Chapter 21 Heath
HEATH
“We are doing it,” Sebastian says the minute we step out of the business classroom.
“We are not,” I grumble.
“C’mon, it’ll be fun.”
I sigh. “I’m not doing it, Bash.”
“Why not?”
“It’s a waste of my time.”
“I can give you a hundred reasons why it’ll be fun.” He pleads, brimming like an excited kid.
“Not interested.”
He says immediately, “Hope will be excited to see your stall at bake sale.”
My head turns and without thinking I say, “You think so?”
A shit-eating grin appears on his face. “So, that got you, huh?”
“Shut up.”
He laughs. “As soon as I mentioned her the stall doesn’t sound like a waste of time to you.”
I avoid looking at him as my cheeks twinge a little. “I don’t think she’ll want to be there.”
“She will.” Then he adds, “Picture this, she sees you selling chocolate cupcakes. I’m telling you, she will fall in love with you right there and then.”
“Fuck off,” I mutter, but think about it on the inside. If there’s anything that can make Hope fall for me, it’s me with chocolate.
“We both know I’m right,” he says with a smug expression.
I roll my eyes. “Maybe.”
“So we are doing this. Say the word.”
Despite my lack of enthusiasm, I agree regardless. “Yes we’re doing this.”
He grins.
We stop by his locker because he has to grab a few notebooks. Leaning against the locker beside his, I search the crowded hallway for Rose. Girls stare and guys scowl, but I don’t care about any of those people. I only want to see one person.
My body drums in excitement. I haven’t seen her since the morning because Blondie said Hope wanted to go to school with her.
Of course, it fucking bothered me, but I didn’t think much of it.
Marie is her best friend. And I’m not going to be a hurdle if she wants to spend sometime with her. However, it bothers me how much I like to be around her all the time. We could spend all day together and I’d still want to be next to her. I can’t get enough of that girl.
“Your eyes are eyeballing at an alarming rate,” Sebastian teases.
“I can’t find her,” I say in an annoyed tone.
“Look who’s desperate to see his girlfriend.”
“I haven’t seen her since the morning.”
“That’s why you’ve been so grumpy.”
I glance at him. “I’m not.”
He shuts his locker with a thud, turns his head and smirks at me. “You bit my head off when I asked to take your pen.”
I narrow my eyes. “That’s because you never bring yours.”
“Because I always use yours.” He shots back.
“I know Marie buys impulsively so there’s no way you don’t have a pen at home.”
“Yeah, she does. Because she is an angel.” He states in an obvious tone. Opening his bag, he shows me the inside. The bottom is littered with pens, that look new. “I just like using yours because it’s smooth.”
“For fuck’s sake,” I mutter as I send him a glare.
A flash of blue in my periphery catches my attention, and I shove him out of the way just in time to see Hope rushing upstairs.
“I need to go.” Without waiting for a reply, I rush after her.
My feet thunder as I climb the stairs. “Hope! Wait.”
She picks up pace as if she didn’t hear me.
That confuses me.
I chase after her and call out once again. “Hope!”
Like a stubborn mule, she keeps walking.
Shaking my head, I jog down the hallway and within seconds reach her. Grabbing her elbow, I turn her around. She stiffens in my hold.
I tip her chin up and make her look at me.
Tension grips my body as I stare down at her face that is covered in makeup. It’s minimal and makes her look pretty, but… she’s not one to wear it at school. Also, her eyes look red and puffy.
A strange feeling tugs at my heart that something is wrong.
“Hi,” she pants.
“Hi,” I reply.
“I didn’t hear you,” she says, once again not meeting my gaze.
Now I know something is wrong.
I arch an eyebrow. “How do you know I called for you?”
“I…” she gapes at me, not speaking another word.
She looks stunning in a soft blue sweater and jeans, the color bringing out a beauty so striking it makes my heart race. Her hair is gathered in a loose ponytail with tendrils falling around her beautiful face.
If I wasn’t in love with her already, I would be at this moment.
She is the most beautiful girl I've ever seen.
Leaning my head down, I brush my lips against hers. A soft, shaky breath leaves her lips.
“I didn’t see you in the morning,” I whisper, my arm wrapping around her waist and pulling her closer. Just the feel of her in my arms makes everything right. I don’t even care that I didn’t spend my morning with her and how much it fucking annoyed me.
It doesn’t matter anymore.
She’s here with me.
“I was with Marie,” she tells me.
“Are you telling me, she is a better chauffeur than your boyfriend?” I tease her.
