by Nicole Fox
This isn’t the first time I’ve saved her.
6
Caleb
“Haley Cochran.”
She frowns, a line forming between her eyebrows, and then nods.
“Fuck.” I laugh humorlessly and tug a hand through my hair. “I guess I shouldn’t have interrupted.”
“What? No.” She crosses her arms and looks down at the ground, dark hair tumbling over her forehead. “Thank you.”
“You’re a year late. Next time you get yourself pinned up against a wall, find another fucker to save you, all right?”
“There wasn’t anyone else. One of the Hell Princes saw us before you got here and … he laughed.”
She sniffles like she’s about to cry, but I don’t care. “Yeah, it’s a real quality crowd you run with,” I snarl. “Bunch of upstanding fuckin’ citizens.”
“I don’t run with them anymore.”
“Whatever.” I lift my hand in a cross between a wave and a dismissal. “This feels like a ‘you made your bed, now it’s time to be groped in it’ kind of situation.”
She gasps. “Asshole.”
“Says the bitch,” I spit back before I can stop myself.
She doesn’t deserve any more of my energy than I’ve already spent.
Which admittedly isn’t much.
I wish the guy had put up a better fight. It would have made the whole ordeal more worth my time. Energy is still burning in my arms and fingers and I’m reasonably sure the redheaded card girl has taken off into the night.
So now, there isn’t even a willing girl waiting for me to pump this adrenaline into. I’m going to have to take care of that myself.
Fan-fucking-tastic.
“Enjoy the rest of your night. Nurse this pervert back to health if you want. That’s what you do with guys who fuck you up, right? If memory serves correctly.”
I don’t bother waiting for a reply.
Spinning around, I stomp back towards the front of the building where my truck is parked. A cool breeze cuts through the evening and sends goose bumps down my legs.
I’m halfway there when I hear hurried footsteps behind me.
“What is your problem?”
I grit my teeth. “At the moment, you.”
Haley comes around in front and plants herself in my path, arms crossed over her chest. “We’re neighbors now, you know? You aren’t being very neighborly.”
“Don’t fucking remind me.”
I’d almost forgotten about that. I’ve seen her once or twice since her family moved in next door to Finn’s old place. Just glimpses as she carried a box into the garage or when she pulled her blinds closed at dusk.
That alone was more than I wanted to see of Haley Cochran.
“Besides,” I add, “I don’t live there. I’m just housesitting.”
Even if it was my house, I wouldn’t be delivering cookies or signing up for Neighborhood Watch. I helped Haley once before. It cost me months to recover from that night.
She can watch out for herself from now on.
“Same difference. Doesn’t require you to be an asshole.”
I bark out a laugh. “That’s rich coming from you. I seem to remember a situation very much like this one, where I was incredibly nice. You know what it got me?”
“I’m sorry about that,” she mumbles.
I ignore her and move around her to keep walking to me car. I’m done with this ungrateful bitch.
With all this shit, actually.
No more chasing down screams in the night for me. Caleb Wilson is officially out of the superhero business.
“Now if you’ll excuse me,” I say, “I have a lovely young lady to entertain for the evening.”
We’ve reached the corner where I left Red.
Fuck. I was right. She’s gone.
“Thanks a fucking lot,” I scowl under my breath.
Haley quickly deduces why I’m frowning. Her eyes narrow, the blue turning electric, bright enough I almost don’t need a light.
“Oh, dear, Caleb Wilson won’t get to stick his cock in another card girl,” she sasses. “Pity. How ever will the world continue to spin?”
I clench my fist, but I’m not sure if it’s because I’m annoyed or because the way she said ‘cock’ makes mine twitch.
“You don’t know the first thing about where I stick my cock.”
She laughs bitterly. “The way I hear it, you stick your cock in half the girls who come to this shithole.” She waves her hand at the building behind us to indicate the underground fights.
She’s not wrong. But I’m getting pissed off anyways.
I saved her from that shitheel Hell Prince—the second time in a year I’ve bailed the irritating Miss Cochran out of a bad situation—and she’s rewarded me by scaring off tonight’s piece of ass and refusing to leave me alone.
More importantly, I want to tell her to stop saying ‘cock.’ It is becoming a distraction.
Because as much as I wish it was true, Haley isn’t bad-looking herself.
She’s wearing a black hoodie pulled over her head, but it’s cropped short so I can see a slice of tan belly just above her ripped, skintight jeans.
She’s got curves in all the right places. And the way she’s jutting her hip out to the side shows enough of her ass to stir my cock to serious attention.
But if I had one word to respond to the invitation her body is throwing me right now, it would be “no.”
If I had two words, they’d be “fuck no.”
I put my neck out for Haley Cochran once before.
She repaid me with fuck-all.
So I’m done. Done with her. Done with damsels in distress.
And most of all, done with this conversation.
“You’ve ruined my night already. Do we really need to continue ruining it further?”
She rolls her eyes. “You think you’re such hot shit. Go ahead, strut off into the night and go cruising for some other brainless bimbo to fuck.”
