Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
RORY
“Baby? Are you okay?” Caden asked with a frown, snapping me out of my thoughts and making me glance over at him. He was sitting at his desk beside mine, Jensen sitting on my other side.
“Yeah, sorry. I’m still tired,” I lied, sitting up straighter.
I had no idea what we were supposed to be doing for class, I’d zoned out pretty early.
Jensen leaned forward and tapped the book in front of me. “Page fifty-three.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled, grabbing the book and flipping it to the page he said.
I tried to catch back up, and Jensen helped me when I got stuck on some of the questions.
We’d never studied history at all at Hawthorne Heights High, so this advanced history bullshit was way over my head.
I was aware of Caden glancing at me throughout the rest of the lesson, but he kept his mouth shut so I could concentrate.
The day dragged, and by the time PE rolled around in the afternoon, I was ready to go home. I didn’t want to participate, but the teacher didn’t particularly give a shit when they allocated me a team in basketball and told me to get over there.
The other students gave me dirty looks, none of them wanting me on their team, and I flipped Claire off as she glared at me from the opposing team. She’d been shooting daggers at me all damn day, but so far, she hadn’t said anything.
That was until she caught the ball mid game and snapped one of her fancy fake nails, making me snicker.
“Got something to say, Aurora?” she hissed, clutching her hand like she’d broken her damn wrist.
“Why put those things on if you can’t do stuff with them?” I asked dryly, catching the ball as she picked it up and shoved it at me. “It’s not my fucking fault.”
“Aurora,” the teacher sighed, giving me a pointed look about my language before turning to Claire. “You’re not bleeding. Play on.”
“What? I snapped a nail, miss!” she screeched, the woman frowning with confusion.
“Yes, but it wasn’t your finger. Keep playing.”
The game continued, and I dribbled the ball up the court, a little surprised when I passed it to one of the other girls on my team and she passed it back near the hoop, and just as I got ready to throw it, I was hip checked and landed hard on the ground.
The whistle blew and the teacher jogged over, peering down at me. “Are you—”
I got to my feet and launched myself at Claire, who was standing beside me with a smirk on her face, a scream leaving her as I shoved her back with force.
She hit the ground and cried out as her hand scraped on the ground, the whistle blowing close to my ear and making me wince.
“Both of you, enough. You can spend the rest of class doing suicides.”
Claire looked horrified, and satisfaction rolled through me when I moved to do as I was told while the teacher scolded Claire to hurry up. If doing this meant Claire got flustered, it was totally worth it.
She went to snap at me when she finally joined me, but the teacher wasn’t having it. “No talking!”
Even better.
I was dead on my feet by the time we were told to stop, sweat dripping off me and causing my hair to stick to my face. Claire looked just as bad, and she scuttled off to shower before anyone else could witness it.
I took my time heading in there, hoping I wasn’t going to run into her, and I wasn’t surprised to find my uniform on the floor with shampoo and water poured all over them.
It was a decoy anyway. I kept a spare uniform in Caden’s locker these days since no one would dare touch his things.
“Oh no, someone’s maid accidentally washed my clothes,” I deadpanned as I bent down to pick them up and wrung them out, hearing a sound of outrage leaving Claire from one of the stalls.
It was the end of the day anyway, so I gathered my things and went to leave, deciding to just shower at home. Being covered in sweat in public wasn’t really an issue for me, thanks to fighting in front of a crowd.
Some of the other girls walked in, and I was so focused on them that I didn’t hear Claire sneak up behind me and shove me, making me stumble.
I turned to punch her, but someone grabbed my hair and jerked me back hard, slamming my front against the wall. A trickle of fear hit me as a body pressed against my back, one that was definitely too big to be one of the girls.
“You think you can touch my girl, Donovan?” someone murmured in my ear, their grip on me tightening as I tried to push back. I could see part of a football jersey, telling me one of the jocks was now dicking Claire since Caden and his friends cut her off.
“Your flavor of the week started it. Get off me, asshole,” I hissed, forcing down the panic. I couldn’t freak out and give them the satisfaction, but he was way too close, and I was boxed in.
His breath brushed across my damp neck, and I fought a gag, trying to pull free again.
“You think you’re all that because of Holloway and his boys, but you’re nothing but Heights trash,” he bit out, fisting my hair and pushing my cheek hard against the wall.
“Can’t Claire fight her own battles? She needs a man to take down another girl for her?” I scoffed, freezing as his cock hardened against my ass.
