by Naomi Martin
“Winter,” he says. “Unusual name.”
“I’m an unusual girl,” I say and immediately cringe inwardly at how lame that sounded.
His eyes slide up and down my body as he seems to take in every inch of me, the flirty smile on his face telling me he approves of what he sees. It sends goosebumps marching up my arms and a wave of self-consciousness washing over me – as if Olivia wasn’t making me feel self-conscious enough already.
But once the initial butterflies fluttering around in my belly subside and my brain kicks back into gear, the name finally registers.
“Asher Davis?” I ask.
He grins like the proverbial cat that ate the canary. “So you’ve heard of me, huh?”
“She’s obviously checked Sapphire Bay’s sex offender’s registry,” Olivia cracks. “Smart girl.”
Asher rolls his eyes but grins. “Don’t mind Liv,” he says. “She gets cranky when she doesn’t bang at least four guys before breakfast.”
I slip my books into my bag and shut my locker. “I should probably get to class.”
“Okay, but I’ll check in with you later,” Olivia says.
I turn and walk away quickly, wanting to put some distance between me and Asher. Being close to him set my hormones on fire, but I can’t forget about what Bonnie said he did to her. I know she thinks Olivia was involved as well and that I should shun her for it, too, but Bonnie has no actual proof she was behind it all. Unlike Asher.
“Hey, wait up.”
Asher falls into step beside me and the crowd I’ve been wending my way through suddenly parts, giving us a clear lane through the congested hallway.
“I know what you did to Bonnie,” I snap. “She told me everything, and I think you’re a fucking pig.”
Asher’s laughter is like the rumble of thunder in the distance. “Did she also happen to mention that I apologized profusely for what happened?”
“It doesn’t make what you did any better, Asher,” I growl.
He sighs. “No, it doesn’t,” he offers. “In my defense, it was a couple of years ago. I was an asshole back then, I freely admit it. But I like to think that I’ve learned and have grown since then. I like to think I’m a better person.”
I hook a quick turn at the next hallway but Asher sticks with me, stride for stride. Given that his legs are so much longer than mine, I shouldn’t be surprised. Although I’m trying to shake him, Asher’s words stick with me every bit as close as his physical body does. I know that people can change. While it’s often for the worse, sometimes, people can change for the better. They learn and grow. They evolve into better versions of themselves. Of course, my cynical mind tells me it’s doesn’t work out this way all that often, but my rational mind argues that it does happen.
So, is it possible that rich, entitled, has-life-by-the-balls Asher Davis has changed and grown? Has he learned from what he did to Bonnie and become a better person for it? Maybe. I dunno. Maybe it’s not for me to judge. All I know is that he hurt my friend – a pain she still feels to this day – and that should be enough for me to just ignore him. I am nothing if not loyal to my friends.
So why is my stomach still churning? And when he accidentally bumps into me and his bare skin touches mine, why does my entire body feel like it’s on fire?
I clear my throat and try to push it all away, not wanting to focus on anything other than getting to my next class. But Asher keeps walking with me, making it hard to focus on anything but him and how damn good he smells.
Giving myself a little shake, I snap out of it. I’m not some stupid, giggling little girl. And I’m not the type who gets all googly-eyed and loses my brain because of a pretty boy. I never have been, and I don’t plan on starting now. I clench my jaw and steel my nerves, determined to avoid stabbing my best friend in the back.
“Maybe you should try making things right with Bonnie,” I tell him. “She’s still upset by–”
“Seriously?” he asks. “It was like two years ago.”
“Yeah, well, what you did was pretty horrific. It traumatized her,” I scold him, feeling emboldened. “That kinda shit tends to last, Asher.”
He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “I don’t know what you expect me to do. I mean, it’s not like she’ll even talk to me.”
“Maybe if you apologize and actually try making things right, she’ll be more receptive.”
He pauses for a moment and then nods slowly. “Yeah, maybe. I – I’ll try.”
