Pres didn’t finish the sentence because he didn’t need to.
I was well aware of what could have happened if he held Zeke under the water long enough.
“Nothing personal,” Pres said. “And that’s what I tried to do for you, sugar. Nothing personal. I told you to forget about it. To go away.”
“I haven’t said a word to anyone,” I said. “And I’m already planning on-”
Pres pushed from the wall. “Too late for that. You keep playing it through your head. Wondering how a guy like me could do that. Just like last night.”
“Last night?” I asked.
Pres laughed.
God, it was a perfect laugh too.
And when he laughed… his mouth, teeth…
Tinsley, he’s evil. He’s the enemy. He’s a bad person.
Pres touched my cheek.
My lips quivered.
His thumb stroked next to my eye where tears had been spilling from it.
“Sometimes the truth you don’t know is the hardest to understand,” Pres whispered. “But everything we say and we do has a purpose.”
“W-wh-why won’t you guys leave me alone?” I asked.
Pres moved his hand from my face and reached into his pocket.
He took out a small screwdriver with a neon grip handle.
“What are you going to do with that?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he said. “It’s yours, remember?”
Pres put the screwdriver into my hand.
He touched my face again, offering me a small grin.
“Remember what I said, sugar,” he whispered. “It’s already too late.”
“For what?” I asked.
Pres didn’t respond.
He walked toward the door.
I ran after him but stopped.
I looked down at my hand.
I had no idea what to do with the screwdriver.
So I just put it in my bag.
And I went to class like normal.
Late, yeah. But normal.
I couldn’t focus.
Not that I cared to focus on class anyway.
My heart wouldn’t calm down. My nerves were anxious and bouncing.
I had no idea who Pres was.
Or Barr. Or Kip.
Even if they had their reasons for being who they were or doing what they did…
I bit my lip and looked at my bag.
What did the screwdriver mean?
Something dangerous like they were going to screw me?
Or something sexual… like they were… you know…
I guess it was just part of Bay Falls High.
More questions than answers.
* * *
I bumped into Gi and when she turned, she threw her arms around me.
“How are you doing?” she whispered into my ear.
“I have no fucking clue.”
“That’s okay.”
“Should I give you two five minutes?” Iris asked.
She leaned against Gi’s locker, one eyebrow high in the air.
“Jealous?” I asked her.
“Yeah, that’s what it is,” Iris said. “Heard Blair and Vicky paid you a visit.”
“Nothing I can’t handle,” I said.
“What did they do?” Gi asked.
“They dumped my bag onto the ground,” I said.
“Seriously?” Iris asked.
“Well, Vicky slapped me too,” I said. “But whatever.”
“Brutal,” Gi said.
“Not even close,” I said.
“They’re just jealous of you,” Iris said.
“Jealous of me?” I asked. “Why?”
“Iris,” Gi said, shaking her head.
“What?” I asked.
“The Rulz,” Iris said.
“What about them?” I asked.
“There’s just history there,” she said.
I didn’t want to feel jealousy but there it was. Just resting in the pit of my stomach.
“Blair and Vicky with them?” I asked. “That’s three on two.”
“Kinky, right?” Iris asked.
“Stop,” Gi said. “That’s old rumors and old news.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I still don’t get it. But I’m not worried about them. Blair and Vicky, I mean. They want to get into it with me I can show them what a dirty, poor girl can do to win a fight.”
“That I’d like to see,” Iris said.
“That’s only because Blair went down on your boyfriend,” Gi said.
“Seriously?” Iris asked, nostrils flaring.
“What?” Gi asked. “You’re the one spilling all the dirt.”
“Ouch,” I said. “That sucks. I mean… you didn’t suck… you know?”
“Ha. Ha.” Iris rolled her eyes. “I was on the outs with him anyway.”
“Who was the lucky guy?” I asked.
“Maverick,” Gi said.
“What? The football player? And you were so casual when he was looking at us.”
“What can I say,” Iris said, “I know how to move on.”
“But not let go,” Gi said. “She still gets all wet and flustered around him.”
“Aw, that’s sweet,” I said.
“I just remind him what he gave up,” Iris said. “He told me that she basically chewed on it anyway. That she had no clue what she was doing.”
“That sounds painful,” I said.
“Yeah.”
“Did he still finish?” I asked.
“He’s a guy,” Iris said. “Of course he finished. The guys here can finish just by brushing up against someone.”
“Gross,” I said.
“Not really,” Iris said. “But what would you know. You’re untouched and perfect, right?”
Gi laughed. “Calm down, Iris. Don’t be jealous that you’ve been open for business since middle school.”
I shook my head. “What are you-”
“Hey, well done, Ti.”
I turned my head and saw Beth passing by.
She turned and gave me two thumbs up.
“What are you talking about?” I called out to Beth.
She spun back around and kept walking.
“Oh. Damn.” Iris laughed while she was face down in her phone.
