Chapter 20
Hawk
I got to the black box early in the hopes of finding Annie alone or close to alone. Enough that I can at least flirt with her before the rest of the cast shows up. But she’s not in here, so I take a seat in the audience and pull out my phone.
I have a few contacts at Riordan’s school. I reached out to see what I can find out about the guy since we haven’t been around him in years. If he’s the one coming after Annie, we need to get ahead of him. There’s no way I’m letting her get trapped with him or Chase alone again.
With Riordan, what I don’t get is why now? Why is he suddenly interested in her again after two years? That day at the rink. He looked at her with interest, but it wasn’t obsession. At least I don’t think it was. I need to talk to Annie about it.
Chase walks into the room and looks at the table where Annie usually sits. He’s disappointed she isn’t here too. Maybe he does want her more than just as an alibi for all his wrong doing. Or maybe he’s just an asshole who doesn’t want his toy taken away.
He looks me over. I smile because Annie’s mine. If I thought she’d let me, I’d drag her to a closet and fuck her until she screams, so everyone knows. But that’s not the plan. No, Annie needs to find out why he wants her so much, and we’re going to show him exactly how he made her feel.
Chase nods at me. Apparently, eye contact and a smile was an invitation to come over and talk. He crosses the stage and sits down near me.
“You’re here early.” He glances at me like he wants to take the temperature of my involvement with Annie maybe. Either that or he wants to talk about Damon having access to his girl.
I’m all over his girl. If I could have found her, I would have given her a stress break because she looked at me for help at lunch and I couldn’t do a damn thing to help her.
Not without hurting her. We don’t know if our interest in Annie is why Riordan wants her.
If it will make him back off or want her more.
Fuck, this is complicated. Since Chase didn’t ask an actual question, I give him the non-answer.
“You and Damon are friends, right?”
I lean back in my chair and close my eyes. “Yeah.”
Where the fuck is he going with this line of questioning?
“I’m trying everything I can to get back with EvanAnn. Could you let him know to back off? She’s not the kind of girl he’s used to.” Chase’s voice is low and private.
I straighten and meet his eyes. “And what kind of girl is Annie?”
He swallows and glances toward the door. “Inexperienced. I was with her for months and didn’t get any. So if he’s hoping she’ll fuck him—”
I laugh and he cuts off. He doesn’t know how quickly we got her into our bed.
But he tries again, “EvanAnn is cute. She’s not as hot as most of the girls in our school, and she’s not fast.”
If he only knew.
“So you want me to tell Damon to, what?” I arch an eyebrow.
“She’s in his house. Just ignore her like he does at school. Give me a chance to figure out my shit with her.” Chase runs a hand through his hair and glances at the doors. “He’ll just hurt her.”
I scoff. “You’re fucking around on her.”
He looks at the ground. “I’m done with that. I was stupid. But she’s willing to forgive me.”
“Are you done fucking around on her?”
His gaze jerks to mine.
Smirking, I lean forward and give him a look. “You want to make sure Annie doesn’t have any options but you? Why?”
“She’s smart and talented.” He tugs at his tie. He’s fucking lying. “I like her. Okay? I messed up, but I’m sure she’ll give me a second chance.”
“You want me to go to Damon and tell him to ignore the hot little piece in his house?” I rub my chin like I’m thinking it over. Instead, I’m thinking about how she looks spread open and needing my cock buried inside her.
“She’s not a hot little—yeah.” Chase rubs the back of his neck. “I think I still have a chance.”
The doors open, and Annie and Keira walk in. Annie has a rule about not flirting or fucking around during rehearsal, but fuck, I want to go kiss her right now to make this asshole realize Damon isn’t the only competition he has.
Annie glances my way, and her cheeks flush pink. She seems on edge. I wish I could pull her into a closet and see what’s wrong. If it’s just stress, I could make her come to ease some of that tension. She glances away.
“I’m offering her a future.” Chase clears his throat. “Can Damon say the same? We all know he fucks girls and that’s it. That’s not what EvanAnn needs.”
“What do you know about what Annie needs?” I’m curious what he thinks she needs.
