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When he came back, would he act like nothing had happened? Would I? Daire wasn’t someone who sat around talking about his feelings, so that told me I’d never get closure on the kiss.
Unless…he did it again.
I swallowed, pushing that thought all the way to the back of my mind. It had happened. It wasn’t going to again. The moment of madness had been just that. We’d been hyped up on adrenaline. Anger. Then we acted on it. Nothing more.
“Dismissed.”
I blinked my professor back into focus at the bottom of the lecture hall and realized I’d been zoned out for the entire hour. The cursor on my laptop blinked at me, the page still empty of any notes as everyone around me packed up and started to leave.
Well, shit. I hoped whatever he’d gone over wasn’t something that would come back to bite me on the ass in the form of a surprise test.
Shoving everything into my bag, I got to my feet and slipped out of the room before my professor could call me out for being a zombie. It felt good not to have to worry about anyone waiting for me, not when Joey and his friends hadn’t been back to school since their…unfortunate incident. From what I heard, it wasn’t even a sure thing that theywouldbe coming back, not after the utter humiliation of the entire school seeing them naked, bound, and tattooed. Apparently East had made another video, one without him or our friends, and anonymously sent it to every student at Astor. Many of whom had gone down in the early-morning hours to see the scandal for themselves.
Just as Donovan had reassured me, there hadn’t been any blowback whatsoever on us. Rumors spread about Joey’s parents being livid and demanding names, but neither him nor his friends were saying a word.
Daire really was one scary motherfucker.
As I rounded a corner, my feet came to a sudden stop.
Shit.They were back.
Dressed in turtlenecks that covered their new ink, Joey, Carl, and Doug huddled together at the end of the hall, only this time they weren’t surrounded by their usual band of loyal followers.
In fact, several of the people standing nearby were whispering and laughing as Joey seemed to avoid their gazes.
Part of me felt supreme satisfaction at seeing them ostracized, but the other part of me felt that familiar anxiety start to creep up like an old friend. Just looking at them, seeing them standing together like they were waiting to give me shit…
No. They wouldn’t be doing that anymore. My friends had made sure of that.
Forcing my shoulders back and my feet to move, I headed down the hall in their direction, since there wasn’t another way to go unless I turned around—and I wouldn’t be doing that anymore.
Joey looked up, our eyes connected, and I saw the blood drain from his face. He whispered something to his friends, and they all nodded and left. Like hauled ass away from me as fast as they could without running. I couldn’t hide my surprise at their reaction as my jaw dropped.
No freakin’ way. One look at me and they’d tucked tail and run. Why the hell had I been mad at Daire again? I should’ve let him and the guys insert themselves into this situation a long time ago.
The relief was almost overwhelming as I headed to meet up with my friends during a lull in classes. For the first time in a long time, I was able to walk the halls without ugly taunts or hands on me. It was a slice of freedom I hadn’t even known I’d been missing.
The guys were all in their usual spot, a meetup room we’d commandeered that used to be a teachers’ lounge. Couches and chairs were packed in, enough seating for all of us even as our group kept growing with the addition of JT. As I stepped inside, I couldn’t help the smile that was dying to burst out.
“They’re back.”
“You just said that with a big-ass grin on your face.” West smirked, lounging on one of the couches with JT pulled into his lap. “Lemme guess, you got to appreciate Simone’s skill with a tattoo gun.”
“The oozing bit was my idea,” Travis said, looking way too proud of himself.
I shook my head and dropped my bag on the floor. “Actually, I didn’t. They’ve covered that shit with turtlenecks and scarves.”
“Pussies.”
My head whipped around to find the person that deep voice belonged to. Daire sat on one of the window ledges staring out to the courtyard. His booted foot was propped up in front of him, bent at the knee, and the other stretched out as he lounged back against the wooden frame.
It was the first time I’d seen him since our… incident, and the sight of him made my stomach do a somersault.
“Not so brave now, are they?” West chuckled as JT shook his head.
“What’s the problem, Golden Boy?” East said, crossing one leg over the other. “You don’t approve of your boyfriend’s actions? He was just standing up for his friend.”
JT ignored East, his soft brown eyes finding me. “I’m sorry for what they were doing to you. If I’d known, I could’ve?—”
