For all I knew, Madeline was the one who did something wrong. Not him. She had a way of skewing things to benefit herself.
“I’ll be back, bro,” I said to Jesse. “Have this pretty little thing”—I grabbed onto a girl’s hand, the one that kept staring at me and batting her sparkling green eyes in my direction, and pulled her in close—“take my spot.” I smiled at her. “You’ll do me proud, right?”
She giggled, her cheeks reddening in the process. “Sure. As long as you’ll reward me in the end.”
I winked. “You betcha.”
Then, I rounded her cute self and caught up to Madeline just as she was descending the front steps of the frat house. There was a bite to the evening air as I stepped right in line with her. “Where ya off to, Maddie?”
She froze, her back going ramrod straight on the sidewalk littered with empty beer cans. “Quit calling me that, Eric.”
Then, she took off again, her round ass in that stupid fucking skirt catching my attention as I stayed put. I tore my eyes away after a few seconds and followed after her, eager to know why she was running off so fast.
“What was that all about?” I asked, tilting my head to the party behind us. “Did you really come here just to fuck someone?” I laughed under my breath, hating the way being around her made me feel like I was constantly trying to win her attention. “I mean, I know you can’t get any dick at English Prep or, fuck, even Wellington Prep... But to come here and pick the scummiest looking guy? You’ve really lowered your standards.”
We were at her car now, my Rover parked just a few spaces up from hers. She swung around quickly, a raging fire in her eyes that set me off inside. “What do you want, Eric? Go back inside and get fucked up. Do whatever it is you like to do. Just leave me the fuck alone. I am so sick of you following me around like a lost puppy and getting into my shit! Why won’t you just leave me be?”
My teeth ground back and forth as I watched her pretty little mouth spout off to me before I leveled her with a glare. “I told you months ago. Don’t you remember?”
She rolled her eyes before looking through her purse for her keys. “Oh, right,” she gritted out, glancing up at me once with those light eyes. “It’s on now, Princess.” She went back to ignoring me as her hand started to move faster inside her purse. She mumbled under her breath a few times before dropping her shoulders. She quickly spun around and peered inside her car window. “Fucking shit. Of course.” She looked up at the sky and groaned before slapping the window.
“Lock your keys in your car?”
She shot me a steely glare, which only made me laugh. “Why do you care?”
“Oh,” I mused, putting my hands in my jeans pockets casually. “I don’t care, even in the slightest. Have fun getting home. Maybe you can ask that guy you went upstairs with to give you a ride.”
I fought to keep the lazy smile on my face.
As soon as I mentioned the other guy, Madeline’s face changed. She went from angry to blank in three seconds fast. I narrowed my eyes, wondering what had gone on upstairs.
Who cares, Eric? Go back inside.
I dropped my eyes to her purse, bouncing my attention to her eyes that were showing absolutely nothing, and noticed how her small hand clutched it closer to her body. She teetered back and forth on her feet, adjusting her skirt a few times, darting her eyes away before my lazy smile turned into a wicked grin.
The loose pebbles underneath my shoe creaked as I took a step closer to her. Madeline wouldn’t meet my gaze. Instead, she looked to the left, pressing her purse even tighter to her stomach. I almost laughed, wondering if she was going to go as far as shoving it up underneath her cream sweater to hide it. “So, what exactly were you doing upstairs...Madeline?”
My shoe touched hers, and she pushed back onto the side of her car, her back resting flat against the window. I invaded her space, my breath falling down in between us. Her head tipped upward, her pretty eyes locked onto mine, and for once, they appeared soft. She appeared soft. Delicate. Breakable, even.
It was a shame that I was a
bout to break her.
And girls like Madeline? They deserved to be broken.
One of my fingers swept a stray hair away from her cheek, tucking it behind her ear. A minty, faint breath gracefully fell from her lips as I tipped her chin up. “Did you fuck him, Madeline?”
Her mouth slammed shut, and I laughed, snatching her purse out of her arms so fast she didn’t even have time to react.
“Hey!” she shouted, reaching out.
I quickly turned around and jolted to the front of her car, tipping her purse out onto the hood, letting the contents fall swiftly.
“Eric, no! Stop!” she yelled, attempting to push me away, which, of course, didn’t work.
Madeline tried to scramble and put things back to where they belonged, but her gasp had my smile fading. “No, no, no,” she mumbled, falling to pick something up.
I glanced down and saw small pink pills scattered all over the road, some even falling into the storm drain that was just a foot away from where I was standing. I moved back, accidentally stepping on a few in the process.