Bad Romeo (Starcrossed #1)(60)
Author: Leisa Rayven

On the couch next to me, Lucas is smoking a joint. He offers it to me, and when I refuse he passes it along to Jack, who’s so glassy-eyed he could be labeled Glassy McStaresalot in Madame Tussauds.

I’m a little freaked out that someone is smoking illicit drugs so close to me. I keep expecting my father to burst through the door and go ballistic, but of course, he’s on the other side of the country, and even with his finely tuned dad nose, he couldn’t smell it from over there.

I’m pretty sure he couldn’t, anyway.

“Cassie!”

I look over at Ruby, and she mimes the “drink up” gesture. I sigh and down the shot of tequila I’ve been holding. She jabs a wedge of lemon at me and gives me a thumbs-up. I shove the lemon in my mouth, and she smiles broadly.

After putting the lemon and shot glass on the coffee table, I slump back onto the couch and sigh. For the millionth time in the last two hours, I look around, hoping that Holt’s decided to make an appearance.

Of course, he hasn’t.

“I’m going to get some air,” I yell as I stand and move past Ruby. She nods and pours herself another shot.

When I reach the front of the house, Elissa is sitting on the stairs, sipping something from a large cup.

I flop down next to her. “Enjoying yourself?”

“Sure,” she says. “I love getting ruptured eardrums every time Jack has a party. Just because he’s half deaf, he’s determined to drag us all down with him. His neighbors must hate his guts.”

“His dad owns all of the neighboring houses. That’s the only reason he gets away with it.”

She offers me her drink as she gazes out into the street.

“Waiting for Ethan?” I ask.

“Yeah.”

“Think he’ll show?”

She shakes her head. “Every run-in with Dad turns Ethan into a ball of rage. I’ve tried to tell him to just let it go, but he won’t listen.”

“Has their relationship always been so … complicated?”

“Yes.” She laughs. “It’s like Dad just doesn’t know how to deal with him. He’s fine with me because I’m a girl, but with Ethan? I don’t think he knows how to communicate with him on an emotional level. My theory is it’s because our grandfather didn’t believe men should be openly affectionate with each other, because it made them soft, or whatever. So now, whenever Ethan challenges Dad, they fight instead of talking things through.”

“That must be tough.”

“It is. And it got worse a few years ago. I blame Vanessa, the bitch-whore.”

My ears prick up. “Oh, so it wasn’t Olivia?”

“No,” she says, and sighs. “Vanessa was patient zero for all his issues. She’s the reason it went south with Olivia.”

“What happened between them? Ethan and Vanessa, I mean.”

She looks down and runs her finger around the edge of her cup. “You should talk to him about it.”

“Elissa, please. I’ve tried asking him, but he clams up.”

“Yeah, but he’d kill me for telling you.”

“I get that, but if it makes you feel any better, he read my diary, so he knows a whole stack of personal stuff about me I’d rather he didn’t.”

Her mouth drops open. “He read your diary?”

“Yeah. A few weeks ago. I might have written something about how much I wanted to touch his … uh … penis.”

“Oh my God.”

“And I kind of implied his dick could win awards.”

“Oh … whoa.”

“I know.”

“Plus … ew. That’s my brother.”

“I know. But in my defense, your brother’s extremely hot.”

She looks at me doubtfully. “If you say so.”

“I do.”

Elissa sighs. “Well, as gross as it is to me, I’m kind of glad you feel that way, because you’re the only girl I could see him getting serious with since the whole thing with Vanessa played out. I can understand why he’s hesitant, but still…”

“Please tell me that statement is going to segue into the full story.” I give her my best puppy-dog eyes.

She gives me an eye roll before saying, “Vanessa was Ethan’s high school sweetheart. They started dating in sophomore year.”

I nod and try to hide the vicious jealousy that flares inside me. It’s stupid to be jealous of a girl I’ve never met, right?

“At school, Ethan and Vanessa were like the golden couple. But behind the scenes, they argued a lot. Vanessa liked pushing his buttons. If she thought he wasn’t giving her enough attention, she’d flirt with other guys. She thrived on making him jealous. I totally think she was a sociopath. She even used to flirt with Ethan’s best friend from grade school, Matt. She used jealousy to keep Ethan in line.”

“Why didn’t he just dump her?”

“I don’t know. It was like she had him under her thumb. She could manipulate him into anything. Used his insecurities against him.”

“So what happened?”

“Well, one night during senior year, after Ethan had finally told Dad he wasn’t going to medical school and would be applying to The Grove instead, they had a really bad fight. I couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying, but the next thing I know, Mom’s crying and Dad’s yelling at Ethan to get out. After that, he went to Vanessa’s place, but she wasn’t there, so he headed over to Matt’s. When he got there, he walked in to find Matt and Vanessa. In bed.”

“Oh, God.”

“Ethan was devastated. I would have expected something like that from Vanessa, but not from Matt. He and Ethan were like brothers. The next day at school, Matt tried to smooth things over and apologize, but … Ethan was just so angry. He snapped and beat the hell out of Matt. Ended up breaking his nose and getting suspended for two weeks. Vanessa thought the two of them fighting over her was awesome. I’m sure she was playing them both for fools.”

“What a bitch,” I say, feeling violent hatred toward her. I expel a long breath. I can’t even wrap my head around how traumatic it must have been to be betrayed by your closest friends. No wonder Holt had intimacy issues.

“That’s when he really shut down,” Elissa says. “Getting rejected by The Grove didn’t help. He stopped communicating with me and Mom and became even more distanced from Dad. Threw himself into his theater work. Drank too much. Got into fights. Slept with every woman who came across his path, then never called them again. It was hideous to watch.”