by K. Walker
“I just wanted an apple. You just happened to be standing right there,” he said and shook his head like he’d just given me the most rational of responses. “You really should try to be more careful.”
“Me? I should be more careful? You deliberately knocked the tray out of my hand.”
“Are you accusing me of something?” he asked as he came up in my face, his lips so close I could stick my tongue out and lick them. They were pink and dangerously close, and I lost my head.
This definitely wasn’t going how I pictured it in my head. I wanted to walk up to him, or them, give them a piece of my mind, and then I’d walk out. Nothing was coming outright, and they were still winning.
“Y-yes,” I stammered, my eyes still trained on his lips. Fuck if he wasn’t sexy. “I am. And now you’re giving people the impression that I’m fucking you. Or Noah.”
Tyson’s laugh behind me was deafening, and he made a few steps and knocked into me as he passed to join his boys. He grabbed his backpack and walked off. “Don’t flatter yourself, Quinn! We don’t take names we don’t use.”
“What, you’re too good for me, is that it?” I dared to ask a very stupid question as I watched his back.
He backtracked and replaced Liam in front of me, who actually gave him room to pass. “Get this in your head. This is our school. And that makes you ours, especially since, you owe me, for even driving in my car. So, listen up, trailer park, I’m going to want to collect soon.”
I gulped. What the hell did that mean, collect?
“Hey, what’s wrong with you fucking all of us, anyway?” Noah asked as he got up and came over to me. He had a smoldering look in his green eyes that cut right through me. His eyes left mine and traveled the length of my body before returning to them.
“Nothing, except it’s not true,” I said, less angry and more confused than before.
“Nothing? You heard that, Liam? She has no problem with fucking all of us,” he laughed and ruffled my hair. “I might have to take you up on that one of these days,” he said with a wink and walked off to join Tyson who was almost at the door.
“What?! No! I didn’t say that!” I cried desperately.
“It’s not the worst thing in the world,” Liam whispered in my ear and walked off, too.
I started off after them. “This isn’t funny. You’re making it seem like I want this…like it’s true.”
Liam stopped and I slammed right into his hard chest. My hands automatically shot out and pressed against his chest. He cupped my face firmly and stared deeply into my eyes. “Relax, sweetheart,” he said softly.
My heart pounded, but for a different reason. He was electrifying and for a second. I actually imagined him fucking me. And then I shook some sense into my head, but it seemed he had already seen what he wanted to.
He let go and walked away, and I was left alone in the gym, feeling like I’d just been fucked.
I was screwed!
My shoulders sagged as I finally left the gym in resign and reported late for class. Annette took World History with me, and I collapsed into the seat next to her.
“Where did you go? I was looking for you,” she whispered.
I sighed. “Nowhere. I just needed to take a walk,” I lied. How was I supposed to tell her that I was most unsuccessful in my ranting? That Tyson and his boys had one-upped me again?
“Okay,” she said and breathed a sigh of relief. I glanced over at her – what did she think I did?
“Wait, do you believe it?” I asked her, forgetting where I was until the teacher cleared his throat.
“Quinn, I know you’re new here, but this isn’t how we do things here,” he said sternly.
“Sorry,” I said and blushed before shuffling into an upright position in my chair. I wasn’t sure what he meant, anyway. How they did things was apparently by allowing the rich and famous to do whatever the hell they wanted, including picking on the new student.
“You have to excuse her, Mr. Gregory,” a blonde in the back said. “She doesn’t know any better.”
Her words were followed by snickers and whispers. “Okay, settle down,” Mr. Gregory said and turned, obviously powerless against the likes of another princess of Silicon Valley.
I glanced at Annette for clarification. “Cheer bomb,” she mouthed. I guessed she got the memo from Tonya, who got it from Tyson. She and her stupid comment were the least of my concern. I was more concerned about what I had gotten myself into with Tyson and his crew.
I started tapping my pen on the desk without noticing, and everything the teacher said went right over my head. I was thrown off in a major way.
My day carried on just like that, with me spaced out and the eyes and snarky comments following me. I was yet to understand how to fight something I still didn’t understand.
I paced my bedroom floor for much of that evening, waiting for a chance to catch Liv. Maybe she could give me a heads up on what was going on. I wrung my hands and kept pressing my ears against the door on the off chance I’d hear when she came home.
Luck was with me when I heard her in the hall, maybe on her phone, because she was talking. I cracked the door and pushed my head through the opening.
“Liv,” I said in a gravelly voice.
She stopped, inches away from her door, and turned. “Yes?” she asked as she moved the phone away from her ear.
“Do you have a minute?”
“Go,” she said and remained in the same position.
Was she actually checking? How was I supposed to ask her something so sensitive when her whole attitude suggested I was bothering her?
“You know what? Never mind,” I said and closed the door. I leaned against it and banged my head a couple of times against it. Life sucked!
“Quinn?”
My eyes flew open when I heard her on the other side of the door. “Yes?”
“What did you want?”
I sucked in a deep breath and opened the door again. I wasn’t even sure that it was a good idea. Tyson was her twin, after all.
