The guy in front of me flushes an ugly red, darting a look over at the one who slapped Max’s ass—who I’m guessing isn’t a scholarship student.
“You’re fucking pathetic,” I tell him. “Showing off for your little rich friend.” I look to Max. “Wanna bounce?”
She shoots the ass-slapper one more glare, then nods. “Yeah. I’m not fucking hungry anymore anyway.”
I keep my hands curled into fists until she’s out from between the two assholes, just in case they try some shit.
I’m fully prepared for them to pull something—for either the rich kid or the asshole scholarship student to decide to put us in our place, but neither of them makes a move to stop us.
Assholes. They’re no better and have no bigger balls than Brody.
“Thanks,” Max mutters under her breath as we cross the cafeteria.
“Not a problem.”
“You know that was probably a bad idea though, right?”
“Do I look like I care?” I shoot a raised brow in her direction.
A smirk tilts her lips. “No.”
“Well, there you go then. You helped me yesterday, so we’re even.”
As we near the cafeteria doors, a strange feeling washes over me. It prickles up along my arms to my neck, then trickles down my spine like a cold,
unpredictable drop of water.
Someone has their eyes on me, and it doesn’t take me too long to find just who it is.
Gray Eastwood.
He sits at a table near the dining hall entrance, a move I realize is probably strategic. It gives him and his two friends, the same two guys I ran into on Friday, a clear view of what’s going on in the cafeteria. They can keep an eye on the entire room from those seats.
Which means they just witnessed that entire thing go down.
Fucking great.
Gray’s piercing blue-green gaze is fixed on me, and unlike the two assholes who were harassing Max, his attention makes my heart jump in my chest—a strange, visceral reaction.
I can’t tell whether it’s caused by fear or anger or something else entirely, and I don’t want to think about it long enough to find out.
So I drag my gaze away from his, pretending I can’t feel the burn of his stare as Max and I leave the cafeteria.
9
“Hey!”
Seconds after we leave the dining hall, someone is already running up behind us. To my surprise—and, if I’m being honest, relief—it isn’t Gray or either of his friends. Instead, the man who approaches us is a pretentious-looking redhead wearing a pair of perfectly faded jeans and a casual but clearly expensive blazer. He’s got vivid blue eyes and a smattering of freckles across his pale skin.
I turn around, tensing. My body is still on-edge, ready for a fight that never came, and I’ve just about reached my quota of dealing with assholes for the day.
“What do you want? A verbal ass kicking like those guys?”
He chuckles, slowing his steps as he catches up to us. His gaze flicks to Max quickly before returning to my face and staying there.
“No. Not at all. I just wanted to say how impressive that was back there.” He smiles easily at me, his crystal blue eyes warming as he holds a hand out for me to shake. “Cliff Montgomery.”
I eye his hand and look back up at him without shaking it. “Sophie. Hate to break it to you, but I didn’t do it to entertain you.”