Star looked back and pointed a threatening finger at me. “This isn’t over.”
“Ooo, I’m so scared,” I sang while pretending to shake in my boots.
Pfft, what the fuck was she gonna do? Seriously? The girl was ninety pounds soaking wet, if that.
Bring it on, London.
“I mean it Mason.”
Whatever.
I rolled my eyes and walked the other way. They could both kiss my ass.
Every weekdayfor the past four years had been the same. Sean drove me to school, or when he couldn’t, Daddy did, then I’d walk in, collect my books and go to class.
Aside from Lana, no one paid any attention to me or stopped me in the halls for a brief chat. No one so much as even looked my way. I was the forgotten student, roaming around Ashworth like a ghost.
They say misery loves company, when in fact the opposite was true. Invisibility was the only place I could be comfortable. If I wasn’t seen, then I couldn’t be hurt, humiliated, or spoken to.
That’s what I really wanted to avoid. I hated it when people talked to me because eventually they’d ask something I couldn’t answer.
With Riley it was why didn’t I ever stick up for myself? Shelby wanted to know why she’d never been to my house, and Star… Well, she had a lot of questions. Solitude was a safer option.
Unfortunately, some people wouldn’t even let me have that.
I tucked myself back in the leather seat and peeked over at Mason.
He was staring out the windshield, seemingly focused on steering his car through the busy parking lot. But I saw the way his forearms tensed. I noticed his muscles flexing underneath that tanned skin. He was just as uncomfortable as I was.
I tried telling him this morning that he didn’t have to drive me. Shelby was there, I could go with her. That didn’t go over well. Now I was sitting in his car, fiddling with the hem of my skirt and trying not to blush when the sting from the handprint on my butt radiated up my back.
It was a different kind of pain than I was used to. Almost warm and tingly instead of sharp and hot. I didn’t like it.
“You’re trying my patience, Freckles.”
Confusion knit my brows. I knew how to avoid angering Daddy, but Mason was a mystery. Sometimes I just walked by him and he’d get mad. Not that I could blame him, but given my current circumstances, it’d be nice to know what not to do.
“I didn’t do anything.”
Based on the way his jaw ticked when he pulled to a stop, that was the wrong thing to say.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered and hung my head. “I’m not trying to argue…”
“Stop fucking around with your skirt,” he barked back at me.
My hands snapped away from the comforting cloth and pressed up against my chest. Why would that bother him? I didn’t get it.
Curiosity drove me to tip my head and peek around my hair. It wasn’t the way Mason’s gaze was locked on my bare knees that sent a shiver up my spine. It was the intensity darkening those bright green orbs that made me shift away.
For half a second I thought he was going to say something. I held my breath, waiting for him to speak. But when his stare finally rolled up to mine, the lines in his brow shifted from contemplative to anger.
“Get the fuck out,” was all I got before he was gone.
I did what he said and stepped out into the parking lot. That’s when my stomach dropped.
Everyone was staring at me, and I meanteveryone.The cheerleaders, jocks, and others walking around out front swung their eyes my way. Even the couple making out next to the door stopped to glance over.
Mason didn’t seem to notice, or care. He simply swaggered across the parking lot as if this was just another day. I guess to him it was? Mason Kessler was the new King of Ashworth. People watched him all the time. I know I did.
