I mash my lips together to withhold a grimace.
“What is your problem? You can’t just manhandle me into getting your way,” I grumble. “Do you not understand what no means? That’ll get you in trouble with the law someday when your power trip goes to your head.”
Lucas rears back with a shocked look. Then his eyes narrow to dangerous slits.
“Jesus, I’m not a rapist, you little—”
I hoist my tray threateningly and he cuts off.
“Leave me the hell alone, Lucas! I don’t want jack shit to do with you or your lousy friends!”
Hushed mutters breaks out around the room. A few phones are held up, capturing the drama as it unfolds. They’ve got proof of me denouncing their king.
It’ll be all over Snapchat and Instagram stories within minutes, spreading like a fatal forest fire across the school, no doubt.
“You’re going to regret that,” Lucas promises in a rough, dark voice.
Those proverbial gallows feel like they’re snapping around my neck and wrists.
But I won’t bend the knee in fealty to this asshole.
Who would want someone like Lucas? Not me, that’s for damn sure.
“See if I give a shit. Go ahead and throw a tantrum.” I jerk my head back at my table. “I’ll be over there enjoying my lunch.”
Before the spectacle continues, I spin on my heel to end the conversation.
Lucas hooks his foot around my ankle as soon as I take a step and fucking trips me up. I stumble, but I don’t go down. My water bottle is the only thing to topple from my wobbling tray. I meet the eyes of a few people nearby and can sense the hunger for blood.
No one’s satisfied that I didn’t crash to the floor face first into my lunch.
I bend to retrieve the water bottle and when I rise, Lucas is two steps closer, lurking right behind me like an imposing shadow.
“Bravo,” I shoot over my shoulder. Lucas grinds his teeth, his hands balled into fists at his sides. “Real brave of a big, strong guy like you to actually trip a girl because she wasn’t interested in your bullshit.”
Squaring my shoulders, I stalk over to my table by the windows.
The nice girl from study hall is there. She grants me a half-smile and doesn’t pause in digging into her sparse lunch of basic food groups. A half-eaten roll sits next to a scoop of peas, an apple, and a plain cut of chicken.
I nod to her and drop across the table on the opposite bench, purposefully giving Lucas my back.
It doesn’t take away the weight of his attention zeroed in on me for the rest of the period.
Seven
Lucas
Fire roars in my blood when Gemma turns her back on me.
As she walks away, it takes every ounce of control not to grab her and drag her to my table. I let her go. For now.
It comes as a surprise when she still fights me. I expected her to fall over in fear, but she’s not afraid.
If Gemma doesn’t fear me, I can’t control her. If I can’t control her, then I’m not on top. That won’t stand. It was my mountain first and she won’t kick me off it with her blatant disregard for the way things work around here.
I stew through lunch, my gaze burning holes in the back of that uppity bitch’s head.
Something about her pisses me off. I don’t know whether it’s her ballsy implication I’m some rapist over a moment of mistaken identity and a kiss, or that she keeps stirring trouble. Not only do I still want a piece of her, now I want to take that prude down a peg.
I can kill two birds with one stone.
My mouth curves, but I feel no amusement.
I steal Devlin’s fries and he grumbles under his breath, jabbing me with a pointy elbow.
“Buy your own, dick.”
“If I bought my own, I wouldn’t get the thrill out of stealing yours.”
Devlin snorts and shoves his tray at me. His half-lidded gaze flicks over to Gemma’s table and the corners of his mouth tense.
I silently agree with him. Gemma Turner thinks she’s better than me. That she can just come in here from wherever-the-fuck and get by without playing by the rules.
This school is under my control. No one defies me.
It’s always been easy to command the attention of those around me. Teachers and Coach Garcia call it leadership skills. People fall all over themselves to listen to what I have to say.
They expect me to play the part of their god, so I can’t stand idly by while she runs around untamed. My rules apply to her, too.
The anger scorching my veins grows in intensity.
I will destroy her.