“Connections. She thinks she’ll get them in college, but she needs people like my parents who are already connected and want to push her to the next level.
My dad is already setting her up with a director who mentors students.
She needs someone who believes in her and her process and will do anything to support her. ”
“And that’s you?” I arch an eyebrow.
He smirks. “I have the money to grease the wheels, but also the connections she needs. I can make her dreams come true. All Damon is going to do is break her heart.”
“And what do you get?” I’m curious if he’ll finally come out with why he needs Annie.
Chase’s eyes narrow on me. “EvanAnn is enough.”
EvanAnn
The school is dark as Mark and Mia walk out with me. We just finished our rehearsal. They have amazing chemistry on the stage. They embody Desdemona and Othello. All the other bullshit doesn’t matter. This is what’s important.
And I’m floating a little because of how great rehearsal went.
“Evan.”
Damon. My heart stops.
I turn and see him striding toward us. Fuck. I pushed that whole bathroom incident to the side while I worked, but I really don’t want to explain why Damon is suddenly possessive of me to Mia or Mark.
“You guys go on. Damon will make sure I get to my car.” I smile. “Again, great job tonight.”
Mark nods. “See you tomorrow.”
Mia hangs back for a moment. “Are you good?”
“Sure. We’ll talk later.” I glance toward where Damon strides toward me.
Yes, I’m still keeping secrets from my new best friend.
I don’t know how I’m going to unravel all this, but it’s not like Damon asked me to be his girlfriend.
He blackmailed me into a physical relationship and then decided to announce it to the girl who wants him while she was trying to pay me off.
The girl who may be the reason I was a target in the first place.
But he didn’t actually ask, and I doubt being my boyfriend is what he really wants.
Seriously. How is this my life?
Besides, we can fix this. It’s not like everyone knows he called me his girlfriend and that a big part of me really liked that the guy I’m fucking wants to claim me in public and not keep me a secret, but...
But there’s something else we have to deal with. And yes, I may have a potential creep trying to scare me, but that doesn’t mean Damon has to make a big deal out of what we’re doing. Or that I need to like the idea of him holding my hand or bringing me to school. We’re not dating.
We’re fucking. That’s a huge distinction I think needs to be discussed.
“Don’t go anywhere alone.” Those are the first words he says to me when he finally reaches me.
I glance across the parking lot as Mia and Mark stop to talk next to her car. Mia glances back toward us and waves. I lift my hand to acknowledge I saw her.
Damon closes in on me, and I inhale his earthy scent. “You have someone potentially stalking you. You need one of us with you at all times.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” I turn and head toward the car. “I was walking out with other people.”
He falls into step next to me. “I’m not being ridiculous, little devil. I’m being realistic. Jackson Riordan and I played on the same team when we were kids. He’s obsessive about things.”
“Sounds familiar.” I arch my eyebrow.
“This is serious. He thinks he fucking owns you, Evan.”
“And as my current owner, does that piss you off?”
When I unlock the car doors, he closes in on me, pressing me against the side of the car.
“I’m trying to protect you.”
I meet his sharp blue eyes as his head drops toward mine. Biting my lip, I turn my head to the side and look toward where Mia and Mark were. I don’t see them.
Damon grabs my chin and turns me back to him as his lips crash down on mine. His hand sinks into my hair to hold me there. I give up and clutch the t-shirt he must have put on after practice.
Parting my lips for his tongue, I sink into the kiss, needing to feel him. I don’t know what any of this means. It doesn’t need to mean anything, but him offering it to me might be enough. It’s not like we can tell our parents we’re dating.
They’d definitely move me to another bedroom. And Damon wouldn’t have that.
He lifts his head. “Let me take care of you.”
I search his eyes in the parking lot lights. “We can find a way to do that without pretending to date.”
“No one’s pretending, little devil.” He leans down and kisses me softly.
My heart skips a beat. “Can we talk when I get home? I need to go over to Cam’s to tutor him. He’s expecting me.”
“I’ll follow you there. Text me when you’re getting ready to leave.”
“That’s not necessary—”
He tugs on my hair. “Let me take care of you.”
He kisses me like he can make me do it by fucking my mouth with his. Honestly, I’m okay with it.