Chapter 21 Kaylor
KAYLOR
“Kreed! What the actual fuck!” I yelped, swallowing the scream. My fingers unfurled quickly and attached to his forearm to steady myself. I’d spun around so fast I nearly lost my balance. My heart launched itself against my rib cage, the adrenaline spike making my hands shake.
His brows were together as his hands on my waist stayed firm. “That immediate panic response should tell you something important, little raven. Namely that you’re somewhere you absolutely shouldn’t be.”
No wonder neither Nash nor Maddox had moved from their spot. I rolled my eyes, still trying to force my racing pulse back down to normal. “Jesus Christ, you can’t just materialize out of nowhere like some shadow demon. Normal people make noise when they walk.”
Poppy snorted with undisguised amusement and took one final, long drag from her cigarette, holding the smoke in her lungs for a beat before exhaling it.
The smoke hung in the air, illuminated by the weak light filtering through the stairwell.
“Looks like that’s my cue to make a graceful exit,” she announced, grinding the cigarette out against the bottom of her boot before flicking the crushed filter into the nearby coffee can someone had left.
“Two’s a party. Three’s a crowd.” Her lips curved as she stepped past Kreed until she saw Maddox and Nash rise from their positions on the steps.
“Great, now I’ve got two boneheads following me around,” she mumbled, shuffling toward school.
The duo disappeared with Poppy sandwiched safely between them, their footsteps gradually fading, leaving Kreed and me alone beneath the stairwell.
“How did you find me?”
“Maddox.” Kreed’s storm-gray gaze searched my face; the usual brim of broodiness that lived in his expression was replaced by genuine concern. “You’ve been acting weird all day. Are you sure you’re okay? We can ditch if—”
My finger pressed firmly against his lips before he could finish his sentence, cutting off the words.
His mouth was warm beneath my touch. “Don’t you dare suggest we skip class, Kreed Corvo.
It’s only been two days since we came back.
Two days. I need to graduate because there’s no way I’m repeating this school year. ”
That crooked, devastating grin of his glinted across his features, there and gone as fast as summer lightning. Before I could draw another breath or formulate my next argument, his fingers pressed into the curve of my waist, and he spun me with easy strength until my spine hit the brick building.
He cradled the back of my head, protecting me from getting hurt, not that the impact was hard, just firm enough to make my pulse stutter.
His body aligned perfectly with mine, eliminating any space between us, chest to chest, hip to hip, the heat of him seeping through our clothes.
Then his mouth descended on mine, hot and consuming and absolutely unrelenting, stealing my breath and any coherent thought I might have been trying to hold on to.
At the touch of his lips, I instantly liquefied, melting into him. My fingers ran up his shoulder, and the slant of his mouth made me wish we were in his bed. I missed waking up beside him, and I suddenly couldn’t remember why I wasn’t sleeping in his bed. It was plenty big and comfy as fuck.
Did I care if Donovan found me in his son’s room?
Heck no.
I’d had enough of sleepless nights.
“I’ve been wanting to do exactly that since first period,” he murmured roughly against my lips, not quite pulling away. His breath mixed with mine in the small space between our mouths.
“Leave your door open tonight,” I replied huskily. We weren’t technically alone; the stairwell wasn’t completely private, and anyone could potentially walk by and see us pressed together like this.
“Don’t tease me, little raven.”
“Trust me. I’m not. I don’t want to spend another night alone.”
“I can’t sit through a period of European history thinking about this.
” His breath ghosted over my flushed cheek, lips brushing with maddening softness against the sensitive shell of my ear.
“Thinking about you. The way you feel. The sounds you make. I can’t get you out of my head, little raven. You’re everywhere.”
A smile tugged at my lips. “I fail to see how that’s a problem.”
“Hmm.” He kissed me again. “The problem is I can’t concentrate on anything but kissing you.”
Tiny hairs prickled on the back of my neck, and my gaze flicked over Kreed’s shoulder, tension flooding my body for reasons that had nothing to do with our proximity. Someone was watching us. I was sure of it.
Kreed drew back far enough to search my face properly, gray eyes tracking over my features. “What’s wrong?”
I hesitated, caught in the awful space between logic and instinct. I could just be paranoid, and I didn’t want to sound foolish, but I learned my lesson the hard way about keeping secrets. “I can’t shake this feeling I’m being watched or followed.”