With a slight shift in my posture, all eyes at the table are on me. “Listen up.”
Carter leans on his forearms, a wild grin spreading across his face. “‘Sup, brother?”
I match his expression and nod to Gemma’s table with her sad little girl squad of two.
“Open fucking season.”
The handful of football team members whoop and break out in chatter. Devlin quirks a brow and glances between me and Gemma.
“We’re going to play a game.” I rifle through my wallet and slap a fifty down. “Place your bets now.”
“What’s the game?” asks one of our bulky defensive line players.
I wait a beat, tilting my head and smirking. “Break the prude. Anything goes.” I point across the lunchroom. “First to get Gemma Turner—with proof—wins the pot.” I prop my elbows on the table and rest my chin on my laced fingers. “Destroy her. No mercy.”
Laughter breaks out and I settle back to survey what I’ve set in motion. Carter lets out a howl and drums his palms on the table. They act like a pack of jackals let loose on the hunt. Money is laid down and big claims made over who’s winning.
But I already know who will win.
It’ll be me.
I’m going to break Gemma Turner by making her mine.
Eight
Gemma
This school has gone fucking crazy in a matter of days.
Carter Burns followed me from my car one morning, leering at me the whole time. I arrived at my locker to find a small mailbox super-glued to it beneath a sign that said Peak Point Blow Job Requests, C/O Gemma Turner. Carter gave another guy a high five and told me he liked his cock sucked extra sloppy.
People slut-sneezed and called me a Coyote Girl—whatever the fuck that was—as I went from class to class, their snickers trailing after me as I rolled my eyes.
A pretty girl in second period sat on top of my desk yesterday and showed me her Instagram post. It was a still image taken from the video of my kiss with Lucas, except instead of Lucas she photoshopped it so I was kissing her instead. She got the lighting spot on. The caption had my actual phone number and said txt Gemma Turner 4 a good time with a slew of saucy emojis. The photo had over 250 likes and several comments within minutes. My phone buzzed in my bag and dread speared through me.
Players from every team at school howled as they flicked the edge of my uniform skirt, phones at the ready to snap a photo. The third guy that tried that met my fist in his gut and my sturdy boot on his toe. Lucas had seen the whole thing from several feet down the hall, leaning against a locker with an unreadable look. I flipped him off and stormed to class.
It was only lunch, and I was ready to kick the wall. This was insanity. How could teachers let this kind of shit fly?
I hadn’t found any faculty around during these incidents, and a large part of me was too stubborn and prideful to go crawling to the administrative office to file a formal complaint—even if it meant stopping the torment.
The last time the principal’s office got involved in one of my problems, there had been a humiliating investigation that I didn’t want to relive.
“Are you going to eat, or keep doing that angry pacing?” Blair asks.
She’s my sole ally.
Blair tucks her blue-gray hair behind her ear and takes one of the protein bars I emptied onto a bench in the courtya
rd where we’re spending our lunch period.
We’re not hiding. We’re just…getting a break from the shit that’s been my constant since Monday. I’m desperate for the week to end so I can escape this psychotic hell hole for a couple of days.
I drop beside Blair on the stone bench. It’s cold against my butt and I wrap my leather jacket tighter around my body.
“Who decided skirts were a good uniform choice,” I groan.
Blair snorts. “Men.”
“Ugh.”
“Mood.” She tears into a second protein bar. She nudges a few packets my way. “Eat. You can’t plan retaliation and world domination on an empty stomach.”
“I’m more of a pacifist.” I release a heavy sigh. “Are all the students here always so rabid for the drama? The mob mentality is fucking eerie.”
Blair hitches a bony shoulder. Part of me feels bad for making her skip lunch with me. I’ve guessed it’s one of the few solid meals she gets from her threadbare appearance and secondhand uniform. I have another box of protein bars in my bag I’m giving her.
“There’s never been something this big.” She studies me. “I think you’re the first person to really stand up to those jerks that run this place. The rest of us nobodies have kept our heads down.”
