This is what I get.I treated girls as temporary side notes, and now the girl I truly desire won’t even glance at me.
Jace stands next to me and pats my shoulder.He snaps me out of my spiral.
“Jesus, you look like you haven’t slept in a week.What chick did you hook up with this time?”
I grin automatically, muscle memory kicking in.I don’t answer because I don’t want him to know it’s Sam who has fucked me completely.
Jace leans back against the lockers, grinning at a girl in a skirt too short to be legal.
“Damn,” he mutters.“You see that bounce?Fuck, this year’s buffet just keeps getting better.”
I grunt, distracted.
“You’re grumpy,” he says, grinning.“You finally tapped that cherry girl or what?”
“No,” I say too quickly, eyes darting down the hall so he can’t see the lie all over my face.
He laughs.“What the fuck is stopping you, man?You usually have girls folded in days.”He leans closer, voice dropping.“No way you’re gonna tap that frigid bitch.”
My fist curls before I can stop it.
Heat surges through me, sharp and ugly.One more word, and I’d happily rearrange his damn face for talking about Red like that.For turning her into something cheap and laughable when he has no idea what she felt like.
Jace keeps talking, unaware that I’m one step away from punching him.
“Bring on the two hundred.Fuck, I could really use that shit.”
I hate myself for the bet.That my ego couldn’t handle the rejection when she shut me down repeatedly and that I needed to prove something instead of walking away.
And now all I feel is trapped in it.
Across the hall, Tia’s high-pitched voice sounds.
Here we fucking go.
“I don’t give a damn if you wore it last week, Nicole,” Tia snaps, chin held high, voice sharp enough to cut.“This is my color.You’re obsessed with me, and it’s getting weird.”
Nicole scoffs, arms crossing tightly over her chest.“Please.Just because your dad bought you fake Chanel doesn’t mean you own the color red.”
A few gasps ripple through the crowd.
“Oh honey,” Tia sneers, smiling venomously.“I own everything.Including the spot at the top.You should remember that before you start dressing for a throne that was never yours.”
The circle tightens around them, with people leaning in and feeding off the energy.Phones are half-raised.Whispers buzz.Drama hits this place like blood in the water, and the sharks are starving.
Most people don’t care about who wore what or which label their dad bought.But it’s loud, chaotic, and entertaining.It’s the chaos that helps everyone forget about the real shit simmering underneath.
Then my body becomes tense.
I sense her before I see her.A tingling sensation slides down my spine, and my focus snaps to the side without warning.Red is nearby.I don’t know how.I just know.
And suddenly the noise fades, the yelling blurs, the crowd becomes background static.Because it has nothing to do with Tia, Nicole, or their petty little screwed-up war.
It all comes down to the girl who walked away.
My eyes remain fixed on her.
She’s standing with Liz, who’s crying over something I couldn’t care less about, but Red’s the one holding her as if she’s trying to glue her back together.Gentle, quiet, and warm.The opposite of everything I am and everything I can’t stop wanting.
