“Can I call you?” he whispered.
“Yes.” I nodded, a little embarrassed that my mind was preoccupied on another guy.
I was interested in spending time with him again. Maybe the spark hadn’t been there tonight, but I was stressed, and he deserved another chance. Maybe it just took time.
Ben waited for me to get into my car before he pulled out. Grabbing my phone, I hurried to text K.C. and share the details of my date. Even with the slight doubt about my attraction, I had a good time and was excited to share good news with her.
Can I come over?
Did you have fun? she asked.
Yes, but I wanted to talk…in person. I am not about to have a whole conversation over text messaging.
Was he nice?
Yes! It was good. No worries. Just kind of excited and wanted to talk. My impatience almost made me start the car and head to her house without an answer.
I have to work late. See you tomorrow before class? My shoulders slumped slightly at her response. I was close to her work, but I wasn’t going to bug her there.
Yeah, that’s fine. ‘Night. I shot back.
‘Night! Glad you had fun.
Just then, I heard the rumble of a motorcycle engine cruise past my car and perform a U-turn ahead. It came to stop on the other side of the street, about fifty yards away, in front of Spotlight Cinemas—where K.C. worked. My fingers tingled at the sight of Jared, and everything else stopped. He left the engine running as he sat back, holding the bike in place with both jean-clad legs on either side of it. He took out his phone from his black hoodie and appeared to be texting…and waiting.
Not a minute later, K.C. came bouncing out of the theater, running up to him. She leaned in and touched his arm.
Holy mother son of a…
I was having trouble breathing. What the hell am I seeing right now?
I watched as she smiled up at him. He grinned back at her but didn’t touch her. She was so intimate with him. Taking off his helmet, he offered it to her with a few words. She wasn’t getting the smirks or threatening kinds of looks I received. She ran her fingers through his mussed hair before taking the helmet and putting it on her own head. He fastened the straps for her before she climbed on behind him and wrapped her arms around his stomach.
I instantly slouched in my seat as they sped past me. They both knew my dad’s car, but I was hoping they wouldn’t notice it. At any rate, it wasn’t like they were going to stop and say “hi.”
Needles dug under the surface of my skin, and my ears were ringing. My throat ached as I fought back tears.
He had won over K.C.
K.C. had lied about working late.
She had her arms around him.
I wasn’t sure which one I was most upset about.
Chapter 14
After sitting in my car for more minutes than I cared to admit, I was calm enough to drive.
The entire time it took me to get home and stalk up my front porch I had several versions of internal conversations with K.C. and choice monologues directed at Jared, including all of my favorite expletives. The more I talked to myself, the more pissed I got. Screaming, crying, stomping on some bubble wrap—they all sounded good right now.
What was she thinking? Even if Jared had smooth-talked her, was it worth hurting her best friend over?
I now guessed what Jared’s move was. He was trying to turn my friend against me. K.C. was very aware of what Jared had done to me, but he had gotten to her. He brought it to her attention that her boyfriend was cheating and then swooped in to pick up the pieces. How else could she be so weak-minded?
She needed to know Jared was using her. But how the hell could I tell her that?
Keeping myself busy so I wouldn’t do anything stupid, I finished my Calculus homework, completed the assigned reading for Government, and cleaned out the refrigerator and cabinets of expired food. After I’d exhausted myself with enough chores so that I’d finally stopped talking to myself, I walked upstairs to take a bath.
About an hour after I’d gotten out of the tub, the whir of Jared’s motorcycle sounded down our street. I leapt out of bed to spy through the window. Noticing that the clock read midnight, I calculated that it’d been three hours since I’d seen him with K.C.
Three fucking hours! What’d they been doing?
He arrived home alone. That was good, at least.
As he pulled into his driveway, I noticed the headlights of another vehicle coming to an abrupt stop in front of his house. Jared hopped off his bike and removed his helmet but kept it secured in his hand. He raced to the curb to meet the car’s occupants. The driver and his passenger had already vacated the car and met up with Jared toe to toe.
