His fingers tightened on the wheel. “We’ll never know,” he said in a voice packed with remorse and anger.
“You’re still sure it was him?” I probably should have zipped my lips, but the questions kept tumbling from my mouth uncontrollably. My thoughts were going off in multiple directions, and I hoped he didn’t think I was being insensitive.
The vein in his neck popped. “My blood boils with assurance. It was him, and he wants me to know.”
“What are we supposed to do?” I demanded, bordering on screaming. It was impossible to not feed off his emotions, which were now red with anger. “Just wait for the next person to die?” The more I mulled over Sierra’s death, the more I was positive that I had to do something. Quickly.
The dilemma was, just what was I going to do? My sick fighting skills were not enough. Who was I kidding? My combat was sick alright, but not in a good way.
His body went rigid as he threw the car in park. We had arrived at school. “Right now, keeping you safe is my priority. I don’t know what his end game is here, but he wants you and he is willing to play nasty to get you.” His silver eyes filled with inner conflict.
“It is always “I, I, I” with you. What about we? You aren’t alone in this. There are people who care and would be willing to help if you just let them.”
“And put them in danger?” he retaliated, raising his voice.
Fudgesicles. This was not what I had in mind to start the morning.
In his small car, it didn’t take much for our voices to start booming at each other. I hadn’t meant for it to get so out of hand or so heated, but maybe we both needed an outlet to blow off steam. “You are such a douchebag.”
His eyes hardened like granite. “That’s hardly a newsflash, Angel Eyes.”
I sunk in the seat, stewing in silence before I decided to go ahead and poke his eyes out. At least my tongue had finally stopped flapping.
“We’re going to be late,” he snapped.
I crossed my arms. “I don’t care.”
“Suit yourself.” Then the car door slammed in my ear.
Damn him. He was the only person in the world who could make me fly from worried to steaming mad.
By the time I shuffled into chem class, we both had some time to cool off, but that didn’t mean he still didn’t have a chip the size of Pluto on his shoulder. He was as stubborn as they come. I slipped into my seat with him at my heels. Pretending to organize my desk, I felt him part my hair to one side and lean forward in his desk.
“Truce,” he whispered in my ear.
It was impossible to not shiver as his breath fanned my neck. Well, when he put it like that... I angled my head toward him. “Just don’t make a habit of being a douche.”
He treated me to a small curl of his lips. “You drive a hard bargain.”
Class promptly began. We were doing a study on how crystals formed while making rock candy. Exciting. All I really wanted to do was eat the stuff. Chase was the suckiest lab partner ever, and if today hadn’t been his first day back, I would have done a lot more than kick him under the table. “Look alive, Sparky. We got eyes on us,” I said, indicating our balding professor at the front of the class.
Chase twirled a piece of purple candy on the spotted tabletop. “Sorry. This just seems so ridiculous. Plus, you are way better at this chemistry stuff than me.” He popped a piece of candy into his mouth, giving me a weak smirk.
“Hey,” I protested, my blue eyes narrowing. “We needed that. I guess we can kiss our A goodbye.”
“It tastes like glass,” he declared, spinning on the stool.
I rolled my eyes. “That is not the point. I need to pass this class to graduate.”
He reclined in his chair with his hands behind his head. “Don’t stress. I’ll compel you an A.”
I took a quick peak around the room just to make sure no one heard him. “You will not,” I hissed.
Brandy and Kailyn were at the table next to us, and while I was chewing Chase’s ear for being careless, the two of them snuck up behind me. “A-n-gel,” Brandy said, drawing out my name. “Are you coming with us this Saturday?”
Chase raised his eyes.
I was afraid to know what they had planned for Saturday and was tempted to decline right off the bat.
Kailyn leaned a hip against the counter, giving Chase a pointed look with her deep brown eyes behind her oversized safety goggles. “Sorry, boyfriend. No boys.”
Brandy twirled one of her curls around her finger, smacking her gum as she talked. “Girls’ night,” she sung.
Ookay.
I doubted our ideas of girls’ nights were remotely the same. They would be better off roping Lexi into tagging along with them. And that gave me an idea. “What does this girls’ night consist of?”
I thought the two of them were going to burst out of their skins and start jumping up and down. They were erupting with uncontained glee. “We got tickets to see Luke Bryan.” Their announcement was followed by tiny squeals and stupid grins that lit up their faces.
I scrunched my face. “Who?”
That obviously wasn’t the proper response.