“What the hell kind of name is Halston?” he zings back.
I smile. “Touché.”
Our teacher passes out beakers and blue fluid and some form we’re supposed to work on together, but we’re not paying attention.
“I hope you’re good at chemistry,” I say, “because I’m not.”
“My dad’s a pharmacist,” he says. “Scientology runs in the family.”
“You did not just call it ‘scientology.’” I laugh, rolling my eyes.
“I’m messing with you.” He bumps his arm against mine, and I’m suddenly aware of his sweeping height and the faint, agreeable scent of his crisp cologne. “My dad’s a pharmacist. And I’m amazing at chemistry. You’ve just won the lottery of lab partners. Congratulations.”
I try not to pay attention to who’s who around here. I could give two shits about popularity or whether or not anyone likes me, but Thane Bennett is the guy who walks the halls of Rosefield High School with a dimpled smile, leaving throngs of swooning girls in his wake. He’s an all-star quarterback. The star forward on the basketball team. And last year, he broke three state records on the track team.
But more important than any of that, Thane Bennett is the love of Bree’s life. She’s been crushing on him since they were kids. I used to hear all about him when we could actually tolerate each other enough to endure a sleepover here or there. I’ll never forget her practically making out with his school picture, tongue and everything.
“Lucky me.” I wink.
Our hands brush when he reaches for the assignment sheet.
I feel him staring, but I pretend not to notice.
When the first half of the block is over and the bell rings, our teacher lets us take a five-minute break. Thane disappears, returning with two chocolate bars from one of the vending machines. He slides one in front of me.
“What’s this?” I inspect it before looking at him like he’s insane.
“I was hungry. Didn’t want to eat in front of you, so I got you one too.”
Popular, athletic, intelligent, and polite.
I suppose I see the appeal …
“You don’t have to do shit like this,” I say. “I feel like you’re trying to win me over or impress me or something.”
“And what if I am?” His mouth curls at the sides, accented with two centered dimples, and his messy, sandy brown hair falls in his crystalline blue eyes. “What if I think you’re pretty and funny? What if I want to ask you out?”
“Then I’d say you’re blind, deaf, delusional, and wasting your time.” I rip the wrapper of the chocolate bar, snapping off a tiny square and letting it melt on my tongue.
He’s undeterred, still wearing that panty-melting smile that works on all the other girls. Unfortunately for him, it doesn’t have the same effect on me.
“I’m taking you out Friday night,” he says.
I choke on my chocolate, sputtering and coughing into my elbow.
“You are, are you?” I finally manage to ask a minute later.
“I am.” He stands closer to me than before, so close his body heat merges with mine. Or maybe I’m imagining it because it suddenly got twenty degrees hotter in here.
This isn’t supposed to happen. Preppy, popular boys with dimples aren’t supposed to ask girls like me out, and girls like me aren’t supposed to get fucking butterflies in their stomachs over this kind of shit.
“I’ll check my schedule and get back to you,” I say.
“I’ll pick you up at six. We’ll do dinner. And a movie. And after that we can just hang out somewhere and talk.”
“Why?”
He scoffs, though his eyes are smiling. “Why what?”
“Why do you want to hang out with me?”
“I don’t want to hang out with you. I want to take you on a date,” he says. “And I want to take you on a date because I think you’re beautiful. And interesting. And different.”
“You’ve known me all of forty-five minutes.”
“So?”
“What if we go on a date and you try to kiss me and I knee you in the balls and then we’re stuck being lab partners for the next four months and it’s really fucking awkward?” I ask.
Thane chuckles. “What if we go on a date and have an incredible time and I get to spend the next four months being lab partners with my girlfriend and it’s really fucking amazing?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” I hold my hand up, backing away. “Slow your roll.”
“My bad.” He slips his hand around my wrist, pulling me back to our table. Our assignment is untouched, and glancing around, most everyone around us is nearly finished. “One step at a time. A date this Friday. Another one next Friday. And then I’ll take you to homecoming the weekend after that.”
I pretend to gag myself with my pointer finger. “Gross. I don’t do school dances.”
“Then we’ll just do something else that night.”
My scrutinizing stare flicks to him. He can’t be serious. “But you’re probably going to be in the homecoming court and all that. And you’re playing in the game. You can’t not go.”
Thane shrugs. “I don’t need a stupid crown. I’ll take myself out of the running. And the game is Friday, the dance is Saturday. I’ll still play.”
“I have an extremely hard time believing you don’t have some ulterior motive right now,” I say. “Did you and your football buddies make some kind of wager? See who can snag me first?”
“Football buddies?” He laughs. “And no. No wager.”
“That’s exactly what someone who made a wager would say.”
“Halston and Thane.” Our teacher, Mr. Caldwell, clears his throat, standing in front of our table, the buttons of his shirt about to pop. “Let’s stay on task or I’ll be reassigning both of you to different partners first thing tomorrow.”
Thane reaches for a beaker, measuring out fifty milliliters. I have no idea what we’re supposed to do, but I grab a pen and try to look busy until Caldwell waddles away. As soon as his back is turned, we exchange looks and bite our lips to keep from laughing.
