by Henry, Max
With me.
“Hey, bitch!”
Nothing good ever lasts as long as she’s around. Fuck’s sake. Seems we didn’t need to wait long for Lacey to require my help.
“Don’t you walk away from me!”
Every muscle in Lacey tenses beneath my arm. I take her lead and stop, nudging Major out of the way to turn and see what the fuck Amber wants.
She strides up the pathway, students scattering in her wake, wild white hair flying behind her. “Who the fuck said you could come back here?”
Clearly, Johnson hasn’t heard the news. Otherwise, she’d know too. Gives me a boost of confidence in my boys, Ed and Beau.
“Who the fuck said it’s any of your business?” I holler back.
Major takes a startled step backward, head rising. Even he doesn’t like her being around.
Lacey sets a shaky hand on my chest, silently urging me to cool off as she slips from my hold. Standing fearless, she waits for Amber to arrive, opting not to say anything further.
I’ve never seen silence used so poignantly.
“Fucked up your chances with the city dicks, so you thought you’d come out here and try to win over our school, huh?” Amber barrels straight into Lacey, shunting her with a firm palm to the shoulder.
I step forward to intervene, yet Johnson holds a hand high from where he trails after his bitch. “Let the girls sort it out between themselves, Tuck.”
“Sort what out?” I hastily hitch Major to the two-rail fence and start toward my once best friend. “It’s only your dog of a sister who has any issues around here.”
“What the fuck did you call me?” Amber spins, still very much keeping an eye on Lacey also.
“You really want to do this?” Johnson asks, his chest pushed out.
I shift toe-to-toe with him, a good four inches taller than the fucking prick. “Maybe I do.”
“Tuck,” Lacey calls. “This isn’t about him.”
Johnson lifts an eyebrow before taking a step back. He shifts his attention to Amber. Maybe I’m mistaken, but there’s no pride in the way he watches her. Johnson doesn’t root for her; he just roots her.
It’s a fucking messed-up loyalty that I guess comes along for the ride when you start something with a girl under your own roof.
“I’ll ask again,” Amber starts. “Why are you here?”
A crowd forms on the relatively safe side of the fence.
“Because I have as much right to be as you do,” Lacey answers, firm in her belief.
Good girl.
“You have no rights around here,” Amber leers. She snaps her fingers, and to my surprise, Dee moves from where she’d stayed hidden away behind Ed and Beau. “We grew up here. We were born here. You.” Amber drags her gaze the length of Lacey. “You are about as rural as fucking Starbucks.”
Lacey sighs, her chest rising and falling slowly. “I never said I was country to the core, Amber. I merely said I have a right to go to the school where I live.”
“You fucking live here?” Amber’s eyebrow peaks as Dee arrives beside her. “I thought we got rid of you back to Riverbourne.” She whips her head around, searching the crowd. “Where’s your arsehole brother?”
“Not here.” I catch the hitch to Lacey’s tone, as does Amber.
“On your own out here, huh?” She turns away, pacing. “Interesting.”
“That’s enough for one day, huh?” I step toward Amber, body-blocking Lacey. “Let it lie.”
“You want me to back down?” Amber snorts. “Seriously?”
Johnson shifts on his spot, hands laced behind his neck, arms thrown wide.
I look toward Beau and Ed to find them keeping the gathering crowd at bay with their virtual line. Here we are again, starting the same old shit over, only this time there’s no Colt.
Just Lacey: the girl who had nothing to do with why this bullshit even started in the first place.
“Your issue isn’t with her, Amber,” I state, gesturing to Lacey behind me. “There’s no point to what you’re doing here.”
“Oh, there’s a point.” She tips her chin up. “Ain’t that right, princess?”
To my frustration, Lacey appears in my periphery. “What are you doing?” I growl under my breath, attempting to usher her back.
She pushes my arm away and steps forward. “Let me deal with this.”
Fuck. I told her dad there’d be no more of this. I made a promise to keep his daughter safe and yet here we are on the first fucking day.
