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I still have to dredge up the past. I still need to remember everything I can.
But I feel better now. Elias’s sweet words and possessive touch are the reminder I needed that I’m not alone.
That when the demons of my old life come out to play, the Sinners will be here with me to face them.
12
The next morning, there’s debate about whether I should go back to school at all, but I can’t afford to ditch many more classes if I want to keep my grades up. And I hate the idea of Alan making me fail out of Hawthorne University by scaring me out of going to class.
The guys grudgingly agree, although I know all of them hate it. But Gray already tried the “get Sophie to leave for her own good” tactic once, and he remembers how well that worked—or didn’t work. So instead, all three men make plans to keep an eye on me while we’re on campus.
Our new place is less than five minutes away from the campus, and despite the fact that I’ve been going to Hawthorne for almost a year now, as we pull into the parking lot, it almost feels like it’s the first time I’ve been here.
“Jesus. Why do I suddenly feel nervous?” I mutter as Gray stops the car and cuts the engine.
I realize as soon as the words are out of my mouth that I probably shouldn’t have said them. He’s already wound tight with worry for me, and I’m the one who petitioned hardest to keep going to classes. I shouldn’t be giving him more reasons to start the car back up, drive to our new place, and lock me up in my studio or something for safekeeping.
But instead of doing any of that, he just looks over at me, his jaw set with determination.
“It’ll be all right, Sparrow,” he says, “you’ve got us.”
I do have them. Which is why I’m able to keep my cool when we run into Caitlin and her posse halfway across campus. Gemma is right behind Caitlin, and Reagan trails behind them both.
Fuck. She’s back.
My muscles tense unconsciously. I never really gave Reagan a second glance before all of this. She’s slight and quiet, happy to follow along in the wake of a loud, brash girl like Caitlin. On the outside, she’s not the type of girl who looks like she should be able to fight someone like me, but I know for a fact she is.
I know it from personal fucking experience.
“Shit,” Elias says, his footsteps slowing as they near us.
Declan cringes. “She looks like shit. Did you do that to her, Soph?”
“I guess I did,” I mutter.
A vicious sort of satisfaction bubbles through me. I guess I did give her the black eye, the bruised nose, and the split lip. She looks haggard and battered, and I could almost feel bad for what I did… but I won’t let myself. She’s not the only one covered in bruises. And mine aren’t just on the outside.
Caitlin pulls her shoulders back, cocking her head as she rests her hands on her hips. “I’m surprised you even dared to set foot back on this campus, you bitch,” she hisses. “First Cliff Montgomery and now my best friend?”
I fight the urge to roll my eyes. Caitlin is no closer to Reagan than she is to any of the other girls who hang around her—she can just control Reagan more easily than most of them. Which doesn’t surprise me, knowing how easily Reagan lets other people, including Alan, manipulate her.
“Cliff wasn’t enough for you, huh?” Caitlin continues, narrowing her eyes at me. “Do you just like getting in fights? Attacking people for no fucking reason? You really are a fucking psycho, aren’t you?”
Her eyes dart to Gray quickly as she talks, and I get the feeling this isn’t just about Reagan and whatever story she told the girls to make me sound like the bad guy. Caitlin can see the way all three men gather around me protectively, and considering how fast the rumor mill churns around here, she probably knows I moved in with them too. She’s pissed because I’m taking the exact role she wanted with the Sinners.
I may not be popular with the rest of the school, but I have the Sinners at my back. Each and every one of them. On paper, Caitlin is the type of girl these men should want. We both know that. But they chose me.
And she hates it.
I almost want to smirk, to taunt her a little, but what will that accomplish? Nothing more than what the truth already is accomplishing. I’m with the Sinners, and the Sinners are with me. All she can do is accept the fact, because even if she got rid of me, she wouldn’t take my place.
They’d never want her, even if I wasn’t an option. I know them well enough by now to know that.
When I don’t take the bait she’s throwing around like confetti, Caitlin only seems to get more irritated.
“You’re fucking unbalanced, Sophie,” she shrills. “You’re a danger to our campus and everyone here, and now you’ve brainwashed the Sinners or some shit. What the fuck do they even see in you? You look like a fucking vagrant, with those ugly-ass tattoos and blue hair and scars. Like a disgusting hooker.”
“That’s fucking enough,” Gray mutters, pushing me behind him and putting himself between Caitlin and me. My blood races as he leans down, his body vibrating with barely restrained anger. “Back the fuck off, Caitlin.”
