Danny pivoted and bounded down the stairs. “Shit’s kicking off with Ren and Riley.”
“What?” Lissa’s eyes flew wide, and she bolted after him.
“Kicking off how?” I barked, my legs breaking into action.
“No fucking idea. Riley’s really fucking worked up about something,” Dan explained with a quick glance back over his shoulder.
The house was empty—everyone and their fucking dog had gathered outside in the yard. I pushed forward to get a better look at whatever the fuck was going on as I barrelled through the door. My eyes found Riley first, and my heart dumped into my stomach. The broken look on her face crushed me. My feet stuck in place for a second as Lissa’s enraged screech punctured the air and gasps sounded out around us.
Then my gaze landed on Ren, with his hands and mouth all over someone who sure as fuck wasn’t Ri, and I saw fucking red. “What the fuck are you doing?”
Riley had stumbled halfway across the yard before I could calm myself enough to move. When Ren followed her, I clenched my jaw, my fisted hand locked tight against my side as I pounded a path through the clutter of bodies until I reached him.
He didn’t stop me when my arm reared back, and I didn’t pause to question the look of devastation on his face. I sunk my knuckles into his flesh and watched as his head snapped to the side. His body dropped to a crouch, and he planted his fist into the ground with a strangled curse.
Breathing heavily through flared nostrils, I clamped my teeth together. Reno swiped a thumb over the slit in his busted lip, then lifted his head. His brown eyes looked vacant; like he’d packed up and fucking left the building. The sight shook me.
Before I could say anything, Ren said, “Do it again, Le. This time, don’t fucking stop.”
My fists slackened.
Lissa rushed past me after Riley. When she turned back, the dark look she shot Ren needed no interpretation. Her hardened gaze touched on mine before she rounded the corner, and the unbridled look of disgust didn’t wane one iota. If anything, it intensified.
I exhaled as I planted my hands on my hips and fastened my gaze to the top of my best friend’s bowed head.
Didn’t need any help reading the look she gave me, either.
Guilty by association.
Fuck.
TWELVE
LISS
“You were pretty worked up Saturday night, man.”
I pulled up short at the sound of Jason’s voice as I approached my locker Monday morning, stopping before I rounded the corner. The hinge of a locker door squeaked, and I squeezed the strap of my backpack, edging closer to the wall.
A throat cleared. “Yeah.”
Leon. My heart gave a hard thump.
“You’re not still hung up on Riley, right?” Jase asked, and I didn’t realize I’d stopped breathing, waiting for Leon’s response, until it didn’t materialize.
My lungs burned when Jase sighed, and my chest suddenly felt weighted.
“I don’t know what the fuck happened between them Saturday, man, but you know you can’t go there.”
“I’m not a total fucking idiot.”
“Not what I heard… you and Liss?”
My muscles stiffened, a sharp breath leaving my body.
“Dan’s got a big fucking mouth,” Leon muttered.
“Messing around with the best friend? And especially when that best friend is Liss. You’re either very brave, or very fucking stupid, dude.”
“I’m not messing around with Lissa.”
“No? What’s going on there?”
A locker door slammed into place with a resounding clang, and then, “Nothing.”
Nothing. One simple word.
It hit me like a slap to the face, and the corner of my lips tweaked with emotion as I fought to control my reaction to it. I glanced down, blinking.
It’s fine, Liss. We knew that.
It was nothing. Nothing to him, and nothing to me. But the word gained momentum as it sped through the air like a dart and headed straight for me. It was a pinprick, at worst, but when it hit, I fucking felt it.
I inhaled, holding myself still as Jason and Leon moved down the hall toward me, the soles of their sneakers padding softly over the linoleum.
“Not what Dan said. Painted a pretty vivid picture, too.”
“Dan should mind his own fucking business. And so should you.”
“Want my advice?” Jason asked.
“Fuck, no.”
“I’ll give it, anyway. Nailing the Snow Queen might earn you some serious bragging rights, but there’s no way it’s worth the aggro, dude. Even if Riley had never been a factor. There’s a reason Liss has dated no one in Claremont.”
