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His eyes were dark as he watched me.
Gem’s eyebrows rose as she noticed who was sitting behind her.
“I was wrong and felt like a dumbass, so I went to the library,” I told her.
There was a flicker in Scout’s gaze, but he didn’t say anything.
“You were in the library this whole time?” Gem asked.
I nodded.
“I thought something was seriously wrong, the way you took off. I got rid of your tray.”
Crap. I’d forgotten that. “I’m sorry, and thank you for the tray. I thought something was wrong, but it was fine.”
“But why didn’t you come back? I was waiting for you.”
That was when I tuned into something else, something that had completely escaped my awareness yesterday. Did Gem not have any other friends? That didn’t make sense.
As if reading my mind, she scoffed. “I mean, it was fine. I hung out with some peeps, but not cool just taking off for a second day in a row. Text a girl, would ya? Let me know if you’re hiding so I won’t feel like a dumbass if I have to cover for you.”
Some of my tension faded, and I managed a smile. “Sorry. I’ll tell you next time I need to hide.”
“Good.” She rolled her eyes, grinning back. Someone sat in the seat behind me, and she shot upright. “Switch with me.”
“What?” I looked back.
A girl gave me a wide, but closed smile. “Heya. I’m Theresa.”
She had dark hair and dark eyes. Looked Latina. She was also freaking gorgeous.
She added, “I’m Gem’s cousin.”
“Yeah. Switch with me.” Gem shoved my arm. “Hurry.”
She already had her stuff in her arms, so I grabbed mine. As soon as I stood, Gem slid into my seat. I locked eyes with Scout before rounding the desk and coming up behind him. He leaned back, resting his arm over his chair as I slid into Gem’s vacant seat.
“Don’t say shit,” he murmured so quietly I knew only I could hear.
My whole body locked down, but screw that. “Don’t threaten me.”
His eyes flashed. “Or what?”
Or what? Seriously?
Then my eyes flashed, and I leaned closer to him. “You have no idea the PTSD shit going on in my head. You don’t want to fuck with a crazy person. There’s no rationality. No reasoning. Why do you think my cousins are worried about me? They know how messed up I am. Threaten me again, and you’ll find out the first step I’m willing to take. Guarantee you have more to lose than I do here, buddy.”
I ignored the sensations building under my skin, making me heated, making my neck feel flushed, my face hot.
He stared at me. I stared right back. We were back to the glaring fest from yesterday. Whatever unspoken truce we might’ve had earlier was all gone.
He smirked, but his eyes were still hard. “If you’re that crazy, maybe you’re a danger to the students here? Maybe you need to be in a mental hospital?”
I heard his threat, and it boiled my stomach. “You’d exploit me like that?”
Pure hatred replaced his smirk. “You say anything that’ll come back on Cohen, and yeah. You bet your ass I will.”
New emotions flooded me, ones I didn’t want to identify. “I bet Cohen’s little sister could use a friend. From what I overheard, you were telling him to stay away from her. That means she’s not done with him. I’m older. She probably knows who my cousins are, probably thinks they’re cool. Maybe has a crush on one of them.” I ignored how still he went. I kept on, my voice so soft. “She’d like me, I bet. I could use all of that to get in with her. I could be a friend she’d look up to. I know how to spin that, and once I had her ear, I could say anything to her. You wouldn’t want me to tell her how overbearing and controlling her brother is. It’s easy to say what people want to hear.”
A new darkness came over him, a dangerous sort of darkness.
Goddamn.
The throb was back, smack between my legs. I was more messed up than I thought.
“You even talk to her, I’ll fuck your cousin up,” he warned, his voice like ice. “Trenton or Clint. You got me? Cohen and Amalia are off-limits.”
“I could tell my cousins you threatened one of them.”
“Go ahead. Cohen’s ride or die for me. They know that.”
Right. We were at an impasse.
I didn’t mean what I’d threatened, but as I turned back around, I knew both of us stepped over a line that didn’t feel right.
This was my first real conversation with him.
I shuddered to think what the next one might be like.
9
SCOUT
“Hey guys!” Kira skipped her way over to us, linking arms with Alex.
We were heading out for food, our usual thing to do before Alex went to football and I went to training. Normally I didn’t mind when Kira and her group tagged along. But that was only because they left me alone. She’d been after the triplets more this year, finally letting go of her target on me. Which I was down for.
