24. Margo
Chapter 24
Margo
“ C aleb Asher, what the fuck?”
I crane my head back as Amelie storms toward us. He’s had his arm around my shoulder for the last twenty minutes—about the time I started shivering in my sweatshirt. His sweatshirt, I guess. Technically. But since he’s warm, I don’t mind the closeness.
That’s the only reason. Pinky promise.
We haven’t looked at each other in twenty minutes either.
At Amelie’s shrill voice, his fingers tighten on my shoulder. Can he sense my desire to escape?
We survived until halftime. Granted, we showed up halfway into the first quarter, and the game’s been exciting enough to keep the crowd entertained. Meaning: they haven’t really noticed us yet. My plan of not drawing Amelie’s ire has, so far, worked. Sure, his presence turned heads, and people keep glancing over at us, but Amelie and her gang? So far, no.
That’s about to end.
Caleb pivots us toward his girlfriend. I try to step back, and he gives me a stern look.
“What the hell, Caleb?” she yells, still yards away.
People turn toward us, and murmurs break out.
“Got a problem, Amelie?” he drawls.
He’s the freaking perfect picture of calm. His face betrays nothing, but he likes causing chaos. He’s most certainly enjoying this… however this is going to go.
Where did the sweet boy I knew as a child go?
Keep asking yourself that, Margo . He’d no sooner answer that question than solve the rest of my puzzle. As much as I slide the pieces around, they just… don’t fit together.
This Caleb thrives on darkness. Maybe I didn’t realize it before, but I can see it like a rising tide inside him. He’s ready to shatter Amelie’s world, and he’s thrilled for it.
“Do I have a problem?” she repeats. “Yes, I have a fucking problem.”
“You’re an attention-seeking slut.” He shrugs as her face turns red. His grip stays ironclad on my shoulder, keeping me right there next to him. “I should’ve realized you were only after my reputation.”
“How dare you? We’re dating, and you show up with her ?”
“Gee, Amelie, maybe you should break up with me.” He steps forward, towing me with him.
Her gaze cuts to mine, but all I can do is stare at her. It’s either that or drop my gaze to my shoes, and she’s said enough wretched things about me to deserve the stare-down.
“I’m not sure why you care so much,” he continues. “It isn’t like you haven’t been sleeping around with Ian Fletcher.”
He releases me, and I stumble away from him. He’s focused on the annihilation of Amelie Page—no Margo Wolfe presence required.
When he’s mad at me, he gets physical. His hands on my skin. His tongue in my mouth. Every inch of him was built to punish me. And for that reason, I can’t bear the idea of him touching her—even if it’s out of anger.
It takes a moment for his words to sink in. She’s been sleeping around on him.
I cover my mouth, holding back my laugh. Oh, the fucking irony.
Excluding the fact that Ian Fletcher is the worst human being in Rose Hill, I’m fairly certain that Caleb doesn’t give a fuck about who Amelie’s been sleeping with. Hell, besides the annoyance flashing across his face, she could drop dead at his feet and he wouldn’t even stoop down to check her pulse.
She scowls at him, fear fluttering across her features. “Who told you that?”
He laughs. There’s a circle around us, people eager to see what will happen with the king and queen of Emery-Rose.
Ex -queen? Does their breakup signal the end of an era, or will she continue to rule separately?
I back away until I hit someone.
Eli murmurs in my ear, “He’ll hunt you down if you aren’t in his line of sight when he’s done.”
I grimace.
Riley grabs my other arm. “You came with Caleb? I thought you said you didn’t want…”
“You’re ridiculous,” Caleb proclaims, once more drawing our attention. “And I’m sick of you, Amelie. If you’re not going to say it, I will. Happily. We’re done .”
Her mouth gapes open and shut like a fish desperate for oxygen, but she doesn’t have a witty comeback. No retort. She stands there for a long moment, then slowly turns and strides away.
The crowd parts for her, then fills in the gaps. Still watching and waiting…
Caleb searches for me. Eli releases me quickly, giving me a light shove between my shoulder blades. I stumble to a stop before Caleb and tilt my head to the side.
