“I don’t want you to, either, but I also don’t want that dude ruining your life. What does he have over you, anyway?”
“It’s not about me,” he says, glancing around as if he’s afraid someone will overhear. But the nearest students are a good two minutes ahead of us on the sidewalk. “It’s about you, actually.”
“What does that mean?”
He shrugs. “He hates you. Like… as much as youcanhate someone.”
“But why? I don’t even know him.”
A cool breeze carries the scent of Declan’s cologne toward me. I look over at him, feeling the attraction grow no matter how much I don’t want it to.
“He made it seem like you do.”
I frown. “Do you have a picture of him?”
Declan takes out his phone and looks up Chad Stokes on Night Watch. I stare at his photo for a minute, the boring face seeming vaguely familiar the longer I look at it.
And then it hits me.
I remember.
“Oh… no…”
“What?” Declan says.
I curse under my breath. “Yeah, I know him. And I know why he hates me.”
Curiosity swims in Declan’s ocean blue eyes but he doesn’t ask me to clarify. Maybe he’s scared to.
“His dad does business in California,” I explain. “He used to show up at parties when we were sixteen and try to hook up with girls, but none of my friends wanted him. He was just so…desperate. It was gross.”
“He hates you because you rejected him?” Declan asks.
“Nope. He hates me because I caught him slipping a roofie into my friend’s drink. He turned into a total crybaby. He swore he had never done that before and it was his first time. He apologized and cried and offered me anything I wanted to keep my mouth shut, so I lied and told him I wouldn’t say anything. But then I went straight to the police and he was arrested.”
“No way.” Declan’s eyebrows disappear underneath his hair.
I nod. “His daddy had to pay a crap ton of money to cover the whole thing up and get his record sealed. Shelfbrooke totally would have kicked him out of this school if they knew.”
“Wow.”
“I guess he heard I was coming here and wanted to make sure I didn’t tell anyone about his shady past, but the joke is on him because I didn’t even know he went here. I just wanted to get through senior year without any drama.”
Declan’s hand lightly brushes against mine, our fingers interlocking for a brief moment. “I’m sorry.”
“You should go.” I pull my hand away from his, not because I want to, but because I can’t stand the idea of Chad Stokes doing anything to hurt him or his job in the gardens. “Maybe we can hang out later,” I say. “Like… secretly?”
He smiles. “I’d really like that.”
“Cool. And maybe you could tell me more about that necklace.”
He reaches up and grabs the pendant around his neck. “What about it?”
“Is there anything else with that symbol on it?” I ask.
His eyes widen. “No,” he says, a little rude. “Whatever rumor you’ve heard, it’s not true.”
“Okay, well now I’m intrigued,” I say with a smile. “What rumors are we talking about?”
