Feisty: A High School Bully Romance (Midpark High Book 1)

by Candace Wondrak

  I took another bite of the hot dog. It wouldn’t be overly filling, but it would be enough. “I’m worried that my mom has been lying to me.”

  Whoa. Not sure why the hell I felt comfortable telling Jacob that, but…well, once it was out, it was too late to take it back.

  “Lying to you about what?” he asked, running a hand through his hair. The gesture made me glance at his arm muscles perhaps a bit too long. It was easy to ogle this man. Too easy.

  “My dad,” I said. “My whole life she told me she didn’t know who he was. Even on my birth certificate, there’s no name.” Another bite of the hot dog, my mind racing. With the hot dog settling in my belly, I was starting to feel better. “But tonight, we sort of got into it. She didn’t want me to go to the party.”

  “For good reason, apparently,” Jacob muttered, stretching his arms out on the back cushions of the couch. If I leaned back, I’d touch his arm.

  No leaning back, then.

  “You don’t understand,” I said, shooting him a look. “I’m not allowed to date. She didn’t like it when I slept over friends’ houses. Ninety percent of the time, they had to come over our house. She’s always been so controlling—”

  “That’s how parents are supposed to be.”

  “No, not that much. I’m eighteen years old. If I want to date, if I want to go to a party, I should be able to—though tonight’s party doesn’t really prove my point.” I shifted in my seat, setting down the butt end of the hot dog onto the plate. Granted, technically both ends of hot dogs were the same, but in my head, the leftover end was the butt end, and I never ate it. Letting out a sigh, I said, “Anyways, tonight, she slipped up. She told me I looked a lot like my dad.”

  Jacob, ever the investigator, put it together quickly: “So she’s known all along who your dad was. She just kept it to herself all these years.”

  Even though it was probably a mistake, I leaned back. His arm grazed my neck, but I acted as though I couldn’t feel it, like it didn’t bother me. It did. It bothered me in a way it shouldn’t. That arm…I wouldn’t mind having it wrap around me. In fact, tonight of all nights, I could really just use a hug.

  “Why would she do that?” I asked a man who would have no answers for me. Jacob was a PI, but he couldn’t figure out the answers to everything. He was no all-knowing man. I was asking the wrong guy.

  He was silent for a while, pensive. “Maybe she kept him from you because she knew he wouldn’t be a good father to you. Maybe he’d be a bad influence, or maybe she wanted to protect you from him.”

  I listened to what he said, the underlying message of his words. “So you think my dad could be…a bad guy?”

  “You never know.”

  My shoulders slumped, and I muttered, “That sucks, if it’s true.” My eyes turned down, and I stared at the backs of my hands, slowly turning them to view my palms. My fingerprints. What made me me.

  I acted a bit rash at times. Occasionally my temper got the best of me. What if all of my bad traits were from him? What if Jacob was right and my dad was not a good man? If, all these years, Mom kept me under her wing because she was afraid I’d turn out like him? After all, it wasn’t too long ago that I stood in Jacob’s shower, swearing vengeance on every person at that party.

  “No matter who your father is, you’re still you,” Jacob told me. “You’re who you make yourself out to be, not whose blood runs in those veins.” A weird thing to say, but it made me feel a bit better anyway.

  I let out a sigh, turning my head towards him. With his arm behind me, he sat so close. I didn’t want to talk about my dad or my mom anymore. I didn’t want to talk about me at all. After everything I’d told him, I felt like he knew too much about me. He knew too much about Jazmine Smith, but what did I really know about him besides his name and his job?

  “What happened with you and the MPD?” A cool way of saying Midpark Police Department. I felt like I was on a TV show, talking like that. “You have police experience, but you’re young. Why aren’t you still with them?”

  Jacob frowned—luckily this frown was not sent to me. He didn’t look bad when he frowned or scowled, much to my chagrin. I shouldn’t be attracted to this man at all. There should be no warmth blossoming in my gut as I watched him frown. “That’s…a long story.”