“That’s one way to do things,” I tell him.
There’s a gleam in his eye that wasn’t there before. My stomach flips.
“Just the beginning.” He puts his arm back around my shoulder, hugging me into his side, and we walk toward the stands. “One more thing.”
Caleb whistles, clear and sharp. It takes me a moment longer to spot Theo and Liam, who detach themselves from a group and come down to the ground.
“Yo.” Liam grins at us. “You two a thing now?”
“Yes,” Caleb clips out.
I stare at him, leaning away. “What?”
“I don’t really care to hear your protests right now. And that means one thing.” He points at Theo. “You. Don’t you fucking touch her.”
Theo salutes Caleb. “Yes, sir.”
Caleb grunts.
The dismissal is as clear as they’re going to get, and once again we’re left alone.
My skin itches.
“I don’t know what dating you is supposed to feel like,” I admit. “And I don’t remember agreeing to it either.”
He smiles, and we follow the path Liam and Theo made up the bleacher steps. We’d been sitting off to the side, but now the king retakes his throne. We walk right up the center aisle, and people make room for us.
I didn’t understand it until now. The way people treat him—he’s freaking royalty at this school. And I’m seeing it in action, but I’m still mystified by it. Even as a younger kid asks if he needs anything, and Caleb actually says yes.
Minutes later, the kid returns with a bag of popcorn and two sodas.
“Hey, Asher.” A guy in purple and black comes toward us, lifting his hand.
Caleb grins, reaching out and bumping his knuckles against the new guy’s. “What’s up, Bonner? I heard a rumor you’re not playing this year?”
He chuckles. “I had to have surgery on my knee at the beginning of the summer. Coach wouldn’t let me play.”
Caleb shakes his head. “Sorry to hear that.”
Bonner shrugs. His gaze sweeps up and down my body. “I don’t think we’ve met. Matt Bonner.”
“Margo Wolfe,” Caleb drawls. “And don’t fucking look at her like that.”
Bonner laughs again, scratching at the back of his neck. “Hey, Asher. No disrespect. You got yourself a beautiful?—”
“I’m right here ,” I snap.
A muscle in Caleb’s jaw jumps. He glares at Matt, the niceties ending abruptly, until Matt nods and stuffs his hands in his pockets. When he retreats to the Lion’s Head side of the bleachers, Caleb finally focuses on me.
I wait.
“I’m not apologizing for that,” he says.
“I didn’t ask you to.” I find myself leaning closer to him. “I don’t like people staring at me.”
“You don’t like men staring at you,” he clarifies.
“I’ll pass on all types of attention.”
He rolls his eyes. “You better get used to it.”
After that, we lapse back into silence. Besides the uncomfortable quiet around us, and the glances in my direction, it’s easy to block it out and enjoy the second half of the game.
That is, until Theo catches sight of someone.
“Shit,” Caleb growls. He looks back at Eli, who’s two rows up.
They’ve both straightened in their seats.
“Who is he?—”
Theo lurches down the bleachers. He strides straight toward the Lion’s Head side.
Caleb’s hand twitches against my shoulder.
“Are you going to stop him? He seems ready to murder someone.”
“Not this time,” Caleb answers.
Eli hasn’t moved either.
I wince when Theo grabs a girl from the sidelines, her camera falling to the ground. He gets in her face, his face a smooth mask of fury. And then he shoves her back toward her friends and stalks away.
“Well, that could’ve gone worse,” Eli calls.
Caleb chuckles.
Liam just groans.
“How could that have gone worse?” I whisper. I watch the girl get lifted to her feet.
He tilts his head toward me. “Sometimes we’re driven to do crazy things.”
Speaking of crazy things…
I meet his gaze. “What happens next?”
“With what?”
“Us.”
He smirks. “You’re admitting to an us, then?”
I shift. “Seems inevitable.”
“We are.” He grabs my hand and brings it to his mouth. He kisses my knuckles, then sets it back on my lap. But he doesn’t let go.
Butterflies erupt in my belly. It’s easy to let Caleb hold my hand and pretend we’re two nice people who happen to be dating.
