by Doyle, Dawn
He looked away when more students came into the room, and I settled down but laughed under my breath, not able to hold my mouth shut at the same time Josh snickered from beside me.
I tapped my pen against the desktop, scanning over the notes Josh had given me when the empty chair next to me pulled out, a figure lowering themselves into it. The chatter in the room came to a halt the moment they sat down.
I breathed in, catching the waft of perfume that flooded my senses. Sweet, with a hint of fruitiness to it, and maybe…flowers? I had no idea; fragrances weren’t something I could recognize, but this was one I’d smelled before.
I slowly turned my head to see the girl next to me, squinting a little as I took in her profile. She was familiar, but not somebody I’d seen around campus or at the circle. Or anywhere, for that matter.
I would’ve recognized that hair, surely.
Brunette, with a hint of blonde like the sun had lightened it. Long tresses fell down her back from where it was held by a hair tie.
She turned to me, and I recognized her right away.
“What?” she snapped, her neat eyebrows scrunching tightly together, her pink lips curled into a snarl.
“Nothing,” I replied, but held her gaze. Green, like Jade, but with tiny flecks of brown.
“Then what the fuck are you staring at?” she asked, leaning her right arm on her desk.
I never faltered or moved even a millimeter. “Nothing,” I repeated, then looked back down at the notes like I hadn’t just been going over the time I saw her in the hall with Mrs. Montgomery, remembering the way her scowl stood out and her tight jaw mirrored mine.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched her, seeing her frantic movements, short and sharp, as she placed her things down on her desk.
“What the hell is everyone’s problem?” she muttered. “Acting like children with a new toy, I swear.”
I held back my laugh. “Maybe you’re the one with the problem?”
“Excuse me? Are you serious?” she asked incredulously, her eyes wide and her light-brown brows arching up higher.
I shrugged one shoulder, not facing her. “Biting people’s heads off for noticing you, somebody clearly not from around here, and just curious about who you are? Yeah, I’m fucking serious.” Her mouth hung open, and if her eyes could shoot flames from them, I’d be toast. I leaned a little towards her, narrowing my gaze. “Now who’s the one that’s staring?”
She blinked, then huffed out a laugh as though what I’d said was ridiculous, and it was. I don’t know why, but I wanted to rile her up. I wanted to see how mad I could make her before she lost it completely.
You’re sick in the head, you know that, right?
“Please. Don’t flatter yourself, hotshot. The last thing I’d be doing is staring at your black eyes and cut up face.”
Say what now?
My eyes widened, just for a second, and I slowly turned my head. “Ah, you noticed. Good for you.”
Her slender hands balled into fists, the knuckles turning white. “It was hard to miss when you looked like Quasimodo.”
Josh snorted loudly, and all eyes snapped to him. “Sorry, man, but that was fucking hilarious.” He laughed, his hand across his chest. “Quasimodo. I haven’t heard that one before.” He continued guffawing, and I swiped at him. He moved away before I could touch him. He threw his head back and curled himself forward like the character. “The bells!”
I glared at the girl next to me. “See what you did?” I thumbed at Josh. “Happy now?”
She leaned forward and looked past me at Josh, her green eyes focused on him. She sat back, a genuine smile forming on her face, showing a perfect bow in her top lip. “Actually, I am, Quasi.”
“It’s Quinn,” I growled.
She shrugged. “Eh, same difference.”
Now who’s behaving like a child?
This girl was going to fuck up my day, I just knew it.
Kinsley
That was eventful. I wasn’t expecting the guy from my first day to be the one who the empty seat was kept free for; his friend too.
When he’d stared at me, the old feelings rose to the surface. I’d been made to feel under the microscope at my old college, and that was enormous compared to this shoebox that wasn’t even as big as my high school. Here, though, the reduced amount of people could get in my personal space more easily than before. I had nowhere to hide. I couldn’t just get lost in the crowds; there weren’t any big enough to disappear in.