  I leaned all the way back, my shoulder blades touching the arm behind me, kicking up my feet and resting them on the corner of the coffee table. He didn’t move away from my touch, and I instantly found that reassuring. Grinning, I said, “I’ve got the time tonight, you know. It isn’t like I have anywhere else to be.”

  Now the frown turned to me, though he didn’t pull away. “I’d rather not talk about it. They’re not good memories.” Jacob liked to keep his emotions close to his chest, clearly. He didn’t like expressing them or letting anyone else know what he was feeling.

  I couldn’t say why, but I wanted to pry Jacob open and see what lied inside. I wanted to see what made him tick, know his thoughts, know more about him.

  Still smiling at him, I started to shake my head.

  His brows furrowed, and he harrumphed, sounding particularly grumpy, “What?” Jacob didn’t like me laughing at him, or even smiling at him.

  “You’re…” I trailed off, unsure how I wanted to say it. “A strange guy.” When he gave me a glower, I added, “Not that it’s a bad thing. It’s not. I just…I want to know more about you, I guess.” I shrugged, moving my legs so they tucked under my ass instead, leaning more towards him.

  “There’s nothing to know.”

  Somehow, I knew he was lying, so I kept grinning.

  “Stop smiling at me like that,” Jacob hissed, the lines under his stubble deepening as he scowled even more. He looked like the epitome of the grumpy loner who didn’t want to be a part of any group, and yet constantly found himself in the middle of things anyway.

  I tilted my head, my wet hair falling over my shoulder. “Why? Does it bother you, Jacob Hall?” I found myself biting my lower lip as I waited for his answer. The more I looked at him, the more I liked him.

  “Yes.”

  Inching closer to him, I whispered, “Why?” Still wore the smile, too. Jacob was a nice distraction from what happened earlier, from the headache pounding away in my skull.

  “Because,” he spoke quickly, gruffly, “you’re…” He said nothing else, letting out a long, hard sigh. From seeing him work out, I knew his sighs weren’t the only hard part of him. All that muscle, all that sweat.

  “I’m what?” I asked, less than three inches from his shoulder, from touching him. I shouldn’t…but I wanted to. I wanted to feel those arms around me again, now that I was not completely out of it as I was earlier. Now that I could close my eyes and lose myself in the feeling of strong, protective arms around me. I could appreciate them so much better now.

  “You’re you,” he muttered.

  The simple answer made my heart speed up. I was me. Well, of course I was me, but there had to be more to it. He had to mean it differently.

  “Is that bad?” I asked, the smile slowly disappearing as I stared at him.

  “Yes.”

  The word should’ve cut me like a knife, but the way he said it, the expression his face wore, I knew he meant the opposite. “Then let me apologize, because I just can’t help it,” I told him. Before I knew what I was doing, I leaned into him. Not to kiss him or anything, but to his chest, his wide, solid, strong chest. With my nose turned in slightly toward the fabric, I could smell his sweat. I could smell him.

  I could get used to a smell like that.

  Jacob’s body tensed, and I knew he thought about getting up and walking away. I set a hand on his abdomen, recalling the scar I’d seen. “What are you doing?” Jacob asked, sounding…confused? Anxious? Some kind of conflicted emotion.

  “Nothing,” I whispered against his chest. With an ear against him, I heard a low rumble in his chest, almost like a growl. He was practically a stranger to me, and yet…I felt
some kind of connection with him. And, by God, I wanted that arm wrapped around me, holding me.

  Strange as it was, I wanted to use Jacob’s presence to help make me feel better. Was that wrong of me?

  And then, like a miracle, the arm that rested on the back cushions of the couch moved, curling around me, holding me to him, keeping me rooted in place, as if he was scared I’d change my mind and get up.

  “You should stop,” Jacob whispered, his tense posture relaxing. His words and his body were clearly on two different pages here, and I was too happy to feel his arm around me to complain or worry.

  I shouldn’t trust him, but like I’d said earlier, if he was going to take advantage of me, he would’ve done it already. We wouldn’t even be in the position we were in if it wasn’t for me. He wouldn’t have made any moves; Jacob Hall was content to hold me at arm’s length. Literally, minus the hold part.

