The Help (Kings of Linwood Academy 1)

“Must be nice,” Mr. Black mutters with a chuckle, and she turns to him.

“Oh, Lincoln’s a good kid too!”

“He is, he is. Just… headstrong.” He shakes his head in bemusement as he brings his drink back to the couch, taking a seat next to Mom.

Huh. I didn’t know they were getting that close.

Then again, Mom’s personable with just about everyone she

meets. I swear, she could become best friends with a rock. That look I saw him giving her skeeved me out a little, although it’s nothing new; my mom’s a smokin’ hottie, and she doesn’t even know it. I catch guys checking her out all the time.

“I’ll knock when I get back,” I tell her, then cast my gaze between the two of them. “Uh, have fun.”

“We will! Samuel is going to Arizona on a business trip in a few months, so I’m giving him the inside scoop.” She grins.

Oh, whew. That explains the conversation. Although neither my mom nor I are the best people to ask about what to see and do in Arizona. We mostly kept our heads down, trying to survive.

But I don’t steal her thunder, leaving them to it as I head for the main entrance. I cut west toward the second garage and slip into the newly cleaned and repaired car. Instead of garbage, it smells strongly of lemon cleaner—but I guess that’s the better of the two options.

The party is at a house as big as Lincoln’s, and it looks like at least half the school came. I wend my way through the bodies, nodding to a few people I recognize. I’m looking for the drinks, because even though people aren’t all being assholes to me anymore, I don’t exactly have any tight friends at this school yet. I text Hunter pretty much every day, but we can’t be each other’s wing-women at parties from thousands of miles away.

Therefore, drinks.

I find the kitchen and grab the first thing I see—a fancy looking beer with a name I can’t pronounce. It tastes good though, dark, sweet, and heavy.

Clutching it like a lifeline, I move back through the crowd until I spot a group of kids I know from my Business and Economics class.

I’m heading their way when I catch sight of River. He’s standing near the curved staircase that leads to the second floor, his back to the wall. Lincoln, Dax, and Chase are nearby, embroiled in a deep discussion. But I quickly realize that what drew my attention was the flash of white-blonde hair as Iris approached him. She’s obviously a few drinks deep already, because she wobbles slightly as she drapes her arms around his neck, smiling seductively up at him.

Ugh.

I grimace. Just two days ago, she and Savannah had another blowout in the girls’ locker room over Trent. They both want him, seeing as he’s the fucking football captain, and they keep lying and backstabbing each other as they try to stake their claim on him. But apparently, that won’t stop Iris from sniffing around elsewhere too.

The sight of her grinding up on River bothers me for some reason, although I’m not quite sure why. But he doesn’t seem interested at all. She doesn’t stop when he fails to respond to her advances though, standing on her tiptoes to try to stick her tongue in his ear.

He jerks sharply at that and finally pushes her away. I can’t hear what he says over the noise of the music and the crowd, but it’s obviously a rejection.

That penetrates her drunk skull, and she blinks at him in shock for a second. Then she shoves against his chest, her voice rising to a yell that cuts through the surrounding noise. “Fuck you, River Bettencourt! You think I’m not good enough for you? Is that what you think?”

He shakes his head and mutters something to her as his three friends turn in their direction.

“Any guy at this school would be lucky to hook up with me, you asshole! You think you’re so much better than me?” She’s drunker than I thought, her voice slurring a little as she yells. “I shouldn’t have even bothered going after a loser like you!” A sneer curves her lips. “It would’ve been a pity fuck, and you know it. Why would any girl want someone defective like you?”

The last words are almost a hiss, but then she screeches as she’s physically hauled away from him. Dax releases her so fast she stumbles in her heels and almost goes down on her ass, but she flings her arms out to steady herself as all three of the guys converge around River, facing off against Iris. Savannah rushes forward to grab the elbow of her on-again, off-again friend, glaring at the four boys, who glare right back.

Holy shit. They’re fucking pissed.

When Lincoln stood up for me in the cafeteria, there was an air of bored nonchalance in his challenge of Savannah. But now, I swear he’s practically growling.

“Back the fuck off, Iris. You’re wasted.”

“Doesn’t mean I don’t know the truth,” she slurs. “Maybe the whole school should know—”

This time it’s Chase who steps up. I don’t hear what he says, but whatever it is, it makes Iris blanch. Her eyes spit daggers at all of them, but she and Savannah turn on their heels and stalk off—the effect only slightly ruined by her unsteady gait.

Lincoln turns to face River, saying something I can’t hear. The brown-haired boy nods, his jaw tight. The other three kings go back to their discussion, keeping an eye on the party-goers around them, as Rivers disappears down a hallway toward the back of the house.

Savannah and Iris settle into a corner to lick their wounds, and I find myself diverting from my original course. Instead, I slip down another hallway and make my way to the back, stepping out onto a wide terrace.