Without You (17 page)

“Libby said it’s not a problem to have it at their place,” Grace said as she read her text message from Libby.

I smiled, knowing that Will and I could sneak off to the clubhouse.

Luke smiled and then pointed to Grace and me. “We can have alcohol, but don’t let Lauren or Taylor drink.”

Grace and I each rolled our eyes.

“Taylor doesn’t drink, Luke. Anyway, they are going to be seniors, and you let Colt drink.”

“Colt is different.” Luke shrugged his shoulders.

Grace placed her hands on her hips. “No, he isn’t, Luke.”

“Doesn’t matter. They’re not drinking.” Luke turned and began walking out of the barn. “Will and I will take care of everything. See y’all later.”

I giggled as I watched Luke walk out of the barn. I turned and looked up at my baby boy. “I’m going to miss you so much, Banjo.”

Banjo jerked his head up and down and whinnied a bit.

Grace laughed. “That damn horse loves you so much.”

I looked over at Grace and smiled weakly. “Grace, you’re really not going to miss all of this?”

Her smile faded. “I don’t know. I think I’ll miss it. I’ll for sure miss working with the horses.” She looked away. “Mike wants to live in downtown Austin and become a lawyer like his dad.”

I hated even hearing his name. “Well, what does Grace want?”

She snapped her head back at me and then sat down on a hay bale. “I just want to go to college and get the next four years over with. I’m thinking I can come back here and visit anytime. With all the shopping, I’ll probably love living in Austin.”

She attempted to smile, but I could see sadness in her eyes. She’d said she wanted to leave Mason, but her eyes were saying something else.

“Grace, may I ask you something?”

She pulled her knees up and rested her chin on them. “Sure you can.”

“Why are you going out with Mike? You have to know that he is not the right guy for you. Grace, you’re so beautiful. You could get any guy you wanted.”

She closed her eyes and then opened them. “You don’t understand, Alex.”

“No, I don’t, Grace. He treats you like shit. I hear him and how he talks to you. Why do you put up with it? He tells you what to wear, for Christ’s sake. He never lets you talk, and he answers for you. I can’t stand that.”

She stood up and brushed the hay from her pants. “You don’t see how he treats me when we’re alone, Alex.”

I stood up and grabbed her arm. “No, I don’t, and I can’t imagine it is any better. Grace, why are you staying with him? Why? He is cheating on you!”

The tears began rolling down her face. “I have to, Alex.”

I shook my head. “What do you mean, you have to?”

She sat down and began crying.

I sat next to her and put my arm around her. “Grace, talk to me.”

She began crying harder as she turned toward me and buried her face in my chest. I sat there and let her cry.

When she finally settled down, she pulled back and wiped her face quickly. “Mike wasn’t always a dick. At first, he was so sweet. I mean, he really knew how to talk me into things. One night, he talked me into…finally having sex with him.”

I let out a gasp. I had no idea that Grace wasn’t a virgin anymore. “Grace, did you want to do that with him?”

She nodded her head. “Yes, I thought he was the one. The whole time though, I had this feeling that I was making the biggest mistake of my life. Every time we were together, it felt…wrong. I guess it felt wrong for him, too, because that was when he started acting different. He’s never hit me or even raised his hand to me, but he…”

She attempted not to cry again. “He just treats me different, and it got worse after his parents told him how much they liked me. With my grandparents having so much pull at UT, they thought him dating me would help him there. His mom and dad love me, and so do his grandparents. He told me one night that he couldn’t break up with me now because his parents said I was his ticket to UT, so he couldn’t screw this up, like he does everything else. Plus, if we keep dating, he thinks they’ll stay off his back about shit.”

I pulled back and said, “What? Grace, my God. Why do you stay?”

She wiped a tear away. “I told him I didn’t give a shit about what he wanted. I was done. He, um…he said I would do what he wanted because he has…oh God.”

“What? What? He has what?”