“Amber, I don’t have any grief with you,” Lacey starts, giving me hope that she might resolve this the right way after all. “But don’t underestimate me.” I see a side of Lacey emerge that gives me the goddamn shits. “If you keep pushing, you might find that I shove back. And when I decide to play dirty?” Lacey laughs, bitter and cold. “I get real filthy.”
“You think I’m scared of you?” Amber smirks, searching the crowd for a reaction. “A spoilt fucking Barbie from the city?”
“Lace,” I hiss under my breath. “Walk away.”
A couple of the kids raise phones to record the show. I take three long strides and reach the first fucker, tearing the device out of his hand.
It bounces off the cobblestones.
“Anyone else want to keep recording?” The few phones I can see, disappear. “Good.”
“Well done, Tuck,” Amber jeers, clapping. “Well done. Bully the bullies. That’ll fix things.”
“The only bully here is you,” Lacey growls between gritted teeth.
“And whatcha gonna do about it, huh?” Amber hollers, arms wide. “Come on. Tell me, bitch. What have I got to look forward to?”
“This isn’t the place for this,” Johnson mumbles, reaching for his stepsister.
She jerks his hold off, collecting him in the jaw with her elbow in the process. The girl is incensed, hell-bent on provoking Lacey into doing something stupid. I notice a fire in Johnson’s eyes, the way his fists tighten; he’s on a thin tether himself.
“Do you know anything about me?” Lacey asks, advancing on Amber. “Have you heard anything at all other than what the gossipers told you about my brother?”
“Dee,” I call across the gathering. “Do something about your friend, would you?”
She shrugs, making out she’s got no say in it, and eyes Lacey with nothing short of hatred.
“Should I have?” Amber folds her arms, chin high as she stands staunch.
Lacey stops close enough that I swear their noses touch. “If I wanted you to hurt, it would have happened by now.” Her eyes narrow. “Don’t test me.”
“Come on.” I wrap my arms around Lacey from behind. “Show’s over.”
“That’s it,” Amber prods. “Get your boyfriend to take care of it as usual. Run off and play, kiddies.”
“Amber,” Johnson warns. “Enough.”
“Fuck you,” Lacey spits, shocking the ever-loving hell out me.
“Stay the hell here,” I growl, setting Lacey squarely next to Major.
Done with standing by while this continues to escalate, I march toward Amber. “What’s the endgame, huh? What’s the point to this little freakshow you have going on?”
Her teeth run across her bottom lip, eyelids heavy. “Bet that’s what you need to relieve the tension, huh? A dirty little freak show in your bedroom?”
“You’re disgusting.” I shove her hands away from me.
“That’s what he used to say.” She thumbs toward Johnson, who visibly bristles at being undermined like that.
“Answer the damn question,” Lacey presses. “What’s the point to this?”
Amber shrugs, then tossing an arm around Dee’s shoulders. “Reminding you that I don’t want you here.”
“I knew that,” Lacey grits between her teeth. “But considering you had to make such a spectacle out of it, I have to wonder.” She pauses, stepping closer to the two girls. “Are you feeling lonely and left out, Amber? As though you’re no longer relevant?�
��
“What the fuck do you mean?”
“I mean seeking out attention. That’s what you’re doing, right?” Lacey lifts her brow.
Fuck my life. Can these girls just cool it off?
“Rich, coming from a slut who has to dress like a whore to get anyone’s attention.”
“Takes one to know one.”
Amber surges forward and takes hold of Lacey’s hair. She whips my girl’s head down, forcing Lacey to double over on her side to save her scalp.
Finally, Johnson decides to fucking get on the right side. He dives forward at the same time as I do, the two girls tumbling to the ground while Amber lays into Lacey, my girl doing her damnedest to defend herself.
The phones are back out. Unsurprisingly.
I get one arm under Amber’s, wrenching the bitch backward until Lacey cries out in pain. The hold Johnson’s wench has on my girl is solid; she takes Lacey’s damn locks with her.
