I’m on edge the instant I hop inside the passenger seat of the Durango. I hold my backpack on my lap and focus all my attention outside the window. I’m press so close to the door that I’m sure I’ll tumble out. But I don’t care. I don’t want to be anywhere near him.
“Who’s the kid who came to the door last night?”
“No one.”
He stays silent. Nothing for a while and then, “Keep it that way.” It’s a clear warning. I’m ready to jump out of the car when we pull up to the curb of the side of the school, but his hand slides beneath the weight of my backpack to rest on my upper thigh. When he squeezes, I reflexively jerk away but his grip is strong enough to keep me from moving. I let my head hang, my hair falling in a curtain around my face, hiding my revulsion. “You know he only wants one thing from you, Aylee.” The hand moves slowly up and down, massaging my thigh. “Guys like that only ever want one thing. When they get it, they’ll leave you so fast your head’s going to spin. I’m not going to let that happen.” His voice is low, he’s close now, leaning over the middle armrests to whisper in my ear. “I’m not going to let him take your sweet little cherry, baby girl. I’ll kill him first.”
Sickness claws violently at my throat. It’s acid, bitter and scorching as it bubbles up my esophagus. I have to swallow hard, one, two, three times, before it slithers back down, but it’s there. It doesn’t go away completely even as I shove the car door open, grab my backpack, and stagger outside.
***
Maddox
I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing and that becomes clear when I park my truck in the student parking lot but can’t figure where to find her. I haven’t been to school yet today, and if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t step foot on campus. Skipping is an art form for me. And I had no intention of being here today. Had better plans. And it’s not like I know her damn schedule. Shit, I barely know mine. Classes don’t start for another fifteen minutes and Noah typically hangs out in the quad every morning. I head over there, hoping she’s with Noah and his friends, so I can stop worrying and get back to business. I spot Noah sitting on top of a lunch table.
Obviously he looks surprised to see me. “You’re…here…? You just came to school yesterday. This must be a record.”
“Where the fuck else would I be?” I take a seat on the bench, turning my back to him to look out into the crowd.
“Expanding your porn empire for one,” he jokes. Funny guy, my twin.
“Decided to take the day off. My dick needs a break.” I’m not really paying attention to him, but I’m also trying to look like I’m not looking for her.
“Looking for someone?”
Guess being subtle isn’t one of my strengths. “Yup, new piece of ass. Want to help me?” When my eyes finally catch a glimpse of her, I jump up.
“Max! Where are you going?”
Didn’t realize I took off until I’m halfway down the quad, taking the concrete staircase leading to the school two stairs at a time. I’m bumping into people, and pushing them out of my way to get to her. She walks pretty damn fast for a midget. “Hey, wait up,” I call when I’m close enough for her to hear me. And I know she hears me, because for just a second, she pauses. But then she keeps going, putting a little more speed into her every step. “Hey!” Too fucking bad my legs are longer than hers. I close in on her just as she pushes one of the double doors to the first-floor staircase. “Didn’t you hear me call you back there?” I ask as I grab her elbow to pull her around. She has her head down, her hair, which I’ve noticed has always been in two braids, falls in loose waves around her face.
She nods. “I did…” Her voice is soft and so quiet. “I’m sorry…”
“Don’t apologize,” I say. “Look at me.” I don’t wait for her to lift her head. Instead, I cup her face and do it for her. The anger from earlier hits me like a blow to the gut and the only thing keeping me from raging is the softness of her skin on my hands. I’m gentle when I slide my thumb across a dark purple bruise on her cheek, but she winces, her bottom lip curling between her teeth in an attempt to either keep her pained moan at bay or show me that it isn’t as bad as it looks. She’s stupid for doing either. I’m so fucking angry for her I can feel the rage pounding through me. It’s a white-hot anger that has me seeing red, and the only thing that’ll make it better is beating the shit out of someone. The cop would do nicely.
“I know it hurts.” That’s really all I can say right now. “I’m sorry.” That too. It comes out pretty damn easy, too.
When she sets a hand on my wrist, I thinking she’s going to push me away, tell me to leave her the fuck alone. It’s what I would’ve done. I never allowed anyone close enough to see how much it hurt when I was going through it. But she’s not me. She doesn’t push me away, in fact, her hand remains like a warm, soft band of flesh around my wrist and when she squeezes, I let her. I take the silence of her pain that feels too damn much like my own.
Jesus fucking Christ!
I’m stuck between wanting to hit something right now and rolling a joint, and popping some SKY to numb me to the balls.
“I’m okay.” When she answers, it’s with a breathy whisper clogged with tears she doesn’t let fall. She sniffs and attempts to smile. “A pig is probably somewhere getting some pretty awesome air mileage right now.”
She lost me. “What?”
“You know, pigs flying,youactually being here,in school. I’m thinking you gave a pig some wings,” she jokes quietly, and when she actually produces a genuine smile, I’m struck for a little bit with how much I like it on her. It’s a little shy, a flash of pearly-white teeth between a set of lips, her pink pout grabbing my attention. “You can let go of my face now,” she says, trying her best not to meet my gaze.
Another thing that strikes me suddenly is how unwilling I am to let her go. It’s such an insane mind-fuck that I have to take a few steps away from her to keep myself from losing it.
“So…are you staying?”
“Nah,” I say, “I got someone waiting for me.” I put enough out there to make her think it’s a girl but it’s actually a customer who hit me up earlier this morning for some SKY. I’m not even sure why the lie is necessary right now. But I don’t want her getting ideas. “I’ll be seeing you, Aylee.”
I’m down the stairs when she calls, “Maddox…?”
I’m at the bottom of the stairs looking up at her standing on top of it. “Yeah?”
