“What’re you talkin’ about?” I asked.
“You should know.”
Sheesh, she was crazy. “I don’t have time for your bullshit, Sasha. Just tell me.” I pulled my phone out of my jeans,showingher I had better things to do than figure her out. It flashed with a notification from Jack as I flipped the screen toward me.
“Don’t ignore me.” Sasha slapped my hand, causing me to drop my phone.
“Jesus,” I hissed and bent to snatch it off the floor before she tried to stomp on it or kick it away. The case protected the screen, thank fuck, and I stuffed it in my hoodie pocket.
The students in the hallway were just as interested in this as they had been with Jack and me. They craned their necks even as they backed away.
Sasha held books with one arm and put her free hand on her hip as she leaned closer with a sneer curling her lips. This on Jack would get my dick twitching. With her, it only made my scalp tingle with dread. I hated her. I wasn’t sure when I went from not caring to dealing to hating, but I had. This pint-sized demon shouldn’t be underestimated, and anyone who did was fucked.
“You went bowling with friends and didn’t take me. You didn’t let me celebrate with you on Thanksgiving.”
Huh? “Oh my fuckin’ God. What’re you talkin’ about?” I asked again, clawing at my hair, because the fuck?
“Don’t deny it, and don’t play dumb.”
“I ain’t denyin’ shit, but why would I invite you to any of that? We. Broke. Up,” I shouted, owning it right here in the fucking hallway because she’d pushed me there.
Sasha gasped, darted her eyes at the onlookers, then welled up as if she’d cry. “I can’t believe you.” Her voice wavered.Good grief. “You’re so mean to me, Cal. I give you everything, and you treat me like garbage.”
This was not going in the right direction, loudly. The eyes on us turned sympathetic for her. Guys hugged their girlfriends closer. Others whispered behind their hands and glared at me.
I hoisted my bag higher on my shoulder and kept my hands securely on the strap. “Sasha, as I said several times already, we aren’t together. We broke up over a month ago. Will you stop doin’ this?”
“Doin’ what? Lovin’ you while you string me along?”
“I’m not—”
“Cal?” Jack interrupted, stepping to my side, almost in front of me, protecting me from my ex-girlfriend. “Everything okay?” he asked me but faced Sasha.
Ty and Asher stood a few paces away, effectively blocking students from getting any closer. One of them must’ve told Jack something was going on.
And he’d come charging back to my side.
My white knight.
Warm flutters filled my lungs until I had to take a deep breath, soaking in his cologne. I dropped a hand from my backpack strap and rubbed my fingers over his hip. He stood so close no one could see. Probably.
Jack’s heart was in the right place, and I’d do the same for him, but the four of us glaring at Sasha’s tiny frame had to look even worse than before.
“Yeah,” I mumbled, pushing him slightly so I was the one in between them, which was obviously not the right response.
“How dare you act like this is nothin’,” Sasha cried.
“I think you should get to class,” Jack told her.
“And I think you should mind your own business.”
“Sasha, don’t bark at him when you’re mad at me,” I said. “We all have shit to do right now, and it ain’t this.”
Sasha blinked her watery eyes at me. For one second, the sorrow in them had me fooled. Even if she was absolutely delusional,shebelieved all the twisted lies in her head.
She searched me head to toe, then Jack, then me again, before her glare narrowed, heating as the light bulb came on. A hot wind dried the moisture from her face and evaporated the air between us. Her splotchy red skin darkened further as her nostrils flared.
“Him?” she whispered. “You and him?”
