When We're Alone

Chapter twenty-seven

STONE

“Stone,”Masonshoutsfrom behind me. “Fucking hell,” he sighs when he catches up with me and Reid by the cars at the end of the day.

“What?”

“Ava—”

“Is she okay?” I have to know instantly, and the words are out before I realise.

“Yeah, she’s fine, but she’s not happy.”

“Why should I care?” Even as I say it, the relief is palpable that there’s nothing wrong with her.

“What happened?” Reid asks, ignoring me. I know pushing her away again is hard on them, they adore her, but it’s nothing compared to the chasm in my chest. I hate that it has to be this way, but it does.

“I caught Winnie and her lot trapping her in a closet playing storm sounds.” He winces.

“What? How would they know about that?”

Mason holds his hand out, showing us his phone that he’d lost earlier. “They saw our texts,” he says, looking at me. Our texts from the last morning I was happy, in Ava’s bed, letting Mason know she was fine before I joined her in the shower and buried myself inside her. At that thought my dick twitches and my heart thuds, a bizarre mix of feelings inside me.

“How was she?” Reid asks, and I’m glad he’s here because I get the information without having to break my pretence of indifference. Not that I need to bother with these two, but it helps to keep my distance if I pretend I don’t care the whole time. Although, maybe the whole “storm phobia” was just a ploy to get me into her bed anyway. Not that I think that for a second, but convincing myself of it is worth a go.

“She seemed fine, just really fucking angry. She obviously thinks we told them,” Mason replies, and the sadness in his voice is palpable. I can’t deal with this.

“So?”

“Stone, come on. Even I can see this is pushing her too far away. Soon you won’t be able to come back from it.”

“Good. She needs to be as far away as possible. She’s nothing to me. She belongs to Lewis.” They know I’m completely full of shit, but before they can call me on it, I get into my car and drive off. The idea that she might think I’d do that to her is harder to swallow than I’d thought. Spill her secret? Never. But maybe it’s a good thing. Once again, my self-control wavers, so she can have enough hate for the both of us.

She doesn’t come home straight from school, and I wonder where she’s hiding all this time. Cole’s or Millie’s? Both? My anger for Cole has disappeared since Friday, and I wonder why she played along with the idea she was fucking him. Maybe she was winding meup as revenge for spreading the “slut” nickname. I deserve it if she was.

It’s Friday morning, and Dad is in the kitchen as I come down ready for school.

“Hey, Dad, you’re back early.”

“Yeah, we caught a red-eye. You look tired,” he says with a frown, but I shrug it off. That’s what happens when you’d rather watch someone else sleep than get a few hours yourself.

“Lewis is coming for dinner tonight,” Dad says to me, just as Veronica enters with a smile.

“Excellent,” I deadpan.

“I think he wants to start plans for the wedding.” My heart freezes. Of course he doesn’t want to waste any more time before he officially gets Ava.

“Why do they even need it anymore? Her Dad is dead.” Ava’s mum flinches, and I feel bad. “Sorry,” I mumble.

“Don’t be glib,” Dad warns me. “They’ve both decided to still go ahead to cement the businesses.”

“Maybe she wants to honour his wishes,” her mum offers, but I can tell she’s not sold.

“Whatever, it’s sickening.”

“It’s not up to us to judge,” she says quietly, but it sounds a lot like she is.

When I get to school, I am more than ready for this week to be over. It’s only been a week since I had Ava in my arms, had her tight around my cock, but it feels like five lifetimes, and my bad mood is intensifying day by day. Heading to my locker, I see white paper littering everywhere, and I rip one off a pillar. Great. They’re recycling those fucking photos again. Even knowing they’re not actually her doesn’t seem to calm me this time, but there’s nothing I can do. Coming around the corner, I end up behind Ava with Winnie facing her, just catching what Ava says.

“Did you not get in trouble last time you used these without Stone’s permission?” Winnie spots me and raises her eyebrows, shock and apprehension in her eyes as Ava spins to see me. My eyes immediately zero in on a mark on her jaw, and she brings her hair forward awkwardly to cover it. Is that a fucking love bite? She came home last night, but that didn’t mean she’d been innocent all evening, clearly. Who the fuck is that from?

“She had my permission,” I say. Completely untrue, but I need to control this right now. Ava’s eyes darken with fury and she steps towards me, lowering her voice just for me.

“Isn’t it ironic that you make them bully me for being a slut when the last person I slept with is you? Should we tell them that you fucked the Highland slut?” The reminder of having Ava stretched out under me is not welcome right now.

“We both know that’s not true,” I say back to her, my anger matching her own. “Was that Lewis?” I nod towards the mark on her jaw. “Take you for another date, did he?”

“Friday wasn’t a date,” she says, her anger seeming to turn to confusion.

“No. I guess he doesn’t need to date you. You’re already whoring yourself out to him.” Her anger makes a quick return.