She was still wearing the thin-framed glasses that she didn’t need, and her red lips were partly opened. Her hair fell down her back in crimpy waves, but that wasn’t the time to admire her appearance. I clearly had a small opening, and one I wasn’t likely to get often.
I leaned against the door jam and peered down the hallway. “What’s up with Tyson?”
She stared at me like I was an invalid. “That’s your question? What’s wrong with my brother?”
“I mean, he seems to have a thing for me, and I don’t know why. And now Liam and the other guys are…I don’t know. Have you heard anything about me at school today?”
“Should I have?” she asked and stared at me quizzically.
I narrowed my eyes. “You didn’t hear anything? About me and…them?”
“You and them?” she asked and chuckled a little. “What’s to hear? What happened?”
“Tonya told me…”
“Okay, stop right there!” she said authoritatively. “First of all, you don’t listen to anything that comes out of that bitch’s mouth. She’s been after my brother for the longest time, and she’ll say anything to get in. She knows you live here, so she’ll come at you.”
“Okay,” I replied. “Thanks for the tip.”
“As for my brother, I don’t know what to tell you. If you haven’t done anything, then just…I don’t know,” she said and flailed her arms, “keep on with your life, okay? Okay. Good talk,” she said, patted my arm in a condescending manner, and walked off. She was back on her phone by the time she reached her door, and I closed mine.
I knew that was supposed to be more of a conversation, but it was mostly her telling me what to do. But if she hadn’t heard anything, it meant Liam and Noah had just been playing me.
God, I walked right into that one!
I slapped my hand to my face and wandered over to my bed. But then I had the thought – Liv had been right. I really needed to ignore Tyson and carry on wi
th my life like I had never met him.
And with that in mind, I could use a swim. The stain of the day still clung to me, but it wasn’t anything a little chlorine and a couple of laps couldn’t fix. With renewed vigor, I walked over to my huge closet and retrieved my bikini. Usually, I’d have to be rummaging around in hampers when I lived at the trailer park.
The trailer park. It never bothered me before, but in a place like Silicon Valley, it made me stick out like a damn sore thumb and I hated it.
I changed quickly, slipped a tee over my head and grabbed my phone and earbuds. I could use a little relaxing, and besides, I hadn’t even tested the pool as of yet.
I was glad when I got there and no one was around.
Ah, the sweet feeling of solitude.
“Miss Quinn,” Lily said as she stepped through the door leading to the kitchen. “I thought I saw you.”
“Oh, hi, Lily,” I smiled at her. “I felt like a swim.”
“Oh, I wish I could. The water looks so good,” she said as I sat at the edge and dangled my feet in the water.
“Feels great, too.”
“Would you like some snacks, juice, anything? I can get something for you.” She shot me a smile.
“Hmm, I think I’ll take you up on that,” I told her. “Strawberry lemonade will do, or just regular lemonade if you don’t have strawberries.”
“Oh, we do. I’ll be right back,” she said and hurried off.
“Thank you!” I called after her and slipped into the pool.
The water was deliciously warm, and I waded to the deeper end before I started swimming. I was two laps in, loving the way the smoothness washed over me when Lily returned with the drinks and snacks.
“I’ll leave them here,” Lily said and set the drink down on the table under the beige and gold striped umbrella.
I wiped the water down my face. “Thanks. I’ll be out in a minute. I just need to go a few more laps.”
She smiled and waved me off before she disappeared inside again. I didn’t want to get out of the pool, and the idea that I should have brought in a floatie only just came across my mind. But it wasn’t too late for it.
I glanced back at the pool house and was about to wade over when the side door opened and Tyson came out.
Oh, great!
I watched as he walked over to the lounge chair, put his feet up, and started sipping my drink.
Goddammit!
Chapter 11
“What the hell, Tyson!” I yelled and slapped at the water. “You couldn’t have asked Lily to get you something?”
He took out his phone and snapped a picture of me, then he grinned and got up. He walked to the edge of the pool, stooped and continued to drink. “Enjoying your swim?”
I growled low and turned away from him. I wasn’t going to get caught up in his games. But I had also lost my appetite for swimming and eating.
“You know what? I’m done,” I said and climbed out of the pool. He watched as I walked past him, and I heard him turn around, his feet shuffling on the ground. I grabbed my tee and slipped into my slides as I headed inside the pool house.
Tyson was blocking the door when I turned around again. “What do you want, Tyson?” I asked, and heaved a sigh.
He walked ominously closer to me, his light-green eyes intense, and the electricity coming from him so powerful it made me…what the hell am I thinking? It’s Tyson!
He looked angrier the closer he got, and I tried to walk past him. He caught me around the middle and slammed my body against the concrete structure that was his. My heart raced as his arm snaked around my neck and I gripped it as he pressed down against me.
“Does the water feel different than it does in Miami? How do you even shower in a trailer?” He asked, sarcastically.
I growled and tried to get away. He only laughed, and I was acutely aware of his arm pressing against my breasts. I was still wet, and the traitorous nubs perked when his hand moved and grazed against them.
I wasn’t getting turned on by him, holding me like that. I wasn’t! I felt the way his muscles moved against my back, and then lower, something twitched. My eyes bulged as sensations rushed upwards and all over me.
