by Rina Kent
Addy steps closer and leans in. “What the fuck was that about?”
“Briar pulling my fucking hair again,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. I grab a bunch of the roses, sniff at the offending piece of underwear sitting in my locker, and slam closed the door. “Catch you later, Addy. Gotta trim my roses.”
Briar
Fuck, I’m tired. Marcus and I stayed up until two in the morning playing video games, drinking, and smoking weed. And when I finally did get into bed, I spent another hour thinking up kick-ass pranks for my little virgin. I’ve already been in homeroom ten minutes, and I’m about to put my head down and take a nap when I hear someone nearby murmur, “There she is.”
Indi storms inside the classroom, faltering when she sees me in the far corner. She purses her lips like she’s bitten into sour candy and flings herself down in her usual seat close to the door.
I allow myself a grim smile, but it doesn’t last long. I’d thought she’d been sobbing in the bathrooms, but she just looks angry. That prank was legit — she should be a blubbering mess — but that’s not how Indi fucking Virgo rolls, is it?
My phone vibrates with a new message. I sigh and take it out of my pocket as Ms. Parsons starts going through the day’s announcements.
Leave Indi alone.
I frown at the message, and then at the strange number. Who the hell sent this? When I look up, my eyes latch onto Indi. She’s glaring at me.
Was it…?
I’ve known her less than a week, but she’s not the type to threaten me with a message. She’d rather get up in my face and say something, like she did in the hall this morning.
She’s either really brave, or very stupid. And I have a feeling she’s more than just a pair of tits on legs.
I type out a quick reply, and immediately look up.
Who is this?
Indi doesn’t move, but a second later I get another message.
I have proof.
My skin prickles.
Addison Green. It’s the only thing that makes sense. But she doesn’t have jack shit. Marcus took care of everything. And even if she did, she’d never have waited until now to use it. She’d have shown it to the police, and I’d be in jail right now.
What if she did show it to them? What if they found it inconclusive…or my father called in a favor?
Addy must have gotten herself a new number; I’d blocked her old one months ago after the hundredth message and threatening voice mail.
Crazy bitch.
Why the fuck is she dragging this all out into the open again? Is it because of Indi? Did she…?
I look up and lock eyes with Indi. She’d been staring at me with a soft frown on her face, no doubt trying to figure out why I look so fucking pissed off.
I draw a huge breath, and slowly let it out. Then I get up and walk over to her, ignoring how Ms. Parson’s stops talking mid-sentence, and take the seat behind Indi’s desk.
Ms. Parson’s doesn’t pause for long — she starts yammering on about something happening at assembly on Friday — but Indi’s acting like I’m a viper that just slithered up to her and now she’s too scared to run in case I lash out and bite her.
I lean in, my elbows on the desk and my fingers laced. “How much did you tell her?”
Indi’s sitting in her seat at an angle, and turns her head just enough to catch me from the corner of her eye. “What?”
“Stop playing dumb. Did you tell Addy about us?” I’m gripping my hands so hard, my fingers are starting to tingle from lack of blood.
Indi shakes her head.
“Sure about that? Not a single thing?”
“No.” Another shake of her head. “And even if I did, it’s not like she’d believe me. Not after all this time.”
I narrow my eyes at her, but I can’t argue with her logic.
But if it wasn’t that, then what? Something had to have spurred Addy into hounding me again.
I lift my chin. “What’s she been telling you?”
Indi shrugs, and blinks innocently at me. “Lots of stuff.”
Fuck, she’s gloating about what happened earlier. I shouldn’t have lost my cool and left like that. We could have teased each other until the bell rang. Instead I stormed off like a kid throwing a fucking tantrum.
I grind my teeth. “About me. What’s she saying about me?”
“I think you know,” Indi says, turning. She lays her arm on the back of the chair and tilts her head.
