Tease

Seven

"f**k HIM," Liz uttered in anger as she joined the girls at the bar, her brown eyes narrowed, letting them know how angry she was. 

"What happened?" Harper boldly asked. 

Some profound emotion flickered across her face, a deep revulsion combined with a hostility that was almost palpable. "The asshole said he's allergic to blondes and that I'm not his type. Who the hell does he think he is?"

"A mechanic," Nelly coughed under her breath. She wasn't surprised at the turn of events. She knew when Liz had walked up to Cole that she would be rejected. There was nothing wrong with Liz, the problem lied with being rich. Cole seemed to have an unspoken vendetta against rich people. Nelly thought it was jealousy at first, but she was starting to think otherwise. 

She frowned, slightly confused. "Did you say something, Nell?"

"No. If I had told you not to go talk to him, Liz, you would have thought I didn't want him with you. But the truth is, he's an asshole."

Liz couldn't hide her dismay. "I mean, he's a nobody! Did you see his cheap clothes? There was a f*****g rip in his shirt, but I brushed it aside and talked to him. Only for the asshole to say I'm not his type?" sneered Liz contemptuously. "He's right. I'm definitely not his type because he's beneath me. The only reason why I talked to him was because he had this tall, dark, and mysterious thing going on."

Harper couldn't hide the smile on her face or the chuckle that has bubbled up inside her. "Calm down, Liz. Here, have my tequila." She pushed her glass to her, and Liz snatched it up, gulping the drink down like a pro, then coughed a little. 

She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and stared ahead absently. "If I didn't have Matt, I would have been so humiliated." Her gaze dropped to her clenched hands.

Lucy blanched. "If you had Matt, then why did you try to talk to Cole?"

"Because Matt isn't here and a girl needs to be satisfied. It's been a month since I saw him. He probably changed after going to that stupid military camp his dad forced him to go."

"Is everyone in this town a cheater?" Lucy's face had taken on an annoyed expression, not so different from the one that was on Nelly and Harper's faces.

Nelly wasn't surprised one bit. "It's definitely a trend."

"Cheers to the loyal ones," Harper declared, raising her glass. 

"The only thing calming me down is knowing Tiffany isn't going to be allowed back in Conteou. It's about time karma slaps her in the face," she muttered, the anger that was in her voice seconds ago was completely gone, now replaced with delight. 

"Wait, what? How did we not know this?" Nelly asked, sharing surprised looks with Lucy and Harper. Both girls shrugged their shoulders, confirming they knew nothing about this. 

"Cause it happened this morning. She was speeding and rammed her car into another car. Instead of apologizing, Tiffany started being Tiffany and began being rude to the woman," Liz described the details as if she had memorized it. "Turns out the woman got her license plate, and she must have gotten Tiffany's info. Next thing you know, two guys came over to her house and seized her VIP card."

"Holy shit."

"But, how did the woman do it? She must be somebody to do that." Harper glanced at Liz to receive her verifying nod. 

"She is," she answered in the soft, reproving voice. "Turns out that she's the owner's fiancée, so even Tiffany's dad won't be able to get back her membership. I can't wait to rub it in her face when I see her."

A pleased cackle came from Lucy and she turned to Liz with a victorious smirk. "Wish that happened to Jenny."

"No, Jenny's my closest friend."

"That's why I keep feeling so sorry for you, Liz," Nelly stated flatly. 

"You guys need to keep your enmity on hold cause I'm throwing a small intimate dinner in two days. No boys allowed, and of course, Lucy, you're always welcome. You're an elite who is not an elite."

"Gee, thanks, Liz."

"You need to hold off that dinner," a voice erupted from behind before he came into their view. He was handsome, with his messy brown hair and emerald green eyes. 

"Anyone ever told you eavesdropping on girl's conversations is just rude, Cade?" Liz said, rolling her eyes. "And why would I hold off my dinner? I throw it every year."

