CHAPTER ELEVEN

COLE

When I walk into class and sit down, Deke sits next to me. He leans over his desk. “What’s the plan?”

“With what?”

“Tomorrow night? How are we gonna play it?”

“Like we always do,” I say simply.

“We’re not gonna give her any special rules?”

I shake my head. “Nope. She’s gonna play just like the rest of us.”

He smiles. “This is gonna be so much fun.”

The door opens, and a few students walk in. The last one is a blonde by the name of Natalia. She spots me right away and plops down in the free seat to my left. Deke grunts when he sees her.

“Hey, Cole,” she says excitedly.

I don’t acknowledge her.

Deke speaks to me. “I have a feeling she is gonna surprise us.”

“Doubtful.”

He snorts. “You don’t give her enough credit.” He sits back in his seat. “I see the way she looks at you.”

“Oh, yeah? How’s that?” I can’t get the look of want she gave me out of my mind from my party or in her room. I should have taken her up on her offer. Next time she throws herself at me, I’m not gonna back down. She’ll have me. And she’ll realize what a mistake wanting me is.

“Like she wants to rip your heart out,” he answers.

I smile.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if your dare is that she wants you to jump off a cliff.” Deke chuckles to himself. “Or stab yourself in the eyes.”

“How was your winter break?” Natalia asks, not caring that she’s interrupting our conversation.

“Hey, Nat!” Deke calls out, leaning forward in his seat to look past me to her. “His break was great. He’s seeing someone so quit trying.”

“Dick,” she mumbles but sits back and doesn’t say anything else to me.

I look over at Deke, and he winks. “You’re welcome.”

I chuckle.

An hour later, Deke and I are walking out of class. I was planning to get Austin at her classroom, but she’s already standing in the hall, leaning up against a locker right outside the door. Her arms are crossed over her chest, and a look of rage flares in her green eyes. She looks like she wants me dead. And that thought makes my body heat rise.

“Guess she saw the video.” Deke laughs.

She throws him a fuck you look, and then her eyes are back on mine. “You had him record that on purpose,” she snaps.

“No.” Not a lie. “That implies I was aware you were going to throw yourself at me.” She gasps as I step into her, pressing my body into hers. Her eyes hold mine as she stares up at me, not pushing me away or backing down. “You have to admit the way you asked me to fuck you was sexy as fuck.”

She sucks in a long breath, her chest rising in the process. “I didn’t watch the whole thing.”

I lower my face to her neck, and my hands go to her narrow hips. I can’t keep my hands to myself anymore. “Well, then you need to watch it again.”

“No thanks. I saw enough.” She huffs, but her body physically melts into mine.

I kiss her neck, and her hands come up to my shirt, gripping it tightly like she wants to rip it off me. “You still want me to fuck you, Austin?”

“Don’t,” she warns me breathlessly.

My lips trail up to her ear, and I nibble on it. She whimpers. “Because I still wanna break you, sweetheart. Like …”

“Cole!”

I let out a growl as I hear Kellan call out my name. I pull away from a panting Austin and look over at him. He stands with Deke and Shane.

“What?” I snap.

His dark narrowed eyes go to Austin, then back to mine. “I need to talk to you.”

“Later,” I say and grab her hand, yanking her away from the locker and pulling her down the hallway toward second period.

“What you did was not okay, Cole,” she says as I shove her into a seat. I sit down next to her.

“Out of all the things I’ve done to you in the past week and that is the thing you are gonna harp on about?”

Her green eyes narrow. “This has to do with my reputation.”

I snort and look away from her.

“I’m serious.” She slams her delicate hand down on my desk. “You’re trying to make the school think I’m a whore.”

“Are you?”

Her eyes widen, and then she purses her lips. She sits back in her seat, folding her arms over her chest again. I lean over, whispering, “How many guys have you fucked, Austin?”

“Fuck you, Cole,” she replies flatly.

I go to open my mouth, but the teacher gets our attention, so I sit back and watch her anger simmer. Thinking how explosive she is going to be when I finally give her what she wants.

AUSTIN

Sitting in the cafeteria with the guys, I’m still pissed at Cole. Every guy in the freaking school seems to know my name. And that I want to spread my legs for him. I guess Deke has like tens of thousands of followers. Becky did say he was an attention whore.

Cole sits to my left and Deke to my right. They’ve got me sandwiched in as if I’m going to get up and run toward the nearest exit. I wanted to sit with Becky, but I haven’t seen her since first period, and I didn’t get her number.

Kellan sits across from me, chewing his food like it’s alive and about to walk off his plate at any given second. Bennett and Shane argue about which car is faster.

Cole slams his phone down onto the table, and I look over at him. “What’s wrong?”

I roll my eyes at myself the moment the words are out of my mouth. Like he’s gonna tell me. And like I really care. Not even sure why I asked. But he surprises me by answering. “Celeste isn’t responding to my texts.”

“Why are you messaging her?”

“Coach wants a meeting after school, and I need Celeste to go get Lilly since I’m having to stay late. I don’t want them to put her on a bus without warning.”

“I can do it.” All the guys fall silent. Kellan even stops chewing his food, and his brown eyes glare at me. “What?” I ask, looking at Cole.

He stares down at me. His blue eyes search mine as if he’s trying to decide if I would be a better option than putting her on a bus. “She likes me,” I say as if that will make a difference. I don’t have a lot of experience with children, but Lilly is six. She can tell me if something is wrong. She can tell me if she’s hungry. She can go to the bathroom by herself. All I gotta do is drive her home.

Finally, he nods.

“Cole—”

“I’ll call the office and let them know,” he interrupts Kellan.

“Can you do that?” I ask, just realizing what he said. “Isn’t that a parental thing? You’re not really her dad, are you?” I ask, and he tenses.

“Cole is …”

“Kellan!” he interrupts him again. Then he looks at me. “After lunch, I’ll give you my car keys. They’re in my locker.” Everyone resumes their previous conversation, making me think I’ve missed something.

Then a thought hits me. “Uh …” I trail off, and he looks back down at me.

“What?” he barks.

I ignore his anger and lower my voice. “What about your gun?” I don’t wanna get pulled over in his car and go to jail. Then again, maybe that is his plan.

“It’s not in there,” he answers.

I eye him skeptically. His eyes narrow on mine, angry that I don’t take his word for it. “It’s never in the car when Lilly is present.”

“Oh.”

He looks away from me, dismissing me once again.