No Good: A Standalone Enemies to Lovers Romance

by Stevie J. Cole

  When Zepp got out of prison, I was strangling him for beating Hendrix up with that wiffleball bat when we were kids.

  I waited at Drew’s locker, replaying the way her breath caught when I slammed her against that wall. I was still going to fuck her, that much was for sure. Drew stepped through the crowd, and our eyes locked. The rhythm of her steps faltered for a split second before her shoulders pushed back and her chin lifted. Like she was trying to prove she wasn’t scared of me. And when she brushed right past me, she made a point to glare at me.

  “What do you want?” she asked, yanking open her locker.

  There was no witty dig. No sarcasm. Just a dry, monotone question. And from what I knew of this girl, that was very unlike her. “You weren’t dealing weed.” That statement should have been followed with, I’m sorry, but those words just weren’t ready to come out.

  “No shit.” Anger rippled across her face as she slammed her locker door. “The Barrington girl who doesn’t need money wasn’t dealing weed. Did you come to that realization all by your bad self?”

  And... she was back, as was my anger. My jaw clenched, my gaze tightened on hers. The girl had no humility, so why I’d even let a seed of guilt take root in my chest was beyond me. “You didn’t even try to deny it, Drew.”

  All she did was roll her eyes, then went to step away, like I would let her. Oh, no, this girl had a thing or two to learn about the hierarchy of Dayton. I grabbed her shoulder and spun her back against the lockers. “What was it you said to me, baby girl.” I brought my face close enough to hers I could smell the strawberry gloss coating her lips. “Something like, ‘What if I don’t care about your warning?’”

  She shoved against my chest, but I didn’t budge. Instead, I placed my lips by her ear, unable to resist the temptation to nip at her lobe before mocking her, “What are you gonna do, Bellamy?’”

  I shifted my position to glare at her. “That was stupid.”

  “You broke into my fucking house. You’re a psycho.” She attempted to shake free of my hold, but I held tight. “Let go of me,” she said.

  The image of her in that towel, hair soaking wet and skin coated in moisture leaped to the forefront of my mind. Directly followed by the reaction she had when I wrapped my hand around her throat. She’d liked that bit of my breaking and entering. “Don’t think I didn’t notice the little hitch to your breath when I put that bat between your legs.” I lifted a brow. “You like this shit, baby girl.”

  Her eyes narrowed. Her delicate jawline set. Nothing about her anger should have excited me the way it did.

  “Get the fuck off me,” she said through clenched teeth.

  “Want me off of you? Get on your fucking knees and make me get off of you.”

  She leaned in, her jaw ticcing. “I will never suck your dick, Bellamy. Now leave me alone. You see me in the hall, don’t talk to me.”

  “You think you’re gonna call the shots?” I smirked as I back away. “Sure thing, baby girl. Sure fucking thing.”

  “I’m telling you, Bell.” Hendrix palmed one of the rubber dodgeballs. “Set some shit on fire.”

  The coach blew his whistle, and the girls bounded over to center-court in their baggy gym shirts and short-shorts.

  “Females,” Coach started. “Since one of your counterparts thinks it’s funny to tie a tampon to my car antenna, you can run laps. Men. Grab a ball.”

  The girls groaned on their way to the door. All except Drew. She stood there in shorts barely past her ass, inspecting her nails. And all I could think about was wrapping my hands around her throat again and making her moan. That would be the hate fuck of the century.

  “Miss Morgan,” Coach shouted. “Get moving.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry.” She placed a hand on her chest, the fakest smile crossing her face. “I can’t go on the track. Grass allergy.”

  And that was bullshit. I’d read her file and she didn’t have one damn allergy.

  Coach glanced across the gym at us, a befuddled expression on his face. “Grass aller— Well, are you allergic to plastic?”

  She narrowed her eyes. “No.”

  “Then grab a ball and get in line with the boys.”

  “You want me to play with them?” She waved a prissy hand over the line of guys.

  “Is that a problem?”

  For her prissy ass, it absolutely would be. The annoyed scowl on her face said I was right. I waited on her to whine, possibly pitch a fit, but she just sighed and took her place across the court from Hendrix.