“Why are we always focusing on my sex life? The way you spread yourself around makes me really wish we used a condom.”

“What?”

“Winnie has made everyone very aware who you spent your weekend with.”

Fucking bitch, I didn’t go anywhere near her. I couldn’t even bring myself to fuck her on Friday night. Also, I’ve never in my life been with someone without using a condom, never got so caught up before that it didn’t cross my mind. Not until Ava.

“It’s nice to go back to someone more my type,” I say, and instantly regret it at the hurt in her eyes. I’m about to say something, I have no idea what, but my mouth is open when Winnie whines from behind Ava.

“Stone, get away from the dirty little slut. You’re going to catch something.”

I don’t like to take orders from fucking Winnie, but I feel my resolve cracking, and if I’m not careful, I’ll show everyone here exactly how I feel about my brother’s fiancé. I force myself out of Ava’s aura and step around her to stand next to Winnie, throwing an arm around her and hiding a cringe when she runs her hands over my chest. Ava watches me move, and with one last look of disgust, she walks off without another word. I immediately step away from Winnie so her hand drops and glare down at her. She takes a step away from me.

“What the fuck did I say about using me in the pranks? Those pictures need to disappear.”

“You’re the one who won the bet, and the one who started calling her slut in the first place. Why do you care?” She’s right, of course she is. I’ve always encouraged the hazing of Highland transfers, and I was the first to start the slut rumour at school. I don’t think anyone here even knows about Lewis apart from Mason and Reid. Winnie seems to get braver with my lack of an answer. “Did you see that bruise? She got that when she fell into the cupboard. She should try not to be so clumsy.” She giggles, and I see red. Winnie gave her that? It wasn’t a love bite.

“What would make you think it’s okay to steal Mason’s phone?” I growl at her. She tenses again, realising I’m not laughing along with her.

“I didn’t steal it. He left it on the bench. It’s not my fault his passcode is the same as his locker number. I just wanted to get something to embarrass him. He doesn’t respect the pecking order here, Stone. He’s not like us.” Her voice is so whiny it’s grating on my nerves.

“I don’t give a fuck about the pecking order. Reid and Mason are with me, so it’s irrelevant. Got that?”

“Don’t you think it’s something we should discuss? We’re like Jay-Z and Bey, Stone. The cream of the crop at this school. We should decide together.” She steps forward and brings her hands to my chest in an attempt to be persuasive, but I take a matching step back and her hands fall again.

“It’s been like this for two years, Winnie. Why do you care now?”

“He’s siding with Ava,” she spits. “He’s always sticking up for her like she isn’t Highland trash.”

“I don’t give a fuck if he decides Ava is the new president. Show Mason some fucking respect or you’re out of the Elite.” She whimpers. She knows I could make that happen, but for now, I’ve had enough of looking at her face. She and Caitlin are really starting to fuck me off. Basic bitches. As I walk away from her I try to picture Ava’s face to calm me down, but all I can see is that bruise, and the urge to turn back and throttle Winnie is strong. Not that I would ever hurt a girl, but god, I can’t believe she’s left a mark on Ava’s perfect face. And the fucked up thing is that I inadvertently caused that. If I didn’t have such a personal issue with Ava, I’m sure they would’ve gotten bored with her by now, but my constant taunting is prolonging it. Now apparently Mason being vocal about his like of her has him and Reid in the firing line too. What the fuck am I going to do?

I spend an hour before dinner in the gym, but nothing is working to expel all of this frustration inside me. Everything is fucked, and there’s very little I can do about it. One thing I can do, though, is call everyone at school off Ava. I’ll use Lewis as an excuse, which I hate, but it’ll have to do. I can stay away from her without having everyone against her. Heading into the dining room after I’ve washed and changed, I see Lewis hovering behind the seat he’s chosen next to where Ava sits.

“Stone,” he greets me with glee.

“What?” He chuckles at my tone.

“Always so het up. You really should get a girl to help you out with that. Mine works wonders.” The thought of him anywhere near Ava has all the anger I just expelled in the gym returning in a rush. “I can’t wait to get her under my roof.”

“When’s that?”

“Just need to iron out some details,” he says cryptically, but I need to know how long I get Ava here for.

“Like what? I thought the wedding was imminent.” He looks unsure at my questioning.

“It is.” Ava’s mum and my dad join us then and go through the greetings with Lewis. When we’re all sitting, still waiting for Ava, I need to know. I can’t drop it.

“When is it?”

“When’s what?” Lewis asks, looking shifty as fuck. What’s his problem?

“The wedding.” He glances at the door, where Ava should be appearing any minute.

“Not sure yet. Don’t bring it up with Ava, though. The planning is stressing her out.”

Since when were they actively planning? I’ve not heard Ava mention it once when she’s been chatting with her mum at dinner. I’ve not seen one thing around here that would indicate anyone was in the midst of planning a wedding. What the hell is going on?