She looked at me, and the sadness in her eyes about killed me. “He has a video of us having sex in his barn. He said he would show my mom and dad if I broke up with him.”

My mouth dropped open as I stared at her. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. “Are you sure he has a video?”

She nodded her head. “I’ve seen it. He had his brother record us. He set me up.”

“Wait—I don’t understand. Grace, there has to be another reason he wants to keep dating you, not just to keep his parents off his back. And what do your grandparents, Sue and Mark, have to do with anything?”

She looked down and slowly nodded her head. “My grandfather works for the biggest law firm in Austin, Alex. He sits on some board at UT, and he is pretty powerful. He’s already talked to Mike about interning at his law firm. Mike’s parents were beyond happy, and so was Mike. He’s just using me, Alex. If I break up with him, he doesn’t get to intern at Grandpa’s law firm.”

She stood up and started pacing. “It’s all so messed up. I have to stay with him because the bastard recorded us fucking. I hate him so much, Alex. I can’t even stand to be around him, and I’m not sure I can keep pretending like this. It’s slowly killing me.”

“I thought you were going to UT just because he was going. You always talked about going to A&M, Grace, but then everything changed.”

She turned and looked at me with tears rolling down her face. “I never want my father to see that video, Alex. It would kill him. I can’t do that to my parents.”

“So, you’ll give up what you want to help this bastard?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I have no other options.”

An idea popped into my head. A few weeks ago, I’d seen Mike flirting with Maegan when she was a bit tipsy.

“The hell we don’t.” I pulled out my phone and hit a number. “Maegan? I need you to dress slutty tonight. Yep. Show the girls like you’ve never shown them before. Make sure your phone battery is fully charged, too. I’ll explain when you get to Libby and Will’s.”

I hit End and looked at Grace. She looked confused.

“Tonight, you get your damn life back. Nobody messes with my best friend.”

I sat on the back of my tailgate, watching the girls all dance.

Colt walked over, jumped up, and sat down next to me. “Um…why is Maegan sluttin’ it up tonight?”

I let out a laugh as I tipped my water back. I wasn’t planning on drinking even though we were at my place. I was going to take Lex back to the clubhouse later.

“I have no clue. Lex said they were all on a mission tonight. Something to do with Mike Clark.”

Colt made a grunt sound. “I really don’t like that guy.”

He went to take a drink but stopped. He was staring off to the side, so I followed his eyes.

Lauren was standing there, talking to Luke and Bryan Wilson.

“Why’s Lauren talking to Bryan Wilson?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “How do you know she’s not talking to Luke, and Bryan’s just standing there?”

Colt slowly looked at me. “Because she’s looking right at Bryan and smiling at him. That leads me to believe she’s talking to him.”

I just stared at him. “Why don’t you go find out?”

He looked away and took a drink. “Nah, I don’t care that much.”

I raised one eyebrow and stared at him. He wasn’t paying attention to me, so I just sighed and brought my attention back to Lex and the girls.

Luke came walking up and yelled out, “William Fuckin’ Hayes! Dude, this year, we are gonna be at fuckin’ A&M together. You and me as roommates! We’re gonna raise hell.”

I smiled as I watched a drunk Luke make an ass out of himself yet again. “Luke, you probably need to slow down.”

He waved his hand at me and made a face. “Bushshit. I’m fine.”

Colt started laughing. “Bushshit? Luke, watch out. That drop-off goes right to the river.”

Luke grinned at Colt and pointed to him. “Colt, my dad said you play football like your daddy. Said colleges are gonna be watching you this year, so don’t fuck it up, Colt. Don’t be partying and screwing around with girls. You study, little buddy.” He grabbed Colt and began hugging him. He rubbed his hand on top of Colt’s head. “Dude, you’re good-looking. I gets it. Girls throw themselves at you. Don’t do it…look at me.”

Luke was attempting to force Colt to look him in the eyes while Colt was attempting to push Luke away.

