Chapter Forty-four

Just act normal. How the hell was I meant to live in cotton candy land when everyone around me was lying to me? I reached into my handbag and pulled out one of mom’s anti-anxiety medications.

I popped one in my mouth and swallowed it just in time as my locker door slammed shut, nearly causing me to choke on the small round pill.

“What the hell, Blake?!”

“Funny, I was gonna ask you the same question. Any reason you have been ignoring my calls?”

Yeah, because you’re a fucking liar.

“My phone was dead.”

“And you forgot how to use the charger?”

“Yeah, maybe I did.” I unlocked my locker again. Stupid Blake, stupid mom, and stupid Chase. My blood was slowly boiling the more I thought of it.

Keep calm, Allie.

Keep calm.

“You’re not your normal self today.” Blake narrowed his eyes at me, studying me like I was some sort of experiment.

“I’ve had a bad morning. Burnt myself with the hair straightener, then mom was fussing over me,” I played down the lie. “Now, can you get out of my face? I have a class to be at.”

And you to get away from.

 He stepped to the side and let me pass. His judgmental eyes stayed locked on me until I turned the corner and walked right into one of the last people I felt like talking to.

Ryder Harris.

The new Allie hadn’t met him, so the new Allie just put her head down. “Sorry.” I went to go around him, only to have him side step blocking my path.

“Allie, right? I’m Ryder.” He put out a hand.

It would be rude not to take it, and the new Allie would take it.

“Yeah,” I shook his hand, “How do you know me?”

“I’m Zane’s brother, the man doesn’t shut up about you.”

“Really? Because the Zane I know would rather swallow a glass of pins then speak to me.” I looked up into Ryder’s crystal blue eyes. He had let them do it too. He hadn’t stopped them. So much for a friend.

“My brother really knows how to make an impression.”

“A lasting impression. Now, if you don’t mind, I have a class to get to.” I pasted on a fake smile and went to walk around him, only again I was blocked.

This was getting old quickly.

“You know you shouldn’t give up on him. Sure, he has a hard exterior, but once you break it, well, it’s worth it.”

“I’ll pass. Zane is about as friendly as a tiger and I’m the meat. Anyway, why should I bother?”

Yeah, Ryder, why should I bother?! He had let them do this to me. My mate hadn’t stopped them. My mate hadn’t protected me.

My wolf was still only dull, but even by remembering this, she came to with a snarl.

“Excuse me.” I walked around him and headed for Chemistry. I needed to get out of here.

“I’ll see you around,” Ryder said over his shoulder as I successfully passed him this time. I gave him a half wave and picked up my pace. I knew this was going to be hard. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy facing all the people close to me that had just let me become nothing.

I could hardly bring myself to look at mom this morning.

How could I keep this act up when all of them lied?

I walked into Chemistry, and because my mind was elsewhere, I just took the first spare seat.

At least I was in the back as my lack of attention would go unnoticed by the teacher. Then his scent hit me. My body stiffened, my grip on my pencil tightened, and my eyes glared down.

Ebony and Taylor followed in after him, their scents didn’t cause my body to boil though.

While I was gritting my teeth, they came to the back of the room and took up three seats just down from me. Of course, they would want to sit in the back.

“Can’t believe you just ignored him.” Taylor dropped his books on the table. “The man took a risk, Ebony. You could have at least said something back.”

“Does a glare count as something back?” Ebony’s words were tight and clipped. “It wasn’t like I asked him to speak to me.”

“He’s your mate, at least he is trying.” Zane’s voice was like velvet to my ears and a knife to my heart. “Wouldn’t have killed you to have just said hi back. Doubt the man will ever bother again, as I know I wouldn’t.”

“I don’t want him, and the sooner he knows that, the better.” She threw a dirty look at Zane and caught my glance. “And what are you looking at?”

I could say something nasty back, or I could just ignore her or… “If you’re friends with someone, why would you ignore them?”

“Excuse me?” Her eyes narrowed at me, and I was well aware of Taylor and Zane’s eyes on me now.

“You said he was your mate. Mates don’t ignore one another. You know what you should do, you should just get whatever it is off your chest and tell him, and then you won’t feel the need to be a complete bitch to him because clearly there are reasons behind why you want to ignore him.”

Her mouth hung open for a moment before she snapped out of her shock and just glared at me. “No-one asked for your opinion.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Just being helpful.”

“You don’t even know what we are talking about, so why don’t you get your dead mutt eyes off me and onto the teacher.”

