I smiled at him. “You won’t get rid of me that easily.”
A tiny grin formed on his mouth as he reached over to me, taking one of my hands in his. “I don’t want to get rid of you,” he whispered, leaning over the dash, seeking to place his lips on mine, and I let him. Hesitant, wary, almost like he expected me to pull back in disgust.
Why? All because these lips had touched Xander’s? Well, news flash: mine did, too. Only…he didn’t know that.
When the kiss ended, I felt guilty, like I should tell him. So I did, only in the most roundabout way possible. “Three kisses in one day. That’s a lot, even for me.” Of course, I meant three kisses from three different people, but it was too late to go back and say it now.
“Three?” Alec echoed, sounding stunned. “Three? Who—”
“I may have kissed Xander earlier, not that it’s any of your business,” I said. I also gave Xander a blow job, but again, not his business. That was a detail I’d keep to myself. “Xander, Christian, you—I’m really just making the rounds.” My joke fell flat, mostly because Alec was still caught up on the Xander part.
Was he jealous that Xander kissed me, or that I kissed Xander?
Alec pursed his lips. “When do you see Xander?”
“I have photography with him. You know, when you and all the other seniors get to leave early? Me and him, we’re stuck taking pictures.” I wasn’t going to tell him I’d gone over to Xander’s house and that’s where I kissed him; I’d let Alec use his imagination…and since he and Xander used to date, I was sure his imagination would work just fine.
“Do you like him?”
Boy, wasn’t Alec just full of questions. I shrugged. “And if I do? If I say I like the both of you?” I posed the question, not certain how I wanted him to answer. It wasn’t like I wanted him to be okay with me spending time with Xander, with me kissing Xander, but…
No, actually, that’s exactly what I wanted.
“I…I don’t know. I never thought…” Alec sighed. “I didn’t think we’d get this far. I thought you’d run.”
Oh, I wanted to run. Not from Alec, though.
I wanted to run, quickly do what I had to do to Christian to embarrass him in front of the whole school, and then I wanted to be done with it. Maybe it was selfish of me, but I didn’t want to lose Alec after this. Or Xander.
Was it wrong that I wanted to keep them both, even after all of this was said and done?
Chapter Sixteen
Jessie was no longer sitting at Christian’s table at lunch. Since I’d returned to River High, his table had lost two of its members. I didn’t feel sorry for him, although I did feel bad about Jessie. For her part, she was still super nice to me, and the day after the basketball game, she told me that she’d never tell anyone about what I told her. I trusted her, and I paid no attention to the rumors flying around about why Christian and Jessie had broken up.
And yet, try as I might, I heard them anyway—everyone thought Christian broke up with Jessie, and they thought he’d broken up with her because of me. Jessie assured me she and her friends knew the truth, or most of it: that she’d been the one to do the breaking up and not him, and that was all that mattered. The rumor mill could go jump into a ditch and stay there.
I talked to Leah every night as I dodged Diane’s attempts at hanging out. Hanging out was the last thing I wanted to do with the woman who’d married my dad, who was the young and pretty replacement for my mom.
Leah thought I had Xander and Alec wrapped around my finger already. The only thing left for me to do was get them to verbally agree to help me take down Christian. Of course, that would involve them working together, seeing each other, being amiable to each other. Leah told me I should reintroduce them to each other, be the common ground between them.
I wanted them to get along, sure. More than that, though, I was curious as to how far they’d gotten with each other in the past. Some people might think it’s nasty, but I was…let’s just say, I was curious, and a little turned on by thinking about it. Who knew I had such a kinky side?
My new friend Georgia was impressed. I’d told her the gist of what happened at the basketball game, and she took it all in. She did advise me to be careful of Christian, to not let his lips sway me—as if. No number of kisses, whether they were earth-shattering or not, would sway me from my goal of breaking that boy.
Because that’s all he was. A boy. He might be tall, he might be strong, he might have a voice that fell on you like honey and a face to match, but he was nothing but a boy. A boy who’d grown too big for his britches. If anyone needed to be knocked down a peg or two—or ten thousand—it was Christian.