His entire body went rigid against mine. “Just today?”
I nodded. “It started this morning, and it’s been getting stronger all day.”
Kreed’s attention snagged on something behind me, his head turning as his eyes narrowed. He scanned the far end of the student parking lot, his gaze tracking across rows of cars to beyond the rusted chain-link fence separating school property from the public street.
“What is it?” I asked, pressure gathering in my chest at his sudden tension. My hand instinctively reached for his arm.
“Someone’s sitting in that truck,” he said quietly, but there was steel underneath the words. “Just watching. Not moving. I swear I’ve seen it before.”
I followed his gaze to the old beat-up pickup truck parked at a crooked angle beneath a half-dead maple tree, its skeletal branches providing minimal shade.
Rust bloomed across the wheel wells in brown patches, and the front bumper was held on with what looked like wire and stubbornness. I knew that car.
The driver got out and leaned against the dented hood with his arms crossed over his chest, posture casual but alert as if he was waiting for someone.
For me.
Jesse?
Why was he here?
If Jesse was here, did that mean Rusty was as well?
Had his father set him to collect me?
A dozen thoughts and questions raced through my head, and before I could tell Kreed who it was, he muttered a vicious curse under his breath and started striding across the parking lot with long, purposeful steps.
His hands curled into fists at his sides, and his mood shifted.
Someone was about to have a very bad afternoon.
“Kreed, wait.” I barely managed to keep up, my shorter legs forcing me into an awkward jog. “We don’t know why—”
Too late. He’d already closed the distance, his hand shooting out, fisting in Jesse’s T-shirt, and slamming him against the truck’s passenger door with enough force to make the entire vehicle rock on its suspension.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Kreed snarled, his face inches from Jesse’s.
“Start talking before I make you regret every decision that led to this moment.”
“Jesse?” I gasped once I’d caught up, my shoes skidding slightly on loose gravel as I came to an abrupt halt.
He winced visibly, whether from Kreed’s grip or from seeing me, I couldn’t tell, but he flashed me a familiar crooked smile anyway. “Hey there, Bubbles.”
Kreed’s already dark glare somehow managed to darken further. “Drop the nickname,” he ground out. “I don’t find it remotely cute or charming.”
Jesse’s cocky smirk faltered, uncertainty flickering across his features or what I could see of them. Most of his face was blocked by his hood or covered by his hair.
“Have you been following me around town?” I asked, stepping closer despite Kreed’s obvious desire to keep me at a safe distance.
“I had to make sure you were safe,” he replied. “After everything that happened, I couldn’t just—”
“Her safety isn’t your concern or your responsibility,” Kreed cut him off, the threat in those words unmistakable. “Not anymore. Not ever again.” He released his grip on Jesse and stepped back. “Take that to your father and to your crew.”
A sudden gust of wind tore through the parking lot, lifting dead leaves in small cyclones. It caught Jesse’s hood, blowing it off his head and exposing his face fully to the harsh afternoon sunlight.
That’s when I saw the injuries I’d somehow missed in my initial shock of recognition.
The split lip still healing, crusted over with dark scabs.
The bruising that spread across his left cheekbone in an ugly rainbow of colors.
Half-healed cuts that ran along his jawline like someone had dragged knuckles across his face repeatedly.
The sunlight was merciless, cutting across his features and exposing every ugly mark in vivid shades of purple, blue, yellow, and sickly green.
“Jesse—oh my god.” I moved automatically, stepping directly in front of Kreed and reaching up to grab Jesse’s chin before he could pull away or hide the damage.
I turned his face gently from side to side, cataloging the injuries with growing horror.
“What the hell happened to you? Did your father do this? Did Rusty—?”
Jesse’s gaze darted past me, focusing on something…someone behind my shoulder. His expression shifted, became guarded and knowing in a way that made my stomach drop.
Understanding crashed over me.
No.
I whirled on Kreed, my hands falling away from Jesse’s face. “You didn’t. Please tell me you didn’t do this to him.”
Kreed just shrugged, completely unapologetic. His expression remained flat, emotionless. “I needed information about Rusty. He had answers I required. He’s lucky we didn’t do significantly worse. Besides, he’s still walking upright and breathing on his own.”
I couldn’t believe it, and yet, I could. I knew what Kreed was capable of, knew the lengths he would go to save me. “Did you torture him? Kreed, did you actually?”