Chapter 40 #2
The sound of the gym doors opening registers in my mind, but I can’t make myself pull back from him. Nobody who walks through those doors is likely to be a threat to either of us.
“Ugh, Mai, what was that saying? You can take the slut out of the sex rings, but you can’t take the slut out of the girl.
” Amanda’s voice fills the gym just like I’m sure she intended, as her and Mai fall into a fit of fake laughter at her terrible joke.
Or, at what I believed is a joke, if that’s an actual saying, I've sure as hell never heard it.
I intend to ignore them, but I can tell that her comment gets to Rick as his body goes rigid beneath me.
“Don’t,” I breathe the word against his lips before I dart my tongue out in search of his in hopes of pulling his attention back to me.
It works, mostly.
Rick’s hand threads into my hair as he tries to devour me.
Our kiss is no longer something sweet. No, his rage is close to the surface.
I can feel it vibrating in him. It’s familiar now, and if he wants to use me as his outlet, I’m more than willing.
Though I won’t roll over and take it, he should know that by now.
I sink my teeth into his lip, sucking it into my mouth.
The low rumble of his groan lets me know he’s enjoying our battle, and Amanda is all but forgotten.
Until she opens her mouth again.
“Does Daddy know you're nothing but a whore?” Her voice breaks through my distraction once again, and this time, I let it.
She wants a reaction. If she hadn't, she would’ve walked away when we didn't respond the first time. If I keep just trying to pull Rick’s attention, she’s only going to keep saying shit, and she might end up saying much worse. Not that I care, but Rick clearly does.
“Is he aware that his little pet lets any man touch her?” She spits the name Randall has for me, and I flinch at the sound. Thankfully, Rick stands between us, his back to her, blocking my view of her and hers of me, so she doesn’t get the satisfaction of seeing, but Rick doesn’t miss it.
“First Zander, then Trent, and now Rick.” Her voice gets louder, and I assume she’s walking toward us. “Oh, and let's not forget everyone from the party saw you drooling all over Kratos,” she snaps in disgust, but I don’t need to see her to know she’s actually green.
Rick lets me slide down his body until my feet touch the floor, but he doesn’t release me. The grip on my hips might be uncomfortable if I were anyone else, but I know he’s using me to center himself right now, and something about that makes my chest feel tight, but in a good way.
“Pathetic.” She spits the word, and I don’t need to see her to know that she’s close, probably just a few paces behind Rick now.
“Go get changed and head out to the lot. Spencer should be here to pick you up,” he says with a smirk that lets me know he finds it funny that I’m about to be stuck with Spencer. I would smack him if I weren’t so distracted.
“Go on, I’ll handle her,” he says, leaning into my space to kiss my neck up to my ear.
I pull back enough to see his face, and while he looks upset, he doesn’t look murderous.
Given the fact that he’s used to Amanda and her bullshit, I assume he really can handle her, or she would’ve been dead a long time ago.
I hold his gaze for a second longer before I turn away, headed toward the locker room.
He swats my ass before I’m out of arm's reach, and when I look back over my shoulder at him, I find his eyes are full of heat that has nothing to do with the obnoxious bitch behind him as he watches me go. I don’t even try to stop the smile that tugs at my lips when he winks at me.
This side of Rick is completely different, but I can’t say I don’t like it. I like both sides of him.
Amanda makes a fake gagging noise, but I ignore her and turn to lift a brow at Rick. With his back still to them, he gives me one of his rare smiles. “Dinner tonight, we’ll talk. Altogether, family meeting,” he says before he wipes the smile from his face and turns to face Amanda and her minion.
I stand there for a second, dumbfounded, before I can get my feet moving, but even when I do, I’m only half there, maybe even less.
Family meeting.
I push the locker room doors open a few minutes later and find Rick setting up for his next class, the beginner class I used to be in. Amanda and Mai are nowhere to be found, despite this being their class, and Rick’s not paying me any attention, so I slip out the doors and head to the lot.
I don’t even remember changing, but a quick glance down lets me know that I did.
Are we a family? Is that what this is?
Do I even deserve a family?
Questions swirl around my mind as I walk on autopilot.
I spot Spencer leaning against what I assume is his car.
