She starts rifling through her hair, attempting to find the shortened lock. It’s not as if she’s going to miss it; she’s got enough of it as it is. This is probably the first haircut she didn’t give herself—really, she should be thanking me. Less weight on her head might make her think better.
“Miss Whitlock,” the teacher calls, and I quickly tuck the souvenir into my blazer pocket.
Blaze snaps forward.
“A problem?” the teacher asks.
I cock a brow at the back of her head, watching the way her shoulder line goes rigid. If those gears in her head grind any harder, the whole class will hear them.
It’s alright, you little shit. I know what you’re thinking about.
Rat on me, don’t rat on me.
Decisions, decisions.
Contrary to Blaze’s usualmodus operandi, she doesn’t choose the path of most resistance. Much to my surprise, she crosses her arms and huffs a “No,” then returns to whatever it was she was doing—probably her own version of anarchy. Except—and to no one’s surprise—when the teacher switches her attention back to the whiteboard, Blaze twists around in her seat and growls under her breath, “Sleep with one eye open, Osman.”
“Like you do?” I bite back a smug grin.
If it wasn’t for all the shit she’s pulled recently, I could almost die happy under those homicidal eyes. Her face is so beet-red,I’d almost feel inclined to call her cute—but the word is too mundane to describe what she is.
Alluring. Bewitching. Catastrophic. Certifiable.
Just to name a few.
A venomous little scorpion. Her eyes narrow into slits, and she tips her chin up in mock confidence. “I’m barricading my door so you can’t get in.”
“You have a window.”
“It’s a three-story building.”
Pulling out the lock of hair from my blazer, I lean back in my chair and taunt her with it. My blazer lifts at the cuffs, uncovering the divot around my wrist from where her hair tie used to be.
Pity. I’ll need to take another.
“Do you prefer I break down your door or your window? Don’t say I never give you options, Thief.”
“Maybe I’ll break downyourdoor. See how you feel about that, huh?”
I smirk. “I’ll leave a blanket on the floor for you to sleep on. It’d still be a step up from what you’re used to.”
“Marie,” the teacher snaps.
Blaze glares at me one last time before fixing her gaze forward. “It’sBlaze,” she grumbles under her breath.
One day, she’s going to say “fuck it” with the world, and hell will have no fury. If she wasn’t so fucking difficult all the time, I would’ve helped her out with that a long time ago. Alas, here we are, with her going in circles around her rusting cage, and me watching her go insane.
For the rest of the day, she makes a disturbingly conscious effort to avoid me, irritating me more than her shitty attempt to get backat me. McGill will be watching her from now on, waiting for the moment she slips up and puts her sticky fingers somewhere they shouldn’t be… or inhales something that will get her suspended—both of which I have zero confidence she won’t do.
I have no interest in being her babysitter or pulling her out of every mess she gets herself into, yet here I am, watching how her ass moves in her gym shorts as she climbs up the bleachers toward the huddle that includes Charlie, Liam, and dumb and dumber. Elijah and Aaron—the piece of shit who looks too similar to an Osman for my liking—glance over at my approaching redhead, eyes roving over her long legs. The hungry look they give her sets my teeth on edge.
Not only has she rolled her shorts up, shehadto size them down. But if the rip and slight fading on the side is any indication, Jonathan either went secondhand with her uniform, or she went surfing through the lost property bucket for it.
The school knew the entire male student body would froth over the first sign of cleavage, because they’d made the girls’ crew neck tight enough to choke. The moss-green gym shirt is unflattering at best. If Blaze had Sarah’s budget, I’m sure she’d get the boxy sides taken in so her tits are pushed against the fabric.
“Hey, Kohen,” Sarah says, lowering herself onto the seat.
I don’t respond. The blonde is so persistent with her advances. It’s annoying. Sarah seems to think that sitting two feet away from me when the rest of the gym is free will somehow convince me to take her to the mandatory ball.
