Fraud

Ava was against the idea at first, but Ivy came out of left field with the opinion that having a secret fling with him would be good for me.

Ivy knows I can’t fall in love. And when you can’t fall in love, your heart can’t be broken. Ava knows it too, but she wasn’t immediately convinced I can have a few months of fun without developing feelings.

Blue eyes meet mine.

“Wouldn’t you like to know which twin it was?”

“I don’t care,” I lie.

And it is a lie. Just the thought of Ezra with someone else is trapping my stomach in vicious claws, talons tearing at the flesh.

If anything, this feeling is only a confirmation that I need to keep my distance. I’ve only kissed Ezra a handful of times and already my heart is dragged into the mix.

Maybe it’s because I’m chaste that I feel like this. And by chaste, I mean so desperate and bothered to be like all the other girls that I feel naive and vulnerable when it comes to boys.

I’m not allowed to date.

I’m not allowed to know any boys.

Unless of course, that boy is Mason Strom.

Every dance in my life has been with him, a perpetual, unwanted date to the cotillions in our youth, plus every homecoming in high school.

We stand stiffly beside each other for all the photos, our mothers cooing at how great we look together, our fathers drinking scotch and smoking cigars.

After we’re whisked off to the where the event is being held, Mason and I immediately unlock our arms as he goes to find his real date and I stand pathetically against a far wall.

It happens every time without fail. And maybe that’s another vein of dread I’m feeling tonight. Prom is in a few weeks and it will be the same story again.

Except if I let this thing with Ezra go further, I’ll still hold up the wall at prom, I’ll just be doing so while watching him dance with another girl.

Only a stupid girl would continue on with this and u

“We’re here,” Ivy shouts, a note of excitement in her voice.

I have no idea why she’s looking forward to this. Gabriel still hasn’t gotten her back for the sex lube stunt at school, and parties are always his favorite place to target her.

One would think after her Sweet Sixteen party, she’d have learned her lesson.

Nobody knows how Gabriel managed to replace the net of balloons that were reserved to fall on Ivy when she walked into the room with a net full of dildos.

There stood Ivy, surrounded by everybody who mattered, all our parents applauding how beautiful she looked in her empress gown and sparkling tiara, only for that applause to stop suddenly, every jaw slack, when we watched her get pelted on the head by a hundred rubber dicks.

Gabriel’s silence during the incident was so pronounced even the adults in the room glared his direction, the rest of the Inferno standing with red faces and thin lips, tears leaking from their eyes from restraining their laughter.

Sadly, that was just the begi

Ava pulls the car up behind a long line of early arrivers, but only by our standards. We never show up to any event until it’s been in full swing for several hours.

As usual, Kevin Landry’s house is filled wall to wall with a frenzy of high school students, all drinking or smoking, dancing or practically fucking right out where anybody can see them.

His place isn’t as large as most of the typical hot spots, but his parents are out of town the most, which makes it possible for there to be a party every weekend.

Ivy grabs my hand and shouts for people to move as we walk through the main part of the house en route to the backyard. They part on either side of us like waves, a sea of random faces smiling and calling out to say hello as we pass.

It feels like I can’t breathe until we reach the French doors in the back of the house and escape onto the pool deck.

Thankfully, this area isn’t as crowded.

Several kids are ski

Only those sitting at the top of the food chain are allowed inside, my stomach already twisting at the thought of who I’ll see.

It doesn’t help that as we’re heading in, Hillary Cornish and two of her friends are walking out, her hair a mess and lipstick smeared.

She smirks at me, the expression not lost on Ivy and Ava. Ivy sneaks a side-eyed peek, and I can feel the protective energy rolling of her.

Sadly, Hillary doesn’t know Ivy like I do.

Dumb girl.

Hillary’s smirk becomes a broad smile when she speaks to her friends, but with a voice loud enough for me to hear.

“Ezra said I’m the only girl he’s actually wanted in the past few months. The rest he played. In fact, the last girl was so frigid-“

“Is that why your breath smells like cock?” Ivy asks as she pushes past me to stare down Hillary. “I was wondering, but then again, it always smells that way.”

Red hot anger flares across Hillary’s cheeks. “We just kissed-“

“Uh, huh. I believe that about as much as I believe Ezra said any of that shit. Especially since it was Damon you were making out with. Or did you not know that?”

Hillary flinches. “No, it was Ez-“

“Really?” Ivy laughs. “You sure about that? Can you tell me whose dick you smell like right now? Do you know? Whose pubes did you just use as dental floss? Because I know the answer to that. Everybody in the pool house knows. But the joke is you don’t. So do you have anything else to say around my friend? Or would you like to go back inside and ask the twins which one just played you?”

Tears shimmer in Hillary’s eyes that she blinks away, her chin tipping higher in feigned confidence.

Her eyes flick to me as a sneer curls her mouth, but rather than saying a word in her defense, she hisses, “Fuck you all.”

We watch as Hillary and crew storm off, a dangerous feeling fluttering inside me that I know I need to quash.

Hope, no matter how unwarranted, is infectious. It’s pernicious, all soft and warm, a ray of sunshine striking cleanly through a thick carpet of dark clouds.

I shouldn’t hope for anything.

Still, I do.

“Was she really kissing Damon?” I ask, my voice weaker than I like.

Blue eyes flick my way, Ivy’s thin shoulder shrugging as she wraps her arm with mine to walk me into the house behind Ava.

“I have no idea. I just said that to piss her off.”

The hope I feel dies a tragic death, but I refuse to mourn its demise. It’s better not to have it. Not to care. Especially when secrets have a way of getting out into the open and I have a future to protect, even if I don’t want it.

Once inside, the loud music assaults us, neither Ivy or Ava feeling as heavy as I do. They’re not afraid of having their hearts broken, aren’t burdened by the knowledge they have no control over their lives.

Ava is going off to Yale when we graduate and Ivy is still undecided, but at least they have options I don’t have.

“Gabriel’s already piss drunk,” Ivy whispers in my ear, laughter coating her voice. “I told you I have nothing to worry about tonight.”

I glance over at where most of the Inferno guys are seated and roll my eyes at the girls standing or sitting around them, desperate for attention.

Ivy is wrong if she thinks Gabriel hasn’t pla