“What the hell,” I mutter.
Slipping my phone from my pocket, I flick my nail against the edges. I’ve mostly had it off. Whenever I turn it on, there’s a bombardment of new messages from random numbers. I stopped reading them when the dick pics started coming.
“This is harassment. This isn’t a prank. He started all this shit.”
I turn the phone on anyway and block out the incessant buzzing of new notifications.
“Have you told your parents?”
“No. I…” I push out a sigh and clench my phone in a white-knuckled grip. “I’ve had to change schools twice. When I was sixteen, a friend that I thought liked me, he…”
Blair puts a hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “You don’t have to tell me.”
“I just don’t want them to worry anymore. I can handle this.”
My eyes close as the memories of my nightmare flood my mind. His hands holding me down, touching me while I beg him to stop. I feel silly for not explaining the rest of the story to Blair. I wasn’t raped, but I’m still haunted by dreams of his hands all over me, pressing my face into the mattress as he ground himself against my backside and tried to pull my pants down.
A shudder rolls through me and I swallow the surge of bile.
“What about the cops or something?” Blair nods to the cell phone in my hands. “At least to stop the shit on your phone.” She claps her hands together and intones in a mystical voice, “Dick pics be gone.”
“I can’t believe people are gullible enough for this amateur shit. Don’t they notice it’s the same angle as the other video?”
“People are fucking stupid. And teenagers are gremlins. They’ll believe any rumor and bad photo edits for a juicy scrap of entertainment.”
“That’s a bleak outlook.”
The laugh that escapes Blair is grim and bitter.
I’m stronger than people think. I can endure this.
Despite my resolution, I’m feeling the pressure of being hunted by the whole student body. They follow Lucas Saint’s word like mindless lemmings and every one of them decided they hate me.
All because I stood up for myself against Lucas.
* * *
I purposefully started parking in random spots at the edges of the student parking lot, much to Alec’s annoyance. There’s a familiar shout as I’m walking to the car.
“Goddamn it,” I hiss.
A grip on my messenger bag strap halts me and a strong body collides against my back, sending me stumbling forward. Lucas steps around and blocks me from going anywhere by stalking into my space, caging me between him and the muscled meathead behind me.
I lock my jaw and glare at him. “What do you want?”
Lucas has a smug aura. Hands snake around my stomach, roaming wherever they please. I tense and turn my head to see who it is. Carter Burns winks back at me.
“Think you can take both of us at once?” Lucas muses. His chest brushes against me as he threads his fingers in my hair. “The guys on the team want to settle a disagreement that’s been going on in the locker room after practice.”
“Do you want the front or the back door, bro?” Carter buries his nose against my skull. “You smell sweet.”
A low growl makes Lucas’ chest vibrate. It's hardly audible, but I feel it. He slides his touch down the side of my face and wraps his fingers around my throat in a controlling gesture. His eyes bounce back and forth between mine.
“Can you do it?”
I blink when I realize this question actually expects a response.
“Fuck no,” I say with a hard laugh, but my voice shakes.
Lucas gives me a shark’s grin and leans close to press his lips against my ear.
“Does the thought scare you? What if we want it? I’ve shared girls with Carter before. Want me to make you bounce on my cock and then hold you still while Carter fucks your mouth?”
His breath is hot and it makes me shiver.
As much as my hatred for him burns in every cell of my body, I picture the dirty ideas he puts in my head. The thoughts send a sick pulse of heat throbbing between my legs. His thumb prods the corner of my mouth. My stomach turns over, though I don’t know whether it’s in excitement or dread.
“Go fuck yourselves, pigs,” I push out through my teeth. Carter’s hands still explore. “Stop those hands and let me go, Burns, or your balls are toast. If you touch me freely, I’ll touch you right the fuck back, but I don’t think you’ll like it as much.”
“Your kitten’s got claws, Saint.”
Lucas laughs, but there’s a darkness clouding his eyes that triggers a deep instinct in me to fear what he could do to me.
