Chapter 4
Briggs
Preston, Kellen, Tucker, Carter, and I walk the halls of Wicked Falls like we own the place. I guess in many ways we do. Not only is Tucker’s father the headmaster of this school, but the five families literally fund this place. No one touches us here or anywhere else in this town.
“You got class with your arch nemesis today?” Carter asks from beside me, a twinkle in his eyes at the thought of my misery.
“Looking forward to it, actually,” I admit. “I can mess with her up close.”
“That’s the spirit.” Tucker slaps me on the shoulder like he is proud of me. I guess I am taking a page out of his playbook. He has been tormenting his little blonde since last year, and he seems to enjoy it very much.
“How is your girl? What’s her face?”
“I wouldn’t call Maya my girl, more like a stray cat I like to torment for fun,” Tucker explains.
“Spoken like a true psychopath,” I point out, only getting a shrug of Tucker’s shoulders in response.
“I never denied my mental health state,” he adds. “Psychopath has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”
“Sure, if you say so.” I shake my head.
“You guys are wasting your time on these girls. You can’t even fuck them, so what’s the point?” Preston asks from behind us.
“The point is, you can have fun without your dick getting wet, but I realize that’s hard for you to comprehend.
” I chuckle. Although getting my dick wet is high on my priority list, Preston takes that to a whole new level.
I’m pretty sure he’s fucked his way through most of the school already, including some of the female staff.
“Maybe you are not doing it right.” Preston shakes his head. “Because in my mind, fucking is all that matters.”
“We know,” Tucker, Carter, and I say at the same time.
As always, Kellen doesn’t say much. He listens to us talk and joke while giving us the occasional nod or chuckle. Most of the time, he is off in his own world thinking about who knows what.
“Nothing to say today, little guy?” I turn my head to ask Kellen. We started calling him little guy as a joke. He is really built like a brick house, with his 6’5” frame, broad shoulders and swollen chest, he towers over all of us.
He just shakes his head and keeps walking. Okaaay. He is certainly in a mood today.
“I’ll see you guys this afternoon,” I announce before heading to my next class.
I’ve been waiting all week to get Wren again, and this class seems to be the only time I can. It almost feels like she is hiding from me any other time. I’m tempted to go and get her schedule from the administrative office so I can stalk her more proficiently.
Part of me hates that I am thinking about her at all, but the bigger part of me enjoys her pain so much that I can’t stop. She’s awakened something dark inside of me. Something I can’t let go of now, even if I tried.
By the time I walk into class, Wren is already sitting down with people sitting on either side of her. I walk up to the guy sitting next to her. “You’re in my seat,” I announce. The guy doesn’t even question me. He simply gathers his things and moves to a different seat.
Glancing at Wren, I find her glaring at me apprehensively, as if she knows I’m up to something. She shifts in her seat nervously, and I enjoy her discomfort, no matter how small. If this has her squirming, she won’t like what I have planned for her next.
“Did you come to your senses and decide you’ll do the project for both of us?” I ask.
“Have you come to your senses and realized you’re a jerk?” She snaps back at me.
“Wrong answer,” I whisper under my breath while lifting my hand and placing it on her thigh.
Excitement fills my veins as my fingers wrap around her warm leg.
The scent of her strawberry shampoo invades my senses.
Who the fuck uses strawberry shampoo in college? Isn’t that an elementary school thing?
“What the hell are you doing?” She hisses and tries to pull her leg away, but I already have a tight grip on it.
I feel her thigh quiver beneath my touch and the beast inside of me roars to life.
I squeeze her leg, and she grabs my hand with both of her much smaller ones, trying her best to pry my fingers away from her jeans-covered skin.
“Let go of me!” Wren whisper yells, getting the attention of some of the students around us.
“Mind your own business,” I order, and everyone immediately looks away.
“You are hurting me,” she complains with venom in her voice, her sharp nails digging into my hand.
I lean into her and whisper into the shell of her ear, “Oh, little bird, I haven’t even started hurting you yet.” I squeeze a little harder, wondering if I will leave some bruises on her creamy legs.
Her nails break my skin, a drop of blood running down my palm as I squeeze her thigh even tighter, making her whimper in response, her beautiful face scrunched up in pain at my tight grip.
“Tell me you’ll do the project,” I grit through my teeth.
“Fuck you,” she grits back through hers.
I tighten my grip once more, knowing that I will leave a bruise at this point. She winces in pain, scratching the top of my hand like a furious little kitten.
“Say you’ll do the project, and I’ll let you go,” I offer.
A few moments of silence pass. “Fine, I’ll do the stupid project,” she finally whines, and I let go of her thigh immediately.
She pulls her whole body away from me, scooting over to the other side of her chair, and tries to put as much space as she can between us.
I, of course, can’t allow her such freedom.
Grabbing the bottom of the chair, I scoot it all the way back next to mine, making a loud scratchy noise in the process.
The professor shoots me a displeased look, but when he realizes who made the sound, his expression changes, and he chooses to ignore the interruption. Smart man.
Leaning in once again, I say in a hushed voice, “I didn’t say you can have your personal space. I think you need a reminder of who is in charge here.”
“You need a reminder of who isn’t.”
Anger flares inside of me at her defiance. Anger and excitement.
“Listen up, little bird. No one cares about you, matter of fact, everyone hates you and if you haven’t gotten it through your head yet, I’m in charge here.
I own this school and the people inside, including you.
I’ve decided as long as you walk these halls, I’ll make your life hell and there is nothing you can do about it. ”
“I’m not scared of you!” she says, a little too loudly, getting the unwanted attention of the professor.
“Miss Delaney, I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t interrupt my class,” he spits.
Wren’s mouth pops open in shock before closing again without a word. She looks like a fish out of water and all I can do is grin at her.
Her hands ball into tiny fists on her lap before she leans into me and whispers this time, “I’m not scared of you.”
Keeping my voice low and gravelly, I answer. “Oh, but you should be. You should be very afraid.”
She swallows, her delicate throat moving, and I can’t help but wonder what it would feel like having my hand wrapped around it, squeezing her until I control her every breath, until her life is in my hand.
That’s what I think about for the rest of the class. My hands on her, playing with her like she is a shiny new toy, scratching her, biting her, marking her smooth skin to remind her who owns her.
“That’s it for today,” the professor drags me out of my delicious daydream with his announcement. As soon as we are dismissed, Wren jumps up and tries to scoot past me. I block her.
“Can you please just let me through?” she asks, annoyed.
“Your words are nice, but your tone is not very genuine.”
She throws her backpack on, spins around and walks toward the back of the class, where she ends up climbing over two seats to get to the exit.
I watch her every move, laughing when she almost falls over her own feet.
If I didn’t have to get Tia from the bus, I would follow her to her next class just for fun. But my sister comes first.
I can play with my new toy tomorrow.