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Chapter Four
KARLEE
Tizio Manolo is a bully. Capital everything. Every. Thing. A hot bully, but a bully.
I flip my hair over my shoulder as Hazard, only the hottest guy on campus, slides an arm around the back of my chair. We have a couple of classes together, and though I’ve seen him give me a once over and a smile here and there, this is the most interest he’s shown me.
And I know I’m the envy of the other girls.
He’s talking to one of his friends, not to me, but that’s okay. I’m still mad over Tizio, who’s taking up too much head space right now.
But I’m out now, got away from his team, so he’ll fade away with the annoyance that still clings to me.
It’s half-price night at Heffers N’ Hogs, a bar and grill with a big outdoor space that’s popular with students due to its proximity to campus—a few streets from Belle Jar.
Hazard’s text was too much to resist. A guy like him, cute with curly dark hair, loads of tattoos, and cheekbones sharpenough to cut metal, showing interest in me? He even went to the effort to get my number. It’s flattering. It’s wild. I’ve never had a boyfriend my age.
I’m not saying I want him to be my boyfriend, but it’s kind of fun to entertain the thought.
He plays with my hair as my friend, Laura, grins and keeps giving me a not-so-discreet thumbs up from the other side of the sticky table. I’m also getting some heavy glares thrown my way by some of the girls here, but he isn’t seeing anyone, and I haven’t even decided if I’m interested.
The music pounds, and the voices rise and fall as the packed place pumps, even here in the backyard.
Hazard leans close, his breath a little cloying. “Had my eye on you a long time.”
“That’s nice.”
He laughs like I’ve told him the best joke ever. It’s not that I’m embarrassed. It’s more I’m not really sure how someone’s meant to respond to such an obvious line.
I had to climb out the kitchen window to get here. Out of all the potential ways out, I figured that would be the least likely wired to alert anyone. Difficult, time-consuming, and a trick landing in bushes that I now have a battle wound from. If I were going to alarm the place to keep people from escaping, I’d leave that because most people are going to go for the easy route, not the one where they have to climb over the sink and unlock it from the top.
Laura checks her watch, and I know she’s thinking it’s time to go home. But I’m having too much fun, riding the wave of popularity that comes with Hazard. Not that I’m popular. But it’s a nice place to be. I also have to think about if I go home, he’s surely to be there waiting for me.
“You wanna come get high?” Hazard slides his hand up my leg to my inner thigh as he licks at my throat.
He’s my type, bad to the bone, cuts school, gets into fights, and likes to live on the edge. But there’s my type and who I’m interested in, and then there’s the ones I’m not sure I’m overly interested in. I turn to face him and let him know I’m not one for getting high when he swoops in to kiss me.
His lips don’t touch mine. ‘Cause one moment, he’s right there, and the next, he’s being yanked back.
The place falls silent except for the boom of the music, and my cheeks burn as Tizio drags him away. Hazard is protesting and trying to get away from the grip Tizio has on him.
That rat bastard.
I could kill him.I should.
A dark thrill races through my blood.
“Karlee!” Laura’s on her feet, eyes big, and everyone turns to stare at me. “What the fuck?”
“He’s with me. I’ll take care of this,” I mutter.
Humiliation pulls at me as I shoot up and hurry into the bar, looking about. I can’t find them in the crowd, and Tizio’s big enough, broad enough to stand out in this hipster boy and student athlete crowd, especially a Tizio dragging poor Hazard around like his newest toy.
He wouldn’t be in here, though.
I make a beeline for the door, pushing past people in my rush to get there.
I shove open the front door, and I spy them down the road. Hazard’s feet dangle as Tizio has him pressed up against a storefront. Others have followed them. And behind me, more people.
