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I dropped my hand from Xavier’s shoulder and took a step back. “Did you see who did it?”
“No. We got here after they did it,” he said. Izzy nodded to confirm his claim.
“Do you know who’s been spreading all this bullshit around about Amerie?” I asked, even though I was already pretty sure it was Piper and her gang of bitches.
“I heard it from a girl in my math class,” Izzy said. “She said she heard it from her brother, but I don’t know where he heard it from.”
I straightened my shoulders, turned to face everyone else in the hall, and raised my voice several octaves. “Anyone who’s planning on messing with Amerie again better have the fucking guts to do it to me instead, because I’m not standing for this shit for another second,” I said, gesturing to the nasty message on her locker. “Come and talk your shit right to my face. See how fucking far you get. Is that understood?”
Everyone nodded and murmured their assent. After that, most of them scattered. A few lingered, whispering to each other behind their hands, but they all looked suitably petrified, so I let them be and stormed over to my locker.
Piper appeared beside me a few seconds later. Her blue eyes were wide, and her lips were pursed like she’d just sucked off a lemon. “I can’t believe someone did that to Amerie’s locker,” she said, shaking her head. “Why can’t people just leave her alone?”
I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. She was so full of shit. “Don’t worry,” I said. “Anyone who tries to fuck with her again is gonna have to deal with me.”
“Yeah, I heard you yelling at everyone a minute ago,” she said, lips turning down. “Why are you defending her so much, anyway?”
My brows furrowed. “Huh?”
“I mean, I know you two are sort of dating, but even I’m not doing this much and I’m her sister,” she went on. “Obviously I would if the circumstances were different, but she actually did all this drug stuff. She seriously needs help. So… why?”
“What was the question again?” I asked, doing my best to tamp down the fiery rage rising in my chest.
“Why are you defending Amerie so much?” Piper’s nose wrinkled. “I mean, I’m not complaining. I’m just saying… you used to hate her. Now suddenly you’re all cozied up to her and defending her honor like she’s your wife. It’s kind of weird.”
Shit. She actually had a good point. I hadn’t even considered how my unflinching support of Amerie might come across to others. Others who might become suspicious of my motives and reasoning.
If I wasn’t careful, they’d guess that I knew exactly what was going on with Amerie and the Rosmerta Society, and then they’d realize that Amerie had recalled everything and told me all about it. That would land both of us in the crosshairs of the society, and it wouldn’t end well.
I needed a fake reason to defend her, and I needed it fast.
My mind flashed back to the trio of junior bitches I overheard gossiping earlier, and a mental lightbulb switched on.
I sighed and rubbed my jaw. “I would tell you, but she’s your sister,” I said in a reluctant tone.
Piper moved closer. “You can tell me. I won’t say anything to her,” she said, lowering her voice. “If it’ll hurt her feelings, I mean,” she added hastily. “That’s the last thing she needs right now. More emotional chaos in her head.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You promise you won’t say anything to her?”
Piper drew a cross over her heart with one finger. “Promise.”
“Okay.” I leaned down, lips ghosting over her left ear. “If I’m gonna be totally honest… good pussy is always worth defending. Know what I’m saying?”
I drew back and observed her reaction. A slow smile spread across her face, and her shoulders relaxed. Clearly, I’d said the right thing to stave off her suspicions.
“That makes sense,” she said, eyes glimmering with wicked amusement. “I really should’ve known. You’ve always been such an asshole.”
In her eyes, I was nothing more than a horny bastard using Amerie for a good time. Exactly what I needed her and everyone else to think. For now.
She spotted one of her friends down the hall and sashayed away. I watched her go, lips pressed into a tight line. I couldn’t wait to take her down, along with every single other asshole involved in this shitty situation. Ugly, twisted fucks.
A flurry of murmurs and whispers broke out behind me a moment later. I clenched my jaw and slammed my locker shut, preparing myself to defend Amerie yet again, but when I turned around, no one was looking at her defaced locker or snickering about it. They were all staring at the other end of the hall instead, heads tilted and brows raised.
I finally realized what they were looking at a moment later, when a crowd of students parted to make way for a girl.
Addy Macintosh was back.
Amerie