  Except now, apparently, because with the way his arm felt around me, it didn’t feel as if he’d be letting me go anytime soon, even though he’d told me I should stop.

  I let out a soft sigh, closing my eyes. It wasn’t the most comfortable position I’d ever been in, but it was one of the best I’d been in recently. I’d take this over a lot of things, even if it meant I’d have to deal with Jacob’s grumpiness.

  “You’re not a bad guy, Jacob,” I murmured, feeling so relaxed I could fall asleep right on his chest, with his arm around me. The pain in my head dulled down, a sudden drowsiness overtaking me. Everything, combined with the heat from his chest, made me fall asleep.

  The funny thing was, I could’ve sworn I heard Jacob mutter “You’re wrong” before I was out.

  Mom was pissed when I got back, but that was expected. She was glad I was safe, and I was, too. She did not understand why I wore someone else’s clothes, let alone a guy’s, but I told her—swore up and down—that nothing happened. Nothing between me and anyone.

  I did totally fall asleep on Jacob’s chest, even drooled on him a little, but she didn’t need to know that. I’d woken up a few hours later, jerking myself awake to find that Jacob had fallen asleep too.

  The most bizarre thing was, Jacob looked so peaceful when he was sleeping. So unlike how he was when he was awake.

  But, anyway, Mom was upset with me, and to placate her, I told her no more parties for a long time. That was a promise, although I didn’t exactly promise it to her. She didn’t need to know the truth about what happened, and she didn’t need to know the vengeful thoughts in my head.

  Archer, Brittany, her crew…I’d get them back. I would plan all day every day if I had to, until I had a plan so perfect and devious that I’d surprise even myself with it. They wouldn’t know what hit them.

  I didn’t ask Mom about Dad the rest of the weekend, too lost in my own thoughts. I didn’t forget what had been said, didn’t forget what it all meant, but I’d let it slide until Archer and Brittany were dealt with. Once I could focus all of my energy on Dad and the truth, I would bring him up again to her. But for now, the topic was as good as dead at the Smith’s dinner table.

  Not that it was our dinner table. It was Ollie’s.

  By the time school came on Monday, I had the beginnings of a plan formulated in my head. I might need some help, but I was sure if I talked to Bobbi about it, she’d help. It didn’t sound like she was a huge fan of Brittany and her crew. I wasn’t particularly ready to return to school, but alas, there was nothing I could do. I had to face the music, as it was.

  And so it shall be. The music would be faced, only the music that followed me the next Monday morning was dark.

  Things around here were going to get worse before they got better.

  Chapter Twenty-Four – Dante

  When I promised Skull something, I would do anything to follow through. Anything. Most guys in the gang would say the same, but I was one of the few who meant it. I would die for him if I had to. But the job I had now was so much better than that.

  It’d taken a while, but I’d found her. I’d found her, watched her, kept an eye on her even though he didn’t want me stalking her. Once she turned eighteen though, she officially became an adult. She would have to choose, and if I had any say in it, she’d make the right choice. I wouldn’t let her make the wrong one.

  I didn’t know her well, but watching someone from afar, you could learn a lot. Their likes, their dislikes, what they did when they were faced with a person who they didn’t like…and a person they liked a bit too much.

  I stood back even when I should’ve intervened. I was there the whole time, watching it all unfold. I even followed her and her savior to his apartment. What happened Friday had been the last straw. Skull hadn’t given me permission to do what I was about to do, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t sit back and let her make all of these mistakes when her true future was still unknown to her.

  The weather had warmed yesterday. Still a bit cool to ride a bike, but there was no snow and the skies were clear.

  And I didn’t mean a pedaling bike. I meant a motorcycle.

  The chicks who hung around always loved it, and sometimes I took interest in them. Mostly just to pass the time, because I’d known for years now.

  Jazmine would be mine. I’d make her see it. I’d make her believe it. I’d introduce her to a world she never knew existed. Open her eyes and let her view chaos in its entirety.