Caden had a flirty smile on his face. "Because we are going to Jared's family vacation house for the weekends. It's going to be epic, girls. Would you rather be stuck in a boring party Liz is throwing or have a blast with us boys?" He looked like he wanted to laugh when both Lucy and Harper shook their head while Liz glared at him. 

"Gotta join the winning side. Sorry, Liz," Harper said without a trace of apology in her voice, rather, she sounded as excited as everyone was. 

"We are all going. How many people would be going?" Nelly asked eagerly. Everyone knew Jared's family vacation house was huge. It was built in the mountains, surrounded by nature. Going there for the weekends was a perfect idea and she couldn't wait. 

"Err, probably fifty, I guess? You would know the full details tomorrow. Just have your bags ready."

"I can't–" Nelly stopped mid-sentence when her eyes zeroed on Freddie talking to Lyle. The scene did not look good because Freddie looked furious and Lyle was trying to hold off from punching him. A few of the guys were trying to get a few words in, but the two of them seemed to be having a heated conversation. 

Nelly didn't stop to wonder before she was leaving her seat and walking over to them, her heart hammering in her chest, especially when she saw Cole leaning against the wall with a hidden smile on his face. She didn't spare him a glance, not having the time for his bullshit. 

"What's going on?" she demanded, looking between Lyle and Freddie. In any day or time, Freddie would beat the s**t out of Lyle because he was much stronger and bigger than him, not that Lyle wouldn't be able to defend himself. He could try and get a few punches in, but it would be Freddie who would be left standing. 

Freddie's amber eyes fell on me and he narrowed his eyes at her. "You tell me, Nell."

She frowned in confusion, then whirled her head to look at Lyle, but he wasn't looking at her. She knew instantly that they knew about Maria. But why would Lyle tell them when he promised?

"Lyle..." she trailed off with clenched jaw. 

"What the hell, Nell? Maria was here and you didn't say s**t?"

Nelly gritted her teeth, her eyes still locked on Lyle. "She's not here anymore," she replied to the guy who had spoken, then shifted her glance to Freddie. "I didn't want to say anything because I knew how badly you'd all react to this."

"Like hell we deserve to be mad!" Freddie fumed. "You kept this from us and secretly got Lyle to help her escape."

"I don't care what you think, Freddie. I did it for Max, not you. You can be mad that she's not here, but don't you dare put this ridiculous blame on me. If you want to take revenge, you know where to find her."

Dean stepped up beside Freddie. "You did it for Max, huh? Maybe you should have tried harder to make her stay away. Max knows she's here and he's all f****d up now. Nate and Kyle are trying to calm him down." He sounded annoyed and frustrated. 

Nelly stared at them in disbelief. "What? So, this is my fault? What the hell? I kept her far away from him. Lyle and I got her out of town and she won't come back again. If anything, I deserve a thank you." She crossed her arms and glared up at them. "The whole point of secretly getting her out was so that none of you would come to know about it!"

Freddie rolled his eyes. "Well, you did a terrible job at it."

"I didn't!" She pushed the urge not to scream, flashing a dark look towards Lyle. "Lyle is the one who told you and he wasn't supposed to tell anyone."

"I didn't tell anyone!" Lyle cried. "I don't f*****g know how Freddie knows about it. Who told you?"

"Cole was the one who saw you. He said he was worried you may have gotten yourselves into some s**t and could have needed help. So, I confronted Lyle and he didn't deny it."

A look of anger and disbelief crossed over Nelly's face, and she turned her head to stare at a smirking Cole, and all she wanted to do was grab him by the neck and punch him in the face. The little s**t lied to her. He made her believe he was going to keep it a secret. Why did she trust him in the first place? This was partly her fault too. Had she known he was going to do this, she would have told the guys herself. 

"How can she even come back?" Liz asked in amazement. "What did she tell you, Nell?"

"She wants to apologize for what she did."

"Apologize?" Caden hissed. "It's because of her Ben had to move and he still hasn't recovered. His parents won't allow us to see him."

Dean asked Lyle, "What did you do to her?" 