It was that Friday during lunch when Georgia and I were talking that I suddenly had an idea. Everything would come together soon enough; I couldn’t rush it. But in order for it all to work, I needed some backup. I needed both Alec and Xander on my side, and for that to happen, they needed to get together and forgive each other of their past.
When Alec sat down to my left, Georgia and I both looked at him. His green eyes moved between us. “Uh, what?” he asked. “Do I have something on my face?” He grinned. Alec had been in a much better mood since he’d asked Mr. Burns to switch lab partners in chemistry; it was something Mr. Burns allowed once during the year.
Georgia elbowed me. “Do you want to tell him, or should I?” Ever since bringing the Snowball dance up, she’d gotten more and more into it, until she was literally begging me to go dress shopping with her. Almost like, I shudder to think it, a real high school girl who enjoyed things. Slowly but surely, I was cracking Georgia’s shell.
“I’ll do it,” I offered, grinning at Alec, who was still as clueless and adorable as ever. “Tomorrow. You got any plans?”
“Why do I have the feeling I’m about to?” Alec’s eyes squinted at me, his tone teasing.
“We’re going dress shopping,” Georgia said, unable to resist. She practically smiled from ear to ear, her excitement over something she once ridiculed almost funny. “And you’re going to be our ride.”
Looking at me, Alec said, “Now, I know I offered to be your chauffeur, but…”
I elbowed him. “Oh, come on. It’ll be fun.”
“Right. Watching you two try on dresses for hours,” Alec spoke dryly, “that sounds like my idea of fun. Might have to write about it in my journal tonight.” His words were laced with sarcasm, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
Shrugging, I said, “I figured it’d be good for you to know what color my dress is, unless you have another date to the dance in mind?” Beside me, Georgia’s face reddened, almost like she was embarrassed for me. She shouldn’t be. I needed Alec at my side at this dance, just like I needed Xander there. He was my next step.
First, I had to make sure Alec knew he was going with me.
Tiny dimples appeared on Alec’s face. “Are you—are you asking me to the dance, El?” At the use of his nickname for me, Georgia practically swooned. She adored his nickname for me, thought it was obscenely cute.
I nodded, reaching into my pocket and pulling out a chocolate bar. As I opened it, I said, “I suppose I am, as long as you say yes. If you say no, then I’m not.”
“Cushioning yourself in case of rejection,” Alec went on, taking a square of chocolate from me. “Smart. It’s what I would do.” Well, we both knew what he’d do, but that was neither here nor there. “All right. I’ll go with you, as long as I get to dance with you and not just stand around and look pretty.”
I knew Alec would agree to go with me. It was the other boy in this equation that I knew would be harder to convert, more difficult to sway. Xander did not look like the type of person who enjoyed any sort of school function, whether it was a dance, an assembly, or even class. I had fifty minutes in photography to convince him otherwise.
When the lunch bell rang and everyone got up, I asked Alec if he could pick me up after photography. I had something up my sleeves, you see, a plan that needed to be set
in motion soon. The sooner the better, really.
As I walked into chemistry and sat down beside Jessie and Sarah, I felt a pair of irate, blue eyes on me. I met Christian’s stare across the room, refusing to be the first one to look away, the first one to blink. I could give a death glare no problem, too. Wasn’t that hard.
Sarah noticed what was going on and muttered, “You know, I could go to Mr. Smith. Tell him that Christian is—”
Damn it. I was the one who looked away first. To Sarah, I said, “No. Don’t. I’m strong enough to take it. Let him glare. That’s about all he can do to me.”
I shouldn’t have been so confident, because as soon as Mr. Burns walked in from the small back room, where all the class’s extra experimental items were stored, Christian got up and talked to him, having a hushed conversation in the back of the room.
Mr. Burns and Christian walked to our table, and my eyes were slow to meet the teacher’s. “Christian here has asked for you to become his new lab partner. He says he needs a bit of help, and judging from your past test scores, I think it’s a good idea.”
