“It’s not that simple.” But the gnawing in my gut—stronger whenever she was near—said otherwise.
She scoffed, folding her arms. “Seems like it is. You didn’t use to let anyone else fight your battles. Isn’t that what this is?”
I shook my head, not willing to explain or go deep into what was changing, or what I had allowed to happen on Elise’s behalf before today. I crossed my arms. “No one lays a hand on you. Not like that.”
“Right. Because onlyyouget to do damage.”
My jaw clenched.
“Tell me, Luke,”—her voice dropped to a whisper—“if you hate me so much… why do you care?”
Silence stretched between us. Then I stepped close enough to feel the heat of her skin. To smell the citrus and salt of her sweat.
She didn’t move. But her breath hitched. Mine did the same. “Because I hate that I can’t hate you.”
Her lips parted. That fire in her eyes flickered—uncertain. For a second, I nearly reached for her. My hand twitched at my side. A breath from brushing against her skin.
But I didn’t. I backed up. Turned and walked off before I did something I couldn’t undo. Before I begged her to let me stay. Before I gave in to the one thing I couldn’t afford to want.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
MILA
Luke’s gaze clung to me after gym class when I’d confronted him. I felt the heat of it long after I walked away. A phantom touch buzzing under my skin, low and steady. He’d stepped in. Luke-fucking-King. I was used to his hate. Expected it.
He was the last person I needed saving me. The last one I wanted tangled in my mess. But he did it anyway. Now I had no idea what to do with that.
The hallway swallowed me whole, the stares cutting in a little deeper today. More deliberate. I clocked the micro-reactions—the slow blink of a girl’s mascara-clumped lashes as I passed, the shift of a guy’s stance as if he was bracing for a hit that never came. Someone angled their phone just high enough to snap a pic before pretending to scroll.
My pulse beat a little harder. They were figuring out which side to be on—Luke’s or Elise’s. It shouldn’t be a contest. When—if—he made his stance crystal clear with me, it wouldn’t be.
Avery slid in beside me as if she’d been shadowing my route for blocks. She didn’t say hi. Just murmured, “Don’t shoot the messenger—but Elise is saying your mom got you into Blackwood using sex. And she dragged your name into it too.”
I didn’t flinch. Not on the outside. Inside, a white-hot flare of rage shot through my chest. “Seriously?”
She gave a humorless smile. “You know her strategy. Whisper it loud enough, long enough… it sticks.” Her jaw locked. Tension roped down her neck. “She’s ramping up. Hoping you’ll snap and give her an audience.”
I let out a bitter laugh. “Creative. I’ll give her that.”
Avery didn’t laugh. Her gaze darted across the hallway like she was tracking threats. We detoured near the vending machines, half-shielded from view. It wasn’t private, but it would do.
“She’s also bringing your mom into it.” Her voice lowered. “Said she has a reputation.”
The words strangled the air in my lungs. “Of course she did.” Because of course Elise would drag my mother into this. It wasn’t enough to gut me. She wanted a full dissection. Like mother, like daughter—that was the line she would push. And it wasn’t completely off base, was it? How else were we able to afford Blackwood Academy’s tuition fee?
Mom had always gone after powerful men. Charismatic. Dangerous, sometimes. She played the game better than anyone. Bent truth the way light bends through a prism. And if the rumors were true—if she was sleeping with the principal—then this wasn’t just smoke. It was fire. One I would need to put out before it torched everything.
A conversation with my mom sprang to mind—I’d asked her how we could afford the Academy, especially as we’d blown through our savings. Her response was“I’ve got it handled.”And now I knew how.
A heavy silence bloomed between us. Avery didn’t fill it. Just stared at the gum stuck to the base of the vending machine as if it had answers.
Finally, she sighed. “The guys are closing rank.”
I frowned. “What does that mean?” I wasn’t in their circle. I no longer mattered.
“It means you’ve been brought back in. Word’s spreading about what went down in gym class. They’re backing you. You’ve got their protection, at least to a degree. Not sure how that’ll go with Elise, though.”
That wasn’t all she had to say. Something else was eating at her. I leaned back against the wall, arms folded. “And?”