There was an extended pause before Leon’s gruff response came. “Maybe instead of worrying about my life, take a closer look at your own, jackass.”
“What’s that mean?”
“One word, bro… stepsister.”
“Don’t fucking go there.”
Leon barked out a short laugh. “Oh, he can dish it out…”
When their voices neared, I pushed away from the wall and ducked into the nearest room, closing the door behind me with a soft click. Leaning back against the wood, I let my backpack slide from my shoulder and smoothed my fingers over my hair. An irritated growl tore up my throat when I realized they were trembling.
Get a goddamn grip, Liss.
Of course, it was bullshit. Obviously, it was bullshit. It was always fucking bullshit.
It wasn’t like I thought it was going anywhere. The guy had a quota to meet, and I happened to be the last outstanding item on his list. But my lashes fluttered toward my cheeks as the walls of my throat tightened and a stinging sensation pricked at the backs of my lids.
God, what an idiot.
What the hell was I doing, letting Leon Bradshaw get to me?
Fuck this. Sweeping the pads of my fingers under my burning eyes and ignoring the sound of my heart thudding in my ears, I lifted off the door and shouldered my backpack.
I wasn’t fucking hurt, goddammit; pissed off, infuriated… maybe a little embarrassed, yeah. But not hurt. He didn’t have the power to hurt me. No one did. I’d kissed him once, developed an unwanted attraction and let myself get caught up in it. But one kiss and a near miss hadn’t done any lasting damage—nothing I couldn’t undo.
My reputation would remain intact, and with that little reminder of exactly who Leon was sitting fresh in my head, I could go back to hating him.
I wouldn’t allow anything else.
***
“Been looking for you.” Leon’s low murmur filtered through my ear as I walked toward the library for study period later that afternoon.
“And now you’ve found me,” I muttered flatly.
I’d had a few hours to process what I’d overheard, to let it sink in, and I couldn’t deny it had stung, or that I felt like a fool—I’d allowed him to draw me in against all my better knowledge. Leon was a player, and I’d let him play me. Now I knew. Lesson learned. He wouldn’t do it a second time.
“Can we talk?”
Gentle fingers gripped my elbow and applied a little pressure.
I fought to maintain my stride without missing a beat, but the rhythm of my pulse shifted under his touch, my skin tingling. I eased my arm out of his hold and tucked it into my chest.
“What about?” I clipped, steadily increasing my pace.
Leon sped up and came around me, blocking my path. I pulled up short and stopped without glancing up, my body stiff. He reached out and traced a delicate path down the sleeve of my sweater, before looping his fingers lightly around my wrist. My breath tried to falter as I dropped my eyes to the hand circling my arm, and then up to Leon’s serious face.
“You okay?” he asked.
I wanted to remain unaffected. I wanted to stare into his liquid blue gaze and feel nothing but loathing. Indifference, even. Instead, my heart rate spiralled, and my gaze moved to his full lips. Desire stirr
ed instantly. I blinked hard and gave my head a firm shake. Shit would not go down like this. My brain ran this show, it just needed a bit of time to catch up. “Yeah. Fine, thanks.”
He gave a sigh and released my arm, his brows tugging together. “This is about Saturday, right?”
I twisted away and resumed my speed walk down the hall. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“What happened with Riley and Reno has nothing to do with us, Lissa,” Leon said, trailing behind.
“Us?” I halted, spinning to him with a derisive smirk and a mocking brow arched. “One kiss and suddenly there’s an us?” I shook my head. “You’re getting a little ahead of yourself there, Bradshaw. You should really check that ego.”
He brushed a hand over his styled hair and tipped his chin up, eyes on my face. “You know what I mean.”
I raised a hand. “Look, let me stop you right there. We made out. It wasn’t half bad, but I’m not looking for a repeat. If I found you mildly interesting for five minutes, I’m already over it. Let’s leave it at that.”
Leon’s eyes narrowed. “So, we’re back to that?”
