Chapter 2 #3
Gouging eyes out seems to be the only logical response when it comes to these two, which means I’ve clearly lost my fucking mind.
It makes me grumble into my breakfast even more.
My irritation only grows as Harley watches us both, watches how I react to Blaise, and I think I see a hint of jealousy in his eyes.
Scoffing, I roll my own at him. I’m no threat to their bromance; I doubt Blaise even remembered my name before Avery and I became friends.
Tension fills the air around us and when I realize it’s not coming from either of them, I glance over to see Joey Beaumont saunter into the dining hall flanked by his usual group of simpering flunkies. He meets my eyes and tips his head in challenge. Great.
“Look, it’s only a matter of time before Aves wears Ash down, then we’ll all be one big happy fucking family. So stop fighting it. We’re friends by association,” says Harley, ignoring his cousin practically throwing down the gauntlet at me across the room.
“Fuck off,” I mumble around my food because I can say it to Harley, having done so at least a hundred times before. I also do not care if I look like a savage. Fuck these boys and their heartbreakingly good looks. Fuck them.
Actually, I wouldn’t mind— nope . Not going there.
Blaise groans at us both. “God, are you going to be a grumpy ass like Harley all the time? There’s only so much of that shit I can take.”
I make the mistake of looking up, meeting his eyes as they goddamn twinkle at me, and I want to claw mine out rather than look at him.
Harley elbows him and they both laugh. They are so clearly the best of friends that I get hit with my usual pang of jealousy, a knee-jerk reaction, only to instantly remember that I have Avery now, and I smile to myself instead.
That girl and her fierce loyalty is worth a hundred guys… even gorgeous ones like them.
Harley sets down his fork and clears his throat, all but demanding my attention as he pins me with a look.
I try not to squirm. It is too damn early to be dealing with him at max intensity.
“Listen, I’m not Ash. Avery can’t throw pretty words around and fool me.
I know what scratches down a cheek fucking mean.
I need you to tell me exactly what happened between her and Rory.
I’ve spent the whole break fucking stewing over it, and I need an answer. ”
My spine tightens until I’m sitting straight and rigid.
Both boys have stopped eating and they’re staring at me like I’m the most fascinating thing in the damn room.
I’ve been working on my poker face, and I know Harley is pissed he can’t get a thing out of me.
“If Avery has chosen not to tell you herself, then you’ll never get it out of me. End of story.”
Harley’s eyes narrow but it’s not really a glare. He’s looking at me like he wants to crack my head open and sort through everything inside my brain.
“Good. I’m glad you’re a decent friend to her.
She’s never had one of those. But I’m not asking you for details; I only want to know if I need to kill Rory.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about beating him or starting some social campaign against him.
I’m asking you if I need to end his life and fucking bury him somewhere.
Because if that piece of shit raped my cousin, if he did that to her, I will end his life.
Nothing else, Mounty, just tell me if he has to die. ”
He’s serious.
I’m willing to put money on it, too. I’ve met enough killers in my life to know what it looks like when a man is going to follow through with his threat.
Clearly, there’s more of his father’s blood in his veins than he’d like to admit.
I think about saying that to him, riling him up more to get him to forget about Avery’s assault, but I don’t actually want him to hate me.
Fuck, I don’t want him to hate me at all.
When did all of this become so complicated?
I stare down at my breakfast for a minute while I think.
The tension in our little bubble at the table soars until the students around us start to notice and abandon their own food rather than end up as collateral.
The guys both ignore them all, though, their attention fixed firmly on me.
When I finally look up, Harley’s barely containing his anger, his shoulders trembling with the effort it’s taking to hold himself back.
I already knew he was willing to die for his cousins, he was going to let his grandfather kill him to keep him away from them, but now I also know he’s willing to kill for them.
That’s an entirely different beast.
I keep my tone flat despite my own rage at the topic. “Fine, no details. If I were ten seconds later than I was, you would be burying that dickhead. But I got there in time.”
After a pause, Harley lets out a slow breath and nods.
There’s no acceptance on his face, just grim determination, and it’s clear he’s only putting off murder for a later date.
I get it, and I can respect the hell out of him for it because Rory might not have raped Avery, but he damn sure tried.
It wasn’t decency or clarity that stopped him, only me, and that’s unacceptable.
Harley is definitely on the same page as I am. Rory cannot stay at this school with Avery. He’s a danger to her and to every other girl here.
“Color me impressed. Rory’s a linebacker, you’re what, five-two? How the hell did you stop him?” Blaise asks, his eyes moving over my tiny frame, leaving behind a trail of fire.
I snort at him and drop my cutlery onto my half-eaten plate. I can’t eat now that I’m thinking about this shit. My digestion has always been at the mercy of my brain. The moment I’m thinking too much, agitated, nervous, or any strong emotion, I can’t stomach a thing.
What a waste of good pancakes.
I level a savage look at him, my tone practically dripping with acid.
“I’m a Mounty. I’m a foster kid. I was a child of neglect before that.
The moment I walked through Hannaford’s gates, I became the target of a game that had every guy in the senior class following me around and bugging me for sex every day.
I had to threaten Harley’s psycho cousin with a knife to the dick.
You think I don’t have experience fighting off rapists?
Please. Go back to your privileged, gilded fucking tower and leave me the hell alone. ”
Blaise’s face drops. He looks like he’s going to question me, so I stand up and grab my bag instead, my heart thundering in my chest dangerously.
As I shove away from the table, Avery struts in like she owns the whole damn school, and when the students scatter away from her like she’s their executioner come calling, a smile tugs at my lips.
She grins back at me, her eyebrow raising at my enraged vibe, and then she shifts to level Harley and Blaise with a scathing look of her own.