“Good.” I respond. “Well, this is my room, so as much fun as this has been, I must now bid you adieu.”
A half-grin quirks one corner of his mouth upward. “I’ll see you around.”
“If you’re lucky.”
I turn and walk into the classroom, leaving him behind me in the hallway, chuckling to himself. I take my usual seat but instead of Marcy, the goth girl who usually sits next to me, a tall boy with dark hair and darker eyes takes her seat. Like Asher, he’s got tawny-colored skin, a tight, toned body rippling with lean muscle, and a thousand-watt smile that sets my heart spinning again. God, have I suddenly gone boy crazy, or what?
“You should really be careful around Asher,” he informs me. “He’s kind of a man whore.”
“So I’ve been told,” I reply. “And for your information, he was following me.”
“I believe it. You’re fresh meat.” He laughs.
“Charming,” I say and roll my eyes.
“I’m messing with you,” he assures me, his tone more serious. “I’m Owen. And you’re – Winter, right?”
I take my books out of my bag and set them on my desk, doing my best to ignore him. But he doesn’t move. He just sits there, waiting for me to acknowledge him. I feel his eyes boring into me and finally, I turn and look at him.
“What?” I hiss, trying to lower my voice enough to avoid drawing attention to myself.
He smiles. “I just wanted to introduce myself.”
“You did that,” I snap. “Now leave me alone.”
He frowns. “Look, I’m sorry about that ‘fresh meat’ line. I really was just messing around,” he says. “I’m sorry.”
I sigh, slumping back in my seat. Maybe I’m feeling kind of bitchy because of Asher and I’m taking it out on this poor guy.
“No, I’m sorry.” I reply. “I guess I’m just in a mood.”
He chuckles softly. “Asher can do that to you,” he tells me. “And I say that as his best friend.”
I stare at him with my mouth hanging open. What in the hell is this, then?
“You’re his best friend?” I finally manage.
He nods. “I’ve known him since grade school,” he confirms. “Deep down, he’s a good guy. But he’s not always straight up and honest when it comes to girls. He can be kind of a dick.”
I arch an eyebrow at him. “And does he know his best friend is saying this kind of stuff about him?”
“He should. It’s nothing I haven’t said to his face before,” Owen says. “He knows it. But he says he’s honor-bound to sleep with every girl in this school. Or at least try.”
“So, let me guess, you’re honor-bound to beat him to the punch?”
He shakes his head. “Nah. I’m not like that.”
“Just what I’d expect somebody who actually is like that to say.”
His grin is boyish and shows off his dimples – which are utterly adorable.
“That’s fair,” he says. “I just – I figured I’d give you a heads up before you let yourself get too wrapped up in him.”
“I’m not,” I assure him.
He holds his hands up in mock surrender. “Just sayin’. Keep him locked tight in the friend zone, because once you give it up, he’ll throw you out with the trash.”
“We’re not even going to be friends.”
“Even better.”
“Why are you telling me all of this?” I ask. “I mean, he’s your best friend. Doesn’t that go against the bro code or something?”
He laughs, bu
t his eyes are serious. “I’ve been kind of watching you the last couple of weeks–”
“Totally not creepy or anything,” I cut in with a grin.
His smile is warm and inviting. “I just thought you seemed nice,” he explains. “I thought you should know what you’d be getting yourself into.”
A small smile touches my lips, despite my best efforts to stifle it. “Well, thank you,” I say. “But are you sure you don’t have some ulterior motive?”
He shrugs. “If you consider wanting to get to know you an ulterior motive, so be it,” he says. “Guilty as charged.”
My cheeks flush, and as I look at him closely, I can’t seem to find any sort of deception in his eyes. I like to think I’m a pretty good judge of character, able to cut through a person’s bullshit like a hot knife through butter. And from what I see, Owen is being completely sincere. It’s a thought that sends a current of warmth flowing through me.
“Mr. Maddox, please take your usual seat,” Ms. Brown calls out.
