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As soon as class ends, I gather my things as quickly as possible and fly out the door.
I almost think I’m in the clear.
Then Landon sidles up beside me.
My whole body tenses at his proximity. Instinctively, I fall to the right a few inches to put more space between us.
He notices. I can tell by the way his lips tug up when he looks over at me. “Hey, Sis.”
“Never say that again.”
His eyes sparkle with amusement. “How’s life without me?”
“Peaceful.”
He moves to the right, eliminating my buffer space. I can’t even create more because if I move over any farther, I’ll ram into students stashing books in their lockers before they head off to lunch.
Rather than let him see his nearness bothers me, I stick my nose in the air and hug my books tighter against my chest. “How’s exile?” I shoot back.
His smirk grows. “It’s not so bad. Malek’s house is bigger than mine, andhisdad doesn’t have a new lay he needs to impress with his parenting prowess, so he’s not on my ass all the time. Not to mention their maid…” He pulls an obnoxious expression that seems to indicate she’s hot.
My insides frost over. I shoot him a cool look. “How lovely for you.”
“Mm-hmm,” he agrees, amused that he’s getting to me.
I should rise above it, but his obvious taunt accomplished exactly what he wanted it to. I’m so annoyed at him, I can’t stop myself from blurting, “I doubt Brittany would be happy to hear that, but…”
He shrugs indolently. “I don’t answer to her.”
“That’s not the flex you think it is,” I say, rolling my eyes.
He cocks an eyebrow. “What, youwantme to answer to her?”
“No, I just think if you don’t give a damn about the girl, you should stop stringing her along and maybe let her find a guy who does.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see him shake his head at me. “Parker Johansson, defender of school slu—”
I throw out my hand, covering his mouth before he can finish. “If the next word out of your mouth isn’t ‘women,’ I swear to God.”
He grins, pushing my hand away. “You’re so fucking easy to rattle.”
“You wish.” I drop my hand, making a show of swiping my palm down the side of my leg as if clearing it of Landon cooties.
“Why do you care how I treat her, anyway?”
I look over at him, unable to keep my wide-eyed disbelief off my face. “Because she’s a human being whose only sin seems to be liking you, and it’s fucking mean to treat her like…”
I trail off, unable to come up with the right word.
Landon takes advantage of my distraction, grabbing my arm in a steely grip and running me off the path I’ve been walking. Before I can do more than gasp an objection, he has me pushed into the empty space between a row of lockers and an open door.
He anchors a hand on the wall to cage me in before I can calculate the likelihood of success if I shove the door and make a run for it. He’s to my front, the edge of a locker is to my left, and his muscular arm blocks the only possible escape on my right.
I tell myself to shove his arm or chop it or duck under it and get away from him, but in my head, all those actions will only cause him to drag me closer.
I’m not strong enough to hurt him, only to annoy him. It’s not like he would be unable to grab me again and restrain me better that time. He might even want to, given I fought back. He’d want to prove a point, show me how much stronger he is—physically, at least—as if I don’t already know. I picture that strong arm locked around my neck, my body forced back against his, his hot breath against my ear…
My lungs seem to shrink just imagining it.
