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VERA
An hour of ignoring Blaise later, my phone began buzzing from text messages in my friends’ group chat. For most of the night, my phone had been fairly quiet—except a single message from João, reminding me that I was watching his sister tomorrow.
Piper: I know that Blaise is being an idiot …
I pressed my lips together, waiting for Maddie to chime in about how this was excitement and how I was living life and collecting experiences. But I didn’t want to hear that right now. If they were going totryto make me not be annoyed with him, their excuse was going to have to be good.
Piper: But Mateo was getting bullied during school today, and Blaise stopped it.
No way. No freaking way that happened.
Maddie: I heard that too.
Quickly, I peeked a glance at a pissed-off Blaise, then returned to my phone.
Piper: And I saw Mateo hanging with some sophomore girls too.
And while I wanted to believe that she was lying—that they were both lying to convince me not to be angry with the biggest Redwood asshole—I had seen Mateo hanging out with more friends than usual today.
Maddie: He’s way more awk than you, V.
Maddie: Do you think he really scored those girls himself??
I stared at our group chat, then glanced up at Blaise. He still stared at his laptop and was blasting angsty pop punk music through his headphones so loudly that I could hear it from here. While I felt bad, I didn’t want to believe that he had stopped someone from bullying Mateo.
Blaise did the bullying. He didn’t stop it.
When Blaise looked up at me, I tore my gaze away and slipped my phone into my back pocket. I didn’t want to waste my battery in case Mateo called and needed me to come home as soon as possible.
Deciding to busy myself, I wheeled a cart of books through the library and continued putting them back onto their designated shelves with the help of a couple candles and a flashlight I’d found in the back room.
It took me fifteen minutes longer than usual tonight, but I had put away all the books in this empty library and could finally go home early. From the window, the rain looked like it was letting up slightly. I could at least see outside now.
After wheeling the cart back to the front, I nodded to Blaise. “I’m going home,” I said, though I doubted he could hear me over his music.
He pulled off his headphones and closed his laptop. “I’m driving you.”
“Skylar’s probably waiting for you,” I said emotionlessly, like the mere thought of her didn’t irk me.
“I don’t have plans with anyone, except you.”
I didn’t want to blindly believe him. I didn’t want to get hurt.
“I’m bringing you home, Vera,” he said, using my real name and not the nickname that he had given me.
In a fit of anger, I had told him not to use it earlier, but I hadn’t meant it.
While I wanted to refuse, I didn’t want to walk home in this storm. It might’ve cleared up a bit, but it was still pouring down outside. All my textbooks in my backpack would get soaked and ruined. And I didn’t have money to replace them.
“Okay.”
Immediately, he shoved his laptop in his backpack and stood up, helping me blow out the candles. I hurried around the library to make sure we had gotten every single one of them, then returned to the front, where Blaise stood at the doors, holding my backpack in one hand and an umbrella in his other.
Neither of us said a word during the car ride to my place. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, glancing over at how tightly his hand gripped the steering wheel, the veins bulging against his skin.
I hate him. I hate him. I hate him.I repeated the mantra to myself, forcing myself to look away and tonotfeel anything at the mere thought of those hands running all over my body again. But every time I closed my eyes, I couldn’t forget the way he’d touched me.
When he pulled up to the curb, I let out a long breath and opened my door.