“I’d like to do exactly that, but last I checked, there was an irritating girl standing in my way.”
I move to take a step around her, but she cuts me off again.
Jesus fucking Christ. I’m about a millisecond away from picking this girl up and launching her into the stratosphere.
“What the hell do you want from me?” I snarl.
“You could act like a human being for literally one second. It wouldn’t kill you, you know.”
I lean in close. Really close. Close enough for her face to take up my whole field of vision. For her to smell my sweat, my testosterone, and to see how fully done I am with talking to her.
“But I’m not a human being, Haley Cochran. I’m a fucking animal. And if you don’t get out of my way right this second, I’ll show you exactly what that means.”
I don’t touch her, but there is a current moving between us. Half an inch separates our bodies. I can feel heat coming off her in waves. The air seems to tremble around her, radiating her every emotion.
I don’t know if it’s because I’m so goddamned horny or something else, but I want to close the gap. Show her my threat is real.
Tension. Silence. Like the whole world is waiting to see what she’ll say or do next.
Then, of all things… she laughs.
Like, doubles over and belly-laughs, until tears are streaming down her face. I stand still and watch her.
“Is that supposed to scare me?” she asks.
I clench my jaw. “I should’ve left you in that fucking alley,” I mutter. “Should’ve left you there to suffer whatever that fuckwit wanted to do to you. Gutter trash belongs with gutter trash. My mistake for getting involved in the first place. Won’t happen again.”
That does the trick. She stops laughing immediately, then turns to look at the unconscious lump on the sidewalk behind us. Her eyes go glassy.
“Even you aren’t that much of an asshole.”
I laugh scornfully. “Do you really believe that, dar
ling? For a pretty girl, you’re not that smart if you think I wouldn’t turn my back on some ugly fucking Hell Prince pawing a Public bitch like you. But he didn’t even leave a mark, did he?”
I reach out and grab her chin, turn her head side to side like I’m examining her.
“Nope,” I finish, “he did not. You should thank whoever saved you from that nasty ending, you know.”
She slaps my hand away from her face. Her chin wobbles, but she clenches her jaw to hide it. “Get away from me.”
“Make me.”
Her eyes snap to mine, and her pouty lips part. I can feel her breath whisper across my neck, and holy hell, I need to get laid.
I’m so caught up in the nearness of her body that I almost miss it when she brings her knee up sharply.
Almost.
I twist away from her just before her knee can connect with my currently throbbing member. When she doesn’t connect with her target, her momentum is thrown, and she starts to fall forward.
I grab her arm just before she can stumble, spin her around, and curl her back against my chest, arms pinned to her side.
“This is the bullshit I was talking about,” I growl in her ear. “I help you—yet again—and this is how you repay me?”
She struggles, her hips wiggling against my front, tormenting me. I hold her slightly away from my body so I can keep my head on my shoulders.
“Because you’re an asshole,” she hisses.
“I helped you,” I repeat.
“You helped me and then immediately became an asshole again! Doing one nice thing doesn’t make you a good person.”
“Interesting theory. Kind of like how moving across town doesn’t mean you aren’t still Public trash. And a Hell Prince whore on top of that.”
I toss her forward. She stumbles across the concrete before righting herself.
“I’d rather be broke than morally bankrupt, thank you very much.” Her eyes are narrowed and angry.
“Ooh.” I press a hand to my chest as though she has wounded me and then shrug. “Sticks and stones, dollface.”
Her blue eyes sharpen in anger. “You better get out of here before I find some.”
I roll my eyes and walk past her, ignoring the palpable heat rolling off her body. “Here’s a helpful tip: don’t pick a fight you can’t finish. Also, next time you find yourself a damsel in distress, call on a different white knight. I’m done with your shit.”
I open the door of my truck, throw my bag in, and clamber after it into the front seat.
Haley is still standing where I left her, right on the edge of where the overhead streetlight meets the shadow. Her face is half-dark, half-lit. Those blue eyes are staring daggers at me.
I meet her gaze coolly as I crank the engine to life. It roars in the quiet night.
“Wanna know a secret?” she yells over the sound of the motor.
“Probably not.”
“I’m coming to Ravenlake this semester. Get ready to see a lot of me.”
I freeze. Is she serious? She can’t be. No fucking way.
“You’re full of shit.”
She shakes her head and gives me a tight grin. “Serious as a heart attack.” Like this is all a fucking joke.
I don’t like that. I don’t like that at all.
I keep this shit—the underground fights, the cash prizes, my dealings with the Hell Princes—very, very separate from my life at Ravenlake Prep and my friends there, for very, very good reasons.
They’re two different worlds.
And now here comes Haley Cochran, ready to fuck it all up yet again.
I decide one thing right then and there.
If she wants to try barging into my world…
I’m going to turn it into her worst fucking nightmare.
7
Caleb
My house is dark when I get back.
I already texted J.C. and Noah and told them I was tired after my “jiujitsu tournament” and wouldn’t be hanging out.
They bought the lie, just like they always do. But they’re annoyed since we had plans to get drunk the last weekend before the school year starts up.