We both look up as our English teacher steps into the room to begin class for the day. Owen groans and rolls his eyes as he gets to his feet. Goth girl Marcy comes in right behind Ms. Brown and slumps into her seat, a scowl on her face. Owen flashes me one last smile before moving to his regular spot at the back of the classroom, leaving me with my heart turning somersaults and that delicious warmth spreading throughout my entire body.
Chapter Five
“Oh, I wish I could have seen Asher’s face when you left him standing there,” Bonnie muses, a smile on her face. “He’s not used to being put in his place like that.”
“Well, I didn’t really put him in his place,” I correct her.
“You didn’t drop your panties the second he spoke to you,” she points out. “That’s pretty much the same thing. That asshole is used to having girls drop to their knees the instant he snaps his fingers.”
A dark shadow crosses her face, no doubt recalling the fact that she was one of those girls. But then her expression brightens again as she seems to push the memories away. It’s lunchtime, and we’re sitting beneath a large, shady tree in a quiet corner of the quad. With music playing from some of the groups gathered around, shouting and laughing from others, and still other people running around playing grabass games, it’s loud. But it’s all so – normal. After having spent the last year living in a world where nothing seemed normal – where up was down and black was white – there’s really no way to express how much I appreciate something so normal and mundane.
“What do you think about Owen Maddox?” I venture.
She purses her lips, looking at me. “Why do you ask?”
I look down and smile, feeling the heat creeping into my cheeks again. I chew on my bottom lip as I think about those dark, soulful eyes and those gorgeous dimples of his, and curse myself for acting like such a vapid schoolgirl. I let out a long breath and tell her about my conversation with Owen, feeling more foolish with every syllable I utter.
She sighs. “You know he’s Asher’s best friend, right?”
“Yeah, he mentioned it.”
“I mean, he’s not as bad as Asher, but he’s still kind of a dick.”
“He seemed really nice.”
Bonnie rolls her eyes. “You said the same thing about Olivia, and that girl is evil incarnate.”
I laugh and shake my head. “But if Owen is so awful, why would he warn me about Asher?”
Bonnie pops a chip into her mouth and chews, watching me with an expression that lands somewhere between amusement and disdain.
“They’re best friends, but they’re also hyper-competitive with each other,” she says. “They’re always trying to one-up each other. At, like, everything. You’re obviously the new toy they’re going to fight over.”
She explains this like it’s the most obvious thing in the world, and I’m just some naïve bimbo fresh off the street who needs to have life and the universe explained to her. Granted, Bonnie knows more than I do about the social scene here in Sapphire Bay, but I’m not naïve, nor am I an idiot. I love Bonnie to death, but I don’t appreciate being spoken to like I’m a child.
“I see,” I reply coldly. “So, it couldn’t be that Owen actually likes me. It’s just that I’m some feather in his cap, right?”
Bonnie’s face falls and she offers me a weak smile. “I didn’t mean it like that–”
“Really? Because that’s exactly how it sounded.”
“Winter, I’m sorry,” she says. “I really didn’t mean it like that.”
“Then how did you mean it?”
I shouldn’t be so hard on Bonnie. I mean, I know she’s looking out for me. But sometimes, I think she lets her own issues with people color the advice she gives or the thoughts she puts into people’s heads. I understand that she was hurt and embarrassed, and that’s made her wary of people like Olivia and Asher. I get that. But so far as I know – and I know she would have told me – Owen’s done nothing to her. So, to her, his biggest crime is being friends with Asher.
Admittedly, you can sometimes tell a lot about a person by the company they keep. I get that. But it’s not always true. Just because Owen hangs out with Asher, it doesn’t mean they’re cut from the same cloth. If they were, and Owen was as big of an asshole as Bonnie believes Asher to be, why would he have warned me off his best friend in the first place? Why would he have told me his friend’s only interest in me is as a conquest?
Like I said, I’m a pretty good judge of character, and I just don’t see any of Asher’s traits in Owen.
