Broken and Screwed 2 (BS #2)

“She’s in my group for class.” His eyes chilled. I expected frost to start growing on them. “I don’t know what you’ve got over Cord, but it’s not cool. I’m going to find out.”


Okay. The slight enjoyment I’d been having fell away. Anger replaced it. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” He raked a disdainful eye up and down me. “You’re not hard on the eyes. I’ll give you that one, but I know you’re not banging Tatum. So I figure you’re blackmailing him.”

“You think the only reason he likes me is if I were blackmailing or sleeping with him?”

He wasn’t far off, but it wasn’t Cord that was sharing my bed.

“You’re not giving it up to him. You’re a damn prude if I ever saw one.” A cocky smirk came over him. “You can’t stand the sight of me, I know that too. Most girls love me. Hell, most girls put the moves on me within five minutes of meeting me.”

Hannah groaned, “Oh my god.”

He kept going, his gaze harsh as he stared me down. “Your social skills suck too. Only people I can tell that like you are Cord and this chick, plus her freak cousin too.”

“That’s enough!”

Ignoring the outrage beside us, my eyes narrowed to slits and I took a step closer. His eyes widened, just a fraction, before the same cocky arrogance slid back in place. Oh yes. He was cautious of me now. He saw the anger in my eyes and he’d taken notice of it. It wasn’t the anger he’d dealt with in Hannah or his girlfriend, or any other girl.

They were normal. I was not.

I had banked this rage for so long, since coming to Grant West, but it was there. It was why my friends had left. They’d been afraid. Jamie wasn’t, but he had fallen silent. He knew he’d stepped into something that maybe he wasn’t sure he should’ve.

As I continued to stare at him, only him, Hannah was behind me now, I let the rage grow. I let him see what was inside of me.

It had gone beyond the bristling stage. It was full-on raging in me now.

I was loving it. It made me feel alive.

It made me feel powerful.

Then Jamie backed away. “Whatever. You’re a freak.”

An evil grin came over me. He was right. A part of me was freakish. It was the part that’d been given birth when my parents dumped me. I’d been scared of it, but now I was starting to embrace it. No words had left my lips, but an unspoken knowledge was there. I would do anything to get back at him. He only had to give me a reason. I would enjoy it. No, I would thrive on it. Jesse and everyone else be damned. In that moment, as I was feeling my rage, no one could stop me.

Jamie saw it all. He backed down from it.

Wise choice, my friend.

“Jamie!” Hannah smacked him in the chest. “Stop talking to my friend like that. I mean it.”

He scoffed at her, shaking his head, as he backed away from us. He didn’t turn his back so he treaded in reverse until he hit the door. Reaching behind, he fumbled for the handle and pushed the door open as he slipped through it.

“I’m so sorry. He shouldn’t talk to you like that. He’s such an ass**le.”

I shook my head and pushed it down. The rage was still simmering, but I had it under control, enough to look at my friend. She wouldn’t know.

She gave me a shaky grin. “I’m really sorry.”

She didn’t. I shrugged. “It’s okay. I’ve grown used to his attitude. We are working on a project together.”

“Still,” she sighed. “He shouldn’t be able to talk like that to you. I’ll say something. I’ll make him stop.”

“It’s okay.” When she tried to continue arguing, I stopped her. “I mean it. I’ll handle him.” I already had, though she’d been unaware of it. Jamie wouldn’t be a problem for me anymore. He would be fearful from now on, but I highly doubted that I’d have to deal with the same type of callous treatment again.

“Hey, guys.” Beth joined the conversation. She glanced over her shoulder. “I almost got bowled over by Jamie. Why’s your sister’s boyfriend shaking like a leaf out there? He looked ready to piss his pants.”

“What?” Hannah was taken aback. “What are you talking about? He was just in here, being an ass**le to Alex.”

“Oh.” Beth swept speculative eyes over me. “Maybe I got it wrong.”

She hadn’t and I knew she knew she hadn’t.

Hannah muttered more derogatory names at her sister’s boyfriend as she led the way inside the cafeteria. After placing our bags on a table, we separated for the different buffet lines, but I felt Beth’s knowing gaze on my back the whole time. When my tray was full, I headed back to our table. She was already there, waiting for me.

She placed her glass on the table and leaned over it. “What’d you do to Jamie Striker?”

“Nothing.”

We both knew I was lying.

“What’d you do? I didn’t get it wrong, but I don’t know how Hannah is clueless. You did something. I know you did.”

“No, I didn’t.”