I’d seen Quasi, or Quinn, as he’d corrected me, out of the corner of my eye. He’d gripped his pen as though it were his enemy, the plastic body under stress from his fingers gripping and pressing it. I tried not to think about how, when I’d looked at him, I’d witnessed the bluest eyes I’d ever seen in my life. How had I not noticed them in the hallway that first day? Oh, right, because I was too busy sulking and making a point not to notice, except for the injuries to his face.
“Hey, Kinsley!” I heard a familiar voice yell. I looked in the direction of the voice and saw Miley waving to me.
I waved back. “Hey, Miley.” I still felt shitty for being kinda mean after she was kind enough to me. “Everything okay?”
She rushed to my side and quickly got into step with me. “What are you doing later tonight?” she asked. “I know we haven’t spoken since I showed you to the art rooms, but a few of us are getting together at the beach tonight. A bonfire has been set up again, and I thought it’d be a good way for you to get to know some people.”
Not a chance in hell.
I dropped my shoulders, sighed, and let my brows pinch together and lift in the middle—a look I’d perfected over time. “I’ve got studying for the assignment Mr. Stanson gave us, and I have a couple more for art.” At the end of the class with Quinn, instead of staying to hear what work we’d been given, he just got up and left. Just like that. Out of his seat and out of the door, with his trusty sidekick following.
What a dick.
“So? Are you in?”
“Sorry, I was miles away,” I apologized, my stomach rolling that I hadn’t been able to get that class out of my head for the rest of that day. “In for what?”
She giggled and rolled her eyes with humor while grinning. “The beach?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Miley, but I don’t think I’m there yet.” Her puppy dog eyes had my mouth working overtime. “Maybe next time, yeah? I just don’t feel comfortable going out to party with a bunch of people I’ve never met.” Not to mention it was fucking crazy. After the crap I’d just come from, I’d be insane to agree.
Miley’s bottom lip pushed out into a child-like pout. “Okay, but only because you’re new. Now,” she linked her arm through mine and walked with me until we were outside. “I gotta head off, so I’ll catch up with you after the weekend.” Once we were in the parking lot, she walked away, waved while grinning, and disappeared.
“How was your day?” my mom asked as she drove through the quiet roads of Broken Hollow. We were going grocery shopping, one chore that we always did together, no matter what. It was the only time she drove me and picked me up.
“It was okay, I guess,” I replied, liking the cool breeze hitting me through the open window. “It still sucks to be here, though.”
“I know it’s not ideal, sweetheart, but once you graduate, things will look better.”
I snorted. “How can you be so calm about it?” I shook my head as it rested in my palm. My elbow pressed against the door, taking my weight. “I was kicked out, Mom, of one of the best colleges back home.” I lifted my head and looked right at her when we stopped at the red lights. “Kicked out for defending myself.” I clenched my jaw as angry tears burned my eyes. “Is still stings, Mom,” I said, my voice wavering and my chin wobbling. “We had to move here, you had to relocate your office, I had to transfer colleges, all because they didn’t want the embarrassment hitting their precious school.”
A rumble outside of the car had my attention
, and I looked out of my side to see a motorcycle reflected in the mirror. Black and shiny with silver waves down the side of the tank. The rider was all in black, and when I looked up, their matching helmet was focusing forward, the visor tinted, disguising their face.
My mom lifted her hand and ran it down the back of my head and over my hair. “I know you’re angry, sweetheart, but what’s done is done. I’d much rather be here where you’re safe from their scrutiny than anywhere else.”
“Angry doesn’t even begin to describe how I’m feeling,” I growled. “And we’re here because Broken Hollow’s the only college that would accept my transfer in senior year, especially after it had already begun.” I swiped angrily across my face, refusing to let the tears fall any further.
I looked away from my mom and out of the window. The second my eyes raised, my lips parted. The person next to us was facing me, the visor showing my startled reflection. In what seemed like a split-second, they took off, the roar of the engine deafening until it started to fade in the distance. It reminded me of the one I’d heard on my first day.
“Deathtraps,” my mom muttered, then glanced at me. “Promise me you’ll never get on one of those things, Kinsley.”
