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Six guys, sophomores and juniors, stood in the open area at the back corner of the locker room. Gabriel only recognized them vaguely. JV guys, he thought.
They froze when he came around the corner. Exchanged nervous glances, like they weren’t sure whether they should be relieved he wasn’t a teacher. He knew that look. He’d practically invented that look.
Gabriel gave half a smile. “Come on. What’s up?”
Then he heard the faint shifting sound inside the locker, and one of the guys hit the face of it with his fist. “Shut up, retard.”
One of the other ones laughed. “Stacey, you dumbass. Like he can hear you.”
Stacey. What an idiot name for a guy and Gabriel hoped to god it was a last name. No wonder this prick was slamming people in lockers. He couldn’t even be original.
Then he realized what the other kid had said.
Like he can hear you.
“Oh yeah.” Stacey struck the locker again, harder. He laughed and raised his voice, until he was practically shouting into the locker vents. “Shut up, you f**king ret ”
Gabriel slammed a fist into his shoulder. The kid staggered back into the other lockers.
One of the other guys got in Gabriel’s face. “What the f**k, man. It’s just a joke. ”
“Hilarious. Let him out.”
he warmth of her body made it all the way through his sweatshirt, and the scent of her hair was in his nose, one of those fruity shampoos like raspberries or apricots. Beneath that, something natural and fresh and outdoorsy, like cut grass or no, hay. Had to be hay, from the farm.
It felt nice.
Push her away.
He should. He would. The last thing he needed in his life was something else to screw up.
But right now, this second, when the thought of being at home or at school made him feel like a caged, rabid animal, standing in the middle of the woods being held wasn’t all that bad.
“Thanks,” he said, dropping his head to speak against her hair. Her cheek was right there, if she’d just lift her head. Her cheek, the slope of her jaw, the curve of her ear. He wondered what her skin would feel like, what her lips would taste like. He let his hands find her waist.
She stiffened.
Gabriel froze. Maybe he was reading this wrong. She hadn’t called last night. Maybe a hug-without-pretense just meant she felt pity for him.
Christ, even his thoughts wanted to screw with him.
There was a tree right here. He wanted to bang his head against it.
No, he wanted to push the hair back from her face and kiss her, to cut this cord of tension between them.
But maybe that cord was the only thing holding him together.
He slid his thumbs along the jacket, just below her ribs, barely a motion, half an inch, if that. But he heard her quick in-take of breath, felt the minute shift of her body as she drew back.
Damn.
He couldn’t take another rejection. Especially from Layne. She wasn’t like other girls. She saw him. Every single weakness.
And that was the reason for the hug. She wasn’t interested.
She felt sorry for him.
He let go of her waist. He kept his voice flat, uninterested, like her hanging off him was a random inconvenience. “Come on. I don’t have all morning to play escort.”
