Our Broken Pieces - M.E. Clayton Page 0,2

was going to. “Who?” I asked out of curiosity. If she was mentioning a random invite, there had to be a reason.

“Chance McQueen,” she replied, causing my stomach to roll.

I did my best to act casual as I picked up a french fry from my lunch tray and popped it in my mouth. It bought me a few precious seconds, but I would swear Mar could see my heart trying to beat out of my chest. I swallowed my fry and asked, “Really?”

Margot’s smile was all teeth. “He caught me after cheerleading practice to tell me he was coming to my party, and then he just asked me to prom. Kind of out of the blue,” she said, shrugging a shoulder.

Margot’s party Saturday night was going to kick off the first party since we got back from Christmas break, and while I had nothing against parties, knowing Chance was going to be there had me wishing I could bow out. There was also the fact that he had asked her to prom. Why would he suddenly do that after all these years?

I prayed my face was impassive. “What did you say?”

Her grin was telling. “I said yes,” she squealed. “I said yes, Mys.”

She said yes.

Margot was going to prom with Chance McQueen and that probably meant they were going to start hanging out more now.

I willed my voice to sound steady and casual. “I didn’t know you liked him?”

She shrugged a shoulder again before saying, “Come on, Mys. You can’t deny the guy is gorgeous. Plus, he’s the best wide receiver on the football team. And he’s just...fucking hot, Mys.” She pretended to fan herself. “The boy is red-hot sexy.”

She wasn’t lying.

Chance McQueen was gorgeous in the only way guys with blonde hair and blue eyes could be. He was tall, strong, athletic, charming, and just good-goddamn-looking. He was Hollywood good-looking. He was All-American good-looking. And there have been plenty of times I’ve passed the guy when he was fresh from football practice, dirty and sweaty, and I’d tripped on my own two feet, staring at him.

“I just...well, you’ve never mentioned liking him or anything,” I added lamely.

“The guy’s hot, but I’m not one to chase dick, Missy,” she replied. “But now that he’s asked me to prom, well…” She trailed off, leaving all the implications of her sentence hanging between us.

I put on my best smile. “Well, I think you guys will make a great...team. Date. Couple,” I stammered.

Her grin was back in full force. “I know, right?”

I wanted to be happy for her. I really did. By all accounts, Chance was a good guy and, objectively, they would make a great couple. But with Chance came along Gage Evans, and therein laid the problem. Where Chance was a good guy, Gage Evans wasn’t.

Gage Evans was everything I should avoid.

Gage Evans was not a good guy.

Chapter 2

Gage~

Normally, I didn’t care who Chance fucked, but him asking Margot Cross to prom was a blindside I hadn’t seen coming.

Sure, over the years, he’s mentioned how hot she was and that he wouldn’t mind getting his dick wet with her, but I never thought he’d actually ask her to prom. Chance didn’t do relationships. He dated girls, but it was casual dating, and everyone knew the score. He’s never asked a girl to prom, the winter formal, or even a goddamn movie. Chance hung out with girls, and if he was lucky-which the bastard was-he got laid more often than not. So, when he told me he had asked Margot Cross to prom, I had been surprised.

Then pissed.

While Chance was my best friend, I had a whole world of secrets he knew nothing about, and him dating Margot Cross threatened those secrets.

My family belonged to the ‘right’ side of Cranston, California. My father was a medical doctor and my mother was a family psychiatrist. We lived in a two-story modern home, complete with all that the new-age automation crap, and it was important that I lived up to the image that was expected of me. And because of that expectation, I guarded my secrets fiercely.

We were in the locker room, ready to hit the football field, when Chance had made his little announcement about asking Margot Cross to prom. Our lockers were next to one another, so it was easy to have semi-private conversations in here without having to shout across the room and noise.

I pulled my shirt up over my head and looked over at him. “Why?”

Chance threw me a smirk