Whitney spit out her drink and laughed.
“I don’t know why you’re complaining. I told you New York allows conjugal visits.” He winked.
My eyes widened. I could not believe he’d just said that in front of everyone. Wait… yes I could. This was Jax. He had no filter.
“Too bad you’re drunk every time you visit me. You do know alcohol can affect a guy’s… um, performance, right?”
Simultaneously, all the guys groaned and booed, while the girls giggled.
Jax, however, caught my gaze. His eyes sparked in that way they did every time he said something to get under my skin. This wasn’t going to be good. I should’ve just kept my mouth shut.
“Wanna put that theory to the test?” he asked low enough so only I could hear him.
The tips of my ears burned with embarrassment and disbelief. I struggled to find something to say that wouldn’t encourage him, but I came up blank.
“Red.” He smirked. “I haven’t seen that color in a long time.”
Huffing, I rolled my eyes. God, I hated when he did that. Okay, so maybe I didn’t hate it, but it was extremely inconvenient.
“If I had tried something like that in Gordon’s class, I would’ve flunked so hard,” Nick said. “That guy did not like me.”
“Well, you know, Jax was operating on liquid courage,” I said.
He let out a surprised laugh. “I think she was cheating on me with the teacher. That’s why we passed.”
My jaw dropped. “Oh, you’re going to pay for that.”
I shoved him, hard, but he caught himself before he toppled over. Loud laughter cut through the night air, and I was positive everyone in town must be able to hear us.
“Ah, there he is,” Jax said, all humor gone from his voice. “The guy who actually stole my one true love.”
I glanced up to find Trent walking toward us, and I knew this time, Jax wasn’t joking. From the corner of my eye, I saw Colt shake his head with disappointment. Taking a deep breath, I stood and approached Trent, wrapping my arms around his neck.
He hugged me and buried his face in my neck. “Sounds like you guys are having fun,” he said, not making any effort to release me.
I nodded, though I wasn’t going to rehash what we’d been talking about. I was sure he didn’t want to hear about my and Jax’s fake marriage. Besides, I’d already told him all about our project and what we’d done.
“How’d it go with my dad?” I asked, reluctantly taking a small step back.
“He loved the house.” Trent laughed. “He said he was impressed, and then he told me I was doing a good job taking care of you.”
He cupped the side of my face, and I leaned into his palm, momentarily closing my eyes and savoring the feel of his touch.
“How did he handle it when you told him about Ivy and Isach?” I asked.
“I think he was overwhelmed at first, and then he got angry that we’d trusted Ivy for anything. Eventually, though, he understood,” Trent said.
“Thank you.”
“Anything for you,” he said softly.
Loud whoops, shouts, and more laughter rang out from the bonfire, and I glanced over my shoulder to see what was going on, but I was too far away, and it was too dark to see much of anything.
“So, why did he want to talk to you alone anyway?” I asked, slipping my arms around his waist and resting my head on his chest.
“He gave me this.” Trent reached into his back pocket and produced a folded piece of paper.
I took it and unfolded it only to realize it wasn’t a sheet of paper at all. It was a check for $100,000.00. My eyes bulged, and I blinked, positive I wasn’t reading that correctly.
“He gave you a check?” I asked, dumbfounded.
“He gave us a check. Said he wanted to pay for our wedding and give us a little extra to help us get our lives started,” Trent said.
“Wow. Why did he have to give this to you alone, though? I mean, if it’s for us…”
“He had to give me the talk,” Trent said with a grin. “He warned me again that if I ever hurt you, he’d kill me, that if I let anyone else hurt you, he’d kill me. You know, the usual.”
Smiling, I rose up on my tiptoes and planted my lips on his. He grabbed my hips and yanked me closer, his throaty groans of pleasure rumbling through me as he deepened the kiss.
“Oh, c’mon,” Whitney shouted. “Cool it with the making out, would ya? Get your butts over here.”
“She really needs her own house,” Trent complained.
“We both know you’re moving out before she does.”
He laughed, took my hand, and we made our way over to our friends. Trent sat on the ground and tugged me down to sit between his legs, wrapping his arms protectively around me.
“Okay, so we know those two”—Whitney nodded at me and Trent—”are getting married, going on some over-the-top, ridiculously romantic honeymoon, and then will spend the rest of their lives rubbing it in all our faces just how in love they are.”
“Hey,” I said with a laugh, but I couldn’t really argue with her.
“But what’s everyone else doing now that we’re not in high school anymore?” Whitney asked.
“Nick and I got into Syracuse University, so that’s where we’re headed in the fall,” Ellie said, smiling at Nick.
“That’s great,” I said. I was happy they were going to college together and not breaking up or attempting a long distance relationship.
“Yeah, congrats,” Luke said.
“What about you?” I asked Luke.
He and Nick were close, so I couldn’t imagine it was easy for them to be separated by college like this.
“I’m going to the local trade school,” Luke said with zero enthusiasm. “Gonna take over the family business one day, so I guess I should probably know a thing or two about electrical work so I don’t accidently