Beside me, Jessie whispered under her breath, “You can say no.” Right. Refusal was my right. Mr. Burns wouldn’t force me to pair up with someone who I hated. And where would that leave the kid who was currently Christian’s partner? Would he take my place with Sarah and Jessie?
Ugh. This was a curveball I was not expecting.
I was slow to nod. “I think it’s a good idea, too. If he needs help, I’m happy to be the one to help him.” When I said that, I shot a glare at Christian, who watched me with amusement. Did he think he had me? What kind of game was he playing?
“Great,” Mr. Burns said, clapping his hands.
And that’s how I ended up trading places with the kid who’d taken Alec’s space beside Christian. As I gathered my stuff and walked to my new table, I happened to glance up at Alec. He was in the front corner of the room with a nerdy-looking kid. He’d talked to me about being partners with me, but I’d told him I didn’t want any distractions. I wasn’t lying when I said it. He just didn’t know what exactly I’d meant when I said distractions.
I meant distractions from Christian, and now that I was going to sit next to him, to stare at his lovely, smug face for fifty minutes every day, there would be fewer distractions than there were before. Two could play this game.
While Mr. Burns explained what we were going to do today, put some of our latest formulas and equations in action, Christian leaned over to me, whispering, “How are you and Alec?”
I turned and looked at him. “I don’t think Alec is your business anymore,” I muttered. Sitting so close to him, his face so near mine, I could smell his body spray. Holy hell, it smelled good. And his face—he hadn’t shaved last night, so stubble graced his square jaw. Right now, he didn’t look like a boy. He was a man. A man I was intent on destroying, but a man nonetheless.
“You know,” Christian spoke quietly, “I’m surprised you went after Alec.” I was about to retort, albeit softly since Mr. Burns was still rambling on, but I was stopped when I felt a warm hand on my knee beneath the table.
Christian was touching me. The bastard. He had no right. And I was about to tell him so, but he chose that moment to continue.
“You’d have much more fun with me, Elle.” The way he spoke my name, as if feeling it on his tongue for the first time, testing it out carefully, weighing the word in the air. Like it meant something to him. “I could take you places you’ve never dreamed of.”
Wow. What a clichéd line. Never thought I’d hear it with my own ears.
“Do you use that line on everyone?” I asked. “No, no, no. What I really want to know is: does it work? Do you ever get any girls who swoon and say, yes, take me?” The hand on my knee started to creep up to my thigh, and I felt a tingling warmth start to spread, growing in certain places I probably shouldn’t be focusing on while dealing with this toolbag.
My mouth was open, but no words were coming out. I probably looked like the biggest idiot around, trying to tell him to get his hand off me and failing spectacularly. Why the hell was I so attracted to him? This was the boy who’d made my life a living hell for years. Yes, six years might’ve passed, but time didn’t heal all wounds. I wanted him to grovel at my feet, not caress my leg tenderly.
Just when his fingers neared a certain spot I definitely didn’t want him touching, Christian withdrew his hand and shrugged. “You know what? You’re right. The last thing I’d want is damaged goods.”
Damaged goods? What a fucking dick. Whether he was trying to call me a whore or referring to my suicide attempt, I was not damaged goods. He was…ugh. I hated him right then. I hated him with my entire being, my whole soul. I hated him more than I’d ever hated anyone before, my dad and Diane included.
I’d show him just how good allegedly damaged goods could be.
Mr. Burns had set up multiple stations around the room, where every table would have to stop and do some mini-experiment with liquids and such. Everyone had to put on goggles and gloves, and these ridiculous white robes that were to protect our regular clothing just in case anything spilled on us.
Christian was…well, I could see how Alec had been the one holding up the pair’s grades. He didn’t read the directions, didn’t measure carefully, basically didn’t do anything right. You’d think that he’d care more, considering he needed to keep up decent grades to stay on any sports team for the school, but apparently not.
