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ALLIE
“Great work today, Allie,” Mr. Abara said, gently squeezing my shoulder as we walked out of my first, apparently official, day at his company’s internship for me.
After I had pleasantly met Carter’s brother, Abara had taken me through every aspect of the company from the bioengineering section to the mechanical engineering sector they’d just started.
With the newest tech and some of the most innovative engineers in the entire country, it was a place that I wanted to be before college. It’d give me a huge upper hand when starting a bio career and some real-life experience to add to my résumé. Jobs loved this kind of stuff, especially if I had someone to vouch for me and if recruiters knew that this place was the highest of the high.
“Thanks, Mr. Abara.” I zippered up the coat Jace had gotten me and lingered by the doors.
“Do you need a ride?” he asked me, brown brows furrowed.
I checked my phone, the bright 7:03 p.m. lighting up the screen. Jace would be here any minute to pick me up, and I didn’t want him to get nervous about me riding home with someone else. Plus, I didn’t want to be in the same house with Harlan alone.
“No, thanks,” I said, sending a quick text to Jace.
He was never late, picking me up.
“Well, have a—oh, wait. There’s one thing that Mrs. Abara wanted me to ask you about.” He sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “I know you probably don’t want to hear about it, but she keeps nagging me to ask you about those Poison boys that Imani has been hanging around with. Do you know anything about them?”
Sinking deeper into my coat jacket, I shrugged my shoulders. I did not want to tell them that they had killed the principal or that they did shit that nobody wanted to even know about. So, I smiled sweetly at him. “Not much.”
“She’s been out with them a bit too much, and we’re both worried about her safety. Next time she goes with them, could you maybe go with her and let us know if you think she’s in danger?”
“Sure,” I said, my glasses fogging up. “But I don’t think she’s in danger.”
“Thanks, Allie. It will really help alleviate some of Mrs. Abara’s stress.” He leaned in and smiled. “You know how she can get about her only baby.”
“I know; I know.”
“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow evening. Call me if you change your mind about that ride. I don’t mind coming back here to get you, if yours doesn’t show up.” He hiked his bag higher up his shoulder and ran out into the blizzard happening and to his car.
Tugging my glasses off because they were too foggy and I couldn’t see anything anyway, I bounced on my toes and tried to stay warm as the snow piled up by my feet. I glanced down at my buzzing phone, Jace’s number popping up.
Jace: Sorry. Be there in two minutes. Lost track of time.
I pulled my hood over my head and held it tight around my face, so the wind wouldn’t sear the skin on my ears off. A car pulled up, the headlights illuminating the thick and heavy snowfall. Glasses in hand, I hurried over to it, careful not to fall, and was about to rip the door open when I realized it wasn’t Jace at all.
From the driver’s side, Colton pushed the door open for me to sit. “Get in. It’s freezing out there.”
I stepped away from the car and forced a smile. “I have a ride.”
“I’m not that nice to take you home,” Colton said, lips curled into a smirk. “I can let you sit in my car for a bit though until she gets here.”
“I don’t think Jace would like that,” I said to him, pushing my glasses back onto my face.
“Jace Harbor?” Colton asked, gripping the steering wheel a bit tighter. “He’s picking you up? What are you doing with a guy like him? When I went to Redwood a few years back, he was nothing but a player.”
After moving back another inch or so, I said, “He’s my boyfriend.”
“Guys like him don’t stay in relationships,” Colton said.
“You would know that, wouldn’t you?” I snapped, then smacked a hand over my mouth.
It was my first fucking day at this internship, and I had already insulted someone. But he had been a dick first, right? I pulled my hand away from my mouth and pressed my numb lips together, squinting at Colton through the snow.
Colton leaned back and chuckled. “You have a mouth on you, Allie.”
And I also had a knee that could do terrible, terrible things to his groin.
