I swallowed hard. I didn’t want everyone to think I slept with James. If Matt heard that, I could only imagine how mad he would be. And I did really want to pull a prank on Isabella. I wasn’t a monster, so revenge was out of the question. A prank though? She deserved at least that. “Can’t I just fill you in here? And we could just go with that frog idea you had.”
“Nope. I’m not allowed into enemy territory. And you were right…Isabella would probably just kill the frogs.”
So the Caldwells and Hunters were still fighting. I bit the inside of my lip. Maybe this was my chance to fix everything I broke. If I could convince him to see Matt’s side…Matt would be happy. He’d have his best friends back.
“How long are you going to make me present my ass to you?” Rob said, rubbing his backside seductively. “Get on my back, Sanders.”
I laughed. “Okay,” I said and climbed onto his back.
“Diva,” he said again as he held on to my thighs.
I wrapped my arms around him so he wouldn’t drop me. We walked past Matt’s pool. I smiled to myself, remembering how Isabella had gotten the nickname Wizzy. I could just imagine a young, hateful tween Isabella trying to swim away from a purple cloud following her through the pool.
I looked around for Miller, but I didn’t see him anywhere. “Can we stop by security so I can tell them where I’m going?” Also, I had no idea where the Caldwell security was, and I was hoping Rob knew. It would kill two birds with one stone.
“We have our own security,” Rob said.
So much for that.
“So if you didn’t bang my brother, I guess that also rules out the threesome rumors?”
“Threesome rumors?” What the hell?
“With you, him, and Rachel.”
“God no.”
He laughed. “Not a fan of Rachel?”
“I’m not a fan of any of what you just said. But yeah…Rachel doesn’t exactly like me very much.” And I didn’t like her. She’d called me a slut and hadn’t been very nice to James either. He deserved better.
“She probably doesn’t like you because James’ tongue was down your throat at homecoming.”
I rested my chin against Rob’s shoulder. “Yeah. And the fact that she was completely naked when I walked in on her and James.”
Rob laughed. “I thought you were the naked one?”
“I had on underwear. And a map.”
He laughed again and turned his head, putting his lips dangerously close to mine. “You were wearing a map? What does that even mean?”
I lifted my chin off his shoulder. The last thing I needed was for my lips to somehow end up on another Untouchables’。 “I wrapped it around me like a towel. What was I supposed to do? Isabella abandoned me in my underwear.”
“Ah, so that part was true. Did she really try to kill you?”
“Yes. And Kennedy.” And I’m pretty sure she still wants me dead.
“How is Kennedy doing?” he asked.
I smiled. I’d forgotten that I didn’t have to worry about Rob kissing me. He seemed much more interested in my friend. “I think she’s about as freaked out as me. But she said she was going to school today, so hopefully she’s doing alright.”
“That’s good. So are you actually moonlighting as a prostitute now?”
I laughed. “No.”
“Sure about that? I think that kind of work pays pretty well.”
“I’m not a prostitute.”
“Hmm…that rumor is going to be pretty hard to squash. A few students swore you even admitted it.”
God. I had admitted it. I was hoping they’d never put two and two together. “You know the worst part about that night? No one stopped to help me. The only person that was nice was James.”
“I would have been nice,” he said.
Yeah. He would have been. I put my chin back on his shoulder. Just like he’d helped me breathe during my panic attack.
We walked through another backyard that was just as lush as Matt’s. If you could even really call these expanses of property “backyards.” Each one seemed more extravagant than the last. There were statues, pool houses, beautiful gardens, and even fountains. A few fences and rich people backyards later, Rob stopped beneath a treehouse and let me slide off his back.
“Home sweet home,” he said.
I smiled. There was something adorable about him taking me to his treehouse so I could tell him all about what happened at homecoming. I never had a treehouse growing up, but I’d always wanted one. It had been a long time since I’d felt like a kid. Taking care of my mom had forced me to grow up really fast.