Scandalous (Slow Updates)

Ten

Song: Ghosting- TXT

The next day, the group met up at Aleck's house to hang around. To our demise, the power shut off in the town because of how hot it was that day, so we were all sitting in his living room suffering. Aleck, Landon, and I sat on the couch, while Dixie was sprawled out on the chair, Zach and Bailey were sitting on the love seat, and Drew laid on the floor, fanning his face with one of Aleck's magazines.

"Damn, Aleck. Don't you have a generator or something?" Zach groaned, stripping his shirt off. "I mean, your house is the next closest thing to a castle. Doesn't luxury equal cool air all the time?"

Aleck rolled his eyes, throwing a pillow at Zach. "The generator is too overheated, dumb ass. I'd prefer my house not to blow up because I tried to suit your irrelevent needs."

Dixie snickered, which caused Zach to glare at her. When she noticed his glare, she kissed her fingers, throwing up the middle finger. He rolled his eyes, averting his attention to Bailey who was tying her hair in a bun.

"Well, we can't sit in this sauna all day. Is there any place that has power?"

The room was silent for a second, and then Landon sat up poker straight, a smirk spreading across his face. "Chase Livingston is having a party tonight at his house!"

"How the hell did you get invited to Livingston's party? He only associates with us and the preps." Zach asked, his eyes wide, and all of the group's eyes were on Landon.

Landon's smirk grew bigger. "Drew taught me a thing or two about how to get in with his crowd."

Aleck raised his eyebrows. "Does his house have power?"

"It's not in the city. He has power for sure."

I stood, throwing my hair into a messy bun to relieve some of the heat in my body. "Well, I'm not one to say no to a party. Let's go!"

Aleck stood as well, throwing his shirt off. I nearly fell through the floor, even though I've seen his abs multiple times. When he caught me staring, he smirked. "I'll pick up Kara and Landon. Zach, you can take Bailey, Dixie, and Drew."

"Hell no." Dixie grumbled, glaring at Aleck, which only caused his smirk to grow bigger.

"It wasn't a choice, Dixie. Zach will pick up you and Drew. Now go home and get ready."

Dixie threw Aleck the middle finger before storming out of the house with Drew following her. Zach glared at Aleck, and then he left with Bailey. Landon chuckled, high fiving Aleck, and then he left as well.

"Was that necessary?" I questioned, crossing my arms over my chest, and Aleck chuckled, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"You know it was, baby. I don't need them two fighting in the group again." He pecked my lips before pulling away and smirking at me. "Go home and get ready. Wear something hot."

I rolled my eyes, grinning. "No promises, lover boy."

***

"Let's go, Kara. I'm in need of a drink." Dixie grumbled, pulling me away from the group and leading me toward the kitchen. As she downed a shot of vodka, I leaned against the counter, flipping the lid off a beer.

"I'm assuming the ride here wasn't very... amusing?"

Dixie rolled her eyes. "Zach is an asshole. I need to stay as far away from him as possible."

"You don't mean that, D." I sighed, pointedly looking at her as she rolled her eyes. "Zach is your best friend, and he always will be. You can't just throw those kind of things away."

"I'll be damned if I don't try." Dixie grumbled before disappearing into the living room. I sighed, tipping back my bottle before throwing it in the trash can. As I stood in the kitchen, I watched as Landon, Aleck, and Drew played Foosball in the game room, Zach and Bailey danced in the den, and Dixie sat on the couch in the den, inconspicuously watching Zach. I knew it hurt her to see him with Bailey, but she would die a slow, painful death before she admitted she needed him.

"Parker is pretty damn cool, Kara. You're doing a great job with him." I whipped around to see Chase Livingston leaning against the counter, his mouth quirked up in a smirk. I crossed my arms over my chest, tilting my head.

"What do you mean?"

He chuckled. "We all know you're the one who took him under your wing and taught him our ways. Aleck isn't one to keep secrets."

"Aleck helps him too, though." I replied, glancing at Aleck and Landon together, a small smile growing on my face. "We all help him."

"Baby doll, if you think Aleck actually wants to help him, you're dumber than I thought." I glared at Chase, but his smirk grew. "Aleck has one intention, and that's to keep Landon away from you. He doesn't want Landon in your circle, and I think you know that as much as the rest of us do."

I shook my head. "That's not true, Chase. Aleck is starting to like Landon."

"Don't be so quick to believe everything people tells you, Kara." Chase's smirk finally disappeared as he shot me a pointed look. "I thought you knew that best, considering the ordeal with your mother."

As Chase walked away, I glared at his back, completely frustrated with not only him, but myself. In some ways, I knew Chase was right. After everything that my mother did to our family, I should've been more cautious when I trusted people. But in other ways, I hated that Chase knew about my situation, and I hated that his uncle was the one to destroy my family with the help of my mother. As I stood in the kitchen by myself, I glanced back at Aleck with Landon. What if Chase was somehow right? What if Aleck's intentions for Landon weren't as generous as I thought? I loved him more than anything, but Aleck knew I couldn't give up on Landon and what he asked of me. I wasn't one to give up on people, even when they so easily gave up on me.

I must have been lost in thought, because I hadn't even noticed that Aleck walked into the kitchen until his arm wrapped around my waist. I looked up at him, and he pecked my lips before downing a shot.

"Aleck, can we talk?" I questioned, facing him, and he nodded, brushing a stray piece of hair out of my face.

"Yeah, babe. What's up?"

Nervousness brewed in my stomach, so I started playing with the hem of my shirt as I looked away from him. "Chase talked to me tonight, and he told me some things. I just need to know... Is it true that you are only helping La--"

"Spin the bottle in the living room!" Chase yelled, and a smirk grew on Aleck's face as he grabbed my hand, dragging me to the living room.

"Aleck, wait--"

"We can talk later, baby." He glanced back at me, and I sighed. "Relax a little. We need to have fun."

As we made our way to the living room, my stomach twisted. Something in my mind was telling me the game wasn't going to end well, and even though I knew I shouldn't play it, I sat down anyway. Little had I known, that one game would be the thing to make everything tumble out of control.

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Hi loves!

The song attached to this chapter has no relevance whatsoever. I was listening to it when I uploaded the chapter, haha.

Happy new year! I hope y'all have a blessed year. Hopefully it'll be better than last year for all of us!

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Thank you for reading!

Much love,

-Abby