Jaden (Jaded 3)

“That and this.” I waved my hand up and down at him. “If I’m Princess, then I’m just going to call you Superstar. How’s that? Or maybe Super Stud? Celebrity? What about Movie Stud? I like that one.”

“Har-har, Sheldon.” His voice trailed off as he descended the stairs. “Mock me if you want to, but I can tell when you’re still hot and bothered. Don’t deny it . . .”

He had moved farther inside the basement so it was just me left in the front entrance. Me, myself, and I. Denton’s words echoed in my head. ‘Don’t deny it.’ I groaned again. I wanted to deny it. I wanted to deny it so damn much.

That tingle was still with me, and an image of Bryce holding the side of my head at my door kept flashing in my mind at the same time.

Hell. Getting drunk wasn’t going to do it. I’d have to be drinking all night long, and with that thought, I headed to my room for a sweatshirt. I’d need it if we were going to be drinking until sun-up.

When I got back downstairs, Denton was sitting on one of the loungers by the pool. Stepping outside, the cool air hit me first. It was a fresh wave of oxygen and for a moment, I just stopped, closed my eyes, and breathed it in. It was dark out, but the moon was high above. Its reflection was mirrored in the pool. When I went over to sit in the lounger next to Denton, there was a wine bottle on the floor between them.

Chuckling softly, I sat and grabbed that thing. Hello. It was the good stuff. Denton always had the best of the best. When I finished taking a drink, Denton was watching me with an amused grin. I asked, still clutching the bottle, “What?”

He shook his head, still grinning. “Nothing.”

I held the bottle to him. “I see wine, and I grab. It’s as simple as that.” Waving it at him, I smirked back. “You should know this by now.”

“I do.” He reached down on the other side of his lounger and pulled up another bottle. “I brought red out for you. The white stuff is for me.”

“Oh.” Then I laughed. “You do know me.”

“Very well, Sheldon.” His tone turned soft, and he gazed back out over the pool.

We were alone in the backyard. I couldn’t say we were alone in privacy, I had a feeling someone was watching us from the house, but for right now, it was just the two of us by the pool. Speaking of that, I murmured, leaning back in the lounger and getting comfortable with the bottle, “What is your sister doing back here?”

I didn’t want to talk about the ankle monitor, or anything else regarding my current legal predicament. As I said that, a shiver went down my spine. I had a feeling one of those prying eyes was hers, watching from some window above us.

Denton let out a loud sigh. “I have no idea.” He looked down into the bottle, frowning. “She wants to start new, and she’s doing well. What kind of brother am I to turn her away?”

I straightened in my seat, sitting forward. This was a different Denton. Years earlier, he would’ve barked at me for asking that question. He was protective, too protective at times, but there’d been a reason. Mena was mental. True blue crazy. She needed meds. She needed supervision. She’d been in a residential program for a long time.

“Do I need to worry about Corrigan and Bryce?” He glanced up to me. Still frowning. I had a feeling Denton would be frowning from here on out. Mena had that effect on people.

“You know they don’t like her. I don’t think they ever will, and now that we’re all under the same roof . . .” I let that sentence hang between us for a minute. Truth be told, I had no idea what either of them would do. Bryce hated Mena with a passion in high school, and Corrigan seemed to feel the same now. I lifted a shoulder up, but I didn’t let it drop. I didn’t know if I should shrug this off or not. “I think they’re just protective of me.” And after a moment’s consideration, I added, “Really protective of me. If Mena doesn’t do anything, things will be fine.”

Denton grunted, stretching out his leg on the lounger. “Then I have no clue what to do. My sister’s asked about you a lot over the years. I know things ended weirdly with you two, but you reached out to her in high school. That’s stayed with her. I think over the years you became some kind of hero to her. She wants a friendship with you.”

I let out a deep sigh. “I liked Mena. Bryce and Corrigan didn’t, but I did. Then she turned crazy and . . .” I had to stop for a moment as the history crashed down on me. The last time I saw her had been at my party. She had screamed at Denton that night, “You didn’t want me to be friends with her because she was yours! You just didn’t want to share her.”

“Grace visited her.”

Denton looked over to me. He nodded. “She did. Mena always asked how you were doing through Grace.”

Another friend turned enemy. No, that’s not right either. She apologized. She’d been remorseful, but I refused to accept her apology. I had turned my back on her, then she was murdered. My eyes were becoming itchy so I wiped at them, saying, “Grace didn’t deserve what happened to her, whoever did kill her.”

“I know Grace got caught up in being accepted at college, but before that and even during that, she kept visiting Mena.”

“She did?” I knew she had gone before that. “She kept going? During the year?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Mena’s staff told me that they noticed my sister did better after those visits, too.”

“That’s good. Grace would’ve been happy hearing that.”

“She’s here for school.” His tone dipped down to a serious undertone. “I told her you were staying here when she asked to live with me, and she was okay with it. I told her about the whole group too, and she never hesitated so I really think she’ll be fine this time. She’s reassured me that she’s here for school and no drama.” There was a hesitation in his voice. “I hope that’s true.”

Remembering how it had hurt him the last time when he needed to send her away, I reached over and squeezed his hand. “She stood up to Bryce and Corrigan. We’re not the complete assholes we were in high school, but they were still harsh there. She held her ground. If she could handle them, I have no doubt she’ll be just fine at college.”

He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down, and he gave me a shaky grin. “That’s what I’m hoping for. I hope everything will be fine. Our parents are a joke. My dad’s always hated her. Our mom’s never had the time for her. She’s only got me.”