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“No drama on my end.” I love how he thinks he can break me down. All he’s done since the first day of school is strengthen me. He’s shown me I can take what he hands out, and I get the feeling it drives him nuts.
He lowers his brow. “I didn’t even know you would be here tonight.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” It’s easy to forget there are other people around us in a moment like this. He might as well be the only other person in the world.
“It’s just I thought we had an understanding,” Hayes reminds me in a tight voice.
“What would that be?” Franky asks. I wince, wishing he wouldn’t have said anything.
“Seems to me that’s not much of your business, is it?” Hayes says in a deceptively smooth voice.
I bite my tongue rather than tell him to leave Franky alone. I don’t know which comment is going to be one comment too many, so it’s better not to say anything.
Salem does the talking for me. “What is it with the two of you lately? It’s getting really boring to hang around with you.”
“Who told you to hang out with us?” Hayes counters. She looks genuinely hurt.
“Why are you taking this out on her?” I demand. “She didn’t do anything to you.”
Hayes’s smile is chilling. “You’re right. I should take my feelings out on other people instead.”
Theo scratches his head. “Am I the only one who’s completely lost?”
“No, I am, too. I’d like to know what the fuck I did to piss you off so bad,” Franky growls. By now, people are paying attention.
I shouldn’t do it, but I feel like I have to. “It’s not about you, Franky,” I inform him, turning my attention back to Hayes. “Is it?”
“You don’t know what it’s about.”
“I’m sure we would all like to know,” I tell him with a sweet smile.
“You’re killing the mood here.” Theo turns up the volume on the movie, and the sound of grunting and squealing fills the air.
Hayes shrugs it off, then turns to a chair covered in clothes, which he slowly puts on. Even now, when the sight of him brings an unpleasant taste to my mouth, I wish he wouldn’t bother putting on his jeans and T-shirt.
He slides a hand into his back pocket and pulls out his phone. The glow from the screen casts eerie shadows over his face as he taps it a few times. He then looks straight at me, grinning.
No. No, he didn’t. He said he wouldn’t. I didn’t do anything wrong!
Suddenly, everybody’s reaching for their phones. No, it has to be a coincidence. Right. Everybody out here just got a message at the exact same time?
A few people laugh, followed by more, until the sound is almost loud enough to drown out the gangbang activity.
This is a nightmare. I can’t be living through this right now.
His smile widens as I rush over to him. He even lets me yank the phone out of his hand to see what he sent everybody.
It’s just a dumb cat meme. It’s not a picture of me. Everybody is already drunk enough to think it’s hilarious, I guess.
The only thing I can come up with is to shove the phone at him and run for it, cutting my way through the house, ready to go home. I was wrong to think I could stand up to him. Not knowing what he’ll do next is too much to deal with. I’d rather sit home alone than be afraid.
“Wait, Morgan!” I don’t realize until I’ve woven my way through dozens of people that Franky is following me. Why does he have to do this?
I’m outside by the time I call out over my shoulder. “Just go back inside. I’m fine.”
“Just hang on.” He reaches me and grabs my arm. “Don’t run out like this. He’s just fucking around with you.”
“And in what universe is this okay? He’s made his point. I don’t belong here. He doesn’t want me here, so I’m going to go home.”
“What the fuck?” Hayes bellows. “This is between me and Morgan.” Hayes followed Franky it turns out. Salem and Theo and a bunch of others are right behind him.
“You know what, Hayes?” Franky asks. “You take shit too far. Why can’t you just let her enjoy her life a little? We all get it. You don’t like the situation with the whole blended family thing.”
Hayes bares his teeth. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” More kids are pouring out of the house, wanting to see what happens next.
“You sure about that?” The two of them lock eyes and the tension is thick enough to cut with a knife. Franky reaches out again and takes me by the hand. “I’ll take her home, since you ran her out of the party.”
