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“Why do you always get to have all the fun?” Leo asked, malice lining each word.
“Because the dumb bitch ran into me and not you. For fuck’s sake, she’s in three of my classes. If there was ever a person I was supposed to fuck and ruin, it’s her.”
“Can we have her after you?” Kai asked, licking his lips like a hungry lion.
I cocked my head to the side and studied Kai. I didn’t like the hunger I saw in his eyes directed at Payton, which only furthered the fury running through my veins. I needed to get her under me and out of here as quickly as possible before she got further under my skin. “Do you really want my sloppy seconds?”
“Not usually, but with her, I don’t think I’d mind getting my dick wet after you take your turn.”
“I have to say I wouldn’t mind either.” Linc smirked and then tried to punch my arm, but I was too fast, sliding to the side, making him miss me. He knew I was getting pissed. We’d been friends for as long as I could remember. He had lived next door to me all my life. It was Kai and Leo, who were on our swim team in middle school, that were new to our group. Right now, I wished I’d never met them.
“Why don’t you all fuck off and find yourself someone else to stick our disease-ridden dicks in?”
“Oh, are you afraid she’ll like us first and then you’ll get an STD?” Kai laughed and then sobered.
Yeah, dumbass, you just said you’re diseased. I chuckled to myself and then turned back to see Payton still talking to the girl’s swim coach, but her eyes were on me.
That’s right, sweetheart. There was no getting away from me. She was probably a shit swimmer and wouldn’t make the team, anyway.
Thoughts about killing my friends and gripping Payton by the throat once again vanished when Coach Hartley blew his whistle.
“Alright, let’s stop lallygagging around and get in the water. I want Archer, Lincoln…” I stopped listening after I heard my name. I didn’t care who I was up against. I was going to beat them all. I took my place on the block and tapped my fingers at my sides as I waited for the coach to blow his whistle. The second I heard the high-pitched, airy sound, I was off. My body sliced through the water, and I didn’t come up for a good twenty seconds or more. I kept my breath even as I approached the wall and then flip turned back. It was less than two minutes, but it felt like so much longer. If I could, I would spend all my time in the water. Once I was done with practice, I would hit the pool at my house to tire of the thoughts that ran rampant through my mind night after night. It was the only way for me to sleep.
Hitting the wall, I pushed my googles to the top of my head only for me to see Payton standing where I had just jumped from. She looked down at me with a lazy smile on her face before she dived in over my form. I stood transfixed as I watched her move through the water. She wasn’t slow. Not in the least. She was fast. Maybe as fast as I was, but I’d never tell her or anyone else that. I watched in awe as she swam back and hit the wall beside me.
Fuck, even in the most unflattering swimsuit known to man, she was beautiful. Pushing up out of the water, I hustled over to my towel to hide the raging hard-on, I had tenting the front of my Speedo’s. I’d probably get kicked off the team if anyone saw it.
Payton climbed out of the water, her eyes directed at me for only a moment before her coach slipped in between us and grabbed her arms. There was no way in hell Payton wasn’t making the team. I just had to make her quit. Quit swimming and quit coming to Saint Sebastian’s if she knew what was good for her.
Because one thing was for certain, I was no good to the little mouse who’d slipped inside the walls and was causing chaos in my mind.
CHAPTER FOUR
PAYTON
The look on Archer’s face was priceless. Why he had such a problem with me I would never know, but the satisfaction I got from seeing his mixed look of wonder and anger had me itching to race him to see who was the fastest out of the two of us. If I beat Archer, it would kill him. I knew the type. Always having to be better than everyone else, and if someone was better than it was best to get them out of the way.
I’d heard rumors of the boys of Saint Sebastian, but that’s all I thought they were. Rumors. To know I was on the radar of the one who seemed to rule the school was equal measure, terrifying and exhilarating. My parents would be sorry they ever sent me to a school they knew I would never fit in.
Why send your child to a Catholic school when they’d never even set foot inside a church before? I was a fish out of water, and everyone seemed to hate me. I didn’t see myself making any friends in my future. Hell, no one even sat next to me at lunch. Instead, they gave me a wide berth like I had the plague.
At least I had swimming. Being on the team would be my solace and the only saving grace from having to be at home since I was grounded until the end of time, according to my parents.
I could feel the entire room’s eyes on me as I left Coach Sanders’ excited grip and made my way to the locker room to change. I wasn’t sure why I could try out, make the team, but then not practice with them. While I wanted to be in the water, I didn’t want to be anywhere near Archer.
What were the odds we’d have so many classes together and on the swimming team? He was my own personal nightmare. Once he saw that his tactics to get me to leave wouldn’t work, I was sure he’d forget about me. I would keep my head down and do what I needed to do to in order to finish out the year, and get out of this town.
“Running away already?” A familiar voice asked from behind me.
“As a matter of fact, yes, I am. I’m getting the hell away from you. If I would have known, I’d have to waste more air around you than I already have. I wouldn’t have tried out.”
“Oh, burn,” one of Archer’s cronies said behind him.
Archer turned and gave a menacing look to his friend before he turned back to me. “One word from me and they’ll drop you from the team, so you might want to keep your pretty little lips shut, before I do it for you.”
I wanted to fight back, but I knew it wouldn’t end well. I needed to gather my thoughts and come up with a plan to deal with him.
“Do what you want. I don’t care, anyway.” I was surprised at how easy it was to sound so nonchalant about something that meant so much to me.
