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I stopped walking, and dropped my shoulders a bit. Once I was still I sort of wanted to just run, get the hell out of there so I didn’t have to deal with any of this, but I wasn’t as stupid as I’d been at sixteen. I knew this was the fucking big leagues now and if I tried to just ignore what was happening, someone else would make the big decisions that would either save my life or destroy it.
A much bigger bitch than either Ms. Miller or Tamara had taught me how that went.
“What do you want me to do?” I asked.
“I need you to come and talk with her in my office,” Ms. Miller said. “I don’t think she wants to be unreasonable. This could be the best opportunity you have to sort this out before it becomes a big problem for you.”
“Fine.” I turned to get the jump on her walking back to the building. If I was going to have to suck some little bitch’s dick, I was going to do it on my terms, be the first to step into that room.
Tamara looked really spooked when I entered the office. That surprised me, because she’d always seemed fierce as hell every other time we’d been facing off. Now it was like she was convinced she was in trouble no matter what she did. I wondered what Ms. Miller had said to her out of my hearing.
I had to admit, having her stare me down while her pretty lips quivered was doing things to me. Struggling with her, having her hit me in her ineffective little way, had done something too.
It wasn’t like I’d sworn off women these days. I still had certain needs. I always liked to mess around with the girls Lucas had around, to keep him on his toes and because with most of them there was zero chance I could ever start anything with them with Lucas on the scene. Zero risk.
A girl like Tamara, I knew I could make her love being with me even as she hated it. But I also knew already that she was trouble—the sort of trouble that would fuck me over again before I knew what was happening.
But right now, that was not turning me off the idea of starting something with her as much as it would have normally. Because she was really feeling something for me right now, something she was clearly trying to restrain without success.
It said a lot about how fucked-up I was, but I loved the idea of fighting her. Goading her to be rough with me. I could take it, so long as it was out in the open the way she was being when I riled her up.
She went all rigid when I sat down next to her. I could hear her breath fluttering in her throat, smell her. I restrained myself from leaning over to inhale. That would throw Ms. Miller right off my team for sure.
Ms. Miller settled herself behind her desk and picked up that stupid file she insisted on keeping on me. “As I’m sure you’re both very aware, there are only three months left in this school year. Three months until you can go your separate ways entirely, never even think about one another again if that’s what you want. So what do we have to do to get the both of you safely there?”
Well, I might be damn happy to forget I’d ever seen Tamara Hills in three months’ time… but against every bit of counselling I’d been given since I made my big mistake, I wanted to make sure she would never be able to forget me.
“The real problem here is Tamara misses her friend,” I spoke up. “So maybe instead of butting up against her, I need to be helping to bring them back together.”
Tamara’s surprise quickly settled into a squint of suspicion.
“You aren’t ready to just give up on Callie yet, are you?” I said, because I could see Ms. Miller was gearing up to put something in. “You know that’s the only reason I’m asking here, right? I’m not trying to pressure you into spending time with me or anything, I just think it’d be better if you didn’t feel like you had to avoid my group entirely.”
I wasn’t pressuring her… right? Something about this whole scene felt wrong… but even though she looked deeply uncomfortable, Tamara nodded.
It was fine. She was going to be happy with everything that was happening once this was through. And this was just what I had to do. I couldn’t afford to have another girl who didn’t want to be anywhere near me. People were going to start talking eventually.
But if I intended to cut Ms. Miller out of the deal, I was going to need to lay some of the groundwork in this very room.
I reached over and put my hand on the arm of Tamara’s chair, just under her elbow. My nails might have brushed her skin. She jerked her head around to stare, but she didn’t flinch. As I’d hoped, she wasn’t willing to spook in front of an audience.
I kept my eyes down, too. “I came on too strong the other day, and that’s what’s set you against me. I can see that. But let’s set all of that aside and work together. I don’t fucking care if you join our group, none of the other guys will care, and Callie is too wrapped up in Lucas to worry whether you’re there or not.”
She grimaced. “Hanging out with Ashleigh and her type? I don’t think so.”
I’d avoided mentioning Ashleigh on purpose, and I guess I hadn’t gotten away with it. Honestly, I didn’t know why the fuck that girl lurked around our group still. I’d never gotten the idea she liked us that much. Tamara being suspicious of her was a mark in her favour, as far as I was concerned.
“You don’t even have to talk to her. Trust me, Callie doesn’t. She’s got some sense.”
“How do you feel about that, Tamara?” Ms. Miller asked, because she could see as well as I could that Tamara was still very nervous. What she couldn’t feel, because she was all the way across her desk, was the heat rising off her skin in response to my nearby hand. She was trying to hold off some reaction to me, and though she was a bit afraid of me she’d never once acted like her fear was getting the better of her… so there was only one other explanation I could come up with.
“Honestly,” she said, keeping the tension in her voice very well under control. I only picked it up because I was close enough to sense the tiny movements in her body. “I think I just want to be left alone. I’m sorry I went off at you for trying to help me with Tyrell today, I just think I would have been able to handle it with less drama if you hadn’t stepped in.”
She wasn’t going to make it easy for me, but that was okay. I was pretty sure I could convince her once we didn’t have an audience or especially Ms. Miller lurking around trying to get everyone to talk about their feelings.
I leaned back in my seat, withdrawing casually from her personal space. “Fine. And I’ll try not to do anything that would make you feel like I’m creeping on you, because you seem sensitive to that.” I knew exactly what I was promising there, t
oo. What I had in mind would be a lot less subtle.
