Two voices.
I know them now—too well—thanks to Noah keeping them in our orbit.
My feet slow on instinct.Breath-catching.Heart punching into my ribs.I press myself into the wall.The music thumps somewhere far behind me, but here… it’s quiet.
Reece’s voice hits first.Lazy and somewhat amused.“I told you,” he says.“Red bites.That’s what makes it interesting.”
Jace lets out a low laugh.“So, you like them angry now?”
There’s a pause, just long enough to stretch tight.
“I like them breakable.”
The words land like spit in my face.I flinch.
I stare down the hallway.The bathroom door is only a few steps away.I should keep moving, I tell myself.Walk away.Go in, lock the door, splash water on your face and pretend you never heard any of this.
“She hates you, man,” Jace says.“She’d never let you touch her.Let alone fuck her.”
Reece’s snort is soft, derisive.“Hate’s not the problem,” he mutters.“Hate’s just foreplay when you know how to play it right.”
I squeeze my eyes shut for a second.My fingers curl into a fist at my side.I want to scream.Hit something, or maybe disappear into the floor.
But instead I stand there, frozen in place, learning something I wish I didn’t know.My stomach twists hard as if something rotten has just bloomed inside me.
“You really think you can fuck her?”Jace asks, as if this is a game, and I’m some faceless conquest in the lineup.
Reece’s voice follows.“Have you ever known me not to get them spread out, ready for me to take?”
There’s laughter.A pause.
“Yeah,” Jace says, “but she’s different.She doesn’t fall for your shit.”
Reece doesn’t hesitate.“Two hundred says I will.Before graduation.She’ll beg me for it.”
The words hit like a slap—open palm, full force.My chest caves in around them, breath bottling somewhere too deep to reach.Heat floods my face, all humiliation and rage and something else I can’t quite name.
“You’re on,” Jace says.“But there is no way in hell that virgin’s letting you stick it to her.”
Reece laughs.“Relax.I'll be gentle.”
They laugh again, loud, careless, and cruel.
My vision goes blurry around the edges.The soda I drank swirls sick in my stomach.I feel as though I might throw up.Or scream before I shove both of them against the wall and rip them a new one.God help me, I am so goddamn tired of being someone’s fucking game.
Something in me fractures and I step out of the shadows.
Their heads snap toward me, and for once, Reece seems not so sure of himself.
“Say it again,” I spit, slamming a hand against his chest hard enough to shove him back until he hits the wall with a dull thud.
Reece’s mouth curves, as though he received a present with a fuse.Jace pales as if he’s seen a ghost.
“I heard you,” I say, voice trembling but loud enough to leave a bruise.“Every.Fucking.Word.”
Jace’s hands lift in surrender.“I’m out,” he mumbles, backing away, disappearing down the hallway without even pretending to defend himself.
Fucking coward.