“Why would I want my princess fighting a bitch like you?”
He released me, giving me a false sense of relief before shoving me to the ground and kicking me hard in the ribs. I winced, hunching slightly to stop a potential second kick, and I looked up to find Gunther, the academy’s star quarterback.
I’d met him once, but he usually ignored me, so I had no idea what had brought this on all of a sudden.
“Watch yourself,” he warned, not looking away from me as he took Claire’s bag before tucking her under his arm, finally leaving with her as she swooned over him.
Other students whispered to each other and giggled as I got to my feet to grab my things, and I had to fight the urge to start swinging at all of them.
I wasn’t dumb. If they all fought back, I had no chance.
My ribs burned as I walked through the school, heading straight to the parking lot and climbing into the Corvette.
I made it home in record time, stripping off my gym clothes and showering, then I dumped my dirty laundry in the hamper and headed downstairs. I managed to ice my ribs for ten minutes before I heard Caden’s Challenger outside, slipping the ice pack back into the freezer to avoid the confrontation.
Conversation sounded as the door opened, Tyler laughing at something as they entered.
“You bailed early,” Tyler said as he jumped over the back of the couch to sit beside me, and I didn’t miss how big his pupils were.
“I had PE, so I figured I'd come home to shower since it was the end of the day. Did you get high at school?” I asked, making him grin as he leaned closer to kiss my neck, his fingers toying with mine.
“A little. You should’ve told me you were leaving early, I would’ve come with you,” he replied, his thumb stroking the back of my hand.
Caden sat on the other couch, eyeing his best friend as he spoke to me. “Apparently, you had trouble in PE.”
“Nothing I couldn’t handle. Claire got petty, and it ended with us doing suicides for the rest of class.
She looked like a drowned rat, it was totally worth it,” I chuckled, trying really hard not to wince as Tyler pressed against my side more, his hand trailing higher until his fingers sat around my throat as he kept kissing my neck.
As much as a good fuck right now would’ve been nice, I couldn’t. Another day or two would hopefully mean my pussy wasn’t so tender, but then I had to worry about the possibility of my ribs bruising.
With the way they were hurting, they were going to be purple tomorrow.
“Ty, we can’t fuck,” I huffed, making him groan.
“Why not? Period things? I don’t care about that, I’ll put a towel down.”
“That’s gross.”
“It helps with cramps!”
“We’re not fucking,” I repeated, making him pout, but he pulled back to give me space.
“You’ll schedule me in when you can?”
“Sure,” I said with a wry smile, curling into him and trying to get comfortable. “Where’s Luke and Jense?”
“Jensen’s place. His dad decided to make an appearance,” Caden scoffed, crossing his arms and leaning back. “Only took him a few months to remember he has a kid.”
“Is Jense okay?”
“Yeah, he’s used to it. Pretty sure Clive is just avoiding the office for a day or two. He fucks half the staff then acts surprised when it doesn’t end well,” he said dryly, glancing at his phone to text.
Tyler’s fingers ran up and down my arm, occasionally moving to my hair to play with it while his other hand stayed in mine. He seemed jittery, which wasn’t exactly abnormal for him, but getting high at school was strange.
When Caden left the room to call Josie, I peered up at Tyler. “Something on your mind?”
“Only your pussy.”
“Be serious. Talk to me,” I said softly, lifting our joined hands so I could kiss his knuckles.
“My dad texted me today,” he sighed, pulling his phone out to show me.
Sperm donor: Happy Birthday.
Tyler hadn’t replied, and I frowned. “It’s your birthday?”
That made him snort, and he shoved his phone back into his pocket. “No, it’s not. My birthday was six months ago. Seventeenth of April. He also wished me a happy birthday in February, but not on my actual birthday.”
“They don’t matter, Ty. Your real friends and family would’ve been there, right?” I asked carefully, a small smile tugging at his mouth.
“Yeah. Josie took us all out for dinner and got me a cake. It was nice. Then we threw a massive party and got drunk at my place.”
Josie really was the best.
“Next time come and find me instead of getting high by yourself. We can get high together and fuck for the rest of the day,” I offered, giving him a quick kiss.
“You’d definitely make me forget about all my problems,” he chuckled, reaching out to pull my face closer for another kiss.
His fingers ran through my hair as he teased my lips with his tongue, a sound of relief leaving him when I opened for him. He wasn’t in a hurry, it was like he just needed my touch to ground himself.