Roman spots me and his eyes flare. “What the fuck happened to you?”
“Nothing.” I shrug, but the movement causes me to wince.
“Nothing?” Roman stalks closer, his hand reaching out, tilting my jaw toward the light. His thumb grazes my lip and I hiss. He releases me. “This doesn’t look like nothing.”
The other three boys crowd me until Dominique shoves Aaron back. He curses but stays put as all three Devils level me with varying shades of anger. “Spill, Alejandra,” Emilio says, and woah, we must be serious because Emilio never uses my name. It’s always Allie or vanilla.
I swallow and look down at my sneakers. “It’s nothing. I was walking out of the bathroom as someone else was walking in. The door slammed into my face.” Three sets of disapproving eyes meet my gaze.
“You’re lying,” Dominique says. And yeah, maybe I am. But I don’t need any of them making things worse by creating a scene. Silvia is the petty mean girl type and she’s mad she isn’t getting her way. I can handle her. I wasn’t expecting an attack like this but looking back, after the hallway incident, I should have seen it coming. I won’t make that mistake again.
I shake my head at Dom’s accusation but then stop when the room spins. “No, I’m not. You guys are making a big deal out of nothing. I got smacked in the face with a door and I’m on my period. Can we drop it now?”
“That the story you’re sticking with?” Roman asks, unconvinced.
“Yep.”
He glares. “For the record, you’re not on your fucking period and I don’t like liars.”
I shrug. “Whatever. Look, I just had the pleasure of throwing up my breakfast and would love to wash my mouth out. Can we move this show along?” I shove past them and head for the door, grateful when no one rushes to immediately follow.
TWENTY-TWO
Roman
“She was jumped,” Emilio says as soon as Allie leaves the room.
A snort from behind has all three of our heads turning. Aaron shakes his head, his jaw clenched and his hands fisted at his sides. “Yeah, she was. Wonder who’s fucking fault that is?”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I advance on him, but he doesn’t cower, which only serves to piss me the fuck off.
“You know exactly what I mean, Roman. Or did you forget we used to be friends? I know how that head of yours works. You don’t think I know you wanted her targeted when she first showed up here? That you didn’t plant your little seeds in the school to make her life difficult?” He briefly looks up to the ceiling and laughs, but the sound is harsh and mocking. “Every fucking girl in this school is going to go after her now. And you”—he digs his finger into my chest—“you’re the one who put the target on her back.” He shakes his head. “I might have my demons, but at least I’m not a selfish prick like you.” He storms out of the classroom, leaving me reeling with his last statement.
“Fuck,” I yell as soon as Aaron is gone from the room.
Two sets of grim stares meet my own. “We didn’t really consider how chicks would respond when you claimed her,” Dominique tries to reassure me, but we all know what Aaron said is true. I did this. Me. No one else. I knew what would happen and I did it anyway. I might not have known the girls would stoop to jumping her, but I should have suspected this after what went down with her and Silvia before. Stupid. I am so fucking stupid.
“I need to fix this.” Neither one disputes my statement. The question now is, how?
Emilio rubs the back of his neck. “I didn’t make things better when I told the school to ice out Silvia. This could be retaliation for that. She can’t do anything to us, but…”
I shake my head. “I appreciate what you’re doing, but, no. This is on me.” I fucked up and I’ll own it. “Besides, we don’t even know if Silvia was involved. We need more information.”
Emilio snorts. “One of us is going to need to be with her at all times,” Emilio says.
“How the fuck are we supposed to manage that?” I ask, anger burning a hole in my gut. She was hurt. Someone put their fucking hands on my girl and hurt her.
“Yeah. It doesn’t look like Allie will be forthcoming with that,” Dom remarks.
“We start by finding her and then make sure whoever did this doesn’t decide to have another go at it,” Emilio says and I nod.
I don’t give a shit if Allie wants to sweep this mess under the rug. I want to know who did this and I’m going to makedamn sureit doesn’t happen again. Everyone at this school needs to know they can’t hurt my girl and get away with it.
We head out to find Allie but she’s elusive. She isn’t in the lunchroom and she’s not in her next class either. After searching for twenty minutes straight, I find out from the front office that she signed herself out for the day. I release a harsh sigh of relief. At least with her home, I don’t have to worry about someone else coming after her.
I fill the guys in when we meet up later after school and we come up with a plan to shadow her during the next school day. I’ve got her covered before school and during first. I’ll walk her to second and Dom will follow her after second to third. Emilio’s next to her fourth period class so he’ll have eyes on her until she makes it to class and then I’ll catch her as soon as she’s done for the day.
We shouldn’t have to worry about anything happening to her during classes. No one isthatstupid. And fourth period she’s got Welding with Aaron. I don’t like the idea of relying on that fucker, but whatever his motives, he seems to care for her, and thankfully there aren’t any catty bitches in that class for her to have to deal with.