  Hendrix snickered. “Fine. No setting her car on fire. But her ass...I’m tagging her ass with a ball.” His eyebrows wiggled before he took his spot behind the start line.

  The whistle sounded, and everyone took off. Drew and Hendrix went for the same ball. He snatched it, reared back, and lobbed it straight at her thigh. She yelped and hobbled for a couple of strides.

  The red mark it left, sent an unsettled feeling stirring in my gut. It was just dodgeball, but I couldn’t handle shit like that with girls. Scare the shit out of them, sure. Actually, physically hurt them, no.

  “Don’t hit her again, man.”

  Hendrix frowned at me. “What the fuck did you just say?”

  “Don’t hit her.”

  His eyes went wide and he shook his head before taking his place back behind the line. “I swear to God, if you let the temptation of a hot piece of ass cloud your judgement...”

  The whistle sounded again. Sneakers scuffed the floor. Drew beat Hendrix to the ball this time, threw it, and nailed Hendrix in the balls. He fell to his knees, clutching his crotch while mumbled, “Motherfucker.”

  “Miss Morgan,” Coach shouted. “No aiming at the penile region.”

  “Sorry. Bad aim.”

  Hendrix glared up at me from the fetal position he’d curled himself into. “Scared the shit outta her, huh?” He grunted. “How does setting fire to her car sound to you now?”

  10

  Drew

  I was woman enough to admit that he’d scared me, really scared me, and I’d made a vow to myself that I was done with him. Done with his level of crazy, because I couldn’t compete with that, and I didn’t need this in my life.

  The dismissal bell rang. I grabbed my backpack from my locker, then went to the library to check out a book on the American Revolution for the project I’d been assigned to work on with Nora.

  Dayton’s library was deplorable. Nothing was organized. Half the books were missing spines. It took me twenty minutes to finally locate the historical book in the self-help section… By the time I left, the rush of students in the hallway had died down. I made my way down the corridor, typing out a text to Genevieve when I heard Bellamy’s voice. “Seriously, Nikki? You do realize it’s psychotic.”

  I paused, lingering around the corner where the hallways intersected.

  “It was a joke, Bellamy.”

  “Do I look like I find it fucking funny?” His voice was a feral rumble, barely restrained, and it made me recoil.

  “Why do you even care?” she asked, a slight tremor in her words. “I mean—”

  “Are you that stupid?” Something banged on a locker. If I had to guess, it was Bellamy’s fist.

  “Jesus Christ! We hooked up. Once. When I was shitfaced. And you just…” Silence fell over the hall. “Leave her the fuck alone, Nikki.”

  I had to wonder who they were talking about, and what exactly Nikki had done to piss him off so much, because he sounded livid. I waited until a few more minutes of silence passed before I hooked a left down the hall, then exited the school, heading into the half-deserted parking lot

  I joined Nora and Diane, huddled against Nora’s car in their cheerleader outfits.

  Diane’s gaze tracked Bellamy and Hendrix as they crossed the lot. “What is it about them getting arrested that makes them so much hotter?”

  “Speak for yourself.” Nora opened her car door and tossed her gym bag inside. “I had to give up my bed for his little broth
er. Bellamy was supposed to take care of him, and he got arrested.” Disdain leaked through her voice. “For dealing drugs. Again.”

  Diane’s brows pulled together. “That’s random. Why didn’t his mom watch him?”

  “She works like three jobs or something. His dad’s a drunk. Bullshit. Bullshit...”

  A lump formed in my throat. I glanced across the parking lot at Bellamy, who was standing behind Wolf’s truck. All tattoos and attitude. He didn’t look like the kind of guy who would watch a kid.

  “Bellamy looks after his little brother?” I asked.

  Nora shrugged. “The kid’s with him more than not.”

