important. The guys hated me, so being friends with me would make Abby’s life more difficult, not better. There wasn’t any advantage for her to try to be my friend, right?
I stood up to leave, but Kaine grabbed my arm. “You have no idea what you walked into here, did you?”
I shrugged him off. “I’m just here to enjoy the pool.”
Kaine scoffed. “If you’re smart, you’ll leave now.”
“Is that a threat?” I asked in disbelief.
What was wrong with everyone here? I thought New York was a tough place to live, but Bedford made New York look like Disneyland.
“It’s a warning,” he corrected me. “You walked into the lion’s den, and I’d rather not see you get ripped to shreds.”
I opened my mouth to make a snarky comment, but Kingston appeared out of nowhere. “Kitty Kat!” he shouted drunkenly as I groaned in embarrassment. He reached out for me, and I wasn’t fast enough to evade him. He squeezed me tight against his chest and patted me on the top of the head.
“So it’s like that?” Kaine smirked. “You’re just like the rest of them.”
Kingston let me go and walked up to Kaine. “You have something to say?”
“Nope.” Kaine took another swallow of his beer.
“Because you look like you have something to say,” Kingston said with narrowed eyes.
Kaine