He pulls me free from Carter with ease and swings me around. With his cool gaze locked on me, he herds me backwards until I hit a car. I glance down and in my peripheral vision I see the funny contradictory bumper stickers Alec and I slapped on the back in one of our many squabbles.
Lucas traps me against the car by planting his arms on either side of my head. Carter props his body beside me, missing the momentary look of annoyance Lucas tosses at him before he redirects the full weight of his attention on me.
“What do you think, sweetheart? In the back seat right here, or should we make the trip all the way to Peak Point?” Lucas hums and hovers his mouth over mine with scarcely enough room to breathe. “You’re cute when you blush.”
The hardness in his expression makes me squirm, pressing my legs together. I’m getting turned on by the champion king of my tormentors, wet from the awful way he looks at me. What the fuck is wrong with me?
“You like an audience, though. I think you’d enjoy it more if we did it right here. Let’s make the car rock and fog up the windows like in Titanic.”
He presses his hips into me and I can feel his erection. My breath hisses between my lips. He lowers his head a little more, closing in on kissing me.
“Hey. Come on, hasn’t it been enough, yet? It’s getting a little old and I’m not down to watch you make out with my sister.”
Lucas stills as Alec walks up. Carter frowns and pulls away from the car. Chills swallow me as Lucas peels his body away, leaving me cold and empty inside.
Alec works his jaw, glancing between all three of us and shoulders past Carter to unlock the car.
“Come on, Gemma.”
Alec hops into the driver's side. I swallow down the confusion and guilt, avoiding Lucas’ gaze as I get in.
“See you tomorrow, sweetheart,” Lucas promises.
I slam my door and jab the lock button as Alec reverses and speeds off.
An awkward silence blankets the car as Alec navigates through the rolling hills on our way home. Finally, it becomes too much and I atte
mpt to break it.
“No practice today?”
Alec grips the wheel hard enough for his skin to stretch over his knuckles.
“Game day,” he grunts. “I need to run home to drop stuff off, then I’m heading back.”
“Oh.” I haven’t kept up with his schedule much. An ache echoes in my chest to feel my brother so out of reach when he’s right there across the car. “Thanks for, um. Back there. With Lucas and Carter.”
Alec twitches his shoulder. His face pinches angrily, but I don’t know whether it’s meant for me, Lucas, or himself.
The last time Alec caught me in a compromising position like that, his best friend was on top of me and we were all drunk at a party. He listened to Matt’s story instead of mine, but at least he dragged me out of there. I thought that night would go so differently. Matt and I hadn’t kissed, but we’d been flirting for weeks and holding hands. I thought he’d be my boyfriend soon.
I’d been so wrong. That wasn’t what he wanted me for.
My throat is tight when I swallow and stare out the window at the passing pine trees.
“Why did you stop them?” I have to know. I twist my hands in my lap. “You don’t need to stand up to your friends for me.”
Alec slams his fist against the wheel and I jump.
“Damn it, Gemma.” Alec sighs. “I don’t know. I just did. I don’t...like it.”
“Well, you don’t have to.” I run my fingers through my hair. The memory of Lucas’s hands lingers. “Just let it happen. I can handle whatever they want to throw at me.”
Alec frowns.
“I don’t care about what anyone thinks of me. None of it’s true.”
“It’s still not easy to listen to the shit they’re all saying about you.” Alec grimaces. “Again.”
I bark out a hollow laugh. “Yeah, I bet that’s a real hardship for you. Is it screwing up your game day headspace?”
“Fuck, Gemma, it is!”
I scrub my face and blow out a breath.
“Look. I’m telling you I’m strong enough to do this by myself. I know how much you want to be involved and just enjoy your last year before college. That’s all you, I don’t give a fuck about these people. I don’t want to give in so that the same people who spread rumors about me try to be my friend in another month when it dies down.”
Wicked Saint: Sinners and Saints Book 1 Page 5
