“Do you know him?” Seb asked, taking a protective step closer to me.
“Ven, amorcito.”
My stomach sank, the food I just ate turning into rocks.Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!
“I’ve been worried sick. You shouldn’t be out. Come back to the house so you can get some rest.”
As he stopped right in front of me, I took a closer look at his pleading gaze. He had to be at least a few years older than me, somewhere near Seb and Javi’s age. His dark brown hair was neatly braided and secured into a small bun with the sides buzzed short.
“I know you’re hurting,” he reached out, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear and I barely stopped myself from flinching.
“Shiloh?” Sebastian startled me from my stupor.
“Yeah, okay,” I answered the stranger who smiled at me so lovingly I almost believed he knew me. The sooner we left, the lower the chance of this guy thinking I’d told anyone anything.
“Is he your boyfriend?”
“Adrian Castillo. And who are you?” The guy countered, not giving me a chance to reply. He rolled his shoulders back with a smile in some sort of smooth power move as he glanced between Nox and Sebastian.
Nox looked stunned, leaning out of the car as he flicked his gaze between me and whoever this guy was.
“No one,” I answered for him.Fuck! Please, just shut up, Seb! Please, just shut the fuck up and let me leave!“I was just helping a classmate from school with his math homework.”
The guy, Adrian, sucked his teeth and nodded, rocking back on his heels.
“Well, thanks for having her over. Vamos, amor,” he tipped his head towards the car, grabbing my backpack from my hands.
“I’ll…see you at school I guess,” Nox called out as he closed his car door and joined Sebastian’s watch party from the driveway.
My heart raced erratically, but that was a constant at this point, so I willingly climbed into the stranger’s car and buckled my seatbelt.
Fuck. I should’ve ended things at school. I should have fucking ended things myself!
It was inevitable that Carlos found me, I was lucky to have been left alone for as long as I had. I tried to force myself to calm down, to come to peace with the fact that this was the end for me.
The silence in the car was awkward, but I wasn’t about to break it. It was only when I noticed we were heading away from town that I spoke.
“This isn’t the way to my house.”
He chuckled softly, “I never said I was taking you to your house. I’m taking you to Carlos’s house.”
I dug my nails into my leggings and hoped to God I wasn’t showing this punk how afraid I was.
My lungs collapsed again with pain, and I grabbed my side.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fucking shitting fuck,” I hissed. “Shit on a fucking stick.”
“Let me guess. Broken rib?”
I seethed through my teeth glaring over at him. He smirked at my attempt at a death glare, seemingly unfazed by my inability to breathe.
“I know it hurts like a bitch, but you’ve gotta breathe or you’re gonna pass out.”
“I know that, fuckface,” I whined with what little oxygen I was allowing myself to inhale.
“I guess it was that mouth you’ve got on you that got you into trouble in the first place, huh?” He chuckled and shook his head.
After several more minutes of silence while I struggled to get the balls to finally take a full breath I asked, “Why are you acting like you don’t already know?”