Chuckling under my breath, I meet her in the line, and she tucks her arm into mine.
“Don’t tell me they’re still giving you grief?” She’s wearing a vibrant shade of red lipstick, and I’m jealous that I could never pull off such a polished look. I’ll always be rough around my edges.
“Nah. They want to be one big, happy family.”
Avery scoffs and takes a banana. I grab us both drinks, and we duck out of the dining hall, heading to our first class together that, unfortunately, we have with Harley.
I share nearly every class with the gorgeous asshole.
Avery’s eyes are mischievous as she cuts me a look. “Ash will be livid. He’s still gunning for you.”
It’s my turn to scoff. “Let him. I’m not scared.”
She throws her head back and laughs.
This semester is going to be a fucking blast.
A quick glance at the listing on the door of our math class confirms we’re still being seated alphabetically by surname, and I’ll be finishing my junior year sharing a desk with Harley, working with him on joint assignments, and drowning in his frustratingly divine scent.
Okay, that sounds creepy, but he really does smell incredible.
Avery is directly in front of us once again, but that’s something I’m actually happy about.
She’s paired with some guy I don’t recognize, and I’m pissed off about it.
I mean, the guy clearly has no clue that he’s on her shit list with the way he’s trying to crack jokes with her, but the glacial smile she gives him makes it obvious to me.
I almost feel sorry for him, but no one at this school ever spoke up on my behalf, so I brush it aside easily.
At least he can afford therapy when she’s done with him.
When her eyes narrow at a particularly gross, sexist comment he makes, a smirk stretches over my lips and I have to duck my head to hide it from the idiot.
I wonder how long it will take before Ash is challenging him in one of the guys’ fight club sessions at her orders, and I also wonder how much it would cost me to get front row seats to it.
Then I remember Ash loathes me and it’s pointless to even dream about. He’d pitch a fit so extreme that it just isn’t worth the trouble. A weight settles in my stomach and ruins my fun instantly.
Harley walks in seconds before the teacher and drapes himself over his chair. He doesn’t look at or acknowledge me, which only pisses me off more considering not even an hour ago he was declaring us friends over his plate of eggs. I should know by now not to trust a single word out of his mouth.
“Can we just agree from now on that we’re going to halve all of our joint assessments this semester so I can save myself some work?
” I whisper at him as the teacher starts to take attendance.
Harley smirks at me without looking up from his notes.
He’s always so prepared for his classes.
I mean, I am too, but it’s still a surprise to me.
He’s way too hot to be a nerd, but he sure acts like one during class.
“Nope. I’d rather keep you busy studying than running around the school getting jumped. Besides, you just said we’re not friends. I don’t help people that aren’t my friends,” he drawls. The teacher starts handing out worksheets and I roll my eyes at Harley. He still refuses to look at me.
“I’m not going to get beaten up. I’m pretty sure we sorted that out last year.”
Harley ignores me, his eyes never leaving his work, and we fall into silence again as the class gets into full swing.
I focus on the numbers and formulas, forgetting about everything else in a way that only studying can achieve.
I don’t want to admit to myself just how much I’m enjoying being back at school, but it’s fun to focus on something I’m good at.
Without getting my hands dirty, I mean.
When the class finally wraps up and I have the syllabus firmly tucked into my bag, Avery and I both follow Harley out and to our next class. Avery is still giving him icy looks, but he just grins at her, his charm doing nothing for her and everything to me.
“By the way, Mounty, I meant getting jumped for the sweep.”
My stomach hollows out. He can’t be serious? How could it still be going?
He smirks at the dumbfounded look on my face, and when I can’t form a sentence beyond a furious sound, he shrugs.
“It’s now well over the million-dollar mark, and there have already been…
ideas thrown around about how to get you into bed.
Or against any hard surface, really, they don’t care about the particulars. ”
Avery scoffs and links her arm with mine so I can stop her from falling while she focuses on her phone.
I’ve seen her do it with the guys a thousand times, and I smile at her effortless trust in me.
Harley watches her like he’s taking note of our interactions before he shrugs again and leads us to our next class. Biology.
Without his eyes on me, my voice manages to come out level and pissed the hell off, thank God. “As long as none of the ideas involve rape, then I really don’t want to hear about it. I’m not fucking a Hannaford boy.”
Tension forms in his shoulders, but he doesn’t turn back to us. Avery chuckles under her breath, and I glance over to see she’s watching him, her phone gone.
“Got your fill of Mounty guys over the break?” he snaps, and Avery’s chuckle turns into what can only be described as an evil cackle, not unlike the one she gave me this morning over my coffee meltdown. He’s not as gracious as I am about it though, cutting her a glare that she ignores entirely.
“What do you have against Mounty guys, Harls? That big guy the other night, Luca, was it? He was pretty hot. I’d fuck him,” Avery teases, and I groan at her.
The fastest route to pissing the guys off is the very thought of anyone touching their sweet Floss. It also occurs to me that I might be the only girl who doesn’t find Luca attractive… at least, not attractive enough. Maybe that’s a trauma thing, but I don’t want to look too hard into it right now.
Some things are best left alone.
I give her a careful side eye. “I wouldn’t ever let you near him. He’s… a good guy but he’s… very loyal to a bad guy.”
Harley sneers at me. “Like you are?”
I grit my teeth and ignore him. It takes serious fucking willpower, and he has no idea how much he owes me.
Avery isn’t so forgiving, or maybe our conversation about the Jackal is still fresh in her mind.
She kicks him in the shin hard enough that he winces, her polished school heels nicely pointed.
“She’s as loyal to him as you are to Liam O’Cronin, so don’t be a dick. ”
“Difference is that I can’t help the family I was born into,” he grumbles under his breath.
Her eyes are pure ice. “Neither can she.”