I’d heard this before, every time we saw a motorcycle. “Sure, Mom.”
“I mean it, Kinsley. Those things are dangerous, and I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”
“You’re not gonna lose me, Mom,” I assured her. I reached over and placed my hand over hers on the steering wheel. “I promise.” My uncle Ray was killed in a motorcycle accident not long before my dad died. He called his bike his ‘babe magnet,' and I’d given him shit for it. Lovingly, of course.
“It’s not that I don’t trust your abilities,” my mom added. “I don’t trust other drivers. The guy who pulled out on Ray,” Her lip quivered, “didn’t see him coming.” Ray was my mom’s only brother, and when she lost him and then my dad, she’d been devastated beyond words.
“I know, Mom. I’m never going to ride a motorcycle, okay?” I assured her. “I promise.” They were awesome, though. Uncle Ray had a sexy ass bike. Silver, with a bold red stripe across the black tank, while the matching red seat added kick-ass character.
“Good.” She swiped at her face and smiled. “Now, how’s school? Have you made any friends?”
I went back to looking out of the window, watching the small town go by as we neared the store. “It’s fine, and not really,” I replied. “One girl, Miley, helped me find my way to class and asked for my number, but that’s it.” I didn’t want to tell her about the mini arguments I’d had already. Same shit, different city.
“That’s a good thing, right?” She glanced at me, then back to the road. “It’ll take time, but you’ll make a lot of friends—I know you will.”
“Sure.” I doubted that, and after the scene between Quasi and I, I’m pretty sure I’d made my first enemy.
Chapter 3
Quinn
“Quinn, you got this, man, easy!” Josh yelled from the sidelines, his booming voice carrying over the raucous crowd.
Aiden Shaw stood in front of me, blood oozing out of his nose, flowing like a river over his mouth and dripping off his chin. The unkempt hair there caused a crimson rainfall down onto his bare chest. He blinked rapidly, no doubt clearing the tears rushing to his eyes after my fist had connected with the bridge.
The satisfaction of feeling the cartilage snapping under my knuckles, even through the bindings, had put a sick smile on my face.
“Come on, Shaw,” I goaded. “It was only a light tap.” The opposite of what his nose was. It was still leaking like a faucet that hadn’t been shut off completely.
“Fuck you!” he roared, jerking forward from his waist, his veins and ligaments protruding from his thick neck. Red spittle flew from his mouth. He snapped it shut, his jaw working before he released a massive gob of saliva and spat it on the ground.
His dripping lips curled up in a snarl, dark eyes narrowed, and scarred eyebrows furrowing as he studied me, had me anticipating his next move.
I dropped my arms to my sides, sticky with sweat, keeping my fists clenched. I turned my body, my head remaining in his direction as we started to walk around in the circle.
“You’re going down, Dexter,” Aiden snarled, though his sharp tone was anything but threatening to me.
Well, I guess it wouldn’t when it wasn’t being spoken directly into my ear while stale alcohol fumes covered me. Holding my breath hadn’t worked; the smell had stuck to my skin, to my hair, my dirty clothes…
“Sorry, Shaw, I don’t swing that way, but thanks all the same.” I smirked when his jaw clenched.
We both turned, walking the other way, our eye not leaving the other.
“Asshole,” he sneered.
I snorted a laugh. “Nope. Sorry, I’m just not into you.”
Aiden’s eyes widened, and it was game time. He bared his teeth, raised his hands, and bolted, charging me.
The short distance between us gave him the advantage of taking me by surprise, but the fucker had no idea how much I was used to that.
He saw my reaction a split-second too late, his weight thundering too fast for him to stop.
I side-stepped, allowing his huge frame to flank me while I raised my right arm, holding my left in tight for defense, and bending my knees a little. Pushing off the balls of my bare feet, I sprung up and toward him at the same time I snapped my arm out, my fist flying downward. I landed a solid punch to the side of his jaw and cheekbone.
