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“Fuck!” he howls in pain. “Let go of me, you bitch.”
“Not until you tell me where Blaise is,” I threaten, twisting his arm harder.
Scab face starts to lunge for me, and I lift my leg, preparing to kick him in the balls. He notices before I make contact and swings around, coming at me from the side while steroid freak reaches for something in his pocket.
My pulse quickens. Crap, this is getting out of hand fast.
“Hadley …? What the hell?” Blaise appears in the doorway of the living room.
I breathe in relief, so thankful to see him, which is a bit strange, but justifiable.
“Hey,” I say, sounding all casual, though I’m one twist away from breaking steroid freak’s arm.
Blaise tilts his head curiously as he assesses the scene. “What’re you doing?”
“Oh, you know, just getting acquainted with your friends.” I release steroid freak’s arm and step back as he whirls toward me. “I don’t think they like me.”
Steroid freak glares at me, gripping his arm. “You’re going to pay for that,” he growls, stepping toward me.
“Touch her and I’ll break your fingers,” Blaise warns. “And I’ll make sure my father knows how shitty you treated Mel’s daughter.”
Steroid freak slams to a screeching halt. “You’re Mel’s daughter?” Nervousness edges into his features.
“Yeah …?” I glance at Blaise for help. “How does this dude know my dad?”
“Because he works for—”
“D, don’t you and El have some shit to do?” Blaise cuts steroid freak off, crossing the room toward us.
“Wait. Your names are El and D?” My gaze flicks between the two guys standing near me, and I snicker. “Let me guess. You shortened your real names so you could remember them. Or did you just forget them altogether and picked a letter from the alphabet?”
D glowers at me, but with a quick, stern look from Blaise, he looks away to El. “Let’s get out of here. We’ve got a lot of shit to get done, and I’m over dealing with girl drama.”
“Yeah, like I’m the one who started it,” I mutter as El and D move for the door.
D throws me a dirty look before walking out, and El follows, slamming the door.
Blaise immediately gapes at me. “Seriously, how has that mouth of yours never gotten you in trouble before?”
“Who says it hasn’t?” When he shakes his head unfathomably, I shrug. “You should already know I speak my mind. It’s what made you hate me right from the start.”
“I didn’t and still don’t hate you,” he insists, stuffing his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. “You just … I don’t know, threw me off a bit. You’re very …” He considers something carefully. “Well, I think Alex said it best when he said you’re feisty.”
“I’m not feisty,” I deny. “I just don’t like to put up with guy drama.”
“Guy drama?” His brow cocks. “All I did was call you sweetheart, and you told me to go fuck myself and then some.”
“Just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I like to be called vomit-inducing pet names,” I scoff. “Guys need to realize that.”
“No one’s ever complained about me doing it before,” Blaise points out. “In fact, most girls like it when I call them, as you put it, vomit-inducing pet names.”
“Yeah, well, I’m a special kind of girl then, I guess. But I know I’m not one of a kind. You should consider that the next time you start throwing around gross pet names to complete strangers.”
He silently stares at me, either irritated or utterly thrown off—I can’t tell. “I’ll make sure to do that.” He pauses. “But I definitely disagree with you not being one of a kind. You’re very odd.”
“Gee, thanks … I think.”
“It’s not a bad thing,” he quickly says. “Just different.”
“I wouldn’t care if it was bad or not,” I tell him confidently. “I’ve been called a hell of a lot worse than odd.”
“Yeah, I’m not that surprised.”
When I attempt to glare at him, although my lips become traitorous bastards and threaten to turn upward, he chuckles and shakes his head.
“Hadley, you almost just broke a drug dealer’s arm, and I’m guessing that probably isn’t the first time you’ve done something like that. That’s not normal.”
“Hey, I’ve never tried to break a drug dealer’s arm before,” I deny indignantly. As his brows elevate in doubt, I heave a dramatic sigh. “Okay, it may have happened one other time. But in my defense, both times the guys deserved it. The first dude screwed around with my sister and cheated on her. And that D guy”—I aim a finger at the door—“was reaching for me first before I grabbed his arm. It was total self-defense.”
“I believe you. D can be a real prick, which is part of the reason I didn’t have you come in here with me to begin with.”
I raise my hands in front of me. “Look, dude, you left me in the car with the windows up for over an hour, and we’re in the middle of nowhere; what else was I supposed to do? It’s not like I could’ve texted you. I don’t even have your number.”
He bites back a smile. “Is that your way of asking for my number?”
“What? No.” I pull a repulsed face. “That’s the last thing I want.”
“Sure it is.” His cockiness returns in full form, smirk and all. It makes me want to smack that smugness right of his pretty boy face.
Instead, I settle for poking him in the chest. “Didn’t I just tell you not to assume I want certain things?”
His smirk doubles. “It’s not an assumption if you just said you wanted it.”
“Good God, you’re so annoying,” I growl out. Then I raise my chin and turn for the door. “You know what? I’m out of here. I’ve done my favor for the day. I don’t need to deal with this crap.”
He snags the bottom of my shirt before I make it too far. “I’m not going to just let you walk home. We’re in the middle of nowhere.”
I rotate around and try to pry his fingers from the back of my shirt. “Let me? You can’t make me do anything.”
He refuses to let go. “I know, but … we have a deal. You owe me a favor.”
“You said my silence was today’s favor,” I grit through my teeth, resorting to
tugging on my shirt.
“Yeah, well, I want two favors this morning.” He holds my shirt tighter.
“No way. I’m not just going to give you an extra favor.” Deep down, I don’t really want to walk home. But the fact that he thinks he can tell me not to is infuriating.
“Will you just quit arguing? You’re just being difficult to be difficult.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes you are.” He heaves an exasperated breath when I tug on my shirt again. “Will you please just listen to me for a minute? I’m not trying to be controlling. I’m trying to help you.”
“Sure you are.” I yank on my shirt again, refusing to listen. Sure, we may have had a small moment of understanding in the car, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let him boss me around now.
When I pull on my shirt again, I throw my weight into it and end up losing my balance. I trip backward, my fingers falling from my shirt as I reach out to grip his arm for support. But he stumbles over his own feet and we both end up falling.
I wince as my back hits the floor and Blaise lands on top of me, his chest pressing against mine. He does manage to get his hands down at the very last second, softening some of the impact, but his knees bang against my shins.
He hurriedly pushes back, staring down at me worriedly. “Holy shit, are you okay?”
I bob my head up and down, blinking as my eyes water from the pain in my shins. “Yeah, I think so. Just as long as you’ll get off me.” I lightly shove his chest.
He slightly lifts his weight off me. “I will, but only if you promise not to walk home. This part of town … it’s not always safe.”
“I’m not going to let you scare me into staying here.” I push on his chest again, but he doesn’t budge. “Dude, don’t make me put you in a headlock.”
He chuckles, his eyes crinkling around the corners. “I’m not so sure that’s a threat.”
I lift a brow. “Are you questioning my headlock ability?”
“No, not at all.” His expression is completely serious. “It just wouldn’t bother me as much as you’d want it to.”
“You say that now, but twenty bucks says you tap out within the first minute.”
He laughs wholeheartedly this time, and the sight makes him look ridiculously pretty. It’s both irritating and mesmerizing.
