Good Boy by Megan Lowe
Chapter 25
What is now our group is sitting at our normal lunch table when Jase comes over.
“C-can I s-sit with y-you g-guys?” he stammers.
I pat the bench beside me. “You know you’re always welcome,” I tell him. “But why now?”
He wipes at his nose. “Nothing. I-I just f-felt l-like s-sitting here.”
Chloe flashes him a dazzling smile. “We always welcome good-looking guys to come and sit with us.”
“He’s underage,” I remind her. “And not even close to your type.”
She pokes her tongue out at me. “I was trying to be nice.”
“T-thanks, Chloe,” Jase stammers, although I think this is more from embarrassment than whatever trauma forced him here.
“You’re welcome, sweetie.”
“Now, are you going to tell me why you’re here?” I ask.
He sighs. “It’s nothing.”
“Yet, I’ve invited you to sit here a ton of times and you’ve always said things aren’t that bad, which leads me to think they must be if you’re here.”
“Can’t you just leave it?” he asks.
“No.”
“I don’t know if you’ve met your brother,” Chloe says, “but once he gets an idea in his head, he doesn’t drop it.”
“I really do hate you,” he tells me.
“One of these days you’ll realize it all comes from a place of love.”
He sighs again. “I’m having trouble with one of the guys in my gym class. It’s no big deal, I just don’t feel like dealing with it today, so I thought I’d take you up on the offer.”
“Who’s the guy?” I ask.
“Please don’t make it worse.”
I hold my hands up. “Would I do that?”
He stares at me. “Yes, you would.”
“If I promise I won’t make it worse, will you tell me?”
“Promise?”
I cross my heart. “On Kris Bryant’s life.”
The Cubs fans at the table gasp.
“You better not fuck up,” Chloe says, pointing a manicured finger at me.
“His name is Simon Brewer,” Jase says.
“And what did he do, and why was today particularly brutal?”
“He just likes to give me a hard time, and I can’t take it anymore.”
“Is he saying anything in particular?” I ask.
“Just the usual shit.”
“Help me out, Jase. What in particular?”
“He just says shit like I’m so horrible our parents died to get away from me, that sort of stuff.”
I see red. “Which one is he?”
“You said you wouldn’t do anything,” Jase reminds me.
“No, I said I wouldn’t make things worse, and I’m not going to. I’m going to make them better.” I stand up.
I walk over to what I hope is a table of freshmen. “Simon Brewer. Who is he? Where’s he at?”
One of the nerdier guys nearby points to a table near the door. “T-the one with the r-red hair.”
I spot him easily. Flaming red hair, covered in freckles, pasty white skin, and gangly limbs.
“Thanks,” I say as I march over there, Jase’s pleas falling on deaf ears.
I’m at the end of his table, a few feet from him, when Cav bursts in, looks around, and goes straight for… Simon Brewer.
“Yo, Brewer,” he says, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him out of his seat.
“W-What?” Brewer replies.
“I hear you’re giving a friend of mine a hard time.”
“N-No, I w-wouldn’t d-d-do t-th-that.”
“No? So why did I see you giving Jase Siddell a hard time in the hall as I was going to see Mr. Jansen?” Cav asks.
My feet are frozen to the floor. Why is he doing this? Why now? What’s his goal here?
“I-I d-didn’t k-know he w-w-was y-your f-friend,” Simon says.
“But you do admit to giving him a hard time.”
“I-I d-didn’t mean i-it.”
“Have you apologized?”
Simon shakes his head.
“Jase,” Cav calls. “Come here for a sec. Simon has something he wants to say to you.”
Jase walks over, shooting me a glance. I shrug in response. I have no earthly idea what the fuck is happening right now, or why it’s happening.
“Simon?” Cav asks.
“Um, yeah, sorry,” he mumbles.
Cav shakes him. “For what?” he asks.
“Um, for what I, um, said, you know, before.”
“Just before?”
Simon rolls his eyes. “For everything I’ve said to you.”
“That’s more like it,” he says.
Finally, my feet unstick themselves and I walk over to Cav, pulling him away. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I ask.
He smirks. “Clearly, what you couldn’t.”
“I was on my way over to confront the little prick when you interrupted.”
“Funny, but I don’t remember interrupting anything but little Simon there eating his lunch.”
“I was on my way,” I say, “but that’s details. Why are you doing this? And are you seriously going to pull my brother into whatever it is you have against me?”
“I can’t try to right a wrong?” he asks. “Bullying is against the school’s code of conduct, you know.”
“It’s never stopped you before,” I mutter. “And I highly doubt you’re worried about people who go against the code of conduct.”
He pats my cheek. “On the contrary, Con,” he sneers. “What goes on at this school is of great importance to me. Especially when it comes to our new and vulnerable students.”
“Jase isn’t vulnerable, and we’ve been here for a few months now. We’re hardly new.”
“New? Maybe not. But vulnerable? Definitely.”
“Vulnerable to whom?” I ask.
He leans in and whispers in my ear. “To me.” He leans back. “I told you not to fuck with my friends.”
I throw my hands up. “I keep telling you I didn’t, so now you’re going after my brother because you’re too stubborn to listen to what I’ve told you.”
“Why should I listen to you?”
“I’ve never lied to you,” I tell him. “I know you can’t say the same to me.”
“I didn’t lie about everything,” he says quietly. “But you took something from me, so it’s only fair I take something from you.”
I shake my head. “You’re a sick and twisted bastard.”
He shrugs. “Eh.”
“It won’t work, you know.” This is despite it already working. Thomas warned me that Cav would go after Jase, and I did warn him, but honestly? I never thought Cav would actually go through with it. I didn’t think he would sink this low. But Jase is strong. He can handle himself, no matter how much I want to think he can’t, that he needs me to fight his battles. He’s told me time and time again that he doesn’t, but I never listen. It’ll be fine. It will all be completely, and utterly, fine.
“Then what do you have to worry about?” he asks. “Unless you are, indeed, worried. Things not so rosy at home, Con? Jase’s smile not as bright and just a little bit fake? He having trouble here?” He laughs. “I can see you thinking, figuring, wondering. Good, keep doing that.”
“He hasn’t done anything to you,” I grit out.
“No, he hasn’t,” he agrees. “But his brother has.”
I shake my head, a sadness in my chest. “What have I done to you except tell you I want to be with you?” I ask.
“You showed me what it could be like and I hate you for that,” he says before walking over to Jase.
There are big smiles on both their faces, and they do the slap handshake and bro hug thing.
I never thought Cav would stoop this low. But he’s not serious, he can’t be. Going after me is one thing, but going after my brother?
The look on his face as he embraces Jase tells me he’s serious.
But Jase wouldn’t be stupid enough to fall for Cav’s tricks. Would he?