17
We’d missed the first class, but my teacher didn’t even bat an eyelid when I slipped into my second class with Evan’s arm wrapped around me possessively. I was too emotionally drained to argue with him about this “Riley Duty” bullshit, and his closeness was bringing me a weird level of comfort. Especially in the wake of Beck’s macho bullshit with Dante.
Evan guided me to the back of the room where two younger boys—younger as in my year group—hurried to grab their shit and abandon the desks they’d been sitting in, so we could have them.
“That was rude,” I murmured, sitting down so we weren’t causing anymoreof a fuss. “We could have just found empty seats.”
Evan shrugged. “I wanted these. Now stop chatting and learn things.”
The rest of my morning classes were strangely enjoyable, thanks to the little paper airplane notes which kept landing on my desk. Apparently I needed to learn, but Evan was bored as shit.
“How do you know that?” I whispered to him as we left my last class before lunch.
He grinned and waggled his brows at me. “How’d I know that Mr. Bundaing likes to dress in women’s clothes and occasionally wears the underwear to school?” He snorted a laugh. “For one, our company holds leverage overeveryemployee—teachers included—and for two, I saw the lace thong one day when he bent over to pick something up.”
“Wait, Delta owns the school?” I frowned. Did I already know this? “Is there anything Deltadoesn’trun?”
Evan shrugged. “Huntley.”
The mention of the rogue group who tried to have us all killed was like a bucket of ice water over my mood, and by the time we reached our usual lunch table, I was firmly under a dark cloud.
“Hey, girl,” Eddy greeted me with a bright smile. “Saved your seat!”
“You save it every day,” I replied, my smile much weaker. Still, I placed my food tray down and sat with a heavy sigh. Evan had finally peeled himself off my hip and gone to sit with the other boys—minus Jasper. Thinking of Eddy’s brother sent my gaze wandering over his usual spot, which so happened to be beside Beck’s.
That’s when my mood soured even further.
Brittley was sitting in his lap. Like … right in his fucking lap, and he wasn’t shoving her to the floor where she belonged.
Worse. Beck made eye contact with me over Brittley’s shiny chestnut head, and when she reached over and pressed her lips to his neck, he didn’t shove her trashy ass away. Blood rushed to my face and bile curdled in my belly. Obviously, I’d known last night was a one off but what the fuck was this all about? Did he seriously think that I was so pathetic that I’d fall in love after one—admittedly mind blowing—fuck? Was that what this was? Proving he was a player?
Fuck. Him.
Just as I was about to snap a witty, sarcastic remark, Brittley lifted her face and shot me a look of pure triumph. For a moment, a rage so potent hit me that I was half out of my chair, ready to rip her right off him, until I remembered that Beck didn’t belong to me.
That was what this little display was all about, after all.
Gritting my teeth, I sank down again and grabbed at the sandwich on my plate. Two bites and it tasted like shit, so I threw it down, and concentrated on breathing in and out and not looking in his direction.
“You okay?” Eddy asked, shooting me a concerned stare.
“Can we get out of here?” I asked. “I could use some decent food and something about this is turning my stomach.” By “this” I meant the company, not the sandwiches.
Discounting that this place served food that was like a Michelin starred restaurant compared to my last school, it was really about getting away from Beck and his whore.
Eddy’s gaze shifted to their table then, and when she came back to me, her face held understanding and sympathy. Then, like the best fucking friend ever, she threw her sandwich down as well and declared that she needed a burger. We were up, moving through the cafeteria, and I didn’t turn my head once to see if the guys noticed. “They’re going to follow us,” I said urgently the moment we were out of the door.
Eddy nodded, and before I could say another word, she grabbed my wrist and we were sprinting. With bruised ribs.
“Come on, girl,” she said in a breathless laugh. “Pick up the pace.”
I groaned, almost stumbling over a slightly uneven surface. “I’m injured!” Thank fuck I’d swapped the heels out for sneakers though.
Somehow we didn’t die, making it to the parking lot before anyone ran us down. Eddy’s car beeped before we even reached it, and we slid inside. I held my side, feeling the tenderness of my ribs, but I was pretty sure I hadn’t done too much damage. Eddy peeled out in a screech of tires on pavement, and then we were zooming away from the school and heading into the main part of the town. Since I’d arrived here, I’d never gone any further than the school, so I was actually interested in taking it all in.
“It’s small, but the elders of Delta like it that way,” Eddy explained as we stopped at a red light. “They control everyone in the town, and no one gets up in their business.”
They were going to be so pissed that I’d taken off without one of them. Tension pressed on my chest at the thought of what would happen when they caught up with me. “Maybe we shouldn’t be doing this?” I said in a breathless whisper.
