Chapter 15: Gray
Sitting on the bus, I glanced around before opening the text message again. The three of them looked hot, but I only had eyes for the dark-haired assassin. Her black costume molded to her figure. The zip stopped just under her breasts, showing too much cleavage in a black push-up bra.
Her hair was in a braid, and she had black face paint over her eyes, making her dark chocolate eyes stand out even more. Her lips were painted a deep red, and just looking at her made me hard.
Checking the time, I worked out how long it would be before we were back on campus. Jett was already dozing in his seat with Ash fast asleep beside him. Things with my cousin had been strained, but we were still talking. He hadn’t asked for details, and I hadn’t offered.
That wasn’t who we were. But I caught him watching me, assessing me, and I returned his look, waiting, but he didn’t say anything.
But he would.
I knew him, and he would let it build, and he would think of it from every angle, and then he would eventually ask me when he already thought he knew the answers.
If I were a better man, I would approach him and explain.
But I wasn’t a better man, and even on a good day, I couldn’t explain me and her without sounding like a crazy person.
Her.
My eyes went back to the screen, my eyes drinking in the sight of her.
I hated her.
I loved her.
I had to stay away from her.
I needed to be closer to her.
Fuck.
It was the same push and pull pattern that had been between us ever since we were younger.
I closed the phone down and stared out at the passing scenery before I closed my eyes. I hadn’t played today. My hand wouldn’t heal fully for weeks, but there was no way I was missing out on the last few games. I’d agreed to sit two games out. I had no choice for those two, and Coach really had almost killed me when he saw my hand strapped, but then Jett showed him my car, and he relented.
Just.
Because my carwaswrecked, not due to a car accident, but due to my crazy fucking brother having taken a baseball bat to my Mercedes after I punched him. Twice. And I broke two bones in my hand when I busted his jaw, and then he went out and busted up my car.
He also wasn’t talking to me. The list of people currently on the outs with me was growing.
However, Onyx was still talking to Jett, who had told me the next day that Onyx had fixed our “medical” problems. A shake of his head told me he didn’t know, and stopped me from askinghowhe had fixed it. Did I actually want to know? Probably not. Which was chickenshit of me because it was my fault.
All because I couldn’t cut her out of my life.
All because I didn’twantto cut her out of my life.
Thumping my head repeatedly off the headrest, I thought about her. Again.
I thought of the kiss in the basement of Onyx’s building. I thought of the way she clung to me when I held her. With little encouragement, I thought back to the last night that we were together. A Valentine’s party that I hadn’t wanted to go to, and one she should never have been at . . . especiallywith a date.
But she was, and she had been in full bitch mode. Her hair had been loose down her back, and her black dress had been short. Her legs had been on display, and the killer heels had made her taller than my six-one height.
Ash had taken one look at her and promptly ignored her, and Jett was already preoccupied with some random girl he’d already planned to hook up with. Honestly, the change in my brother since dating Ava was nothing short of miraculous, and if I hadn’t witnessed it myself, I would have been demanding they run tests for body possession.
Staying on the outskirts of the party, I had watched her dance with her date, some douchebag who had wandering hands. I had seen her subtly move out of his reach once or twice, but not every time, and it was pissing me off the longer she spent with him.
The date had gone to get her a drink, and she had taken the opportunity to go to the bathroom. I was following her with no conscious decision to do so. I waited for her to come out, and when she did, I pushed her back in.