“Jesus, Luke. You make a terrible drunk. Your ass is going to fall in the water if you don’t watch it. I’m not gonna mess anything up. I know what I want, and I want to play football for A&M. End of story.”

Luke dropped his hands. “Yes, that’s what I’m talking ’bout. A guy who knows what the hell he wants.”

That was when it happened. I saw Libby walking up. She went to move around Luke to avoid him, and he quickly turned to look over the small bank. In the process of doing that, he ran right into Libby, who took a few steps back and began losing her balance.

I quickly jumped down to try to grab her before she fell over the edge, but Luke was in between us. Instead of helping her, he pushed her more by mistake. Libby screamed and grabbed on to Luke’s T-shirt, pulling him right into the river with her.

“Shit.” I looked at both of them in the water.

Libby was screaming as Luke was laughing his ass off.

“Lib, here, take my hand,” I said.

Colt attempted to help Luke up.

“Nice going, you drunken fool,” Libby said. “I have to go back now and change.” She glared at Luke.

“I have a change of clothes in the clubhouse, Lib, if you want to go there,” Lex said.

“Luke, I’ve got a pair of jeans and a T-shirt there, too,” I said.

Colt started laughing. “Libby, you can take my truck, so y’all can change.”

Libby looked at Luke and shook her head. “Fine.”

Colt handed her the keys, and she began walking to his truck.

Luke followed behind her. “Libby…Libby…shit, don’t run so fast. Everything is spinning.”

Libby stopped and looked back at Luke. “Oh my gosh.” She walked up to him and took him by the arm to lead him to Colt’s truck. She opened the passenger door and pushed him in, causing him to hit his head.

“Who the hell just hit me on the head?” Luke called out.

I looked at Colt, and we both started laughing.

“Maybe you should go help her.” I looked back at Libby getting into Colt’s truck.

“Hell no. Those two need to get their shit together. The more time they spend alone, the better.” Colt turned and walked away.

I watched my sister drive off with my drunk best friend. “I’ll kill him if he tries something,” I mumbled.

Lex walked up to me and tapped my shoulder. “I need your help.”

I smiled. “Okay.”

I followed Lex as we moved farther away from everyone. “Lex, where are we—”

“Shh!”

I closed my mouth and followed in silence. After Lex pushed our way through some brush, I saw an opening.

“Okay. She hasn’t brought him here yet.”

Lex began peeking through the trees and brush.

“Who? What are you talking about?” I asked as I tried to see what she was looking at.

“Maegan. I need you to record what happens between Maegan and Mike.”

“Wait—what?”

She turned and looked at me. “Will, aren’t you listening?”

“Um…I thought I was.”

She knocked her hip out some as she put her hand on it, and my dick jumped. She was so damn cute when she was frustrated.

“Maegan and Mike. Record them when they get here.”

“Why?”

She sighed. “We are trying to get him to admit something, and we need it on video.”

“Again, why?”

“So, Grace can be rid of this asshole.”

“Does Grace want to break up with Mike?”

“Yes!”

I stood there, confused as hell. “Why doesn’t she then?”

Lex began shaking her head. “William Hayes, if you stop talking and just film, I’ll give you a blow job tonight.”

Instantly, my dick was painfully rock-hard. “Officially shutting up.”

She smiled and nodded her head. “Now, what I’m about to do means nothing. Please remember that, okay?”

“Okay. What are you going to do?”

Lex looked at me and raised an eyebrow. “Will, blow job, remember?”

“Right.”

“I love you. Here’s Maegan’s phone. It’s fully charged. As soon as they get here, hit record. ”

I let out a laugh. “Okay, got it.”

I watched as Lex pushed her way back through the brush.

I stood there, just looking around. “What in the hell is going on?”

Then, I heard voices. I tapped Maegan’s phone and got the video ready.

Maegan came rushing through the trees and stopped close to where I was. I was hidden, but if she stood too close, she or Mike might see me. Then, she did something unexpected. She pulled her shirt and bra down, exposing her breasts.

Yeah, no way Mike will see me now.