"Excuse me," I say, my arm touching his as I reach for my locker.
He slowly turns to me. "What the fuck do you want now?"
"To get to my locker," I say, keeping my eyes onit, and not him. "Would you move over so I can open it?"
He turns back to his locker, still blocking mine. I peek around him so I can see what's in his locker. He has a couple books in there but that's it, or that's all I can see.
"I'm going to be late to class," I say.
He doesn't respond. I don't know what the hell he's doing but I don't have time to wait. There's a sliver of space between him and my locker just big enough for me to fit. I duck under his arm, acutely aware that I'm rubbing against the front of his body as I hurry to open my locker.
"You're fucking unbelievable," he says, his hot breath feeling like fire on my neck.
I ignore him as I open my locker just enough to grab the portable charging stick. I slam the locker door shut, and just as I'm about to duck back under his arm, he moves forward, trapping me between him and the locker.
His body presses into me and I quickly turn my head before my face slams into the metal door. He leans in closer and I feel his hot breath at my ear. "You're new here so I gave you a pass this morning, but this just now? This was your last chance. Don't fucking mess with me."
My heart's thumping against my chest and I'm struggling to breathe. I try to swallow but my mouth is dry. The heat from his body is making me sweat, beads trickling down the sides of my face. Dean's hand is on the locker next to mine and I watch his massive arm straighten as he slowly pushes away from me. I feel a chill the moment his body leaves mine, making me shiver. I quickly flip around and see he's still there, his hands planted on each side of me.
"Did you hear me, New Girl? Last warning. Don't fucking mess with me."
I stare back at him, finally getting a look at his face. Holy shit, he's gorgeous. I didn't get a good look at him this morning because he had his head down and his baseball cap pulled low over his eyes. Now I'm looking right at him, and damn, that face. It's like it's been chiseled from stone. All hard edges, defining each feature from the indents of his cheekbones to his sharp square jaw. My eyes go to his full lips, a pale pink against his tan skin. I look up at his eyes—those beautiful blue eyes—outlined with thick black lashes and dark dense brows.
"It's Brook," I say, locking my eyes on his. "And I wasn't messing with you. I was just trying to get to my locker."
I slip around him and race down the hall, my heart still pumping so hard I can't breathe. I'm not sure why I'm reacting this way. He's a bully and I don't back down from bullies. I'm not scared of him. But maybe I should be.
Chapter Two
Dean
"What the fuck's up with you today?" Danny yells as the ball flies past me. I didn't even see him throw it.
"I'm tired." I walk up to him. "I didn't sleep last night."
Danny rolls his eyes. "What'd he do now?"
"It wasn't because of Jacob. And stop talking shit about him. He's just a kid. He's gonna screw up."
Jacob's my younger brother. He gets in trouble sometimes but I cut him some slack because of what he's been through. Having our mom walk out on us. Seeing our dad being hauled off to jail. Stuck being raised by me, his older brother, who doesn't have a fucking clue what he's doing.
Danny motions me to follow him. "I need water."
We walk over to the bleachers and he grabs his water bottle.
"I thought he was going here this year," Danny says, referring to Jacob. "Isn't he 15?"
"Yeah, but he's still at the junior high. Ninth grade. Mom started him late, like me. He turned 15 in May. A few weeks after she took off." My jaw tightens and I feel my anger rising as I remember that morning. I woke up and she was gone, with no explanation, just a note that said to take care of my brother.
She has great timing, I'll give her that. I'd just turned 18, making me an adult who could legally care for my brother.
“That sucks, man," Danny says, wiping the sweat from his brow. "I don't know how someone does that. Leaves their kid like that? You haven't heard from her since she left? Like at all?"
"Nothing. She's gone. Doubt I'll ever hear from her again."
"So if it's not about Jake, why didn't you sleep?"
"I got a lot of shit going on. Taking care of a house and a kid is a lot of damn work, and not what I expected to be doing my senior year of high school."