I fidgeted with the sleeve of my sweater and attempted to look uninterested. “And what is that exactly?”
His jaw tightened. “Back to you acting like a class A bitch.”
The comment, coming from him, hit me harder than I’d care to admit. The knowledge had irritation lining my stomach because I didn’t want or need his approval or acceptance.
Not from the guy who lusted after his friend’s girlfriend, then pretended to feel something for her best friend.
Except he didn’t, did he? My brain chose that moment to sink the knife in, and my eyes skittered away when I realized this was actually all on me. I’d kissed him. Practically jumped him, in fact.
I swallowed over the humiliation blocking my throat and muttered, “We never left that. It was just harder to point out all your flaws when your tongue was in my mouth.”
A light smirk pulled at his lips before he dragged his teeth mercilessly slowly over his pouty bottom lip.
My body immediately jumped to attention, but my brain wanted to lasso my hormones and demand they have some goddamn self-respect. I locked my limbs in place when he advanced a step closer.
“If I’d known how easy it was to shut you up…” he said quietly, lifting the back of his hand and brushing his knuckles over my cheekbone, “I’d have done it a long time ago.”
His blue eyes softened as they swept down over my features, and a simple look shouldn’t have had the ability to paralyze me.
My throat thickened, his touch releasing a flurry of tingles, and I realized exactly what I was up against. No wonder the guy had brainless bimbos swallowing his dick left, right and center, half in love with him. And now I was acting just like them.
A bout of fury rocked me at my core. I welcomed it with open arms and knocked his hand aside. I wasn’t down for this. For the lies, the act—whatever the hell this was that coaxed girls out of their pants and onto his dick. If I hadn’t overheard him this morning, I might have fallen for it, and that little insight was sobering as all hell.
I’d thought I was more discerning than that; thought I knew better than to fall for some pickup line. Apparently not. But I knew when something wasn’t worth my time or effort. And I was nobody’s second best. Not his, and not my asshole dad’s.
It had been hovering there, on the precipice of my mind, since I’d stood with my back pressed to the wall this morning, my hand clenched around my backpack… I wasn’t the person Leon wanted; I was the person he could have.
It hurt.
It hurt because my dad had walked away without a backward glance once, and I’d promised myself I’d never allow an undeserving asshole to be the reason for my pain again. It hurt because I’d sworn to never fall for the same bull my dad fed my mom for all those years, drip-feeding her scraps of his affection and attention, keeping her around until something better came along. My loving father ditched the family he’d created for a newer, shinier one. He had a wife over ten years his junior now, and a son I’d never met. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d spoken to my father.
He sent a card on my birthday and Christmas, paid his way financially, but he was otherwise absent from my life. An arrangement he was obviously happy to accept since he’d never tried to rectify it. But then I was part of the unwanted family he left behind. Easily discarded and eagerly forgotten.
So, I did the same to him.
He hurt my mother, left us behind, so I cut him out of my life, and then acted like he’d never been a part of it. Eventually, I numbed myself to the hurt he inflicted.
But here I was kissing Claremont’s most notorious playboy.
My mom’s mistakes had taught me nothing, but I would learn from my own, and I wouldn’t make the same one twice.
Slicing slitted eyes to his, I muttered, “Don’t take rejection very well, do you, Pretty Boy? Surprising really, thought you’d be used to it after last year. Didn’t Riley kick your ass to the curb and jump into bed with your best friend?”
He reacted exactly how I expected him to. Of course, he did. It took less than a second for his face to harden, for darkness to descend over it like a shadow. His head dipped in a curt nod and he slid both hands in his pockets, fastening his steely gaze on me.
“Whatever this is… whatever you’re doing here?” he murmured, his voice gravel. “It won’t change the way you feel, Alissa. And I fucking know you felt something.”
I wiped my face bare of emotion.
“You’re wrong, Pretty Boy,” I said, my voice devoid of any obvious inflection that might discredit my claim. “I don’t feel anything. I never did.”