It’s the same dark purple car that he drove the night he followed me, and the same one he picked me up from the club in.
I’m sure it’s expensive; most everything they have seems to be.
But I don’t know much about cars, no matter how much Zander tells me about them.
The color suits him, though, oddly enough.
I don’t feel as though much does with him, or rather, he doesn’t let it.
He stomps his cigarette out right before I reach him and makes his way around the car to climb in. I expect some kind of smartass comment or something, but he remains quiet as I move to get into the passenger seat.
I set my bag on my lap and wait, but after a few minutes of sitting there, I turn to face him, only to find him already looking at me.
“What?” I ask, and I swear I try to keep the attitude to a minimum.
I fail.
I don’t know what it is about Spencer, but arguing with him is almost fun at this point. I watch as his eyes narrow, and again I wait for a snarky comment, but it never comes.
“Put your seatbelt on,” he tells me, sounding tired. His words catch me by surprise for a second before my brain processes them.
“Oh, uh… okay.” I grab my belt and click it in, at a loss for something else to say. The second my belt clicks, we’re moving, heading out of the lot without another word.
We don’t even make it out of the parking lot before I regret getting in the car with him.
The drive might not be terribly long back to their house, but with how weird he’s acting, it’s going to feel like forever.
I lean my head back on the seat and close my eyes instead of complaining.
I really shouldn’t be picking fights with him anyway, so maybe this is for the best.
Music clicks on, and it’s not a song I’m familiar with, but it’s not unpleasant. After a few minutes, I crack my eyes open to read the name on the screen so I can add it to my playlist, but unlike Rick’s car, Spencer’s displays a map instead.
Shit.
I huff a sigh before turning to him and asking.
“What song is this, and who sings it?” Half yelling so that he can hear me over the music.
He doesn’t even acknowledge that I spoke, and I’m actually not sure if he’s just ignoring me or if he really didn’t hear me.
I reach for the knob to turn it down so I can ask again, but he clicks a button on his steering wheel, and the music abruptly ends before I can even touch it.
His eyes are still fixed on the road when I look over at him, so I try again. “What song was that, and who sings it?” I say, repeating the question now that he can hear me. Still, he says nothing.
Alright, ignoring me it is.
Asshole.
I bite my bottom lip to stop myself from snapping at him while I pull in a deep breath through my nose.
This right here is why we argue, because he can’t behave like an adult, no matter the circumstances.
How hard is it to answer a simple question?
I’d answered his fucking questions about how I got past his security.
“Hello?” I say in annoyance. “Are you deaf?”
“No!” he snaps, and I wait a second, expecting him to say something else, but, surprise, surprise, he doesn’t.
“What the fuck is your problem?” I snap, losing my patience and throwing any attempt to be civil out the damn window.
He glances over at me before his eyes go back to the road, and when he still doesn’t say anything, I give up. Crossing my arms and sitting back against the seat hard.
“Fucking asshole,” I mutter the words under my breath, but I know he can hear me, and honestly, that was the point.
Turning to look out the window, I give up on him and, for the first time, notice we’re not on the highway anymore. The area looks familiar, but I know it’s not our regular route to their house. We drive it often enough that I know that if nothing else.
“Where are we going?”
The question flies out of my mouth before I can think better of it. I really don’t want to talk to him, but I also don’t like the idea of being in the car with him and completely in the dark.
“To get food, chill out,” he tells me, and I glare at him. Oh, now he can talk? Whatever, I don’t want to talk to him, anyway.
We drive for a few more minutes, this time in complete silence since he shut the music off, and I refuse to speak to him. It’s not until we get into the heart of the city that I realize why this area is familiar.
This is where Clair took me to shop when I was first staying with her.
Thinking of her fills me with guilt. She’s been trying to catch up with me for the last week, and while we talk a lot via text and calls, I’ve been avoiding being around her.
I don’t want to cause any more problems than I already do, and this city needs James and Clair.
So I’ll do whatever I can to keep them off Randall’s radar, and hope that one day I won’t have to anymore.
We pull up in front of the same adorable Thai restaurant that Clair took me to, and the guilt only grows. I don’t even notice Spencer’s gotten out of the car until he’s standing at my door.
“You comin’ or what?” he asks before he turns and heads in without waiting for a response.