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“How about we go withor somethingfor now?” I return his smile, nodding once and return to my eggs.
Some time later Nash has us all curled up on the lounge and I pass out tucked between him and Peyton.
Chapter Twenty-Three
I feel liberated. Another slow torturously long week has gone by, but I feel change in the air. I feel change in me. I will no longer be that scared little kid that relied on a man who never needed me like I needed him. I am in charge of my own reality and it’s time I start to live the life I want, be the person I need to be. There’s a change in the group too. Nash has been sticking to my ass like glue lately, wherever I go he’s never far behind. I roll my eyes at him, and I don’t think I’ll ever admit just how much I like it.
Even Jack has been nicer towards me. I don’t know what happened, but something has definitely shifted in his attitude where I’m concerned. He doesn’t go out of his way to speak with me, but he’s not lashing out at me either. Progress! He’s over more often now, spending more time watching movies and just hanging out with Peyton. I didn’t know much about their relationship before rooming in with her and I wonder if this is how they were before.
Leo is a bit more complicated. After he came out of the shower the other day he saw the blood soaking through my jumper. He came right over to me and yanked it over my head which caused a total shit show. Thank fuck I was wearing a bra because I certainly wasn’t wearing a shirt and practically flashed the whole damn room.
He did seem embarrassed for exactly two seconds until he saw the expanse of just how much my body was ruined. There was not more than an inch of space in between my cuts and bruises and the butterfly stitches hadn’t held the gaping hole in my arm together as much as I hoped.
“Briar, please! Tell us what’s going on?!” Peyton sobbed as she took me in. Jack stood with his hands clenched into fists before turning and punching into the plaster behind him, dropping into a crouch with his hands fisting his hair, heaving breaths in and out.
Nash wandered closer to me, hugging me from behind, resting his forehead on my shoulder and whispered in my ear, “Let us help you.”
I said nothing, I just stood there in my leggings and bra, exposed and damaged, not moving my eyes from his as the tears trailed down my cheeks. Leo lightly shoved Nash off me and with his hand on my lower back guided me into the bathroom. Turns out there was a critical care kit hidden on the bottom shelves that Leo. He spent the next half an hour stitching my arm, wrapping some of the larger cuts I didn’t know I had, and despite my protests forces a cast brace on my hand.
When he was finished, he tugs my non-casted hand until I’m stepping closer into him. Even from where he sits on the edge of the tub, I still have to tilt my head to meet those moonstone eyes. He moves his hands until he’s gently cupping my face, moving me in until I’m standing between his thighs.
“I’m sorry. I promise the next time I take your clothes off it will be with your permission and just the two of us.”
I flush at his words but there is no denying how my body responds, swaying into his slightly until I can feel his chest pressed against mine. He stares at my mouth, before releasing a shuddering breath and drops his hands. When he says nothing else, I walk out the door, leaving it closed behind me.
I’m looking for him now as I roam through the halls. We just finished world history together, but I didn’t get a chance to talk to him before he ran off. I have bragging rights, dammit. The assignments were handed back together, and I got an eight-two! I need to thank him and squeal a little. I worked so hard for this, and we deserve a little celebration!
I round a corner and stop in my tracks. Leo is pressed up against the lockers, his hands on the waist of a honey blonde I would recognize anywhere, locked in a battle of tongues and spit. I thought… You know what, doesn’t matter what I thought. I let out a small squeak in response which must break his spell because he looks up, his eyes finding mine immediately despite that it’s the middle of the day and there are students everywhere.
Like the absolute coward I am, I turn tail and run in the other direction, ignoring his calls after me. I’m seething with jealousy, and I have no right to be. He’s not mine. None of them are mine. I don’t stop moving until I make it to my dorm, shutting the door firmly behind me with my head tilted back against it.
I’m muttering to myself about how stupid I am, cursing out the population of men and my damned genetics telling me that I like dick. Probably. I like men, so I assume it’s like a package deal. I’ll find out eventually. A throat clears from across the kitchen, and I see Peyton standing there, a bowl of popcorn in her hands like my life is a true television drama. It may as well be.
“Where’s the fire?” She asks, shoveling a little handful in her mouth. I’m surprised she could even close her mouth around that many kernels at once.
“Nowhere. I just caught Leo licking the tonsils of the she-beast.” I say under my breath, while I strip out of my uniform. She hears me, because shealwayshears me and starts frowning, placing the bowl gently on the counter.
“Why the fuck is he kissing Blakely after what she did? He told me he left her high and dry months ago!” Peyton is practically screeching and when a knock sounds on the door. I’m practically sprinting to the wardrobe to pick out some new clothes when she yanks open the door, her hand resting on her popped out hip. She holds the door mostly closed so that whoever it is can’t see past her, and I scramble into my long sleeve pajamas.
“May I help you?”Oof.That’s her sickly sweet, you-are-in-the-doghouse tone, and I cringe for the person on the other side of the door, even if I have a feeling of who it might be. He scoffs, giving himself away entirely. I’m sure if I could see him right now he’s rolling his eyes at her attitude.
“Move, Peyton. I have to explain something to Briar.”
“Oh? Like how you were swapping spit with the enemy? There’s not much left up to interpretation there, Leo.”
He gently moves her with his hand and pushes past, storming in to find me still hiding out in the wardrobe. I expect the first thing out of his mouth to be an explanation, despite the fact he doesn’t owe me one no matter how much I want one, or I don’t know maybe him asking why I was looking for him. I’m dead wrong. The man cages me in against the racks of clothes and leans down, meeting my eyes as he does every time he has me in close proximity.
“Tattletale.”
I blink. I blink again. Then I explode.
“I’ll tattle as many tales as want, and don’t you think this particular tale was worth tattling?” I was going for calm and collected and failed completely.
“Say that five times fast.” Peyton yells from the other room, eliciting an eye roll from me because I’m feeling like a damned petal, but Leo chuckles at her before looking back at me. The sound causes me to shiver and even though I’m cranky as hell, I want to listen to that sound every day.
“No. Because it’s not what you think and if you gave me a chance to talk to you instead of running the fuck off, you’d know that.
I fold my arms across my chest and raise my eyebrows, giving him the go ahead to tell me why I didn’t see what I saw. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath like I’m possibly tedious and I’m thinking about showing him just how much I can be. For the moment, I reign it in, being slightly self-aware enough to know that my anger comes from a place of jealousy and only a little part comes from exactly who he was kissing.
