“Happy birthday, kitten.” I take the back of her neck in my hand as I lean in and kiss her. She opens beneath me and kisses me back. Maybe our little stunt of ignoring her paid off.
When I pull back, she smiles up at me. She touches the ring on her finger. “Thank you both for the present.”
“You’re welcome.” Putting my arm around her shoulders, I walk her into the school. She steps over to Caden’s locker when he opens it.
“We have lunch plans.” Luke grabs his books from his locker.
I lift an eyebrow.
“Pizza and cake with Kenz.” Harper bounces on her toes a little as she says it.
Today won’t be a very healthy eating day, but I smile at her enthusiasm. “I look forward to it.”
Luke wanders off to class with our girl while Caden and Jack hang back with me.
“Do we know anything more?” I ask as we head to our first period.
“The parking lot camera is a joke.” Jack shakes his head. “The footage is blurry and too many people go that direction to fuck off during school. I couldn’t even tell which one was Harper on the footage.”
“I’ve got a short list of people who weren’t at the game on Friday and could have targeted Harper.” Caden scratches his head as we enter the classroom and sit in the back. “Unfortunately, we’ve pissed off a good amount of people, and Harper pointed out that it could be someone actually mad at her for being with us, which could mean a chick.”
“We’ve been able to take down some wannabe queen bees before.” I don’t see the problem with taking down someone who is causing harm even if it’s a chick. We just don’t beat them up like some guys.
“We need more info.” Jack shakes his head. “At least she’s wearing the ring.”
The ring has a built-in GPS that we can monitor. Luke wanted to put one in her like a real pet, but Caden found out about this tech ring. Pretty sure a microchip would have been a no-go for our girl. We’ve had it for a few days and her birthday was a convenient excuse to give it to her.
We each installed the software on our phones. Not that I think our girl will try to hide from us, but just in case whoever is messing with her escalates. We’d rather be safe than sorry.
Harper
“So it’s back on?”
“Apparently it was never off.” I sketch on the drawing of Luke today. My ring flashes in the overhead lights. Still a weird gift, but I guess it says something to others.
“And your mom knows and is okay with four guys pursuing you?” Kenz shifts in her chair. “Because my mom would freak the fuck out. She almost caught Brandon in my bedroom a few nights ago and he’s been my boyfriend for two years. She would have cut his balls off. My mom doesnotmess around.”
I smile at the thought of Kenz’s five-foot-tall, one-hundred-pound mom taking after Brandon with a carving knife.
“I’m not dating them.” I shrug. “She knows they’re interested and I might be interested in them, but nothing is going to happen.”
Though she bought me two big boxes of condoms just in case. I shake my head.
“Yeah, but she invited them all to dinner?”
“She’s suspicious and wants to get to know them.” I shrug again. “She asked before I could even interject to stop her. Besides, they got me a birthday gift.”
Kenz grabs my hand again. She studied it hard when I first showed her. “Brandon sucks at gifts. I don’t think he’d ever get me a ring unless he was asking me to marry him and that’s not for a really long time.”
I pry my hand loose and get back to my sketch. “They’re acting all sweet again, but I won’t be fooled. They’re assholes of the first order and they might be talented actors, but I’m not falling for it again.”
They turned into raging assholes after one day of no communication. Yeah, I’m going to keep my guard up around them. But I also really enjoy what they do to me, and knowing they want me gives me a measure of control and power over them.
Tanner stops next to me and squats. He puts one hand on my desk to steady himself. “Hey, everything okay today?”
Kenz gives him the stink eye.
“Yes, fine.” I gesture. “Kenz, Tanner. Tanner, Kenz.”