She showed Gi.
Gi’s eyes went wide.
Gi looked at me. “Uh… we should get going.”
“Where? Why?” I asked.
Gi studied my face. “Tinsley…”
“Guiliana…”
“Let’s go check this out,” Iris said.
"Check what out?” I asked.
With a wicked smile on her face, Gi threw her elbow into me.
She laughed.
But I didn’t.
I had no clue what was going on.
It wasn’t until we went outside and followed the small gathering to the parking lot did I realize what had happened.
Everyone was standing around a sleek purple car.
A familiar car.
And that’s when I put my hand to my mouth.
“Holy hell, Ti,” Iris said. “Major props to you for this one.”
“How did you even know…” Gi asked, looking at me.
Across the driver’s side of the car, there was a message carved into the pretty purple paint.
sick tits go boom
“Sick tits go boom?” I asked.
“You know, I think we could be friends,” Iris said.
“I don’t get it,” I said to Gi.
“You’re good,” Gi said. “Nobody really talks about Blair’s boob job gone bad anymore.”
“What?”
“Sick tits go boom,” Iris said, laughing. “That’s basically what happened to her.”
“I didn’t do this,” I said, grabbing Gi’s arm. “I don’t even have…”
I lost my breath.
Gi stared at me. “Someone told you about it then. When Blair insisted she get new boobs. But her body turned out to b
e allergic or something. And the rest of her body puffed up really bad. She got sick and had to get them out.”
I shook my head.
I was no longer listening to Gi.
My mind went to my bag.
The screwdriver.
Pres handed me the screwdriver.
Which meant he…
I turned my head and looked around.
Everyone had their phones out, taking pictures.
I was on my toes trying to see if I could find Pres. Or Barr. Or Kip.
Then I heard a squeal that put my attention back to the messed up car.
It was Blair.
Standing there with her hands balled into fists, stomping on the ground like a bratty kid. Throwing her hair side to side as she screamed.
She looked around the gathering and stopped, her eyes on me.
Pres had gotten back at Blair for what she did to me.
Or maybe he just set me up even more.
Vicky stepped up next to Blair and pointed at me. She put her blood red painted thumb nail to her neck and sliced left to right.
Everyone then looked at me.
Soon the whispering would begin.
The new girl messing with the bad girl’s car.
I could have told Blair I didn’t do it.
Or I could have owned it.
But instead I slowly stepped back to get out of there.
Before Principal Jacobson showed up. Before my bag was searched. Before the screwdriver was found. Before I was blamed.
I was just a guest of Claire’s.
I wasn’t some rich kid who could get out of this kind of trouble.
“Don’t run from it,” Iris called out to me. “Show that bitch who’s boss.”
I threw my bag from my shoulder to my chest and clutched it tight.
Then I got the hell out of there.
I needed to dump the screwdriver.
And then dump any and all thoughts of Pres, Barr, and Kip.
eleven
Claire wasn’t even home when I packed my stuff and left.
I wasn’t sure if I was exactly stealing the SUV or not. Claire had given me the keys and told me to do whatever I wanted with it. It wasn’t like I was going to keep it forever. The plan was to just get out of BFH. Go back to the apartment and come up with a plan. Part of me wondered if I could work for Claire. Do whatever she did. Or at least learn. But that would put me too close to everything in BFH.
There was no way I was going to live in a world of fights, surprises in my locker, made up and forced drama that I wanted nothing to do with.
In a week they’d all forget about me.
I’d be a distant memory.
I knew damn well that Blair would get her car fixed or just get a new car.
Even if she tried to seriously point the finger at me for what was done there was no proof. The screwdriver was in a trashcan on a street corner outside of an ice cream shop. That’s where I dumped it.
Better yet, if BFH had security cameras and they checked the footage, they would see it wasn’t me at all. Even if Pres wore a black mask or something crazy like that, he was like two feet taller than me. And built with solid muscle.
No way that was going to come back to bite me in the butt legally. Now, if I stayed at BFH it would come back in the form of Blair and Vicky wanting revenge.
My head hurt from spinning so much as I drove away.
And my head hurt worse when some asshole crept up behind me and had their high beams burning at me.
I crouched down and growled under my breath.
I slammed on the brakes to get the asshole off me.
The vehicle eased back.
But only for a few seconds.
“Oh, not tonight Satan,” I whispered. “Not fucking tonight.”
I quickly darted to the right and pulled to the side of the road.
The vehicle flew by.
“Fuck you,” I whispered.
I pulled back onto the road and calmed down so my mind could start wandering again.
I couldn’t believe I was trading a mansion for an apartment.
For a room so big and quiet… for a house full of food… a pool… the ocean…
Lights flashed behind me.
It was another asshole with their high beams.