  A horrible sensation dug into my chest. Guilt. Oh, screw him. He was the asshole in this situation. Not me. I tried to maintain that, even as I pictured his life with a deadbeat dad, a mom who was never there, and a little brother who relied on him. I didn’t want to feel bad for him, but more than that, I didn’t want to actually be the spoiled bitch I knew he thought I was. Maybe I had taken it too far. I did tend to go big or go home, but unlike at Black Mountain, the consequences for a kid in Dayton were immediate and long-term. Bellamy wasn’t some trust-fund guy whose daddy would bail him out of a criminal record. It still didn’t excuse him breaking into my damn house, but... he said I’d fucked with his family – a kid- and that made me feel like the crappiest person in the world right now.

  “Oh. Shit…”

  I followed Nora’s gaze across the lot. Bellamy stood behind an old Camaro; bat raised. He swung at the back windshield and it shattered before he rounded the car, smashing out every window, then knocking the side mirrors off.

  “Wonder what Nikki did to piss him off?” Diane said.

  Nikki ran up, screaming, and he cast a cold stare in her direction. Hendrix met up with Bellamy halfway through the lot.

  My pulse ticked up when they stopped at my car. Bellamy loosely swung the bat at his side, and I remembered all too well what he’d done with that bat the last time he’d had it. My thighs pressed together. I was definitely sick. Broken. “See you guys later,” I said, then started toward my TT. This couldn’t be good.

  “Nice car.” Bellamy kicked his shoe up onto my front tire, all tight shirt and ripped jeans over taught muscles. Like a psycho.

  “Don’t you dare,” I said, eyeing the bat.

  “I’m not doing anything, baby girl.” He held up his hands, shifting away from the car.

  I stood there for a moment, weighing my options. Like a rabbit caught in the sights of a predator, I didn’t know what to do. Run and risk him taking chase, or freeze and hope he left me the hell alone. He watched me like a hawk as I opened my car door, and if the small smirk on his face was anything to go by, he was doing something alright.

  I eased behind the wheel and cranked the engine. I hated that my hands were shaking, because I knew what he wanted was for me to be scared. So instead of gunning it out of there the way I wanted to, I took my time and changed the radio station, then I lowered the roof to my car. Of course, he was still standing there.

  “I told you to leave me alone.”

  He leaned over, folding his arms across my window ledge. “Well, I would. But unfortunately for you, the word around school is, you got me arrested. I’d really hoped that would stay between us, but…”

  Three guesses where this was going. Nowhere good, that was for sure.

  “You started this. Then you broke into my house and destroyed it.”

  He swiped a hand over his mouth on an amused laugh. “Yeah, but the problem is. They don’t know that.” He jerked his chin toward the people in the parking lot staring.

  I had no idea what he was going to do, and as that slow smirk cut across his face, I snapped. “Screw you, Bellamy.”

  A low hiss sounded over the purr of the engine. Hendrix’s reflection popped up in my rearview mirror.

  I’d forgotten about him, and realized how monumentally stupid that was when he flipped a knife in his hand, and the tire pressure sensors flashed on my dashboard.

  “You did not…” I said through gritted teeth.

  Bellamy leaned into my car, placing his lips close to my ear. “You gonna lie to me again?”

  “You really are a psycho. You know that, right?”

  “And you really are getting off easy…”

  Easy? This guy had to be joking. “You slashed my tires and broke into and vandalized my house within twenty-four hours. That’s a felony and a misdemeanor. You fucking nut job!”

  All he did was smile. And that smile was devastating—because I was evidently a nut job, too. I gripped the steering wheel, trying to focus on something, anything but how hot he looked and how crazy I was.

  “You know, I was sane before I met you.”

  “That makes two of us,” he said. Bullshit.

  My car rocked, tearing my attention from Bellamy.

  “Been saving this all day.” Hendrix clambered onto my trunk, immediately whipping out his dick.

  “What the hell—” But the rest of that sentence was lost when a stream of piss splattered over my passenger seat. I grabbed the handle to throw open my car door, but Bellamy’s massive frame blocked my exit.

  “Let me out, right now, Bellamy!”

  Piss ricocheted off the leather, droplets splashing my arm. Bellamy just smirked at me, refusing to move. My temper skyrocketed. With a growl, I shoved to my feet, climbing over my seat and onto the trunk. I snatched Hendrix by the ankle. “Get off my car!” I yanked hard enough that he lost balance and toppled off the car on a scream.