“Let go,” Johnsons urges, a forearm pressed against Amber’s throat to force her back.
“No!” She claws with her free hand, catching Lacey on the side of the face. “I fucking hate this bitch.”
“Get the fuck off me!” Lacey hollers back, pushing her palms into Amber’s stomach.
“Amber!” Dee shouts, stepping toward the ruckus. “Save it for later.”
“The Dean’s coming!” an onlooker hollers before the spectators disperse in five seconds flat.
Amber growls—actually growls—like a fucking animal, and finally releases Lacey. She stumbles back, kept steady by Johnson, waving a finger my girl’s way. “You better watch your goddamn back.” A manic laugh spills from her lips. “You might be safe on school grounds, but you won’t always have people there to watch out for you.”
“She calls this safe?” Lacey murmurs, tentatively feeling the side of her head. “Ugh.”
Major paces on the spot, agitated by the unrest. I lift a hand to calm him, torn between sorting my fucking horse out before he injures himself on the fence, and shaking the shit out of Lacey for provoking that.
“I’ve got him,” Beau offers, moving toward Major.
“Thanks, mate.”
“Mr Brallant,” Dean Michaels sighs. “Why am I not surprised to see you in the centre of this?”
I look around, one arm looped against Lacey’s waist, and find Johnson and Amber gone.
“Lay off.” My retort earns me an eyebrow that threatens to pop off her forehead. “Can’t you see she’s hurt?”
“I’m fine.” Lacey waves the Dean away. “Really. I want to get to class.”
Dean Michaels sighs. “I’d love to let you carry on, Lacey, but after an incident that causes harm to a student, protocol states we can’t do that.”
She sighs against my side. “Even if I don’t want to make anything out of it?”
The Dean’s eyes soften. “Even then.” She holds out a hand for Lace. “Come with me, and we can discuss what happened here.” Her heated gaze lands on me, flicking toward where Beau calms Major. “Mr Brallant. Sort your animal and get to first period. I’ll see you in my office at lunch.”
Fuck it. If I get another suspension … well, it won’t be a suspension. I’ll be even farther away from Lacey.
“Go.” Lace urges. “I’m fine.” She steps beside Dean Michaels.
I heave a sigh, running both hands around my neck. I don’t like this one bit.
Not one fucking bit.
COLT
A shadow falls over my spot at the courtyard table again, yet this time it’s accompanied by a most welcome aroma. “Greer.”
She slides on to the bench seat beside me, tipping her chin toward my phone. “What you doing?”
I close the notes app and lock the device. “Planning.”
“Anything exciting?” Her eyes light up at the prospect. Of what, I’m not sure. But I get the impression it’s something rather illicit.
“What’s your stance on the current hierarchy?” I ask, turning slightly to face her better.
Her warm gaze roves over the injuries on my face before she sighs. “Are you sure you want to cause more trouble straight away? Perhaps you should let your wounds recover before you go chancing some more.”
I shrug one shoulder. “May as well get it over in one hit.”
She rolls her eyes, facing forward. “My current stance.” Her hands knit on the table before her. “That the structure is bullshit considering what it achieves, but if somebody has to run it, then I’d rather know they had morals.”
“And that somebody would be?” I prompt, liking where she’s headed.
Her gaze meets my own, yet this time the warmth has sparked into a dull fire. “They would, of course, look for a boy and a girl to head the student body.”
“We have less than a semester left of school, Greer. Do you see any point to that being us?”
“You have less than a semester,” she points out. “I have a little over a year.”
“Still not very long.”
“Long enough if it sets up a sustainable structure for the years to come.”
Fuck, she’s sexy when she’s devious. “Tell me your darkest desires, my queen.”
A rose glow tints her cheeks; her eyes averted as she lets out a proper little huff. “You flatter me, Colt.”
“I need a single ally, Greer. Someone I can trust. The more I think about it, the less I can see anyone but you in that space.”
She hesitates, watching her hand as she reaches out to brush the back of my hand. “Only an ally?”
