Diamond in the Dust (Lost Kings MC 18)

We took full advantage of the lack of supervision.

Music pounded through the woods from the house’s sound system. Ashley had pulled her parents expensive speakers onto the wrap-around deck and pointed them toward the party.

A bonfire complimented the floodlights from the house. The wind carried the scent of burning pine.

Jensen was off sulking at the edge of the woods. While he’d stopped with the Bible quotes since moving in with us, the darkness around him was deeper than ever. I’d dragged him to the party hoping some beer and female attention would pull him out of his mood.

So far the only thing he’d shown interest in was learning to box and draw blood from the punks who mistook his silence for weakness. At least he kept the knives out of the ring.

“Why is he here again?” Ashley settled her jealous eyes on Jensen.

“I invited him.”

She rolled her eyes. “I know, but why? He lives at your house. You guys hang out all the time.”

The second we became an “official” couple, Ashley made it clear she didn’t appreciate me focusing my attention on anything other than school, football, or her. Those first two weren’t set in stone.

“He’s my best friend.”

“Why does he live at your house, anyway?”

I shrugged like it was no big deal. “Just didn’t get along with his folks. Aunt Em was happy to have him with us.” That was as much info as she’d get from me. I may have been trying to convince myself I loved Ashley but I didn’t trust her with Jensen’s secrets.

I never should’ve trusted her with mine either.

“Ugh.” She rolled her eyes. “Your aunt is such a bleeding-heart sucker.”

“Watch your mouth.” I pushed Ashley out of my lap.

“I didn’t mean anything bad by it,” she said quickly. “It’s a good quality.”

Ignoring her, I settled my gaze on Jensen again. He glared at the party, his miserable expression never softening.

For fuck’s sake, all he had to do was crook a finger and the girls would’ve tripped over themselves to claim a seat in his lap. They were dying to unravel the mystery of the brooding outsider who’d shown up to our small school.

Since I’d arrived during middle school, I had time to fit in. I found a circle of friends through the football team. Even so, I was frequently reminded of my outsider status. Dating Ashley helped in that department.

“Ugh, look at Lucy trying to hook up with him,” Ashley groaned. “Jensen’s pretty hot. He can do so much better.”

I didn’t make a habit of judging the “hotness” of other guys but I could admit he’d developed into the strapping farm boy type most girls seemed to find appealing. His sullen expression and the jagged scar he now wore on his face didn’t scare them away. If anything it reeled them in faster.

I was the only one who knew how uncomfortable the attention made him, so most of the time I tried my best to shield him from it as much as possible without turning him into a target for bullies.

Except that night. I figured I’d let him fend for himself for a while. He needed to get comfortable hanging out with other people besides me. Girls interested him even if he didn’t know how to talk to them. Maybe getting laid would finally snap him out of his funk.

I glanced at my watch. We’d stay for another hour and if he was still looking like he wanted to cut someone’s throat, we’d leave.

Ashley leaned in and kissed me, redirecting my attention to her in the best way she knew how. She tasted like stale beer and bad life choices. But I kissed her anyway. After a few seconds, she pulled away, focusing on Jensen again.

“Hmm…I guess he is kinda cute in an angsty kind of way.”

If she was trying to make me jealous, it wasn’t working.

“Don’t let me tie you down, babe.” I sat up, pushing her off me again. “You wanna fuck my best friend, be my guest.”

“Logan!” She slapped my chest. “How can you say that? I don’t want to fuck him. I was thinking he’s totally Kayla’s type. Then we could all double date.”

I couldn’t imagine anything Jensen would want to do less than “double date” and I honestly wasn’t so eager myself. But he did have a few hang-ups about girls and Kayla had absolutely no inhibitions. Maybe they could mutually benefit each other.

“Yeah, all right. See if she’s interested.”

She grinned and clapped her hands in a way I found endearing. “I’ll text her right now.”

“Great.” Kayla was at the party, somewhere. I should probably warn Jensen about Ashley’s scheme so he wasn’t blindsided.

I leaned on my elbows and tipped my head back, catching his eye and waving for him to join us. He huffed and rolled his eyes, then finally picked his sorry ass off the log and ambled over.