What’s this?
Jared towered over them, not only in height but in build. He had been tall at fourteen, and by now he had to exceed six feet. Judging by the way he got in their faces, these guys were not his friends.
I opened the double doors to get a better view. Jared waved the helmet in the space between them, and the other guys were yelling and trying to advance in his face. I caught the words “fuck you” and “get over it.” They continued to bark at each other, loudly and intrusively.
It was hard to catch my breath all of a sudden. Their argument seemed to be getting out of control. Should I call the cops?
As much as they pushed into his space, Jared didn’t retreat. The odds were against him though. Shit, Jared. Just get out of there.
One of the men pushed him, and I flinched. Reacting, Jared got in the guy’s face and pushed into him with his body until the guy was forced to back up.
At that moment, Madoc’s GTO sped down the street to a screeching halt. As soon as the strangers saw him hop out of his car and run in their direction, they started throwing punches at Jared. He lost hold of his helmet, and it slammed to the ground.
Jared charged one of the guys, and they dropped to ground level looking like an MMA fight. Each boy rolled on the lawn, jabbing and belting.
Snatching my phone off the bed, I raced out of my room and down the stairs. Pulling open the drawer to the entryway table, I grabbed the Glock-17 my father instructed I keep there when I was home alone.
I clutched the door knob. Call the cops or go outside? This would be over before the cops got here. Screw it.
I swung open the door and stepped onto the porch. The boys were all on Jared’s front lawn, with Madoc and Jared straddling their opponents, punching them into oblivion. My heart pounded at the display, but I couldn’t look away. The sense of urgency that made me run outside lessened when I realized Jared was winning.
Mesmerized by the fight happening in front of me, I blinked when I heard Jared’s disgusted howl. His opponent, an older, tattooed guy, had pulled out a knife and sliced his arm. I ran down the stairs, gun in hand, in time to see Jared dive for his helmet and hit the guy over the head with it. The other guy crumpled to the ground, moaning and blood dripping off his forehead. The knife lay on the grass at his side. Jared stood up, hovering over the nearly-unconscious guy.
Madoc pounded his fist one more time into his opponent’s gut, and swinging him over his shoulder, he dumped him onto the ground near his Honda.
Jared left his opponent bloody and barely moving on the ground, while he squeezed his left bicep. The arm of his black hoodie was blood-soaked and glistened where he’d been cut. My worried eyes shot to the hand on that arm. A steady red stream dripped off his fingertips. I had a brief impulse to go and help him but resisted. The kindness would only be thrown back in my face. He and Madoc would need trips to the ER, but as it was a school night, Jared’s mom should be home.
Walking over to the Honda, Jared raised his helmet above his head and brought it down with a deafening crash on the windshield. Again, he repeated the action, smashing the windshield again and again until it was shattered beyond usefulness.
Heading back towards the house, Jared stopped by the man on the ground. “You’re not welcome at th
e Loop anymore.” His voice was low and strained. His tone was eerily calm.
I could do nothing but stand there, paralyzed with shock at the scene I’d just witnessed.
As Madoc bent to pick up the second guy, his attention snapped to me. “Jared,” he warned. Jared, following his gaze, turned his eyes on me.
A little too late, I realized I was standing with a gun…in the open…in my underwear. My Three Days Grace t-shirt and red boy shorts covered me, but they were tight. My feet were bare, and my hair hung loose down my back. The Glock secured tightly in my right hand hung at my side with the safety on. Was the safety on? Yes, the safety was on…I think.
Madoc was bleeding from the nose, no doubt broken again, but he grinned at me. Jared looked…dangerous. He studied me, his dark eyes and severe brow making me feel more exposed than I already felt. His hands clenched into fists, while his gaze traveled warily down my body and then to the gun in my hand. I could feel the energy coming off him in heat waves.
Ugh, I’m a stupid girl! Had I really wanted to help him?
I cocked my eyebrow and pursed my lips in an effort to look annoyed. What an asshole to bring this drama to our street! Turning, I walked quickly up my porch steps and slammed the front door behind me.
