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He walked backward away from me, his eyes fixed on mine. “In that case, you better come and get it if you want to keep that GPA up.”
He turned on his heel, his long legs carrying him quickly down a small slope toward the gate at the bottom, and out. Behind the school sat thick woods. Students weren’t supposed to go out there during school hours. Cayden West clearly didn’t care at all about that. I cursed, checking my watch. I didn’t have enough time to put something else together for my homework assignment. I had to get that one back. I started after him, nerves clawing my insides. Breaking school rules to avoid damaging my GPA seemed counterproductive, but a failed assignment was too terrifying to imagine.
I followed him, catching up with him when we were halfway down the slope.
“Please, just give me my assignment.” I made my voice as reasonable as I could.
“I said I would,” he said, not slowing down even a fraction.
We were almost at the woods. He strode up the small trail that would take us into the dark-green shadows waiting just ahead. I stopped in the sunshine just outside the trailhead. Should I really follow him in there? We’d be alone. No one would be able to see us. He turned back and caught me hesitating.
“You don’t really have a choice, do you, Freckles? Get your ass in here.” He tossed the last words carelessly over his shoulder before disappearing into the shadows.
You don’t have a choice.It was easier to follow him if I let myself believe that.
I followed him up the trail and into the woods.
His broad back disappeared as soon as my eyes adjusted to the dim light falling through the thick canopy.
“Cayden, wait! This isn’t funny!” I ran after him. I had no choice. Class was going to start soon, and being late for my favorite teacher was almost as bad as not having an assignment to turn in.
My sneakers moved over the needle-littered forest floor. I reached him and pulled on his arm.
He stopped immediately and spun us both, somehow redirecting my momentum to bring me hard against his chest. My breath puffed out, and the scent of him filled my head.
“Where were you last night, Lillian?”
Lillian. I was starting to recognize his different levels of crazy. When he used my full name, he was annoyed, and serious.
“What’s it to you? You’re not my dad, and I haven’t told anyone anything about you, so what’s your problem?”
“Where. Were. You?”
“At Eve’s house, where else? I know you’re new here, but you might have noticed that I’m not exactly Miss Popular.” My eyes flashed my irritation at him, but he seemed immune to it. “Anyway, didn’t Asher already mention it? He was there.”
I didn’t know why I felt compelled to point that out, but it did something to Cayden. His grip tightened, and his eyes glittered.
“Got a little crush on your best friend’s brother, huh?”
I flushed with embarrassment. Of course, I knew Asher was hot, but he was the closest thing to a brother I’d ever had, considering how close I was with Eve. I’d never seen him that way.
“What thoughts are going through your pretty little head right now? Tell me or I’ll make you.” Cayden’s voice was a low growl.
I forced a scoff. “He’s like a brother to me, if you must know.”
“A brother? Like me? Am I like a brother to you?” Cayden raised an eyebrow, some of his tension fading. He still held me flush against him. It shouldn’t be so comforting.
“Hardly. Everyone knows this foster thing is a sham, an excuse to have a ringer get on the Hellions and win nationals. Now, give me my assignment, I have to get to class.”
“And lunch? Where were you hiding then?”
“I wasn’t hiding,” I protested. It was a lie. I was hiding and I wished I still was. “I wouldn’t bother hiding from you. You don’t scare me.”
Cayden, the asshole, laughed. “Oh, Lily, don’t forget I’ve read your journal, I know that’s a lie, and I also know…you like it that way. Don’t forget, I see you.”
He brought his hand to my face and ran the backs of his fingers down my cheek. “I see you in all your twisted, fucked up glory.”
His words stung. I knocked his hand away, staring bloody murder at him. “Give me my painting!”
