What she couldn’t understand was why this was happening with Beckett. She didn’t even like him. All she knew was she had to keep away from him. Nothing like that could happen again. Determinedly she put her eyes on the book, ignored her achy body, and buried the burning kiss in the back of her head.
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Chapter 10
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At precisely 7:29 am, Greer slid into the passenger seat of the running truck, buckled up, and stared straight ahead. She felt Beckett’s probing stare dig under her skin but refused to look. Beckett had made it more than clear they were not going to be friends, so there was no reason to make nice with him.
Last night’s kiss had thrown her off-kilter. It had been on a continuous loop in her head all night. In the early morning hours, she came to the conclusion he had kissed her to shut her up. To her utter shame and mortification, it had worked. She was not going to put herself in that position again. And she was still confused about why he had decided to tell everyone they were living together.
The closer they got to school the thicker the tension became. Every time they stopped, she felt his stare. It took all she had to not burst out with ‘WHAT?’ or ‘STOP looking at me!’.
She was determined not to let him get under her skin. Being in close quarters with Beckett would be the hardest thing to endure all day. There was nowhere to escape. At least at school she could walk away from the whispers.
Her assumption that being confined with Beckett would be the hardest part of her day was tested as soon his truck entered Oak High’s parking lot. Every head, and no she wasn’t exaggerating, turned as soon as the distinctive truck rolled by. Her shoulders were slowing inching closer to her ears and her heart started racing. And where did Beckett park? In the middle of the lot where the truck acted as a magnet. The groups loitering around started drifting closer, not even hiding their gawking.
Beckett opening his door drew her from her dread and she reached down to get her backpack. When her door opened, she looked over in confusion and found herself face to face with Beckett. Her breathing stuttered and her mind went right to the kiss. Quickly, she lowered her head.
Still holding the door, Beckett stepped back and Greer reluctantly slid down to face the masses. She hid behind the bulk that was Beckett as he shut the door and turned to greet the guys approaching him.
Praying she would disappear through one of the cracks she gripped the backpack thrown over her shoulder and took a couple of steps back and prepared to make a hasty retreat. She was about ready to turn and walk away, when someone greeted her, “Morning Greer.”
“Mark, hi!” Her greeting was too enthusiastic, but she was relieved that she knew who was talking to her. He had sat with her and Pepper at lunch yesterday and had made her feel at ease.
Mark’s blonde hair glittered in the sunlight and his blue eyes laughed at her, but she didn’t care. “Trying to find a way to escape?”
She totally was. “Why would you say that?” She thought it was a calm, cool reply until Mark burst into laughter.
Mark swung his arm around her shoulders and teased her as he led her away. “I don’t know, Greer. It might be the whiteness in your face and your frantic gaze.”
She glanced over her shoulder and caught Beckett’s thundercloud face and she hastily looked away. She could not deal with what that was about. As soon as she and Mark got to the edge of the parking lot, she shrugged his hand off her. She appreciated the rescue, but she didn’t need any more gossip. Mark continued to walk beside her, and the easy silence allowed her to regain her equilibrium.
“Thanks, Mark.”
He inclined his head and continued to stroll next to her. “There is a way you can repay me.”
She tensed and Mark chuckled, “Greer, get your mind out of the gutter. There are holes burning in my back as we speak. Beckett would literally beat the shit out of me if I so much as laid a hand on you.”
There were so many thoughts whirling in her stunned mind after that unbelievable statement, she wasn’t even sure what to ask first. She was not ready to address why he thought Beckett cared if they walked together.
“What do you want?”
“Pepper’s number.”
She grinned. “Couldn’t get it yourself, huh?”
He grinned back. “She told me if I wanted it bad enough, I would figure out a way to get it.”
That sounded like Pepper, and she did owe Mark, so she gave it to him. When she saw the object of their conversation strolling toward the door, Greer decided to help him out some more.
“Pepper!”
Pepper bounded over and started in on Greer. “You and I need to have a serious talk. We are girls which means our phones are glued to us. I texted and called all last night and you never responded.”
She did owe her only friend in this place an explanation. First, she wanted to give Mark some alone time with Pepper. “We’ll talk at lunch, right now I need to go.”
She turned, put her earbuds in, and made her way to class. Two minutes later she was wishing she had stayed with Pepper and Mark. At least she would have had a buffer.
The stares weren’t just curious—they were probing and antagonistic. She wasn’t sure how she had gone from a nobody to someone to hate overnight, but she wasn’t imagining it. Her sixth sense had kicked in and when she casually looked around, she was stunned at animosity coming from the ice-blue gaze of the cheerleader. It was the same one that had been by Brittany when she had ‘politely’ introduced herself. Her hate was obvious as she sneered and looked down and then back up. Greer swore she could hear the girl scoffing in her head. Greer looked straight ahead and scurried away.
With each class, she pretended not to notice the guys leering gazes or the girls’ sneers. She walked as fast as she could without appearing to rush. Her eyes looked straight ahead, but not directly at anyone.
