“And how do you feel?”
“Good,” I answered simply.
With his eyes trained on me, he ran his tongue from one corner of his mouth to the other. “And what are you not saying when you bite your lip like that?”
My face heated immediately. “I don’t always realize I’m doing it.”
He looked me up and down before he met my gaze again. “I don’t know if I believe that. But it’s sexy, so I’ll let you slide because I have another question.”
Sexy. My stomach quivered.
“Ask me anything,” I murmured.
A seductive smirk pulled at his lips. “Anything?”
I nodded again, slowly. “Anything.”
“What’s up with you and the two women from last Friday?”
My eyebrows flew up.
I didn’t expectthatquestion.
“Oh, that was… bullshit.” I shook my head to try to minimize it, but as he continued staring, the words started to just flow out of me. “I went to school with them, and they were bullies—started in eighth grade and continued throughout high school.”
“They seemed like the type,” he acknowledged with a slow nod. “I knew it.”
My face scrunched up in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“I knew they were full of shit when they said you were mean and you bullied them.”
“What?” I screeched, the word coming out louder than I’d anticipated. “They saidIbulliedthem?” My mouth hung open in disbelief. “Theywere the bullies! In eighth grade, the taller one liked a boy, andhe wanted to be partners with me in our language arts class. So she decided that trying me would be her favorite pastime for the next five years, and she got everyone else on board with her bullshit. They’re the reason I’m not a fan of crowds or of having a lot of attention on me… or being in Chance at all.”
“Just based off the conversation I’d had with you in that short amount of time, I knew they were lying. And if you were mean to them, it was because they deserved that shit.”
My eyes were wide. “I want to say that I can’t believe they’d lie on me to someone they don’t even know, but honestly, I can. They were shitty kids, and they grew up to be shitty adults.”
“They even went as far as to say you beat them up.”
I cringed. “Oh, well, uh…” I scratched my temple. “See, what had happened was…”
“Oh shit!” he bellowed, before bursting out laughing. “You beat them up?!”
“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!” I grabbed his arm in an attempt to stop his hooting and hollering. “Listen! Hear me out.”
“I’m all ears.”
“Senior year, Olivia and her minions were talking shit and then tripped me in the hallway and kicked my books. No one stepped in to help me, so I hopped up and beat her ass.” My lips curled upward slightly at the memory. “They tried to jump me a few months later, but I handled business. So they wanted to press charges.”
“And the school allowed that?”
I frowned slightly. “The school allowed Olivia to get away with everything she did.”
Thetownlet Olivia get away with whatever, I thought ruefully.
He nodded. “I can see why you don’t fuck with Chance.”
“They made school life hard, which in turn made life in Chance hard. And my parents…”
