They The Pretty Stars (Court High 1)

“What’s all this?” I asked, blinking wide, and LJ passed me a look like it was obvious.

“We heard you had a dog,” he said, pushing his thumb toward the haul. “We’re hooking you up.”

When I said nothing, Jax threw an arm across my shoulders again. He grinned. “She’s speechless, guys.”

What gave it away?

Shaking my head, my lips parted. “Uh, where did it all come from?”

“Windsor House has like twenty dogs running around this place at any given time,” LJ said, coming around and slapping one of the bags. “Puppies included. You should be good to go for a while.”

I circulated the haul, blown away. I placed a hand on my head. “Um, wow. Thanks, guys.”

“This is Royal’s doing.” Knight had hands on the truck bed, not looking too pleased by the fact. He folded big arms. “Just don’t come back looking for more. This is a onetime thing.”

His grunt got him a nudge from Jax and a look from LJ. For whatever reason, Knight didn’t want to be a part of this crusade, and the man behind it had me looking back at Windsor House. This had been Royal’s doing?

What the fuck?

“Come on. We don’t want to be late for work,” LJ said, gesturing to his truck. It was a nice one, newer but definitely leagues away from what the other people seemed to drive around this town. He obviously had a different background than the other boys, like he mentioned at Windsor House.

I got inside, strapping myself in. Knight and Jax tapped us off with a pat to the truck bed, and LJ started the truck.

“By the way,” LJ said, putting the truck into gear. He threw an arm over the steering wheel. “Royal said this is only the prelude to your deal.”

Twelve

The Past - one year ago

I snapped out the beach blanket over the sand, adjusting it. I’d just evened it out when my sister ripped it off the sand, then proceeded to use it as a cape as she ran down the beach.

“Hey!” I squealed, hopping to my feet. I started to run after her, but froze as she charged down to the shoreline. In her polka-dot bikini, my sister dangled my red towel over the water, and my eyes widened. “Paige, no!”

She dropped it in, sticking her tongue out at me, and I saw red. That was my only towel, and I immediately raced down the shore after her.

“What you going to do about it?” she teased, splashing me, and I dove, grabbing her and taking her with me. I dunked her with the determination of a little sibling getting revenge on her big sibling. Of course, this was futile. More skilled in the water and basically at any sport, Paige turned the tables, dunking me and inadvertently giving me a belly full of ocean water.

We splashed around, the two of us pretty evenly matched, and something happened while each of us attempted to drown the other…

I smiled and with so much laughter to the point that it hurt. I forgot about the stupid towel, and she forgot about playing a trick on me. We forgot it all, nothing else mattering.

Thank God.

I never would have thought it’d be this way, never in a million years. Over two years ago, my sister couldn’t even get me out of the house, and when I finally did come out, she or anyone else had been even more hard-pressed to keep a bottle out of my hands. I’d gone down a pretty dark road after my abortion, parties and losing myself to vices. It took a while. It took a lot of time, but eventually I found myself again. I was taking care of myself, and now I was laughing and smiling on the beach. I’d done what my sister said I’d do all those years ago, all of this completely wild.

After our splash fest, Paige and I tired ourselves out, coming back onto the shore, and the moment Paige reached for her dry towel I cut her off.

“Uh-uh. You owe me,” I said, whipping out my hand. Laughing, she tossed it to me, shaking out her hair to air-dry it. Short, she could do that, taking her turn with the towel last. In the end, we laid it out and both lay on top of it. She rested belly down, chin on her laced fingers, and I lay beside her on my back.

She nudged me. “I’m so proud of you, Em.” She didn’t say for what, but she didn’t have to. I’d done a lot of growing these past couple years, both caring about what I put into my body as well as seeing myself in a new light. I didn’t need a boy to see me a certain way. I was a badass all by myself, and I didn’t need anyone’s justification but my own. My new sense of self-worth only grew when Dean ended up transferring schools. There’d been pressure after rumors circulated he’d cheated on his final exams last year. I didn’t know what I saw in him, but what was in the past was in the past. I’d never be able to go back to who I was before him, but

that was okay. I was okay for the first time.

“You’re going to be smiling.”

I did, laying my head on my sister’s shoulder. Turning, I opened a book, and she read with me, something we liked to do when going to the beach. We’d been a few times this summer since she came to stay with me before the start of our junior years. It’d been an awesome summer, the best, and even things with our dad settled down for her. She didn’t fly to LA to see me as much like she did only a year or so ago. We both were growing, no longer running.

Paige turned the book page for me, and when she did, a Frisbee caught in front of our path. It nearly clipped the book, and we turned to see a girl running down the beach in a string bikini.