Holding On To Heaven (Allendale Four 2)

“Look, dude,” Noah said. He lifted himself off the floor. “I’m sorry Heaven didn’t tell you what was going on with us. She’s like that; a liar and a whore. She was all over me and I did what I could to let her down easy but—”

The sound of Anderson’s fist shattering Noah’s cheek ricocheted through the room. Ruthie screamed while holding the blanket up to her chest and Samantha gasped, and I jumped on Anderson before he could do it again.

“Stop,” I told him. He pulled his elbow back, ready to go in again. I grabbed him by the crook of his arm. “Anderson!” He’d lose his scholarship. His spot on the team. His future. I shoved him back and moved in between them.

“Noah, dude, I don’t know who the fuck you are, but I do know Heaven. She is not a liar and she’s definitely not a whore. And yeah, she did tell us about why she was hanging out with you—something that had to do with your parents.”

Noah cradled his cheek. “Her dad is a petty con-man preacher trying to get my father to fund his program. My father told me it was never going to happen but to play along for my mother’s sake. She wanted me with a sweet little Christian girl—who better than a doe-eyed girl named Heaven?”

Anderson grunted behind me and I held out my hand.

“So what? She thought she was helping her dad?”

“She felt obligated and I played up to it. The girl is pretty naïve for growing up with a dad like that. But, yeah, I figured I could string her along for a while, get her to put out and then walk away.” He winced. “Unfortunately, she was a pain in the ass so I had to use some leverage to keep her around.”

“What kind of leverage?” I asked.

“I found the cache of photos of her from high school. You’re in them—both of you. And a bunch of other guys, too.”

“That was a set up. She was harassed all year,” Anderson said. Noah glanced at him warily.

“Yeah, well she didn’t want her dad to know about it. And she certainly didn’t want him to know she was still seeing you guys, and was willing to do what it took to keep that information safe. Or at least I thought so, until she bailed on me tonight, effectively calling off our deal.”

“And that’s when you fucked Ruthie.”

“Hey!” Ruthie said, feigning offense. “I was just trying to help a guy out. I didn’t know he was playing so many games.”

“What? Like you haven’t been playing them yourself?” Samantha asked. We all turned in surprise.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Ruthie sniffed.

“Heaven’s dad approached both of us about keeping tabs on her. He wanted any kind of evidence about her friends, her social life, her grades.”

“And you gave it to him?” I asked her, feeling disgusted.

“Hell no. It was weird and he’s a scary guy.” She nodded at her roommate. “Ruthie took the money, though.”

“Hell yeah I did.” She shrugged, making her red hair tumble down her shoulders. “I tried to make friends with her. And you guys for that matter. She was possessive and spoiled and I got sick of it.”

“That’s your excuse for betraying someone’s privacy?”

“That and the fact I like nice things.”

“You sold your roommate out because you ‘like nice things’? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” My rage was barely contained. “And you want to call my girl a whore? You’ve got no clue what it’s like to be someone like Heaven. She’s smart and kind. She’s kick-ass and sensitive. She struggles. Do you know that? She struggles every goddamn day of her life and the last thing she needs is a bitch like you dragging her down.”

“How dare you—”

“No,” Amber said, suddenly appearing in the door. “I’ll take it from here, Jax.” She stepped closer to Ruthie. “You don’t get to defend yourself. You get to shut the hell up. Take your blood money and get the hell out of here, because if I ever see your face again I will scratch your eyes out.”

Ruthi whimpered but shut her mouth, sinking back on the bed.

I looked away from the shitshow surrounding us and faced Anderson. “We need to find her.”

He nodded. “I think I know how.”

“Will you stay here in case she comes back?” I asked Amber.

“Yes, and I’ll throw out the trash while I wait.”