"Put her in the bus back home and threatened to burn down her house with her in it if she sets foot here again. I think it was well-received."

It was Harper who raised her brows. "Are you sure? Maria is a tough b***h who wouldn't easily be frightened by that. Are you sure she didn't fool you?"

Lyle turned his gaze directly to Harper and spoke dangerously slow and precisely, "I made my threat very clear, Harper. I'm no fool. I hung out with Maria last year and I was the only one she didn't f**k with."

"That's cause she may be a little in love with you, bro," Freddie directed with a laugh. "Finally someone wants you and she's a psycho." 

"f**k off, man."

Nelly found Cole's eyes again and he stared challengingly at her before he moved off the wall and strode away from them, heading upstairs. He looked back at her as he walked up the steps and smirked, turning around again. 

Hot anger exploded inside of her. She couldn't remember moving but she found herself walking upstairs, then halted in front of an open door. Her eyes trailed on it but didn't ponder on it further because she knew he had deliberately left the door open for her. 

And she was right. 

Cole was leaning against a table with crossed arms and ankles. He gave Nelly a rude once over and even dressed and everything, he made her felt n***d. He made her skin crawl. She hated that, and the dislike for him kept growing every second. 

"What's the matter, baby? You look a little red." He stepped forward, and she knew he meant to intimidate her with his height and built. Collins Cross seemed to be a guy who would use his physicality as a weapon. 

Her hands curled into fists as her lips parted open to let the hot air escaped from them.

He took another step until they were so close each breath they took made their bodies rub against each other. Carefully, he lifted his hand to brush aside her stubborn strand, only for Nelly to swat his hand away as if he was an infectious disease, earning a rumbling chuckle from him. 

"That was a crazy s**t show out there," he said with another chuckle. "Thought you weren't going to make it."

"I told you it wasn't about me, so why did you have to do that?" she bit out, pissed that she could even trust he would keep his word despite knowing it had nothing to do with her, but he clearly hated her so much that he didn't mind hurting his friends to get to her. 

"Yeah, figured I should making everything about you," he returned ominously. 

"And you wouldn't mind hurting anyone to get to me, right?"

"Sounds like me, yeah?" He looked down with disdain at her pale pink shirt, lifting his hand to brush his knuckles against her n****e. She took a sharp intake of breath, mouth-drying up at the tingles that started dancing in other places. At the sound, his amusement fired up and humiliation covered her entire face when he saw the peak that had formed under her top. 

Nelly tried to take several steps back so her body wouldn't continue to fire up every nerve, but Cole reacted in time, grabbing her arm and pulling her flushed against him. He leaned in close, his lips inches from her ears. 

"I'm going to break your spirit so bad that you'll be crawling away." His hot breath skated down her neck and it took every ounce of willpower not to shiver. "Accept defeat right now and I will completely forget about you, Nelly. I will have mercy on you."

"Let me go," she said coldly, stomping down the urge to shiver again. His fingers tightened on her arm a moment before he pushed back from her. Nelly stumble backward, catching herself. "Take your mercy and shove it up your a*s. I admit I was stupid enough to trust you, a mistake that will never happen again." Her chin lifted, she fired her eyes at him. "This is my town, and I will be the one to make you crawl back to where you came from."

A sly grin covered her mouth and folded her arms. "And don't bother trying to use my friends against me. They will always be by my side, and you will always be the outsider. They might have dragged you into their little club, but at the end of the day, they will throw you out like trash if you keep on with your silly games with me." Her tone, amazingly, had softened. "I'm giving you a chance not to embarrass yourself, Collins."

That, Nelly, was sure. Cole had no power over her or less of friends, and despite the shakes and bumps in their friendship now, it didn't mean they wouldn't throw themselves in front of her or cut ties with Cole, and not even stupid Kyle would say anything about it.

Cole's smile widened. "I can't wait." And then he was sweeping past her to walk out of the door. Before he could set one foot out, she heard him turned. "Oh, Nelly, I hope you're coming to Jared's. "I just can't have you slipping past me." Then he was gone.