My goddamn cock jumps in my pants. I should have gritted my teeth and fucked Libby to maintain a clear head. I can’t think straight when starved for release.
Or maybe I can’t think straight when Greer’s near?
Perhaps it’s both.
“Take it as it comes, Greer.” I’m not wholly convinced of her longevity, yet.
I’d prefer not to get too involved if she doesn’t work out to be the best option. As it stands, she hasn’t done much to prove her forte.
Her hand retreats, and yet her body speaks volumes. I close out the curious eyes around us and focus on the gentle rise and fall of her golden-skin as she breathes. Her breasts keep an even pace, quickening when she notices what I do.
“What have you jotted down so far?” She gestures toward my blackened phone.
I wake the screen, navigating through to the app, and show her my bullet points. “I made a list of the things that I know about them. The benefits I can screw them for.”
“Huh.” She frowns a little while she studies my short sentences.
I reach out a brush her hair aside so I can see her face better.
Greer points to my fourth point. “That’s not quite accurate.”
I wave my hand toward the phone, inviting her to amend the fact. Her manicured thumbs fly over the keypad.
My singular one traces the line of her exposed collarbone.
Like the goddamn professional she is, her focus remains squarely on the details she corrects, despite her skin erupting into satisfying goosebumps.
“You don’t have much on Arthur,” she points out.
“He never was one to talk.” I continue exploring the tasty-looking tendon on the side of her neck.
“May I make my own list tonight and air-drop it to you tomorrow?” She sets the phone down, carefully locking the screen.
“Of course.”
A laboured breath stutters from her lips. “You should stop that, you know.”
“Why?” I test the size of her throat, gently sliding my thumb to her jugular and fingers to the nape. Perfect.
“Because you’re making my body do things my head can’t make sense of just yet.”
Jesus. One stolen moment in private and I wouldn’t be able to contain myself. “Makes perfect sense to me.”
The heat in her gaze is no longer that of a woman incensed with revenge. It’s ire, pure and simple. “You’re Lacey’s brother, Colt. I can’t cross that
line.” The words hiss from her mouth and, whether she realises it or not, she leans in a little closer.
I expel a carefully placed breath so that it hits her wet lips, cooling the plump flesh.
She shudders beneath my stalled touch.
“Make your list.” Hell, make yourself come too. “Whatever you think you need.”
“Tomorrow,” Greer states, rising to her feet. “I’ll meet you here.”
“Always where I am,” I quip as she walks away, that delectable skirt taunting me with its proximity to her round arse.
Fuck me. If I have a hope in hell of making these arseholes suffer for what they did to my baby sister, I need to get this hunger in check.
The girls at Riverbourne are out of bounds, as are those at Arcadia.
Guess it’s time for a long-overdue trip back to see what’s new at Portside Girls.
LACEY
The meeting with Dean Michaels didn’t stand a chance of lasting more than ten minutes when I made it abundantly clear I wasn’t about to tattle-tale and get myself in the shit deeper than I already am.
She let me go with a stern reminder that dealing with bullies using silence was an affront to their future victims, and should I find myself in an incident like that again I’ll be reprimanded the same as they are. What she doesn’t understand, is that as long as I keep Amber occupied, there won’t be any future victims.
I opted to miss first period, considering there were barely fifteen minutes left by the time I made my way back across campus. Instead, I made my home at the back of the lunch hall, tucked between a beautiful blooming camellia and a patch of springing daffodils. The window ledges on these old buildings make for great seats, and the warmth of the sun is likely to be the best part of the day.
May as well make the most of what I can while I have the peace to do so.
I retrieve my phone, thumb caressing the sides of the slim device while I decide if messaging Greer is a safe thing to do when Libby is due back soon, or perhaps I’m best to keep conversations about Riverbourne’s queen bee to verbal exchanges only.
If anything, I learnt a hard and fast lesson about the instant permanence of modern technology and our most foolish of moments.
Nothing stays a secret for long thanks to the magic of 5G and a stable WIFI connection.