“I don’t know what she thinks she has on me, and I don’t give a fuck.” I grab Indi’s hand before she has time to move out of reach, digging my nails into her wrist. “So you tell Addison I’ll leave you alone as soon as she gets off my fucking back.”
A crease forms between Indi’s dark eyebrows. “What makes you think she’s got something on you?” But a second later, her face clears. “And fuck you, she’s not my baby sitter. I can take care of myself, asshole.” She rips her arm free and moves her chair closer to her desk.
“Don’t think for a moment that Addy’s your friend,” I say, my eyes turning to slits. “Jess made that mistake too.”
Indi sneers at me. “And you sure showed her the error of her ways, didn’t you?”
Anger wells hot and thick through me, strangling any words I could possibly have produced. I shake my head and push away from the desk, leaning as far away from Indi as I can.
Fuck Addy and her empty threats. She did this before, and for some reason she’s gotten the balls to do it again. Maybe it’s Indi’s influence. If I weren’t so pissed off right now, I’d have to admire this tiny chick with her fierce green eyes.
I curl up one side of my mouth. Indi turns her head, staring suspiciously at me from the corner of her eye.
“Wish we’d met under different circumstances,” I say.
Indi lets out a single, bitter huff of a laugh, her lips barely parting. “Really?”
“We’d be hot as fuck together.”
Her eyes widen in surprise, but a second later she’s glaring at me. “Never! You’re the biggest prick I’ve ever met.”
My smirk becomes a suggestive grin. “I also have the biggest dick you’ll ever see.”
In a flash, red tinges her cheeks. She opens her mouth in shock, but if she was going to retort, nothing comes out.
“Not even close, my little virgin.” I lean forward again, make a show of looking at her lips, and then shake my head. “You’ll have to open much wider than that.”
Indi
Oh man, there’s some fucked-up shit going on in my head right now. Even as I’m snapping my jaw closed, my mind takes a mental screenshot of just how wide open my mouth was.
He’s gotta be bluffing.
I turn in my seat, hoping to hell I don’t spontaneously combust. As if the movement catches her eye, Ms. Parsons turns to Briar and me and grins wide.
Shit.
“Indi, Briar? Did you two enjoy your ride yesterday?”
I groan, squeezing my eyes shut with my fingers in dread anticipation.
Wolf whistles, choruses of, ‘virgin’, ‘cherry popping’, and God knows what else erupt from the class.
Ms. Parsons’s attempts at hushing the kids are unsurprisingly ineffectual.
“Yeah, we did,” Briar says, raising his voice over the noise.
I let out another groan. Of course he’ll milk this as much as—
“In fact, we just decided to go out again today. Bare back, this time.”
The crowd only just settled, but now they all burst out laughing again.
Ms. Parsons is probably as red as I am, but this all ends in about five minutes for her — I’m not that lucky. I’m going to be on the receiving end of every horse-related sex pun for the next week until Lavish Prep’s gossip machine finds new fodder.
I’m terribly tempted to announce that I hate horses, Briar, and everything in between and just be done with this farce…
But despite what I told Addy this morning, I’m convinced
that getting closer to Briar will give me — us — the answers we’re so desperately looking for. After all, we had a moment out there, yesterday.
It could have been because we were alone, with none of his classmates or friends around to impress. If that’s the case, then maybe it can happen again.
“I’ve always wanted to try that,” I quip, doing my best to ignore how hot my cheeks are. I turn to Briar, giving him a frigid smile. “Oh, and I’ve still got that gift you gave me this morning. Should I wear that?”
Briar blinks, his smug expression freezing. Then his face melts into grudging admiration. He gives me a small nod. “Good one, angel,” he says, his voice only loud enough for me to hear.
“I learn from the best.”
When Briar shakes his head and a rueful smile touches his mouth, my chest feels like it wants to explode. I face forward, brimming with victorious glee. But I know this feeling won’t last. Something rattled him earlier — that’s why he came to sit behind me, why he started talking about Addy.
Fuck it — I know the war’s far from over, but I won this battle and I’m gonna celebrate.
