“What about what you did to Caden’s sister?” I press my lips together and cross my arms over my chest. “At least your sister wanted it, and they protected her.”
The softness bleeds from his eyes. Tanner’s smile grows. He runs his fingers over his lips, giving me an assessing look. “They gave you the story, huh? Impressive. I figured they’d tell you to stop hanging out with me and that would be the end of it.”
Fuck him. I don’t say a word.
“I was sure I could charm you back into hating them with me. Maybe even convince you to give your virginity to me to thwart them. But if that didn’t work out, it won’t be long before one of them slips up and you’ll be looking for a revenge fuck.” Tanner winks, making my stomach churn. “I’m more than willing to gloat over fucking their favorite toy.”
My mouth opens and closes. Ms. Sullivan is too far away to have heard him. I’ll make sure Kenz knows about his threats and if I have to work late with him, hopefully she’ll be here to help me.
“We should focus on our work.” I take out my sketchpad. It’s open to my sketch of Luke sleeping. I flip the page to a blank one.
“Nice, but he could use some devil horns. Maybe a forked tongue.” Tanner leans back in his chair. His gaze flows over my body like he wants me. “Gotta get the details right.”
“He didn’t even do anything to you.” I can’t help but defend Luke this one time. He definitely didn’t fuck Tanner’s sister.
“Ah, but they all got me kicked off the football team and pushed me down to being a nobody.” He leans forward on his desk, and his finger traces mine where it rests on the table. I jerk it away. “You know all about that though, don’t you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I turn the page again andmake a list of the things Ms. Sullivan mentioned as ideas. Anything to stop this conversation.
“If anyone understands what they can do to a person, it’s you, Harper.” He leans in almost too close. His cologne isn’t heavy, but it’s nauseating because it’s on him. “You hid from them for good reason. What they’ve done to you so far this year…”
Shaking his head, he brushes his arm against mine. “How many people would put up with being spanked in the cafeteria and paraded around as their conquest? Don’t you want to get back at them? Make them pay for what they’ve done to you?”
A week ago? Yeah.
Right now? No.
They wanted my body, and I’ve given it to them. They still want me. And I want them. It’s temporary. An experience I’ll never forget. Just this year. Then all of this will go away, and we’ll start our lives far from each other.
“Or did they finally make you their whore?” Tanner’s disdain comes through in his voice. “Did they fuck your brains and willpower out of you?”
I glare at him. I have no power though. Not really. I could tell the horsemen what he said, but then who would be the one in trouble?
Me? I’m sure Luke would find a way to punish me for being Tanner’s partner in art.
Caden would rip through Tanner for what he did to his sister. If I told him what Tanner said, would it set him off?
If Caden attacked him, would Tanner press charges? Tanner has his own rich parents to help bail him out, and may not be willing to drop charges for the right price. I can’t let that happen to Caden.
I need to tell Nico not to tell the others. Stop him from fueling this war. I’ll do what it takes to get along with Tanner and finish the project within the classroom time.
“We need to focus on our project, and that doesn’t require talking about other people. If you have a problem with that, we can go to Ms. Sullivan, and I can explain why you’re the lowest piece of crap in this class.”
He chuckles. His thigh brushes mine under the table. “You got a little bite now, don’t you?”
Jerking my leg away from his, I shake my head and continue to write ideas down.
“I do like a girl who fights back.” His words make me lift my gaze to his.
I bet he does. I see it in his eyes. The monster lurking in the deep, hiding.
He might come off as a good guy in the beginning, but I’ve been with monsters long enough to notice his darkness. The darkness in the horsemen doesn’t scare me like the darkness in Tanner though.
He won’t take no for an answer. He wouldn’t let me choose. Not like they did.
“Anything to get back at the horsemen?” I scoot away from him. His entire demeanor gives me the chills. Every instinct in my body screams to get away from him.
Stay focused on the art project.