  Good, I hoped that hurt. With any luck, he’d get road rash on his junk.

  “The hell, man!” Hendrix shot up, holding his head, dick still out. A trickle of blood fell down his temple. “She just cracked my skull.” Hendrix rounded the back, still clutching his head when he stopped beside Bellamy. “And that is the reason I wanted to set her car on fire!”

  Set my car on fire. Oh, that was taking this too far. I slid off the trunk, not even caring that my dress had ridden up around my waist. Then I jabbed Hendrix in the chest. “I hope you get a concussion. Not like you had any brain cells to lose anyway.”

  Both guys stared at me like I’d just grown two heads with horns.

  I stormed off across the parking lot, taking out my phone so I could call someone to come pick up my poor car.

  “Holy shit!” Nora ran up beside me, skidding to a stop. “What are you doing? They’re insane, Drew you can’t egg them on!”

  “Nora, he pissed in my car! Not like I was just going to sit there and watch.” And I may very well get murdered over it, but what the hell could I do now?

  Nora offered to take me home. The entire drive she rambled about how awful Bellamy and Hendrix were, making Hendrix’s brother, Zepp, out to be nothing short of a complete monster who belonged behind the bars he’d evidently been placed behind.

  I directed her down my street and to my drive, and when she pulled in, she gasped. “Holy. Shit. Your house is massive.”

  I stared past the manicured lawn to the brick home. Between both my parents, I’d lived in god knows how many big houses. Each time I came to visit them from boarding school, I missed my shared dorm with Genevieve. That was home. This—this was miserable, which was why I had spent more time at Olivia’s than my dad’s since I’d arrived.

  “You wanna come in?” I asked as I climbed out.

  Beaming, she hopped out of the car and followed me to the front of the house. Then I remembered that the entire house was still destroyed, and I froze. It was too late now, I’d already invited her in.

  “So... The house is a bit of a mess.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “Yeah, well...” I shoved the key in the lock.

  The door swung open to the empty foyer. The Several holes in the wall where artwork once hung. I glanced in the living room, surprised to see that everything was gone. All the broken furniture had been removed, leaving behind only the chandelier and a rug.

 
; “So, we’ll have to go up to one of the spare rooms if you want to watch TV.” I started toward the stairs, and Nora strayed behind me, mouth agape as she took in the carnage.

  “What happened?”

  “Break in.”

  She stopped on the bottom step, her eyes widening. “Holy shit, they took everything.”

  I didn’t have the energy to explain that they had, in fact taken northing, and now that I thought about it, that was weird. They sold weed. Surely they’d hock a TV? But I had a feeling Bellamy just wanted to send a violent message.

  Halfway through an episode of Sex and the City that I’d seen a thousand times, my phone dinged.

  Dickhead: Just so you know, I spent my time in the slammer beating one out to the thought of what I was gonna do to you when I got out

  Me: You get off on breaking into people’s houses and scaring them with a baseball bat?

  Dickhead: People? Nah... You, fuck yes.

  Me: You’re sick

  Dickhead: And you think you aren’t?

  Dickhead: Daddy issues...

  Bad, bad, bad.

  I glanced across the bed to Nora, who was still engrossed in the TV.

  Me: We done now?

  Dickhead: Depends...

  No. I was done with Bellamy West. At least that’s what I told myself…

  11

  Drew

  I stood in the middle of the crowded hallway, staring at the text on my phone: Hope you’re enjoying the new school, darling. Bisous. - Irina

  My mother.

  Who refused to let me call her anything but Irina. And who evidently had no idea what type of school Dayton was or I’d hope to God she’d have curbed my father. Just as I went to reply, someone smacked the phone from my hands.

  “Barrington whore.”

  A group of girls laughed as they parted around me, Nikki standing pride of place among them with a bitchy smile radiating off her face before they moved on. God, she was pathetic. They couldn’t even come up with something more original—Barrington Whore had been Sharpied across my locker. Looked like the conversation I’d overheard Bellamy and her having did fuck all.