Her breaking point was when she walked by a group of cheerleaders and heard ‘the pitiful bitch has no clue’ and the laughter that followed. Greer could swear she felt that the same vindictive gaze from earlier, but she didn’t have the guts to look. She rapidly blinked to clear her gaze and moved on. Her body was wearing out from pretending to be oblivious. She wasn’t sure if she could make it through the rest of the day. Luckily, she was headed to lunch and her one ally would be there.
All she wanted to do was get a soda, sit at her corner table with Pepper, and try to disappear for at least thirty minutes. Thankfully, she and Pepper arrived at the Dining Hall at the same time. As they made their way through a line for food, Greer blissfully listened while Pepper complained about her Calculus teacher.
“One person didn’t turn their homework in. As a consequence, we all had to take a pop quiz. All of us were punished for one idiotic person.”
It felt so good to have a normal conversation and Greer eagerly listened to every word Pepper had to say. She still felt the weighted stares, but someone was here enduring it with her. Pepper kept rambling while they paid for their lunch. When they paused at the entry to the dining room, Greer knew she wasn’t the only one feeling watched.
“Jeez, these people need a life. So, you are living with Beckett Dawson, get over it. It’s not like you are married.”
Greer breathed a sigh of relief when they started moving toward an empty table. Her relief fell away when Pepper reminded her.
“Don’t think I’ve forgotten you owe me an explanation.”
Greer’s shoulder’s dipped. She did owe Pepper an explanation, but she had hoped for one period she didn’t have to keep living her current nightmare. They were almost to their destination when someone started yelling at them.
“Pepper, Greer, come sit with us.”
Mark was waving them over to the football table in the middle of the room. She cast her panicked eyes to Pepper who was looking at her with pleading eyes. “Please Greer. I know the last thing you want is to s
it with them, but I think Mark is going to ask me out.”
With knots forming in her stomach, Greer reluctantly agreed. The only thing worse than sitting in the middle of the cafeteria with the football team, was sitting by herself.
“Okay, but now you owe me.”
Pepper gripped her elbow in excitement. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
They sat at the end of a long string of tables pushed together. Pepper was quick to sit across from Mark, which left her at the end. Jason was across from her and greeted her with a big smile.
“Greer, good to dine with you again.”
She couldn’t help but smile back at Jason. He was easygoing and had a familiar, friendly face. Greer inclined her head and played along. “You as well Mr. Rodriguez. Since we both have such fine tastes, I presume we will keep running into each other.”
Jason looked down at his plate of fries and burger and then at her plate, which was the same. They looked at each other and burst out laughing. As she was looking up, she collided with Beckett’s frosty bronze eyes and her laugh cut off as her heart dropped to her stomach.
She grabbed the bottled water in front of her and took a long drink to gather her equilibrium. The entire school had either been looking at her with deepening scrutiny or disgust the whole day, but Beckett’s hostility was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
She really needed to leave the Dining Hall before she lost her crumbling composure. But she wasn’t going to give Beckett the satisfaction of knowing he affected her. When her now unappealing lunch was done, she would escape.
She was busy chewing, trying to get her burger small enough to swallow past the lump in her throat when Jason leaned forward.
“He’s an ass, Greer. Just ignore him.”
She couldn’t stop her eyes from widening. Someone was actually talking against the great Beckett Dawson. She wasn’t sure how to respond, so she gave a quick jerk of her head in acknowledgment.
Jason made small talk and Greer responded with limited syllables. She couldn’t shake the weight of Beckett’s glare and anger radiating down the table. Greer focused on forcing as much of her burger down as she could.
There was ten minutes of lunch left and Greer couldn’t take it anymore. The longer lunch went on, the harder Beckett stared, and the more fiercely people started whispering. Pepper was flirting with Mark as Greer nudged Pepper’s shoulder. Greer’s composure was crumbling, and she didn’t want to break down in the dining room, so she made sure to keep her face averted.
“I’m going to head to the bathroom before class. I’ll see you later.”
From the corner of her eye, Greer saw Pepper look at her curiously. Before Pepper could say anything, Greer got up and walked as calmly as she could to the bathroom, which was unbelievably fancy for a school bathroom.
There were two separate rooms as part of the bathroom. Greer had never actually seen anything like it, well she had if TV counted. The first time she walked in she had stopped and looked down. Her feet were cushioned with a soft, short-napped grey carpet. Along one wall were mirrors with lights, and stools to sit down. In the middle of the room, there were four, club, black leather chairs facing each other, with a square coffee table as the centerpiece.
Greer walked through the ante-bathroom—for once, immune to its opulence. Cautiously she pushed the door that took you through to the stalls and sinks. After a sweeping glance she let out a relieved breath. Finally, luck was on her side. There wasn’t anyone in either room. She walked to the furthest stall, locked the door, and sat down. She sank down onto the toilet seat, cradled her head with her hands, and let her body slump. The blissful silence with no one staring calmed her.
At her old school, Greer had not been popular, nor was she considered a loser. She, Lexi, and Jenn lived in their own world. There was no one judging them. Greer was pretty sure most of the students at Public didn’t even know her name. They would probably recognize her face, but no one gave her a passing thought. She missed that.