Taking the gun to my bedroom that night, I wasn’t sure what I was protecting myself from. A damn gun wasn’t going to keep those brown eyes out of my dreams.
Chapter 15
The bubble-popping sound of my computer sounded early the next morning, notifying me that I had an incoming call.
“Hey, Dad,” I drawled out sleepily after clicking on the call.
“Good Morning, Pumpkin. Looks like I woke you. Sleeping in today?” He sounded concerned.
Glancing at the clock on my laptop, I saw that the time read six thirty. “Damn!” Throwing off the covers, I ran into my closet. “Dad, can I talk to you after I get home tonight? I’m supposed to be in the lab in thirty minutes.”
Tuesdays and Thursdays worked best for Dr. Porter, my mentor and Chemistry teacher from Sophmore year, so I opted to make it to the lab those mornings for some extra work time on my Science Fair research.
“Yeah, sure, but it will be pretty late for me…or early, actually. Listen, I just needed to tell you that Grandma is coming in tonight.”
I poked my head around the closet door and suppressed a groan. “Dad, do you think you can’t trust me? I’ve been just fine here by myself.” It almost felt like I was lying. Everything from the night before, K.C. and then the fight, hit me so hard that I wanted nothing more than to punch something.
“I trust you completely …but your grandma doesn’t.” He laughed. “She’s just worried about you being on your own, so she said she’d come by for a few days, possibly a week, and lend a hand. You are still a minor after all, and she keeps watching those news shows like Sex Slaves in the Suburbs. She worries.”
My dad and his mom hated the idea of me practically living alone for three months, but my desire to be in my own school for my senior year won out.
I shimmied into some skinny jeans, slipped a long-sleeved, fitted violet tee over my head, and walked out of the closet.
“If it will put her mind at ease, but as you can see, I’m fine,” I sighed.
“I’m not even sure what the law says about this, actually. You are staying out of trouble, right?” His eyes narrowed at me as I slipped on some black ballet flats. Dad was calm about most things, but trying to parent me from Germany was driving him up the wall. This was the seventh time we’d talked in the past two weeks. With the time difference, that was an accomplishment.
“Of course.” I almost choked on my words. If you could call running out of the house to possibly shoot a couple of street thugs “staying out of trouble…” “And I’ll be eighteen in a couple of weeks. I’m barely a minor anymore.”
“I know.” My dad exhaled wearily. “Alright, I’ll let you go. Just be home for dinner for your grandma tonight.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll call you tomorrow morning. Sound good?”
“Talk to you then. Have a great day, Pumpkin.” And he clicked off.
***
The breakfast bar and juice box I grabbed before leaving the house held me over during the lab work, but by first bell, the hunger pangs started. Coupled with the fact that K.C. hadn’t shown up or texted back this morning, I rushed in aggravation down the hall to the cafeteria for a vending machine run before class.
My concentration was flying in five different directions this morning. I’d forgotten to run to the hardware store for supplies last night, so the research I’d wanted to accomplish this morning turned out to be very little. After I broke a beaker and damn near burned my hand with the Bunsen burner, I’d cleared out of the lab before I killed myself.
My jaw ached from clenching my teeth all morning. Images of K.C.’s legs hugging Jared’s hips on the motorcycle kept assaulting me. “What if’s” of what would have happened last night if that knife had sliced Jared’s neck or stomach instead of his arm flashed through my mind.
Rounding the corner, I immediately halted.
What? WHAT!
K.C. leaned against the yellow wall next to the cafeteria doors, while Jared leaned into her. His arm was posted to the wall above her head, and his head was dipped, bringing his lips within inches of hers. The white top she wore rode up to reveal a sliver of skin as Jared’s thumb caressed her softly while holding her hip.
He said something against her lips, and K.C.’s chest rose and fell in deep breaths.
No.
