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“You okay?” Gio scowled, his gaze serious. “You seem k-kinda out of it.”
I forced a smile and nodded. “Sure.”
But that was a lie…just like my entire life, it seemed. I tried to focus on the class, but I was still back there, my body quaking as I came under Nick’s stare. I hadn’t wanted to do that. I shouldn’t have done that.That wasn’t me…the good girl everyone saw. I lifted my gaze to the class, felt the weight of Gio’s stare, and tugged my hair down to cover my face. In the wake of desire, fear pushed in.
I needed to stop it, whatever this was with Creed’s sons. My pulse sped at the thought. It waswrong.
My mind was heavy, weighed down by the desperate need to figure this out.
Gio met my stare, giving me a confused smile before I turned away. My mom had divorced my dad without me even knowing…and now was marrying a man I barely knew, a man whose sons wanted nothing more than to torment and play with me. I needed to get out, needed to stop this before whatever this game they were playing was got further out of hand.
The bell rang before I knew it. Chairs scraped against the floor as the other students rushed out. I followed, my heart thundering…until the crash.I wanted them.That’s why I was so conflicted. I wanted them and I liked what they did to me…a little too much.
“You want to walk to History?” Gio asked, his tone low and careful.
I pulled my thoughts away from them and glanced at him. “Sure.”
“You’re not pissed at me or anything, are y-you?”
I met his gaze as we walked out of the classroom and along the hall, following the herd. “No, of course not. Sorry, my…my mom told me she was divorcing my dad last night.”
One brow lifted in surprise. “Whoa, that’s heavy.”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“No wonder you’re distracted. I thought it was me for a moment, thought those Banks assholes had said something about us standing together yesterday.”
“No.” My mind was trapped by theD word. “They don’t even know.”
“Oh?” He flinched and glanced my way. “I just figured—”
“Figured what?”
“That you’d do whatever those assholes told you.”
Open your legs, show me…Nick’s demands rose in my head.I need to make sure my little sister is satisfied.“No,” I answered. “Not everything.”
“Good. 'Cause I was hoping you’d still want to go to Hanna’s party this weekend.”
I stepped around a group of others and thought about it. It’d be a way to break away from this hold they had over me. A way to make some friends. I glanced toward Gio. Maybe even more than friends.
Gio caught me looking, and a spark brightened in his gaze as he motioned to the class-room up ahead. “What?”
“Nothing,” I muttered.
“You checking me out, Ryth?”
I flinched. “No.”
His green eyes grew wider. “Yeah, you w-were. It’s o-okay.”
His stutter grew worse when he was embarrassed. Maybe Iwaschecking him out, maybe I was a little desperate, desperate to get away from Creed and his sons. I stepped into the classroom, only this time Gio sat beside me.
I barely heard the chatter in the class, capturing just enough of the teacher's lecture to take notes on the laptop Creed had bought me. I guess I had to expect that now…him being my stepfather and all.
“So I want a three-thousand word paper on my desk by Monday on this.” The teacher’s words wrenched me from my thoughts. I jerked my gaze to the gray-haired professor wannabe with his glasses perched on the end of his nose.
“What?” I muttered.