“Goddammit,” I said. “What is this? The asshole conven-”
I slammed on my brakes when I saw a vehicle ahead stopped in the middle of the road. I swore the vehicle behind me was going to slam into the back of my SUV.
I braced for the impact but it never came.
Instead, I was sandwiched between two vehicles.
I waited a few seconds before hitting the horn.
“Move!” I screamed. “Move! Move! Move!”
I felt the emotion climb up the back of my throat.
Then came a third vehicle along the driver’s side of my SUV, going the opposite way.
The window went down.
I rolled down my window.
“Hey, girl.”
It was fucking Kip.
* * *
“Let me guess,” I said. “The other two are in front of and behind me.”
“You’re a smart one,” Kip said. “Where you flying off too this late?”
“It’s not that late.”
“Leaving town?”
“Is that your business?”
“I like making everything my business,” Kip said.
The blonde hair blue eyes were nothing but a farce. They were a trap.
Sexy and hot… but under that… evil.
“Just like you did with Denny?”
“That was a long time coming, girl,” Kip said. “Plus, we took it easy on him.”
“I’ll tell you the same thing I told Pres. We were just having fun. He’s the first person to make me feel comfortable, that I could laugh with.”
“Oh, so you want to be comfortable and laugh?” Kip asked. “Then hop in over here. I can make you comfortable in no time.”
“Right. Because you and the other two just command sex and it happens, right?”
“I didn’t command anything yet,” Kip said. “We’re just talking. Now, as far as laughing goes… do you know how the ocean says hello?”
“Really?” I asked.
“It waves,” Kip said. He laughed and smacked his steering wheel.
I didn’t laugh. Or smile.
I just kept seeing him with blood on his shirt and hand.
“Thanks for the present in my locker,” I said.
“Hey, girl, that was all you.”
“Me. Right.”
“Look, that guy is a loser. We heard from a few others that things he was doing and saying weren’t adding up. And when I saw him with his fingers wrapped around your fingers… the smile on your face…”
Kip’s nostrils flared. His sexy blue eyes went wide.
“You were jealous,” I said. “Holy shit. You were jealous. And you think breaking his hand is going to impress me?”
“No,” Kip said. “The hand thing was because he couldn’t keep his hands off what wasn’t his.”
“I never said I was his,” I said. “Or anyone’s.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, girl,” Kip said.
He opened the door to his SUV and climbed out.
I reached to put the window up and he put his hands over the open window.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said.
“Could have fooled me,” I said.
“You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into.”
“Which is why I’m leaving.”
“That’s not going to happen, sugar.”
I gasped and turned my head to find Pres climbing into the passenger seat of the SUV. He killed the engine and reached for my hand.
“What is this?” I whispered.
“Just checking up on you,” he said. “I’m assuming you got rid of the screwdriver.”
“Yes,” I said.
“S
ee?” Kip asked. “She’s smart. Tough. Pretty too.”
“Yeah, thanks,” I said.
“Sometimes we have to do things we don’t exactly want to do,” Pres said.
“Like framing me for vandalization?” I asked.
“You have to know how to take care of things,” Kip said.
“I thought that was your job?” I asked.
Pres laughed. “It is. But it’s fun to watch someone else have some fun.”
“This isn’t fun for me,” I said.
The back driver’s side door opened and in slid Barr, a cloud of smoke behind him.
“Hey, love,” he said.
The sight of Kip… the smell of Pres’s cologne… the smell of Barr’s smoke…
It was like I had known it my entire life.
And I would soon never see or smell it again.
My throat closed and opened.
Choking up? Are you fucking kidding me, Ti?
It was only because I had nowhere to go.
“Speeding back home, love?” Barr asked with smoke on his breath. “You barely touched the flames here and you’re done?”
“Going back to that shithole where your mother tried to kill herself,” Pres said. “How’s that good for anyone?”
“Why does it matter to you?” I asked.
“We don’t think you should leave, girl,” Kip said.
Pres was still touching my right hand.
Kip reached into the SUV and his soft fingertips grazed my left arm, making me shiver.
I sucked in a breath and fought every terrible urge and desire going through me.
Heat splurged throughout my entire body.
And then I felt Barr’s breath near my neck. “It would be a really bad idea if you left BFH.”
“Why?” I whispered.
“You’re in too deep,” Barr said.
“You just said I barely touched the flames,” I said.
“That’s right,” Pres said. “Things are just heating up here, sugar. You should stay.”
“You need to stay, girl,” Kip said.
“And if I don’t?” I asked.
Pres lifted my right hand. I thought he was going to spit on my hand like he did once before. Instead, he just ran a finger over my middle knuckle and let go. He opened the door and climbed out of the SUV.
“I’ll see you around, Tinsley,” he said.
The sound of my name coming out of his mouth…
“You shouldn’t let some douchebag like Denny get you all wet, love,” Barr whispered into my ear. “That’s what we’re for.”
UNtouched: a bay falls high novel Page 10