Thirty minutes later, the final bell rings.
“You want me to walk you to your car?” Thane asks as I load my notebook in my bag.
“I don’t have one, but if I did, my answer would be no.” I walk away, he follows.
This nicey-nice stuff is weirding me out. I’m not used to it. I don’t know how to accept it with grace and a giddy smile like all the other girls. No one’s ever been this sweet to me before.
“How do you get home from school? You take the bus?” he asks, walking beside me in the hall. Everyone who passes stares at the two of us like we’re some kind of spectacle. This time tomorrow, the whole school is going to know Thane Bennett has a thing for the new girl, I’ll suddenly be cool by association, and I still won’t give a flying fuck.
“God, no,” I say. “I ride with my cousin.”
“What if I drove you home today?”
“Stop.” We stop in the middle of the hallway, two rocks in the middle of a stream of people, all of them moving around us. “I get it. You think you like me. But you’re coming on way too strong.”
Thane offers a lust-drunk half-smile. “Sorry, Halston. I’m not usually like this. I just … really want to be around you for some reason.”
“No, thanks.” I keep walking. He follows. My rejection of his offer doesn’t faze him in the slightest. “What are you doing?”
“It’s just a ride,” he says. “You act like I’m asking you to marry me or something. I just think you’re cool. Want to get to know you, is all.”
Exhaling, I think of Bree and how much she likes Thane. How much it would irk her to know he’s showing interest in me: her insubordinate, ne’er do well cousin.
“Fine. You can give me a ride home.” I try to pretend like I’m not thrilled, but the idea of rubbing this in Bree’s face pleases me to no end. “But only because I feel sorry for you.”
He chuckles. �
��Sorry for me?”
“Yeah.” My gaze flicks onto his. “This whole lost puppy thing is kind of sad. You must be really lonely.”
I pretend I don’t know he’s the most popular boy in school, his smile capable of melting even the coldest of panties. Except for mine. Of course.
Following Thane to his locker so he can grab his bag, I compose a quick text and send it to Bree, hearts and all:
DON’T WAIT FOR ME. GETTING A RIDE WITH THANE BENNETT!!! <3 <3 <3
Fuck that bitch.
Chapter 23
Ford
“Principal Hawthorne?” Bree stands in my doorway after school on Wednesday.
“Yes?” I try to hide my disdain for this girl, but I’m sure my face has given away all my cards.
“You have a second?”
The coy, coquettish act doesn’t fool me. This girl would still be throwing herself at me had I not nipped it in the bud a few weeks back.
I motion for her to come in, and she takes the chair across from me.
“As senior class president, we’re going to be working closely together this school year. I chair a lot of committees, and my goal is to implement at least ten new policies this year, which you will have to sign off on.”
“All right.” I fold my hands across my desk, my bored gaze drifting out the window to my right where throngs of students make their way to the parking lot like a herd of sheep, only the moment I see Halston standing next to another student, I can’t pay attention to a word Bree is saying.
The other student, a tall, athletic type with sandy hair and the kind of smug smirk that tells me he’s used to getting whatever he wants, puts his arm around her, pulling her against him.
She laughs, pushing him away before pretending to hit his arm.
I know his type.
I know his tricks.
Hell, back in high school, I was him.
“Principal, are you listening?” Bree asks, frowning.
“Yes,” I lie.
“Then what did I just say?”
For fuck’s sake.
Bree whips around, staring out the window just in time to see Halston walk off with the boy.
“Oh, yeah.” She rolls her eyes. “Thane Bennett asked my cousin on a date. He just wants to use her for sex.”
“Excuse me?”
Turning to face me, Bree shrugs. “He uses everyone for sex. Everyone knows that. He’s already slept with half the school.”
My jaw tenses. “You should warn her.”
She scoffs. “Not going to waste my breath. Halston doesn’t listen to anyone. And she’s probably only hanging out with him to get back at me.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Why are you so interested in our girl drama?” Her face is pinched, confused. “Can we get back to talking about committees? Specifically, the homecoming committee? Since the dance is in three weeks?”
“Right. Continue.”
“Okay, so I’m going to have a sign-up sheet posted on the …”
I tune her out again, watching as Halston and Thane disappear behind a row of waxy, shiny imports.
God help him if he so much as thinks about using her.
She’s been used her whole life.
I refuse to sit back and let it happen again.
Chapter 24
Halston
He’s a good kisser.
Too good, if I’m being honest.
I try not to think about how many girls his tongue has tasted before, how many Victoria’s Secret-covered tits and asses he’s groped and grabbed because the girls at our school seem to sacrifice themselves to him willingly and without question.
I try not to think about anything at all.
Crammed in the backseat of Thane’s BMW on a Friday night, my legs straddle his lap and my shirt is somewhere in the front seat. We’re in the middle of some barren cornfield outside of town, the moon gleaming through the sunroof above us as some California punk pop band plays from his speakers.