“I just meant that I’ve seen them compete over girls before,” she tells me. “I’ve heard they make bets to see who can sleep with a girl first. It’s like a game to them.”
I sigh and pull on the end of my ponytail, doing my best to remind myself that Bonnie is just looking out for me – in her own way. I know she doesn’t want to see what happened to her happen to me, too. And I do appreciate that; it’s nice to have somebody looking out for me and having my back.
But it also makes me feel like she doesn’t think I’m smart or savvy enough to pick up on a line of bullshit when I hear it. Like she thinks I’m just this naïve idiot who’s gonna throw my panties at the first guy who smiles at me. It makes me feel like she’s pushing her own issues onto me and trying to resolve them at my expense. And I’ve got more than enough issues of my own, thank you very much.
“I just don’t want to see you get hurt like me or any of the other girls they’ve screwed over,” she finishes.
“And I appreciate that. But honestly, that was a couple of years ago, right? Is it possible they’ve grown up and matured a little since then? I mean, Asher told me he apologized to you–”
“Hardly,” she spits. “And besides, saying sorry doesn’t quite make up for what he did to me.”
She’s right. What he did can’t be forgotten about with a simple apology. I mean, with the violation she must have felt – still feels – I can understand why she so badly wants me to steer clear of these guys. In her mind, they’ll do to me what they did to her. But I’d rather give people the benefit of the doubt and believe them capable of growing and maturing. Though, I didn’t suffer the humiliation or degradation she did. Maybe I’d be singing a different tune if I had.
“I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves here, anyway,” I tell her. “I mean, we had one conversation. It’s not like he asked me to marry him or anything.”
“With those guys, it’s never just one conversation,” Bonnie retorts.
“Bonnie, let’s just drop this,” I suggest. “This is going nowhere.”
“I’m just trying to–”
“I know what you’re trying to do, and I appreciate you having my back. I really do,” I say. “I just – there’s no point in having this argument, since it’s not like this thing with Owen is going anywhere. It was one conversation. A brief conversation. So let’s just move on.”
Bonnie looks like she wants to continue arguing, but
apparently thinks better of it and closes her mouth, letting the topic drop. The air between us crackles with a tension we haven’t experienced since we first met, and I don’t like it. Bonnie is my best friend and I have no desire to fight with her. But at the same time, I’m not going to let her dictate my life or choose who my friends are.
“Can we call a truce?” I ask. “And not argue about hypotheticals?”
Slowly, she unclenches her jaw and some of the tension bleeds out of her face. But I can still see traces of her frustration with me – frustration that I won’t simply toss in with her and cut the people she doesn’t approve of out of my life for no other reason than she says so.
She sighs and nods. “Yeah. I don’t want to argue about this with you,” she agrees. “They’re not worth it.”
I reach over and take her hand, giving it a firm squeeze. “I won’t let anything come between us, Bonnie. You’re my friend and I love you.”
A small smile touches her lips, but it falters for a moment before she’s able to catch herself and put a little warmth into it. She doesn’t like the fact that I won’t swear these people off, but she can hopefully learn to let me live my own life and not hold it against me.
“I love you, too, Winter.”
Chapter Six
“Do you have plans tonight?” Olivia asks as she leans against the lockers next to mine and folds her arms over her chest, staring at me like a hawk circling above a small, plump field mouse.
“Actually, yeah, Bonnie and I–”
“Oh, good, so nothing important.” She beams. “Blow it off. You have new plans.”
“And why would I do that?”
Olivia rolls her eyes. “Because I told you to, that’s why. Duh.” She smiles again, whitened teeth sparkling. “Besides, whatever you have planned tonight can’t be better than what you’ll actually be doing.”
“Oh? And what’s that?”
She looks around cautiously, making sure nobody is close enough to overhear us. Then she leans close and lowers her voice to whisper conspiratorially.
“I’m taking you to a club tonight,” she tells me.