Her eyes widen. “Of course not. You are better.” Then she shakes her head. “No! Not that I’m calling you a better chauffeur. I’m saying it’s better with you.”
I can’t fight the smile that takes over me.
Without thinking twice, I kiss her like a starved man.
Heat sears through me, setting my body on fire. Our mouths move at a practiced, smooth rhythm, not missing a step or stumbling over one another. I pour all my desperation into the kiss hoping she realizes that I missed her.
Pleasure shoots through my veins and fills me up.
I groan into her mouth as she kisses me back with equal passion and eagerness.
I pull back, cup the back of her head and kiss her again. I kiss her deeply and thoroughly, getting lost in the waves of pleasure that envelopes me.
It’s all good and fun until she winces and I quickly end it.
Getting panicked, I retreat. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for hurting you—” my words vanish as I see her split lip.
There’s no way I caused it. I didn’t feast on her like some wild animal no matter how hungry I am for her. I’m always careful with her. Always.
“It’s okay,” she murmurs, delicately rubbing away the blood with her fingers.
“No. It’s not okay. Fuck. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” I brush away her hand, and instead put my thumb over the open split. “I’m sorry.”
With care, I caress her cheek to assure her, but when she grimaces everything clicks into place.
I know why she applied makeup to her face.
Reigning in my anger, I collect myself to not spew the thoeries running in my head.
She is hurt. And there is only one person responsible for it.
“What happened to your cheek?” I ask, my voice dropping dangerously low.
Hope pales. “Nothing!”
I narrow my eyes. “He slapped you, didn’t he?”
“No!”
“He put his fucking hands on you. Again.”
“I’m fine.”
“Stop lying to me,” I hiss.
I break her walls with those words and she crumbles. Finally letting me see her and not hide the truth from me like she’s done in the past months.
Cupping her cheek, I add, “Talk to me, Rose. Tell me what he did.”
She stares at me for a long time, then whispers, “It happened last night.”
“Tell me exactly what happened,” I demand.
She nods, and opens her mouth but a group of girls walk past us.
When they see us standing together, they stop and stare with judgement swimming in their eyes.
I curse under my breath and grab her hand and take us to the rooftop where we sit against the wall next to each other.
My hands itch to pull her into my arms and comfort her, but I’m packed with too much anger and frustration.
All I want to do is get to her house and kill that man with my bare hands.
I hate him so much. I wish he’d disappear from her life. Dead, preferably.
“No one comes here so you can talk,” I assure her, eager to hear what happened that got her hurt.
Hope pulls up her knees to her chest, and tries to make herself small like a bird. I’ve noticed that she often does it. As if the world is too big and everything around her is coming right towards her, and all she wants to do is squeeze herself into the size of a peanut and protect herself.
When I see her like this, my instinct to protect her gets stronger.
No wonder I fell for her.
It was inevitable.
The way she affects me so strongly and ferociously, it needs to be studied.
She tells me everything that happened last night and why she asked Marie to pick her up.
Apparently, she didn’t want to see me knowing I’d know right away—of course I will—and come after her dad and get in trouble—she isn’t wrong.
She told Marie instead, who helped her cover up the bruises and promised to not tell neither Sebastian or me—I will have a talk with later.
When she finishes talking we sit in silence as the air around us sizzles with tension. It’s so thick that it suffocates me.
I’m breathless. No air enters my system and fuels it with oxygen. I’m empty inside.
I perform the five things technique to calm myself down and not jump up to my feet and find that man.
My head is in pieces after hearing how he stole all her money and hurt her. I watched her work hard for that money. I even helped her. Now it’s all gone. He stripped her off and left her penniless.
Fuck. What kind of sick fuck is he?
The more I think about it, the angrier I get. All I want to do is get that money back for her and hurt him ten time more than he hurt her. I keep envisioning myself hitting him until he’s out cold and covered in blood.
Violent thoughts like that circle my brain, adding fuel to the embers of the fire that sparks in delight.
I don’t realize how hot I am until cold fingers touch me and send a shiver to course through me.
A series of heart beats echo through my ears making me realize how loudly the organ in my chest can respond to her touch.
I sit completely still, letting her do whatever she wants with me.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t tell you,” she says, voice thick with regret.
Sighing heavily, I grumble, “You have nothing to be sorry about.”
“I don’t want you to hate me.”
I face her, brows dipping in confusion. “Hate you? I could never hate you.”
“Are you sure? You look mad.”
“I’m mad at him not you.”
She watches me, then nods.