Chapter Twenty
Briar
I meant to throw her off-balance, but Indi has her sea legs already. Despite all this shit with Addy and Jess, I’m looking forward to riding with her again. Just to get her alone, of course. If I can lure her far enough from school, somewhere secluded…
She’d never let me, of course. I’m the predator, she’s the prey — and she’s spotted me.
Now the dance begins.
We’re riding different horses than last time. Indi chose Queen Sophia — a black mare with a white blaze on her nose and I’m sitting a seventeen-hand tall chestnut gelding named Duke of Hearts.
Yeah, Lavish brims with thoroughbreds and corny names.
“No fences,” Indi says as soon as we exit the stable, a finger held up in warning.
“No fences,” I agree with a rueful smile.
“And no galloping.”
But despite the stern tone of her voice, I hear a certain something. Excitement? Pleasure? I can’t be sure, but I have a feeling she’s enjoying this as much as I am.
All that bullshit happening in school feels miles away. Out here, it’s just us, our steeds, and Lavish’s picture-perfect backdrop. Fuck, I wish this was how I’d met her.
Not Sunday night.
Not Monday morning.
Now. Here.
Just two kids out for a ride.
I wish she’d never met Addison either. That poisonous bitch salted the earth for me. After everything Addy’s no doubt been ramming down her throat, it doesn’t matter what I say to Indi, how I act from here on out — she’ll never think I’m anything more than an animal.
“Why so glum, chum?” comes Indi’s cheerful voice from a few feet away.
I snap to the present, and glance across at Indi. She’s wearing a fat grin, melding with her horse on every step. The hand she has on the reigns seems a mere afterthought — her thigh muscles bunch as she guides Sophia with her knees. When my eyes reach Indi’s again, she’s blushing a little. She glances away, and then her hand does tighten as if she’s just remembered exactly who she’s with.
I can’t change the past. I can’t go back and meet Indi again in better circumstances.
I’ll always just be an animal to her.
Fury eviscerates my good mood in an instant. What the fuck was I thinking? We’d go on a horse ride and tomorrow we’d be holding hands and doing our darndest to figure out just how alike — or dissimilar — we really are? That shit’s for pussies and hopeless romantics.
I’m neither.
There’s no point in beating around the fucking bush anymore.
I clear my throat, and Indi gives me a curious smile. She opens her mouth, a smile forming around whatever she’s going to say, but I cut in with a rough, “You should go back to wherever the fuck you came from.”
Indi makes a soft, surprised sound as her eyes widen. “Ex-cuse me?” She sounds more confused than offended, but I turn my voice to steel.
The time for pranks and teasing is over. Should have been over a long time ago.
“You heard me.” I keep my eyes forward. “Tell your parents you don’t like it here. Tell them the boys are mean to you. Tell them whatever the fuck you want.”
“I…” But she doesn’t finish her statement.
“I can keep doing this all year long, Indi. And it’ll only get worse for you.”
It’s best for everyone, honestly. She’s the one that stirred the pot — getting rid of her will reset the clock.
Plus, she can’t like being here — new school, new town.
But she stays silent.
“You tell me you’re leaving, this all goes away.” When I look at her, she’s staring forward again. Her jaw is set, her eyes blinking furiously.
Ah, shit. Is my little virgin gonna cry?
I let out a rough laugh. “Deal?”
“Fuck you,” she whispers furiously.
“Come on, Angel, it’s piss easy. You sit them down at the dinner table tonight. You say, ‘Mommy, Daddy, I don’t like it—’”
Indi kicks Princess Sophia in the ribs. In a second, she’s tearing away from me.
I laugh. Fuck, guess that finally got the response I needed. Should have done this from the start. But I’m not done with her yet. If it takes me forcing her to jump another fence, I’ll do it.
“Ha!”
