The Midnight Boys

Chapter 10

"Come on," Briella said, nudging her shoulder against mine and nodding in Henry's direction. "Let's go see how much money we made."

I slowly climbed to my feet so the diving board wouldn't wobble. The last thing I needed was to lose my balance and fall in the pool with an entire party present to witness my humiliation.

Once I was standing on solid ground again, I tugged my Keds on and waited for Briella. As she laced up her combat boots, I watched Zuke hoist himself out of the water. Turtle met him at the ladder with a towel, and the pair were quickly swarmed by a group of girls. It was easy to see why everyone seemed to like him. Zuke was ridiculously good looking, charming, and besides Sophia, the kindest, friendliest person I'd met in Coldwater. The only mark against him was his asshole of a best friend.

"Shall we?" Briella said, finally straightening up.

I nodded, and as we made our way through the crowd, I caught quick snippets of conversation. Most of it was about Zuke, but to my utmost horror, some of it was about me.

"...always wins truth or dare."

"That's because he's a crazy son of a bitch."

"...and the new girl played with them!"

"Yeah, she's smokin. Probably insane though if she's hanging out with Fletcher's crew."

"... I'd sled off the roof for a chance to make out with Zuke. He's hot as hell."

"Apparently the new girl thinks so too. I saw her sitting in his lap and she was all over him."

I jerked around to give whoever was speaking a piece of my mind—I most certainly had not been "all over" Zuke—and promptly collided with a wall.

Wait. Not a wall, but a chest.

A very solid chest.

"Watch where you're going, Princess Prude. Although, judging by all the gossip I've heard, I'll have to think of a more fitting nickname."

At the sound of Fletcher's voice, I closed my eyes and let out a long sigh. Of fucking course. Of all the people for me to literally crash into at this party, it just had to be him. When he'd disappeared after turning down Zuke's dare, I'd foolishly thought he left, but apparently I wasn't so lucky.

Taking a swift step back, I glanced up and was surprised to find a flicker of amusement in Fletcher's honey brown eyes rather than the disdain I was so used to seeing. Even his mouth was curled up slightly, revealing the smallest hint of a smile. But then I remembered why I'd turned around and realized he must've overheard the same conversation I had.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "What are you doing?" I asked, ignoring his snide comment. "Following me?"

"You're hanging out with my friends, remember?" He pointed to where Henry was sitting. "I'm going to collect."

Right, the bet money.

"Whatever, just leave me alone and we won't have any prob—"

"Coming through!" someone said, knocking into me as they passed by.

My stomach plunged as I lost my footing, but before I could topple into the pool, Fletcher's hand shot out and grabbed my elbow. His fingers were surprisingly gentle, but he let go the second I was steady, as if my skin had burned him.

Holy shit.

Had Fletcher just... helped me?

The whole thing happened so fast I wasn't sure.

Cocking my head, I studied his expression and tried to work out if this was some kind of trick.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" he asked.