Or maybe he was doing it to get on my nerves. It was working.
By the time the fifty minutes of class ended, I wanted to pull my hair out. Each and every strand, one by one. Christian would drive me nuts. I’d go insane with him as my lab partner, but there had to be a way for me to make use of it. Spending so much time with him in such a close proximity…I had to find something to do to him, beyond the whole tanking our grades thing. I did not want any bad grades on my final report card.
The bell had just rung, and Christian got to his feet, grabbing his books and walking behind me. I tried to get up—tried to—but Christian was still there, standing way to close. When I got to my feet, I practically rubbed my ass against him, instantly freezing at the contact.
He leaned down to my ear, whispering, “We’re going to have fun together.” As he spoke, I felt his free hand touch my back, then my side, curling around my hip with a strong, almost possessive quality.
God, why oh why did Christian have to be so attractive? His looks put my hormones into overdrive, which made it so very hard to pull myself away from his wandering hand and put distance between us. Once there were a few feet between us, I whirled on him, saying, “You have no idea.” I meant it as a threat, but Christian only smirked and walked away, brushing past me to get out of the classroom.
Alec had watched the whole exchange near the front of the room. I didn’t think I’d ever seen his face so upset. He and Christian glared at each other when Christian walked by him, bumping shoulders like they were in some macho contest. When I reached him, he said, “Why didn’t you tell Mr. Burns no?”
We walked into the hall, going to my locker. “I don’t know,” I said.
“He’s going to try things with you,” Alec said. He meaning Christian, not Mr. Burns.
“Let him try.”
“Are you going to be strong enough to stop him?”
I looked at Alec then, wondering where he got off on asking me something like that, but my prickly attitude faded when I noticed the genuine concern on his face. Alec was really worried about me, for me. He cared. He didn’t want Christian hurting me again. Did he love me? Were we at that point yet? I…I wasn’t sure I could break his heart like I’d planned.
Apparently I was a wuss.
“I will be fine,” I told him, opening my locker and exchanging my chemistry book for my next class’s stuff. I had economics then photography. “Let him try his worst, and I’ll turn it all around and back on him.” I slammed my locker closed, turning to
face him. “Thank you for caring, but I’ll handle it. If I need help, I know you’re only a few tables away.”
Alec didn’t look too convinced, but he had to rush to his locker to avoid being late for his next class. I lost him in the sea of students around us, heaving a sigh to myself as I walked away. What I really wanted to do was crawl under the covers of my bed and take a nap, maybe call Leah to get her input on it.
Who knew these revenge plots were so damn mentally draining?
Chapter Seventeen
Photography passed in a blur. Ever since that day when I went to Xander’s house, saw his portfolio, time seemed to pass by far too quickly when I was with him. Maybe because I was actually enjoying the time I spent with him—such a switch. Such a gargantuan change from what I’d expected on that first day.
And it was our fast bonding, and maybe partially that blowjob I’d given him, that made Xander agree to see me after school.
After we were done in photography, I walked with him to his locker, watching him grab his backpack with a smile. “Have you ever thought about getting your hair cut?” I asked, watching as his long, black hair fell over his eyes, over the piercing on his brow. He had such a pretty face, and his hair usually hid it.
All Xander did was turn his dark eyes on me and shake his head. “Don’t even think about it,” he warned me, as if I was about to offer to cut it for him. I thought it would only make him look hotter, but hey, to each his own.
Since most of the underclassmen rushed to leave, the halls were mostly empty by the time we made it to my locker, where Alec stood, leaning his back against the painted metal. Brown, like our school colors. Hideous. Nearly everything here was brown or orange, but that was beside the point. The point was, Alec was here, and so was Xander.
The two boys stopped and stared at each other. Alec’s mouth might’ve dropped a little, but I tried not to notice as I cut between them and went to my locker. “Don’t freak out,” I said, more of an advisory than anything. I didn’t want either of them to storm off, unhappy the other was here with me.
Spite: A Bully Reverse Harem Page 13
