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“Nate!” Frankie shrieks behind me, but I ignore her, too busy looking down at Xavi fucking Hart and wondering what the fuck he thinks he’s doing on my driveway.
He hasn’t changed much since the last time I saw him. He’s still just as short as he was when he was seventeen, his shaggy hair still the same shade of dark brown, a little darker than mine and my sister’s was. He’s wearing dark ripped jeans and a black hoodie—no protective gear in sight—but there is a helmet on his seat, so at least I know he’s not a complete fucking idiot.
His eyes look a little clearer than they used to, a little bluer and brighter, but that doesn’t mean shit. He might not be on anything right this second, but this worthless little fuck-up could never stay off it for long.
I don’t even know why I care.
I don’t care.
Not one fucking bit.
“Get up.”
“Give me a fucking second, will you?” He winces, squinting at the gray sky above us.
Fucking pussy.
I didn’t even hit him that hard. Definitely not as hard as I did when he had the nerve to show up to my sister’s funeral. Or on her birthday a few weeks later when I caught him passed out on the ground next to her headstone.
When I look at Frankie, her jaw is on the floor and she’s staring at me like I’m someone she’s never met before. It’s not like she’s never seen me lose my shit—she knows how much of a hot-headed prick I am—but I get it. She doesn’t know about Xavi. To her, it probably looks like I just knocked this random kid out for no good reason.
“Who is he?”
“Go upstairs. I’ll be there in a minute,” I tell her, looking back down at Xavi to repeat myself. “Get up.”
Sighing, he swipes the blood off his lip and pushes himself up, wiping his mouth with his thumb when it just carries on dripping. He’s still got a piercing there—a little black ring on the corner of his mouth—and all I can think about is hitting it again. My face must show my intent before I can act on it, because he quickly jumps back a step and lifts his hands up in surrender. “Nate…”
God, I hate the way he says my name.
Frankie still hasn’t gone inside like I told her to, cursing me under her breath as she picks up her shoes. “These are Jimmy Choos, you know?”
“I’ll buy you new ones.”
“Nate.”
“Frankie,” I growl, turning to look at her again.
She frowns between me and Xavi, hesitating as if she’s unsure whether it’s safe to leave me alone with him. I try to tell her it’s fine with my eyes, and she rolls hers, nodding as she takes the keys I hand her and stumbles over to the front door to unlock it.
“Fine. But if you kill him, you’re digging the hole all by yourself. I’m passing out now.”
“Drink some water first.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she calls, half waving at me over her head.
Once she’s gone, I take a step closer to Xavi and study his bloody mouth, watching the way he keeps poking at that goddamn piercing with his tongue. He’s lucky I don’t rip it out of his face and choke him with it.
“Why are you here?”
“I…” He stops talking, his features twisting with nerves as he rubs the back of his neck. “I thought you knew.”
“Knew what?” I grit out, losing what little patience I have left.
He takes a deep breath. Swallows it. “I’m moving in for freshman year.”
“The fuck you are.”
“Nate—”