Whatever. After dealing with Haley, I don’t have the energy to deal with them tonight.
I pull into the driveway, kill the engine of my truck, and walk up the drive.
The house is the biggest on the street, though it’s still half the size of Finn’s place. Growing up, it was stuffed full of antique furniture my mom picked up at estate sales and appointment-only shops.
Now, though, the walls are noticeably bare.
Things were fine for a while after Dad left. Not so much anymore.
We’re selling everything we can to get by. Mom says it’s just “decluttering,” but we both know the truth. You don’t sell your cherished belongings when things are going great.
The fact is that we’re struggling. Both she and I know it.
It’s why I fight. It’s why I put my body on the line, week after week.
To bring home money for my mom. With Dad gone, she’s all I have left.
I kick off my shoes by the front door and pad into the house.
“Caleb?”
I don’t answer and instead cut through the dining room and into the kitchen. Mom is at the island with a stack of opened envelopes in front of her.
She gently pushes them aside when I walk in, as if I don’t know what they are. As if I haven’t been paying half of those bills for the last twelve months.
“How’d it go tonight?” she asks with a smile, though the expression doesn’t reach her eyes.
In answer, I pull the cash Felix handed me out of my pocket, split it in half, and push the bills across the table to her.
Her shoulders relax noticeably at the sight. Before I can pull my hand away, she lays hers over mine and squeezes.
“You’re a good boy, Caleb,” she says in a choked-up voice.
Haley’s words ring in my ear. Doing one nice thing doesn’t make you a good person.
I wince. Haley wasn’t wrong, but I keep that to myself. Mom doesn’t ask the details of where I get the money, and I don’t offer them. It’s an unspoken truce between us.
I wish I could count on my friends to do the same. But the Golden Boys still at Ravenlake Prep—J.C. and Noah—wouldn’t get it.
They think I’m still rich, like them.
They think my family is doing just fine. Ski vacations, second homes on the beach, that kind of shit.
The truth is we’re hurting. Hurting bad. I’m doing everything I can to keep our heads above water.
So if Haley Cochran poses even the merest threat of shoving me and my mom underneath, I’m going to do whatever it takes to eliminate that threat.
I’ll keep her silent no matter the price.
I pat the back of my mom’s hand. “Get some sleep, Mom. It’s late.”
Then I head up to my room. Eager to release the tension burning in my core.
If Haley is on my mind while I do that, it doesn’t mean anything.
It’s just more proof that the bitch doesn’t know when to leave me alone.
8
Haley
For one brief moment when I wake up the next day, the events of last night feel like a bad dream.
Then I look down at the bruise on my wrist where Levi grabbed me, and I remember how very real it all was.
Going to the fights was a stupid mistake. I was looking for Estefania. Hoping for… shit, I don’t know. For something. For us to run slow-motion into each other’s arms while a symphony played in the background, maybe.
Dumb. Sentimental. Never, ever gonna happen.
She’s forgotten about me. Time for me to forget about her.
I just wish that didn’t hurt my heart so badly.
I also wish that there I had something to look forward to today. But my first Monday at Ravenlake Academy looms in the distance like a prison sentence.
This is going to be very, very bad.
Heaving a sigh, I get out of bed and take a quick shower. I’m sweating practically the second I get out—thanks a lot, South Texas humidity—so I don’t even bother trying to straighten my hair since it’ll frizz up as soon as I’m done.
Instead, I braid it into fishtails quickly. I don’t give a shit about being cute. Matter of fact, I’d prefer to be invisible.
Even though I know that’s impossible.
I’m going to stand out to these snobby rich kids. They can smell the stench of Public on me. I’m prepared for the worst—whispered slurs, shit stuffed in my locker, eating lunch by myself every day for the rest of the semester.
None of that bothers me that much, though.
What bothers me is what happened last night.
When Levi grabbed me, I felt so powerless. Even that rat-faced bastard had me at his mercy. If it weren’t for Caleb, he would’ve done what he set out to do.
I shove that thought aside as a chill runs down my spine. Relying on Caleb Wilson to save me isn’t exactly a winning survival strategy.
Especially because he’s now the biggest threat I’m facing.
I saw the look on his eyes when I told him I would be at Ravenlake this semester. Pure hatred.
I know what I did to him was wrong. I deserve his hatred.
I just wish I could be the one saving myself for a change. I look at myself in the mirror. My shoulders are thin beneath the straps of my bra. Hardly any muscle in my arms, not a trace of an ab in my reflection.
I’ve always been rail-thin. More of a yogi than a brawler.
But when Caleb pinned me against his chest last night, I felt his muscle. His power. His raw strength. I’ve seen it in the ring a million times over, but it’s different to be up close and personal like that.
He can take care of himself.
I wish I could say the same for me.
Sighing, I go digging in my closet for the most anonymous outfit I can assemble. My plan is to avoid attention for as long as possible. That starts by dressing the part.
But nothing I pull out is quite what I’m looking for. Ten minutes later, I’ve tried on every outfit twice and I still have no idea what to wear.