Her safe bubble burst when she heard the door from the ante-room opening. She followed the clicking of the shoes and tensed when shiny, black leather, high heeled boots stepped in front of her stall.
Greer waited a couple of strong heartbeats for them to realize she was in this stall. She lowered her arms from her face and waited. When they didn’t make an attempt to push the door open and the boots just stood in place, Greer cautiously said, “Someone’s in here.”
“I know, bitch.” The insult was delivered calmly.
Greer straightened up and the hairs on her arms rose as the ice-cold voice continued.
“Beckett belongs with an Oak High Girl. He needs a woman to represent his status and wealth. You and your deprived, ugly ass need to stay away from him.”
The black heel boot girl calmly turned and walked out. Greer was dimly aware of the murmurs from the ante-room and then the outer door opening to the hall. She tried swallowing to ease the ache in her throat while replaying what had just happened. Tears started forming.
The silence was no longer comforting, it was eerie. Greer stretched her ears, making sure the threat was gone. Slowly, she reached her shaking fingers forward to unlock her stall. On autopilot, she scurried to the outer door.
As soon as she stepped into the hall, she felt the eyes on her, and she squeezed her backpack to her chest. Her eyes darted around trying to find the threat. She wasn’t sure what she would do if she found one, but it suddenly became important to be aware of her surroundings instead of ignoring everything and everyone around her.
The need to leave school was strong, but there was nowhere to go, and no way to get there. She didn’t have a car, but she could walk to the bus stop. The flaring hope was squashed when she realized Vivian would be notified if she skipped. Her mind searched for another way out, but nothing came to her.
When she got to Calculus, she took her seat in the back corner and scanned the floor for black boots. At least half of the girls were wearing black boots and she knew there was going to be no way to actually know who had sought her out in the bathroom. She shut her eyes trying to recall more details of the boots, but the chilling words crept in and she was reliving the moment all over again.
A touch on her hand made her jump, but she swallowed the yelp. Her eyes jerked open to be met with concerned grey ones.
“Are you okay?” It was Evan, a member of the football team, whispering to her.
She forced a smile. The last thing she needed was more rumors being spread about her. “I’m fine, just a little headache.” She brought her attention to the teacher, dismissing the concern from Evan.
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Chapter 11
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“Dude, Greer was acting strangely in Calculus.”
Evan, a defensive back on the football team, said as soon as he slid into a seat next to Beckett.
“What do you mean, strange?” Beckett pulled his attention away from Instagram and turned to Evan who continued in a low voice.
“Well, she was really pale. I thought she was going to be sick, and her eyes were darting around the room the entire class.”
Beckett put his phone down. Evan’s obvious struggle for words made him prompt. “Did you talk to her?”
“When I asked her if she was okay, she jumped, and said yes,” Evan paused until Beckett was about ready to hit him to get him to spit out what was obviously on his mind. “It was like she was under duress when she said it. I didn’t talk to her anymore because Mr. Larson started class, but I watched her. The whole time she would be weirdly focused on Mr. Larson and then she would frantically look at any little noise.”
Beckett turned back to his phone, but his mind was dissecting what Evan had said. It sounded like Greer was scared, but that couldn’t be right. He had tried his damnedest to intimidate her, but she never backed down and she never got scared.
As much as she tried t
o hide it, he knew he got under her skin. His blood raced thinking what a rush it was to get her to lose her cool. Every time she drew in a deep breath, narrowed her eyes, or bit her cheek his blood fired up.
He loved the banked fire in her when he pissed her off. Something in him was drawn to see what it would take to make her completely lose it. If the one kiss they shared was any indication, she would blow the lid off of any other lay he’d had. As a double bonus, if he got her in his bed, she might start to show her true colors. If she was like every other chick it would be to flaunt his name and push him to buy her stuff.
Beckett brought his wandering thoughts back and focused on the last time he had seen Greer. It had been at lunch. She had been busy flirting with his crew while pretending to ignore him. Eventually, she seemed to understand the depth of his anger. She had grown quiet and scurried away, but she’d never been scared.
Beckett paused in his careless scrolling and brought up his texts. He was sure he could come up with something to piss her off. See if he got a heated come back. He stopped and cursed when he realized Greer had never texted him her number.
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His new family, Beckett snorted internally at the thought, sat at a round table in the breakfast nook. Beckett had placed his chair strategically across from Greer. He dug into the spaghetti and waited for the usual questions.
Sure enough, his dad asked, “How was your day, Greer?”
Beckett watched her carefully. There was a shadow in her eyes before she answered brightly, too brightly. “Fine.”
She lowered her eyes and started swirling spaghetti on her fork. The fork stilled when Vivian asked, “You seemed quiet in the car. Everything okay?”
The fork started moving again and Greer kept her eyes on it and replied with an overly high pitch. “It’s good, Mom.”
She was a shit liar. Vivian looked at David, worry evident on her face. David then turned to him with eyebrows raised.
Battling Beckett Page 7