I race after Indi, banking when she does, following her through the knolls. She glances over her shoulder, grimacing when she sees I’m on her heels. “Leave me alone!” she screams over her shoulder, flipping me off.
Really? She waves a fucking red flag in front of a bull and expects it to go quietly back into its stall?
“Ha!”
Duke speeds up. In seconds, I’m close enough to grab hold of Indi’s arm. She tears herself free, but doesn’t look at me. I urge Duke forward.
Light gleams off Indi’s face.
Her cheeks are wet, her mouth a quivering line. Her chest is heaving as heavily as Sophia’s, and her grip on the reigns is white-knuckled.
What the fuck?
Maybe she really is on the rag. There’s no way what I said could possibly have made her cry.
“Hey!” I bellow. “Slow down.”
In response, she spurs Sophia on.
Duke follows. I know Sophia could beat my gelding, but Indi’s so busy wiping at her face that she’s not controlling her animal. Sophia flags, and I take the opportunity to catch up, lean over, and grab Sophia’s bridle.
Dumb ass move, but when I want someone to stop, they fucking stop.
Sophia’s hooves churn up dirt and grass as she slows, and Indi swats at my hand as if she’s somehow grown strong enough to fight me.
Our horses slow to a canter, a trot, a walk. But Sophia’s barely even stopped before Indi hops off her and takes off running.
Fuck! What is it with her?
“Indi!”
I tie the horses’s reigns together so they can keep each other company, and then I’m sprinting after Indi. She’s fast, but she’s not an athlete. She’s still climbing the fence when I launch myself up behind her.
I grab her ankle.
She kicks me in the face.
So I let her climb over, and then I go after her.
The shadow of the small strip of woods hugging Lavish Prep’s northern grounds cool my skin a second before I grab Indi’s hair and haul her up short.
She yells out in pain and then starts thrashing around, digging her nails into my wrists and trying to untangle my fingers from her hair.
“What did I tell you about running?” I growl, dragging her against me.
She fights me for another second, and then she goes limp.
Jesus, finally.
Now, should I pin her to a tree again, or just shove her to the ground? Either has appeal—
Her body shakes as a sob wracks her.
/> Goddamn it.
“Hey, what the fuck’s gotten into you?” I turn her around. Her eyes are squeezed shut, her mouth trembling. I swipe angrily at her cheeks to dry her tears, but more flash down her face an instant later. “Stop crying.”
“F-fuck off.”
I give her a shake, but she doesn’t even seem to notice. “This could all be over, you know. Just say the word. Say you’ll talk to them and I’ll—”
“I f-fucking c-can’t, you moth-therfucking asshole!” What starts out as a blubbering mess of words becomes an enraged yell.
Her veracity hits me like a club. I release her and step back, wondering if she’s gonna attack me. The way her hands are fisted at her sides, her body stiff, I wouldn’t be surprised.
I lift my hands, my mouth lifting up. “Just say the—”
“They’re dead, you piece of shit,” she says through her teeth. She advances on me and slams her fist into my chest.
I barely feel it. I’m staring into eyes bright and green as a water lily pond. “Dead?” I manage, but it feels like someone else is talking with my mouth.
Her fists start drumming against my chest. I gather her up, hold her tight. She fights me, but then another round of sobs takes control. She sags against me, and I let us both sink to the forest floor. I drag her with me as I lean back against a tree trunk. A second later she’s in my lap, bundled up into an impossibly small ball.
She grabs my shirt, nuzzling harder and harder against me as if she wants to burrow inside my ribs so I can keep her safe.
And fuck me, I wish she could. Then I would always have her close, could feel her heart beating beside mine.
I wrap my arms around her, rocking her, willing her to pour out every last sliver of anger, pain, frustration, sadness. I don’t care if all that negativity leeches into me.
I’d fatally poison myself for her and not regret a thing.
I stroke her hair and press my lips to the top of her head, but I doubt she registers a thing. If she did, she’d still be fighting.
Who the fuck wants to be comforted by a wild animal?