Shockwaves ran through my hand with the impact, his bone detaching from the force—a feeling I’d grown accustomed to way too young.
Aiden dropped to the ground, dirt kicking up around him as he bounced a couple of times until he stilled. There was no movement from his limbs, and his eyes were shut.
“Somebody needs to tuck him in,” Josh said, his hand cupping his mouth while the other pointed. “Don’t want him catching a cold while he goes night-night!”
The crowd cheered, faint boo’s scattered from Aiden’s followers, but I didn’t give a shit. We were here for one thing—to get paid, and I wanted my cash.
“Damn, son, you made a nice buck tonight,” Layton said as he handed me a tight wad of bills. “You could take a long fucking vacation.”
I shrugged, handed the money to Josh, and pulled on my black sweats. He gave me my T-shirt, but I didn’t put it on right away.
Josh looked out of the small window in the tiny RV Layton always brought here. “I’d say you’ve got about five seconds to get the fuck out of here,” he said, then turned to me. “You might want to cover up, though. These girls look like they could get pretty handsy.”
I rolled my neck, trying to release some of the tension there that always remained after a fight. “You know I hate the fabric sticking to the sweat,” I replied, and he did. I’d had that happen to me more times than I’d like to remember, the feeling of wearing dirty clothes, putting them on dirty skin… It made my stomach churn just thinking about it.
“Yeah, well, you might want to get over that just this once, because unless you want your adoring fans swarming you, you have to go. Now.”
The noise of female chatter, excited from the fight, grew closer as I stared at the black T-shirt in my hand.
“Oh, I see him all the time,” one voice said, gloating to whoever was there. “I know him—he’ll stick around for a while for me, I’m sure of it.”
I hooked a finger to the side of the roller blind and pulled it away a fraction, just enough to see out. “Fuck,” I whispered, dropping my head. There had to be at least eight of them almost to the door, and more hanging around further back, still close to where Aiden had been carried away. One I recognized from school, but the others were definitely from out of town and shouldn’t even know about this place. But, they had the money and bought their way in like everybody else.
Why the fuck do they do this?
“I know this pisses you off,”
Josh said, his hands up, “but why don’t you just talk to them? I don’t know, maybe let them know it’s not a good time and to give you some space?” I raised a brow. He shook his head once and closed his eyes for a second. “Yeah, I see how ridiculous that sounds.”
I ground my jaw, gripped the handle of the door, and pushed it open. The girls’ heads snapped to me, their surprised expression changing to excited grins immediately. “What do you want?” I snapped, making sure I made eye contact with each one of them, not giving a shit what they had on or how they’d done their hair.
“Oh, hey, Quinn,” the girl at the front said. She was in one of my classes, but I’d never spoken to her before. “I’m Nicole, from your English class.” She looked between her friends. “We wanted to stop by and say congratulations on your win. It was a great fight and—”
“Are you done?” I raised a brow.
“Oh, uh, well, we thought you might want to, maybe, go to a party afterward. There’s a group of us going to the town center. Macy’s got a house there with a couple of other girls, and—”
“No.”
“What?” She blinked quickly at the same time her followers glanced at each other, their whispers carrying over to me.
“I said no.” I jerked my chin behind them. “Fight’s over, which means you all need to get the fuck out of here.”
“But—”
I blew out a hard breath, cutting her off. “Listen, what do I have to say to make you take no for an answer?” I waited for her answer, but her mouth opened and closed like a fish.
“I just thought it’d be fun to hang out.”
“And I said no, but you’re still here.” I folded my arms across my bare chest, not missing how all pairs of eyes jumped to that area. They could look all they fucking wanted. I leaned forward a little. “Why are you still here?” I asked, raising my voice.
“God, we’re going,” she snipped. “No need to be a fucking douche about it.”
A dry laugh escaped my mouth. “Sure, whatever you say, princess.” I watched as they turned and walked away, looking back over their shoulders a couple of times. When Nicole shot me a fiery glare, I lifted my hand and waved, shooting her a wide smile. It fell from my mouth the second I turned to go back inside.