“EBONY!” Zane roared at her, slamming a closed fist down on the table. “Shut the fuck up.”

Looks like Zane was still touchy when it came to the mate subject around me. I don’t know why, it wasn’t like he cared enough to tell me or at least stop them.

Ebony turned back around, and her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment. Zane’s little outburst had scored us some extra pair of eyes, and not to mention put an awkward tension in the air.

Although the old Allie wouldn’t have felt it.

But I did.

I felt it right to my core. Zane still cared for me in some sick and twisted way, and maybe I could use that to my advantage.

“You know you rushed off in such a hurry you forgot that I was in this class.”

My eyes bounced off the desk and met Blake’s furious green eyes.

“Sorry.” I dragged my stuff to the side and spared up space next to me. “Like I said, it’s been a morning from hell.”

He threw himself into the chair and crossed his arms. It seems he was in a worse mood than when I left him.

Then my mind was struck with a wicked idea. I knew I was going to make trouble but fuck it, they deserved it, well, Zane deserved it.

“Although my morning picked up, I ran into this guy.” I drummed my fingers on the desk. “You might know him.”

Blake grunted.

“Ryder Harris?”

His head snapped my way. “What the fuck you doing near that fucker?”

I arched both eyebrows. “So, you do know him?”

“Yeah, and he’s bad fucking news, stay away from him.”

“He didn’t seem that bad. Kind of charming, cute, and he sort of smiled with all dimples,” I fake gushed.

“He’s bad news.”

“He actually looked like a whole lot of good news.”

I heard a pencil snap.

“I mean it, Allie, he’s no good. Why would you be interested in the bloke anyway?”

“Hello, in case you haven’t noticed, Blake, I’m a girl.”

“Doesn’t mean you want the first bloke that walks past.”

“Please, Blake, you know me better than that.” I drew circles on my notebook, pretending to be deep in thought. “There was just something about him that was different.”

Blake scoffed, “Typical.”

“What?”

“You can’t have one, so you are naturally drawn to the other.”

I knew exactly what he meant by that comment, and I wanted to slap him across the head for saying it, but then again sweet, doe-eyed Allie wouldn’t have a clue.

“What are you on about?”

“Nothing. Can you just focus on class or something else?”

“Why?”

“Cause Ryder is a dickhead and comes from a line of dickheads.”

“So what, he has brothers?”

“Can we stop talking about him?”

“Fine,” I huffed, throwing my pen down. “Not like I’m going to see him again anyway. Plus, if I did, it's not like a guy like him would go for a girl like me. He’s a purebred, and I’m a mixed-up mutt.”

“Referring to yourself as a dog?”

“You know what I mean.” I gave him a very sharp and pointed look.

I could almost feel the tension and anger build up behind me. Zane was pissed off, and I would know because he mightn’t be able to pick up my emotions, but I could pick up on his.

Being a mate that was freed had that ability so I might be invisible to him, but he was not invisible to me.

I would class plan A as successful.

Piss Zane off has been accomplished. A part of me was pleased, and I wanted to kill that small part of me that still cared, that he still had some screwed-up feelings for me.

“Hey, Allie.”

My eyes literally bulged, and my cheeks whitened. Suddenly I didn't feel that confident. I slowly turned to the side to look at Zane.

“Yes.”

“You good with this stuff?”

“What stuff?”

“History.”

“Well, it kind of wrote itself, so it’s hard to not know the facts.” I kept the bitch reigned in - just.

“Well, I suck at it. You wouldn’t be interested in teaching me some of the key points?”

Was he joking?

No, by the seriousness on his face and the look in his eyes he was serious. What had driven him to this? Was he seriously that jealous he would sit through lessons with me?

“Don’t know if that is such a great idea.” Blake leaned around me, his eyes zoned in on Zane. “Considering she hates your guts.”

One on one with Zane. I could get him back. I could plot and plot, and get the man back for betraying me.

“I never said that,” I piped up, grabbing Blake’s pointed hand and bringing it down to the table. “I wouldn’t do it for free.”

“I’ll pay.”

“Like fuck you will, have you lost your brains?” Ebony literally snarled at him.

“Keep your thoughts to yourself, Ebony.” Zane’s eyes didn’t leave mine. “So, we got a deal?”

If he still cared about me, I could torture him. Temptation was the devil’s favorite tool.

“Yeah, Zane. We have a deal.”

A deal that will seal your fate so I smiled at him because that boy had no idea what he was in for.