He stood and watched me, those eyes intense, searching for a fracture in my façade. Then he blew out a breath and said, “For a second there, I thought you were actually capable of feeling something. Guess I was wrong.”
He scrubbed a hand over his jaw and gave me one last long look. “See you around, Snow Queen.”
Not today. Not again. A handful of weeks and high school would be over. A few months, and I’d put Claremont in my rear-view, Leon Bradshaw with it.
My emotions wouldn’t get a say; I was made of fucking ice, right?
So why did it feel like boiling acid lined my stomach, burning a hole through it as I watched him stroll away?
THIRTEEN
LEON
I stepped out of my truck and pushed the door closed, glancing up at the midday sun through squinted eyes as I approached Ren’s trailer. Three months had passed since graduation, and I’d either been on a construction site, or here. I rapped my knuckles against the thin pane of glass, a quick succession of sharp taps that cut through the quiet trailer park, then closed my hand around the knob. I pushed and shifted forward, expecting the door to give. When I met resistance, my brow furrowed, and I took a small step back before knocking my fists against it again. After a minute with no response, I cupped my hands around my face and peered through into the darkened interior of Reno’s trailer. It was hard to make out much with every window covered, but there were no signs of life inside.
I knew he was in there. He’d barely left since April. In the days following his and Ri’s big showdown at Lissa’s party, Ren’s world came crashing down on top of him for a second time. The guy was still breathing, but that was about it. A familiar sense of unease spiked through me as soon as the thought entered my head. The worry that one day I might come by and he might not answer… because he couldn’t.
I paced back to the truck and grabbed the spare key before jogging back to Ren’s door and twisting it in the lock. My pulse skittered around under my skin as I pushed the door open.
“Reno?” My eyes scoured the dim room, adjusting slowly to the lack of light. The place was a mess—empty bottles and cans littered the floor and table, trash overflowed from the can. “Ren?”
My legs felt heavy as I strode through the hall, trepid
ation building like a storm and bringing with it a cloying sickness that settled in my gut. I paused with my fingers clenched around the bedroom doorknob and drew in an uneasy breath of musty air.
“Ren, you in there?”
He needed to fucking answer, make a noise, tell me to fuck off. Anything. My body buzzed with nervous energy, the kind that zipped through your veins and made every heartbeat a boom of thunder in your head.
Fucking open the door, asshole.
I gave it a hard shove.
Reno lay face down, limbs sprawled out across the twin bed, one leg hanging over the edge.
“Ren?”
His arm shifted, and he emitted a low groan. Relief flooded me, and I swiped a clammy palm down my face. I took a few seconds to let my heart rate calm, then stormed across the room and jabbed a fist into Ren’s shoulder. Enough was enough.
“Get the fuck up.”
“Go ‘way,” he grumbled, his voice muffled by the pillow.
“Nope. Not today. Get your ass out of bed. We’re cleaning this shithole up and getting you a goddamn shower because you look like you stink.” I leaned in and took a quick sniff, wincing at the smell of stale beer. “Christ. You smell worse than you look if that’s possible. We’re getting you the fuck out of this pit of doom, Ren. Whether you like it, or not.”
“Fuck off.” He grabbed the pillow from underneath him and wrapped it around his head.
I snatched it out of his hands and tossed it across the room. “Whine all you want, asshole. I got all day for this shit. Ain’t going nowhere. You want rid of me, get your lazy ass up and fucking make it happen.”
“I’m gonna fucking kill you.” His fist shot out, narrowly missing my kidney.
“Yeah? If it gets you up, go for it.” I reached out and clipped the back of my hand across his head.
“Do that again,” he warned.
A smirk worked its way over my face as I gripped the edge of the drapes and flung them aside. Light filtered through the streaked window, landing on the piles of unwashed clothes strewn about the floor. I snapped my gaze back to Ren and hit him again. Big fella needed some motivation. “Yeah? What’ll you do?”
Unthinkable: (Unstoppable - Book 2) (The Unstoppable Series) Page 7