His golden eyes glinted when June passed us in the hall.
My phone battery had died, and that morning I woke up with my phone off. What a fucking shitty idea calling her the night before. Also because I wouldn’t know what to say to her when I woke up today.
She stopped at her locker and Brian Hood came up a second later with his depressed look on his face; he was always at her heels now. What a shitty morning.
“Connell.”
I jerked my head at her.
“Invite June.”
“Sorry, why don’t you invite her? Is she with Will or not?”
“Well, I thought if the party’s at your house, you should invite her, but if you prefer—”
“No, no. Stop. I’ll do it,” he announced, puffing out his chest. He went up to June without any tact.
“Hey, blondie, you got plans tonight?” Dickhead.
She turned to say goodbye to Brian and didn’t even register that Connell was there, not even by mistake. I bit my lip to hide the smug smile that was creeping onto my face.
“I’m talking to you,” he insisted, pissing her off.
“I’m not. Think about it a bit.”
I saw Connell gather some patience, take a deep breath, and go on the offense. “I’m having a party at my house.”
“I’m happy for you,” she grumbled.
“Get to it. What’s the problem?”
“No,” she answered dryly.
“You don’t even know—”
“No.”
“No what?”
Connell was getting annoyed.
“No, asshole.”
Her insult left him speechless while I burst into thunderous laughter. She noticed, because she looked at me with a hostile expression.
I realized that the disdain she had when she looked at me wasn’t the same that she had toward Connell.
It was different.
That thought made me swell with pride. Every time that our gazes rested on each other’s, I clung to that idea. She liked me.
I liked her so much. I felt it when I was near her. I felt it on her skin, like a lion smelling prey that’d just fallen into its trap.
“You’re one of those girls who likes to play hard to get.”
Without beating around the bush, Connell trapped her against the wall with his imposing build. I turned around abruptly at that gesture.
“What are you doing?” asked Jackson warily, seeing me suddenly at attention.
