“Can we stop talking about my friends screwing my sister?” Grayson groused.
Micah and I shared another smile as the three of us walked toward the front entrance. I didn’t know if they did this on purpose, lighting the air right before things got tense. Regardless, it was just what I needed. “What are you doing here?” I asked Micah. As far as I knew, he hadn’t done anything to earn detention. I would have heard about it.
“I couldn’t let the two of you have all the fun.”
The sun beamed over the Academy as the gust of autumn air blew through the open lot. I buried myself closer to Micah and his warm hoodie. “This can’t be your idea of fun.”
He didn’t seem to mind that I was soaking up his body heat. Micah was the type of guy who loved to have a girl in his arms. Any girl would do. “I’ve given up plenty of Saturdays through high school. It’s what family does. We stick together through all the good and bad shit,” he said.
My heart jumped in my chest at the word “family.” It was a simple word for some—a word that brought on feelings of security, comfort, joy, and love. For me, it was a mixture of both good and bad. The idea of the Elite considering me as part of their close-knit family opened an ache of longing inside me. “Am I family?” The question popped out of my mouth, and the second it did, I wished I could take it back. I didn’t want to appear as desperate as I was to belong.
Grayson surprised both Micah and me when he said, “You’re getting there, Lil’ J.”
Nothing like having a pair of escorts usher me into detention. We arrived at the designated classroom with two minutes to spare. My eyes panned the room, looking for a particular face. He wasn’t there. Not yet.
Had Steven managed to get Carter out of detention? That would have been just like my stepfather, and in this situation, fine by me.
I didn’t want to see Carter’s vile mug this early in the morning.
The classroom tables were nearly filled as Micah, Grayson, and I took a seat in the back of the room. It was as if they had been intentionally left open just for us. I had a sneaky suspicion that they probably had been.
These boys.
They were unbelievable.
But the treatment they got from this school…
Over-the-fucking-top.
“Mr. Bradshaw, why are you here?” Mr. Schultz asked, glancing up from behind his desk. He was the teacher assigned to monitor this week’s detention. Mr. Schultz taught in the science department, and he looked the part. Scrawny, nerdy, glasses that fell down the bridge of his sharp nose, and a voice just a pitch too high. “Not that I don’t like seeing your face in detention, but I don’t have you on the list.”
Micah folded his hands behind his head like he was preparing for a nap. “It was last minute. Coach probably didn’t have time to turn it in.”
“If you say so. It’s your Saturday, Mr. Bradshaw.” Mr. Schultz was one of those teachers that called everyone by their last name. He returned to his list, crossing off students as they arrived.
I angled my head toward Micah. “You don’t have detention, do you?” I kept my tone quiet.
Micah shrugged, grinning. “We decided two of us were better than one just in case someone decided to deliver a little payback.”
My mouth opened to tell him how ridiculous they were, but that someone in question walked in. I snapped my jaw closed, clenching my teeth.
Tension descended like a dark ominous cloud over the room as Carter walked in, Ava beside him. They were laughing.
And I saw red.
My hands clenched along the edge of the table, knuckles turning white. It took all my restraint to stay seated. I wanted to hurdle over the table and banshee-attack Carter, rake my nails down that face he was so proud of. Then I’d pounce on Ava. Her smug, glossy grin made my blood boil.
Micah leaned closer and whispered, “Put the claws away, tiger.”
I didn’t know how they managed to stay so cool beside me. Anyone looking at Grayson and Micah would believe they were bored and uninterested. Their expressions were masks, because I knew that under the yawns and blasé attitude, they were simmering with anger. “How do I make it through the next two hours without strangling him or Ava?” I murmured for their ears only.
“Just think about waffles,” Grayson suggested.
“Or sex,” Micah added from the other side of me.
I guess I knew what they were thinking about. But neither of those would work for me.
Carter sauntered into the room like he just got laid. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ava hadn’t sucked him off in the parking lot before coming inside. A little morning pick-me-up.