Madoc had threatened to call the cops, so Ryland and his friend sped away—broken windshield and all—while I woke up my mother.
I hated waking her—hated stressing her—but I was still technically a minor on her health insurance, so I needed her at the hospital. Madoc went home to nurse his bloody nose, and it took ten stitches and my mother bitching at me for two hours before I was able to make it to bed, too. By the time I woke up three hours later, I was in more knots than before I slept.
Tate with a fucking gun.
What the hell was her game?
Grabbing my phone off its charger, I shook off the voice in my head that told me to slow down.
Need my help today? I texted K.C.
It only took her a second to respond. Help?
Liam, I shot back. Let’s make him jealous.
I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees, waiting for her answer.
I heard Tate’s Bronco start up next door, and I checked the clock to see that it was still early.
The lab.
I’d seen Tate coming out of the chemistry lab in the mornings and some afternoons. She was probably competing in the Science Fair in the spring and needed research done. It would look good on her college applications.
She was probably getting ready to apply to Columbia next year. New York was always where she always wanted to go.
K.C. didn’t text back, so I dropped the phone on the bed and went to the shower.
My arm was wrapped tight, but I still needed to get clean.
After my shower, I wrapped a towel around my waist and stopped short at the bathroom mirror, glimpsing my tattoos. I couldn’t help but smile, remembering how my mother had yelled at me the night before.
Fighting! she screamed. Getting arrested! And tattoos without my permission! she’d said as if that was the worst one of all.
I’d only laughed under my breath and laid my head back in the car, trying to sleep as she drove us home from the hospital.
I loved the tats, and I was going to get more. I wanted the scars on my back—the ones my father gave me—covered.
Walking back into my room, I dried my hair and noticed that I had another text.
What’s in it for u? K.C. asked.
Well, I couldn’t tell her the truth.
Fun.
I don’t know, she texted. Tate’s already mad at me.
Tate won’t know, I lied and threw the phone on the bed to go get dressed.
“Do you want to come over tonight?” I rested my forearm on the wall above K.C.’s head and leaned into her, almost touching.
Her breath caught as I trailed my fingers on the sliver of skin peeking out between her shorts and shirt. “What are we going to do?” she played along, looking absolutely turned-on and helpless.
Her idiot ex-boyfriend was in the cafeteria, and we were outside the double doors, hot in each other’s space.
Her back was against the wall, but he could see her, and he could definitely see me.
I just wished Tate could see this, too.
My lips hovered just a hair away from hers as I ran my hand around her back, about to dive in for the kill. “We could play Monopoly,” I suggested, pressing my body into hers. “Or the Wii.”
Her eyes got wide, and her lips tightened, trying to hold back a laugh. While we looked like we were about to get it on, our conversation didn’t deliver.
“I don’t know,” she moaned. “I’m not very good at Wii.”
“It’s not that hard.” My whisper fanned over her lips. “Watch.”
And I pulled her into me, kissing her long and slow.
Her slender frame molded into mine, and she tilted her head to the side as I trailed a line to her ear.
She was easy in my hands. Small, soft, bending when I pulled…she knew what to do.
K.C. definitely wasn’t innocent. I could feel that.
But she was an easy target right now, and I didn’t go for that.
And… I definitely felt like I’d lost my heartbeat somewhere in the middle of making out with her.
Jesus.
My lips and hands went through the motions. Kiss, kiss, bite, squeeze…and nothing fucking happened.
What the hell?
I knew I wasn’t interested in her, but damn! I should feel some kind of jolt. Some kind of reaction. She had tits, after all.
But no. Nothing. I was dead. I was doing my Literature homework. I was playing golf.
I hate golf.
And that’s when I pinched my eyebrows together, still kissing her and realizing that I hadn’t pursued any girls in a couple of weeks.
The second bell rang. K.C. jumped, and I leaned back, still held hostage by the fact that the only time I’d gotten a hard-on lately was around Tate.
Christ.
I backed off K.C. and tipped my chin at her. “Text if you want to come over later. Liam will hear about it.” And Tate will see you, I thought to myself. “You don’t want him thinking you were sitting at home alone all night, do you?”
I knew that would push her.
But before she had a chance to answer, I slapped her on the ass, knowing Liam would see.
K.C. just smiled, her eyes wide with shock before she turned and ran to class.
I let out a sigh, watching her disappear down the hall.
I wasn’t going to class. I had a meeting with the fucking counselor this morning. College-talk time.
No, actually that was last year. Now, since I hadn’t made any plans, it was the make-a-decision-or-make-your-own-bed-and-lay-in-it talk.
“Hey, man.” Madoc came through the cafeteria doors before I’d even moved. “Was that K.C. that ran off? You haven’t tapped that yet?” He fastened the cap on his Gatorade.
I turned, knowing he’d walk with me. “Who’s saying I haven’t?”
“Uh, because you’ve never been seen with a girl after you’ve fucked her. I doubt you even wait until the condom is off before forgetting their names.”
I halted in front of the staircase I needed to take. Was he serious? A judging tone, from him? “And you do?” I asked, shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans.
Madoc had probably scored more tail than I had.
“Yeah, yeah. I know.” He shrugged it off. “I’m just saying, you never had to work this hard to get a girl into bed.”
Madoc looked at me expectantly through his bruised eyelids.
“I’m in no hurry. I might want to play around with this one for a while.” I couldn’t tell Madoc the truth.