We are the furthest thing from nice .
“Relax,” he murmurs.
“This is very public. And you just dumped your girlfriend. Loudly.”
He raises one shoulder, his eyes on the game. “You told me to.”
“I told you to break up with Amelie?” I did not. I mean, I kind of did. Not in a direct way.
Not like this.
Jesus, she keeps craning around from her spot in the crowd of cheerleaders, squinting at us. It’s one thing for Caleb to crucify her in front of the entire school—hell, Lion’s Head’s students, too—but now she’s glaring daggers at me .
“You did. Now just relax, and then we’ll go to the party after we win.” He tosses me a quick smile.
I’m not used to his smiling. And I’m not used to his competitiveness showing. It wasn’t this strong when I knew him before… he doesn’t play football, and yet it’s a we . Emery-Rose Elite as a whole. If one wins, we all do.
I cast a helpless glance back at Riley. Something happens on the field, because I’m jerked to my feet. Everyone around us cheers.
Caleb picks me up and swings me in a circle. “You’re good luck. We just fucking won.”
A joyous riot of Emery-Rose students flood the field, surrounding the team, with Caleb and me at the center. This type of celebration—so very male —throws me off for a moment. They pound each other’s backs, fist-bumping. No one touches me, though. It’s like I’ve been encased in fire, and no one wants to get too close.
Caleb motions for me to get on his back, crouching. Suddenly, I’m a head above everyone else, my arms wrapped around his shoulders and my legs around his waist. Over the sea of black and gold, I can see the purple-and-black Lion’s Head students. They’re slower to filter out.
Caleb’s body heat seeps into me, warming my chilled body. The sun set some time ago, dropping the temperature, and I’ve been shivering ever since. I slide my hands inside his jacket, and he chuckles.
“Ready?” Eli appears at our side.
Riley is tucked against him, watching me with wide eyes.
Caleb leads the way out of the crowd, toward the parking lot. He turns and walks backward, eyeing his friends. “We’re taking a quick detour.”
Eli snickers. “Oh, yeah?”
“You got a problem with that?” he goads.
“I think you’re gonna go do dirty things to your new girlfriend.” Eli laughs.
Riley elbows him, and I tuck my face into Caleb’s neck. I don’t have any desire to discuss sex—or lack thereof—with his friends.
Caleb spins back around, ignoring Eli, and stops at the passenger side of his car. He loosens his hold on the back of my thighs, letting me slip down. “Get in.”
I’m grateful when he turns the car on and blasts the heat.
“So, where’s the detour?”
“My house.” There’s something dangerous in his glance, hot and smoldering.
We drive toward his home, and my heartbeat picks up speed.
“I can’t,” I blurt out.
It isn’t that I haven’t had sex before—because that’s what I’d imagine happening—but all I’ll be able to think about in that house is our past.
My past.
His.
They collided in an epic explosion when we were ten, and I’m trying to put everything back together. Caleb seems to have healed… but inside, there are still jagged edges.
Am I afraid of those jagged edges? Yes . Get too close and they may cut.
He slows the car, pulling onto a shoulder and putting it in park.
“What are you afraid of?”
I stare out the window, as far as I can see. Only yards ahead of us, the headlights bounce against trees. The rest is darkness.
“Are you afraid of me?”
I dare to look at him. “Do you think I am?”
His eyes narrow. “I don’t know, Margo. Sometimes I think yes. Sometimes I think… hmm, maybe she’s grown a backbone after all.”
“I have a backbone,” I scoff. “You don’t go through the system without developing one.”
“You break too easily.” He reaches out and grabs my face, forcing me to meet his eyes. “You cave. You lose .”
I jerk away from him. “Then why chase me if I’m so boring?”
He laughs. “Even if you’re fragile, you’re far from boring.” He watches me for a second, then exhales. “Okay. Let’s go to the party.”
An unexpected weight comes off my shoulders. I open my mouth, but he cuts me off with a hand on my thigh, squeezing.
“Don’t thank me.”
“Okay,” I whisper.
It only means that something worse than his house is coming my way.