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“The term laughed in my face means that I’d know, since the act has to be done right in front of me.”
Okay, he has me there, but I’m not about to lose this battle. “I don’t know. Maybe they did laugh in your face, but you were too busy staring in a mirror, admiring your own reflection, to notice.”
His brow rises. “Are you saying I’m vain?”
I give a half-shrug. “You do seem to like yourself a lot.”
Tracing the tip of his tongue along his lips, he dips his head toward my ear. “You owe me now. You do realize that, right?”
I put my lips beside his ear, throwing his move right back at him. “You slit my car’s tires, disassembled the carburetor, then basically showed the entire school my family’s entire rap sheet. I’m far from ever owing you anything.”
His hand briefly touches my waist and I think he’s going to grab me. But he’s shaking, which is really fucking weird, weird enough that I hesitate on my ass kicking for him putting his hands on me without my permission.
“You smell good,” he whispers. “Like sugar.”
My eyes widen. “What?”
He leans back, his lips parting then closing. Then his expression hardens. “If you want to go up against the big boys, you should know what you’re getting into.” He lowers his voice. “The Portersons have all sorts of connections around town, and we know everything about everyone. Remember that when you’re trying to get back at me and my brothers.” With that, he turns around and swaggers off like he’s the shit in this town. And maybe he is now, but when I get done with him, he sure as hell won’t be.
12
HADLEY
Rhyland and Jaxonare in my next two classes. Rhyland tries to strike up a conversation with me a couple times, but he quickly gives up when I give him the cold shoulder.
When I try to make small chitchat with a couple of people outside the Porterson clan, figuring it might be good to have some friends—or allies—I get snubbed and laughed at. The only person who acknowledges my existence is Scarlett.
“Sorry, but I tried to warn you not to go up against them,” she says as we pass each other in the hallway.
“I didn’t really go up against them,” I point out. “Well, not until about an hour ago.” When Blaise found me looking up information about his family.
The only reason I knew how to access most of those records is because of my dad. There’s no way I’ll ever tell Blaise that. Although, I’m surprised he couldn’t figure it out on his own. I mean, after digging up all that dirt on my family, he has to know my dad used to work as a detective.
“Why? What happened an hour ago?” she asks, intrigued.
“I’m sure Blaise will tell you all about it.” I’m surprised he hasn’t already.
“My brothers don’t really tell me much about their extracurricular activities.” She pulls out a package of M&Ms from her bag and pops a handful into her mouth, then offers me some.
Even though the motive behind Scarlett’s friendliness is questionable, I’m hungry, so I take a handful and pop them into my mouth.
“So, torturing me and my sisters is considered an extracurricular activity for your brothers?” I ask as she stuffs the candy back into her bag.
She chuckles. “For now, I guess it is. Don’t worry, though; Blaise will get it under control eventually.”
“You say that like he has no control over his own actions.”
“No, he does. It’s my brothers’ actions he has a hard time controlling.” She throws me a wave as she turns to leave. “See you around, Hadley. And if this thing with my brothers ever ends, we should hang out sometime. I don’t have many friends, mostly since the people around here are afraid of my brothers. You don’t seem to have that problem, though.”
I think about what I read about her. How she spent some time in a psychiatric ward. I couldn’t find out why. Doesn’t really matter, though. She seems nice enough, unlike her brothers.
“Yeah, if that ever happens, we should definitely hang out.” I smile at her as I start to turn for my next class.
“If you really want to end this feud quicker, you could always challenge one of them,” she calls out, stopping me in my tracks.
I twist back around, ignoring the group of cheerleaders laughing at me from just down the busy hallway. “What do you mean by challenge? Challenge them to what?”
She adjusts her backpack with a smile on her face. A smile that is either extremely genuine or creepily malicious—she’s very hard to read.