My heart pounded, and heat rushed through my body. I watched him finally catch her lips with his. He slowly pulled her body to him, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. Nausea rose in my throat, and my eyes burned. K.C. looked like she was at a buffet, savoring all of the desserts one bite at a time.
That bitch!
Wait, what? I should be mad at him, if not more so than K.C., then at least equally. Jared had pursued her, and I knew, with all certainty, that it was to hurt me. Why did I want her off of him instead of him off of her?
Luckily, nearly everyone was already in class. Otherwise, they’d be putting on quite a show. I was their only audience.
As I glanced to them again, Jared’s lips were still devouring her. He nibbled at her mouth before moving on to her neck, achieving a groan of pleasure from her. Her eyes were closed, and she bit her bottom lip, showing that she was putty in his hands. He did look like a good kisser, and I was breathless with the ache in my chest. I flinched when I saw the delicate way he buried his lips behind her ear.
Oh, Christ.
The second bell sounded. We had one minute to get to class. K.C. jumped and giggled at the interruption. Jared gave her a smirk before tapping her on the tip of the nose. As she turned to run to class, he gave her a light slap on the ass.
I dashed back around the corner. If he didn’t follow her, then he was coming this way. I definitely didn’t want him to know I’d witnessed their display. My anger fed his hunger, and I didn’t want to lose my cool around him.
“Hey, man.” I heard Madoc’s voice as he barged through the cafeteria doors. “Was that K.C. that ran off? You haven’t tapped that yet?”
Jared exhaled a small laugh as their footsteps came closer. “Who’s saying I haven’t?”
I swallowed hard.
“Uh, because you’ve never been seen with girl after you’ve fucked her. I doubt you even wait until the condom’s off before forgetting their names.”
Jared stopped just in front of the stairs across from the darkened doorway where I’d hidden. He knit his brows together in surprise. “And you do?” he asked defensively, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. His white t-shirt and black thermal hung loose over his torso.
“Yeah, yeah. I know.” Madoc rolled his eyes, bruised from the night before. His nose wasn’t bandaged, but it was cut. “I’m just saying, you never had to work this hard to get a girl into bed.”
“I’m in no hurry. I might want to play around with this one for a while.” Jared shrugged as he started to climb the stairs but stopped and turned to face Madoc, looking like he was about to say something before Madoc cut him off.
“Tate’s going to be pissed,” Madoc’s voice sounded amused, and I wanted to run at hearing my name.
“The whole point,” Jared stated flatly.
“Oh…so that’s the plan.” Madoc nodded, finally understanding the end game.
My throat tightened, and my mouth was dry. He knew she was my best friend, my only friend pretty much, and losing her would make me miserable. The tightness spread to my jaw, and I shook my head in disgust. He hated me that much?
“Thanks again for backing me up last night.” Jared jerked his chin at Madoc before turning to the stairs.
Madoc spoke. “This thing, with Tate…” Jared stopped and turned again. Madoc continued, “why do we do it? I know I’ve asked before, but you don’t tell me shit. I just don’t get it.”
Jared’s eyes narrowed. “I think you go above and beyond. You mess with her without me telling you, so why do you care?”
Madoc let out a nervous laugh. “This isn’t about me. I never wanted to make an enemy of that girl. She came outside last night like she was ready to back us up. She’s hot, athletic, tough, and she can handle a gun. What’s not to like?”
Jared descended the stairs to stand one above Madoc. His dark brow pulled together in a scowl as he stared his friend down. “Stay away from her.
Madoc held up his hands. “Hey, man, no worries. She broke my nose and kicked me in the balls. I think that ship’s sailed. But if you don’t want her, why can’t anyone else have a shot? ”
Jared paused as if searching for words. Them he let out an exasperated sigh. “I’m not standing in her way anymore. If she wants to date and screw every guy in school, she can have a ball. I’m done.”
“Well good, because word is she went out with Ben Jamison last night.” Madoc’s tone sounded a little too pleased to deliver that news. Jared’s eyebrows pinched closer together, if that was possible. His grim expression accompanied by his dark looks made him appear formidable.