Aunt Tab and Uncle Vic think I’m staying the night with Emily, who just so happens to be out of town this weekend and is none the wiser. Thane’s parents think he’s staying the night with one of his friends. We were going to camp out here tonight, under the stars, talking and listening to music.
It was supposed to be innocent. Just “hanging out” as he kept calling it. But flirting at dinner turned into handholding at the movies and when he started kissing me out here twenty minutes ago, I found myself actually enjoying it, enjoying the distraction from my everyday life, and somehow, we’ve migrated to the backseat.
My hips grind against his, his hardness straining against his jeans.
I’m wet and aching, but I’m not going to fuck him.
Yet, at least.
If he wants this, he’s going to have to work for it.
I may be a lot of things, but easy isn’t one of them.
Thane’s hands are in my hair, his soft lips working mine. If I grind hard enough, fast enough, I might be able to make myself cum.
“You’re so fucking hot,” he whispers, his mouth grazing mine before traveling lower. He presses hot kisses into my neck, his hands traveling to my breasts, untucking them from the silky cups of my satin bra. Thane takes a nipple in his mouth, gently dragging his teeth across the swollen bud. “I can’t wait to fuck you, Halston.”
“You’re going to have to,” I whisper, smirking in the dark, my hands draped over his broad shoulders. If he’s this big and built for an eighteen-year-old, I can only imagine what he’s packing below.
“I don’t know if I can,” he moans. “You’re so sexy I can hardly stand it.” He kisses me, running his thumb across my bottom lip, our eyes meeting. “Your mouth. This bangin’ body.”
“A week ago, you didn’t know I existed,” I say, my words breathy and playful. “I think you can wait a little while longer.”
His hands grip my hips, pressing me against him as he rocks our bodies, teasing me with the promise of a rock-hard cock.
“You keep putting up walls, and I keep tearing them down. I’ll tear this one down, too. Just watch,” he says, smirking. “You like me. And you don’t want to wait any more than I do.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, Thane Bennett.” I bury my face in his shoulder so he can’t see me smile. We’ve spent the better part of the week doing more flirting than chemistry assignments, and when he takes me home after school, he takes the long way so we can talk.
Every part of me has no intentions of liking him.
Yet it’s happening anyway.
And there’s not a damn thing I can do to stop it.
“I like when you say that,” he moans, gripping my ass.
“Say what?”
“My whole name,” he says, “like you just did.”
I laugh. “Thane Bennett?”
“Yeah.” He cups my chin, kissing me again. “You should practice. You’re going to be saying it a lot.”
Chuckling, I shake my head. “I don’t say anyone’s name during sex, and if I did, it sure as hell wouldn’t be their full name.”
I ponder, for a second, the possibility that Thane gets off on girls going gaga for him, on his name being synonymous with popularity and good looks. Thane Bennett is practically a household name at Rosefield. A brand with an air of exclusivity.
He’s completely lost touch with reality.
“I think you’ve let your popularity go to your head,” I say, leaning back as much as I can. His lips are still parted, his eyes half open.
“What are you talking about?”
“I couldn’t give two shits about how many girls want to date you or how many passes you caught at the last game,” I say. “If I let you fuck me, it’ll be because I like you. And I mean you. Not Thane Bennett, you.”
I expect his face to light. I expect to see some kind of sign, an acknowledgement that this is a good thing, a realization that I’m not like most girls.
Instead, he exhales, running his palms
up and down his face and groaning.
“Well, shit.” Thane sighs, turning his head toward one of the back windows and refusing to look at me. His hands rest useless at his sides, like he’s done touching me.
“I’m more work than you thought I was going to be, huh?”
His hands slide down my lower back as he pulls my hips harder against his, pinning me to him. “Don’t be like this. Come on. We’re having a good time.”
My palms flatten against his chest, and I try to push myself off of him, but he’s too strong. He won’t let me go. The second his grip loosens, it travels to the straps of my bra, tugging them down my shoulders. I try to yank them from his fingers, only he won’t let go and one of them snaps and breaks.
“Oh, shit.” Thane’s eyes study mine as he waits for my reaction.
Saying nothing, I climb over his console and into the front seat, searching in the dark for my shirt. I’m leaving.
“What are you doing?” he asks.
“Take me home.” I’m a fucking moron. “I actually believed for four straight days that you were into me.”
“What are you talking about? I am into you.”
If he truly liked me, he’d have taken my hands in his, kissed me, and said he’d wait until I was ready. Guess the whole gentleman shtick was nothing more than a ruse.
“No. You brought me out here because you thought I was going to fuck you, and the second I said I wasn’t, you got all pissy about it. So, take me fucking home.”
“What did you think we were going to do, Halston, huh? You and me, alone, out here? You didn’t think it was going to come to this?”
“Shameless.” My arms tighten across my chest. “You’re a real fucking winner.”
“Stop overreacting.”
“I’m not overreacting. I’m over you.” I say, pulling my shirt over my head.
He’s still in the backseat, cozied up in the middle and not so much as moving an inch.
“You going to drive me home or what?” I ask.
“Your aunt and uncle think you’re staying at Emily’s,” he says. “What are you going to tell them?”
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