  Chaos was a beautiful thing, truly. It was one of my most favorite things in the world.

  I stood near my bike early the next Monday morning, staring at the front doors to the local high school. It was way too fancy for me. Just a quick look at the students getting out of expensive cars and heading into the glass doors told me that. Wearing black pants and leather, I didn’t fit in. With the sides of my head shaven and the tattoo curling around my skull, I definitely stuck out like a sore thumb around here.

  There were cameras, but I didn’t care. If I played my cards right, it wouldn’t look like a kidnapping. It would look as if she came willingly.

  And she would, because I knew her weakness.

  Knowing weaknesses gave you a certain kind of advantage you just couldn’t get with anything else. Knowledge truly was power…of course, it also helped if you had a knife or a gun to back you up.

  Knives were fun. They were my favorite. In fact, I had a pretty impressive one in my inner pocket in my jacket. I’d flash it if I had to, although I really hoped to avoid it. Didn’t want to cause a scene here at Midpark High.

  I knew what vehicle I waited for, and the moment I saw it pull up to the school, the old van looking so out of place amongst the rich surroundings, my hands clenched into fists. This was it. I was going to see her up close. No more distance. No more hiding.

  She got out of the car, waving to her mother before the old van drove off. I started walking across the parking lot, leaving my bike in one of the parking spots. My plan was to catch her outside, before she walked into those glass doors and disappeared in the sea of other high school students.

  In reality, I wasn’t much older than them. A few years, but those few years meant I’d seen a lot. So much more than these rich kids had. To be as important as I was at twenty-two years old, you had to be willing to get dirty and bloody, and I’d done both for him time and time again.

  I hurried across the painted walkway that sat between the parking lot and the school. It looked like she was taking her time…almost as if she didn’t want to go into those doors and step foot at the school.

  Well, I supposed that meant I would be her savior today.

  I was able to catch up to her, standing in front of her, stopping her sluggish walk immediately. She blinked in confusion, having no idea why a stranger like myself would practically bum rush to get near her, and she tilted that pretty head of hers up to me, her dark eyes locking with my blue ones.

  Oh, God. She was even prettier up close. So pretty I instantly wanted to touch her all over.

  That would come later. For now, I had to get her to
come with me.

  “Uh, excuse me,” Jazmine said, trying to walk around me, but I blocked her every time. A few other students around us were staring at me, but I didn’t care. Fuck all those people. Fuck them hard.

  “Can’t let you go inside,” I told her, giving her a half-smile. Just being this close to her made my insides all warm. I could definitely get high off the feeling.

  Her full lips pursed. “Why?”

  “Because you have to come with me.”

  She let out a nervous chuckle. “I don’t know you. I don’t have to go anywhere with you.”

  I still smirked, and a hand reached inside my unzipped leather jacket. Flashing her the knife, I added, “You should know I’m more than okay with making a scene. It would be better for the both of us if I didn’t, but I’m prepared to do anything to get the job done.”

  Her tan skin paled, her eyes dropping to my stomach, where the knife sat, just enough in view to be menacing. “What?”

  I took another step towards her, cocking my head. “You should also know that I know where your mother is, and that, besides the guard—who I’m fairly sure I could take care of, because look at me—is alone during the day in that big house. I’m sure you’d hate if something were to happen to her.”

  Intensity radiated off every word I said; I took my threatening seriously. When I threatened, it was more like a promise. If she didn’t come with me, I’d sure as shit make a fuss here and then I’d go to that big house and give her mom a visit. I wouldn’t kill her mom, because Skull would have my head, but I’d do just enough damage to make Jazmine realize she had no choice but to come with me.

  “Who are you?” she asked, her voice shaking a bit. She was scared, and I didn’t blame her.

  “I will tell you everything, but not here.” My head gestured to the parking lot, and she turned her head to look. My motorcycle was the only one in the lot, and it kind of stuck out. “Let’s blow this popsicle stand, Jazmine.”