I couldn’t decide if I was more surprised that Lexi swore or that she found me awesome. On second thought, it had been pretty freaking amazing. I wanted to do it again, and I was starting to think that there was something to this ass kicking stuff.
“Really, it was nothing.” I brought my throbbing hand to my chest, cradling it. “God, I didn’t think that was going to hurt so much.”
Her hair was windblown and messy from the tussle, but she still looked phenomenal. “Chase is going to blow a gasket when he finds out what we did.”
Talk about a buzzkill. Thanks, Lexi. My heart squeezed in my chest. “Christ, don’t remind me.” It wouldn’t be the first or last time I made him angry.
She giggled. “I’ll never look at you the same.”
My eyes caught a glimpse of a red stain on Lexi’s white sleeve, and I thought it was odd. She was always pristine; she never spilled crud on herself, not like me. Then I remembered—the blade. “She cut you,” I proclaimed, feeling woozy.
Absently she touched her arm at the bright red spot. “It’s only a scratch. I’ll be fine.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Now you are starting to sound like Chase,” I mumbled.
“You did it!” she squealed. I found myself in a tight hug. Too tight.
“Lex,” I wheezed. “I. Can’t. Breathe.”
“Oh right. It’s so easy to forget with you.” She let out another shrilling screech. “I wish I could see Travis’s face.”
“So I take it I said the right stuff?”
Her grin said it all. “You killed it, sista.”
All right. Enough with the sister references. My mom was not marrying Devin. Not in this lifetime, but the more I tried to convince myself, the less I believed it. “What do we do now?” I asked, peeking at my watch. There were still twenty minutes of class left.
She looped an arm through mine. “Mani!”
I hoped she was joking.
Chapter 9
I did not get that manicure. No matter how much she pouted those perfect lips. No matter how much she begged. It would take an act of God to get me into a nail salon again. Just the word emery board made me shudder.
Instead, I hid out in Chase’s car with my earbuds in and waited for the final bell to buzz. Lexi had been all geeked up demon-adrenaline, so she went for a run, assumingly to get pampered in town after I’d rejected her a dozen times. My body was sluggish and exhausted. I’d never used that much compulsion before, and it drained me.
I closed my eyes and let the sun warm my skin. I must have dozed off, because the next think I knew, I heard a voice that sounded like satin.
“What are you doing?” Chase asked.
He must have tugged the headphones from my ears, because they were hanging around my neck. I had fallen asleep with Katy Perry roaring in my ear. Waking up to Chase’s silver eyes, and the sunlight at his back, I almost thought I was dreaming. Then I felt the tingles at my hip, and a swirling of concern, amusement, and wary. Not to mention the scent of pure sin that followed him everywhere.
I took a deep sniff, and my brain went fuzzy.
Rubbing my sleepy eyes, I tried to figure out what I was doing sleeping in the school parking lot. Details were wishy-washy; however, it didn’t take long for the suds to clear. Emma. Fight. Brainwashing. It all flashed to the forefront of my mind.
He flipped my hair over my shoulder, his fingers brushing along my neck. “What are you doing ditching classes? Why wasn’t I invited? And where the hell is Lexi?”
I stretched out like a lazy kitten after a catnap, and then tucked my legs underneath me. He would feel put out because we had skipped class without him. In its current state, my brain wasn’t able to process all the questions he tossed at me. So I answered the easiest one. “She went to get her nails done.”
“Her nails? Christ. What trouble did you two cause that I will now have to clean up?” he asked, jumping to conclusions—accurate ones at that. We might have caused a small hiccup in the order of the universe.
But whatever.
“Can you take me home first?” I wanted a few more minutes to collect my thoughts. “Then I’ll tell you everything.” I couldn’t believe how tired I was.
“Everything?” He must have seen the exhaustion on my face.
I peeked up at him from under my half-lidded eyes. “Of course.”
He started the low rumble of the engine. “Angel, why do I get the feeling that I’m not going to like where this is going?”
Probably because he could read my emotions and right now as tired as I was, I didn’t have it in me to put up any walls. I sighed. “Just promise me you aren’t going to whoop Lexi’s butt. It was, after all, my stupid idea.”
“Gee, how could I refuse a promise like that?”
“Say it.”
He held one hand in the air. “Scouts honor.”
I snorted. “You were probably a sucky Scout.”
The smirk on his face had the potential to stop hearts—most definitely mine.