Stop it! I yelled at my inner self. I couldn’t be attracted to him, as hot as he was, because he was a major douche and a constant pain since I had arrived. But my body had lost that memo as a slow and steady drumming started below.
“Why don’t you buy one and find out?” I finally managed to utter.
“I might. Give you a place that’s more familiar to you. That soft, canopied bed must feel so weird.”
“Fuck you!” I hissed and our eyes locked for several moments. I felt like I couldn’t breathe when I finally broke the silence. “Tyson, do you always have to be an asshole?” I asked and finally yanked myself free of him. His hand ran over my breast when it moved, and I remained for a second, with my back to him, so he wouldn’t see that he had an effect on me.
“I can let them all get off your back,” he offered as a smile cracked his lips.
I folded my arms and turned around. “Yeah? And what would that cost me?”
He looked me over. “I don’t know yet. I’ll think of something.”
“No, thank you,” I replied and grabbed a towel. “I’ll take my chances.”
“If you insist,” he said.
I couldn’t help the feeling that was a threat in some way. What was he thinking now, and what new trouble had I walked into? It seemed he wasn’t short on ways to torment me.
I wasn’t sure why he looked down, but when he did, my eyes followed his, and I realized he was looking at the tattoo on my arm – the one representing my mom. His jaws clenched, and his eyes squinted.
“What?” I asked, curious as to why my tat would make him angrier.
He didn’t say anything. He just walked off without another word.
Every single time I encountered Tyson, it got weirder and weirder. I sensed something when he saw the tattoo – it stated the date mom died. It triggered something in him – I saw the way he looked like a storm was brewing behind his gorgeous eyes. But I also knew there was no way I was going to get close enough to him to figure it out. If anything, I needed a way to stay as far away as I could.
I patted myself dry and tossed the towel into the hamper before heading back inside. I passed Liv in the common area, black, leather leggings, red leather corset top, and matching lips. She was going out. But where dressed like that?
She gave me a half-smile as she walked past me. I was two steps up the stairs when she took a couple of steps back. “Oh, Quinn, there’ll be a party at Mia’s on Friday. You’re invited. And don’t act all weird and shit when you get there.”
I arched my brows at what she considered to be an invitation, but I wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it. Instead, I nodded and turned back around as I climbed the stairs. I wasn’t sure what to think about that invitation, or whether or not I should actually go. It sounded like it would just be a repeat of my daily life at school.
It wasn’t even a week and I was experiencing the full spectrum of emotions and everything else that came along with an entire four years of high school – as if I didn’t have enough of those before I moved to California.
Before I got to my room, my phone started going off.
Kyla: Did you hear about the party at Mia’s on Friday? Please tell me you’re going.
Quinn: Why would I?
Kyla: Are you crazy? Why wouldn’t you go? Wait, did you get an invite? I didn’t, which would be weird if I just showed up.
Quinn: I thought that was what people did in high school – just show up to parties.
Kyla: Not here. And not at Mia’s. So, did you get an invite?
Quinn: Yeah, Liv just told me about it, but I wasn’t planning on going. It’s going to be too weird.
Kyla: You have to go!
I groaned as I got back to my room. I knew she wouldn’t stop bugging me about it for the rest of th
e week. I wasn’t sure why they even wanted to go to a party at someone’s house, which they didn’t even talk to in the first place.
The phone buzzed again and I reluctantly checked it.
Lila: You got an invite?
Quinn: Yes. So?
Lila: It’s a big deal. That’s why. Those parties are usually exclusive, and raunchy, and not your typical high school back yard thing.
Quinn: Okay.
Simone: Kyla just told me you got invited to Mia’s party on Friday.
Annette: Please tell me you’re going to go and take us as plus four.
I slapped my hand to my face and texted all four girls the same message.
Quinn: Fine! I’ll go. Sheesh!
Simone: Yay! Now what to wear…
Kyla: You’re the best.
I found it hard to believe that it was that hard to get noticed by the school celebs when they went out of their way to notice me. Still, maybe if Liv hadn’t invited me, I would be as much of a reject as the rest of the school population. Now, because I lived in their house, I had a party to go to that I wasn’t even interested in attending.
I didn’t want to see Tyson, or Liam, or Noah, or Jonathan and the girls that crawled over them. I didn’t want to be that girl who everyone thought was cool to mess with. And I wasn’t going to be anyone’s pet peeve, especially where the arms of the school law couldn’t touch them.
I might have been blasé about the party, but the next day at school, it was all any of the girls could talk about.
“Don’t tell me you’re not excited about it,” Kyla said with wide eyes.
“I’m not,” I told her and bit into the sandwich. “I’ve had a crappy first few days in this state, and town, and school. I just feel like this party is going to be another one of those things, too.”
“Psshh!” Lila said and waved me off. “We all had to deal with something. At least you just came. We’ve been here, no, we’ve been dealing with them, all of them, since middle school.”
“Yep,” Annette chimed in. “Count your blessings.”
“I fail to see the blessing in this situation. My mom died and I moved in with family who make me feel like an outsider.”
