Jogging down Stadium Drive toward the football field and the athletic building, I slowed my pace to walk. I had fifteen minutes to get my ass dressed and on the field for practice. Each minute l was late would result in an extra run around the field on top of my warm-up. It meant I would miss out on the first few drills. I didn’t often run late. Today was an exception, my mind distracted from the phone call with my father and the photos from Sterling.
I had just reached the back of the bleachers when I heard my name. Stifling a groan, I turned toward the voice of a girl who’d just walked past me. I’d spared her nothing more than a glimpse, but now that I got the full picture, I wanted nothing more than to keep walking. In fact, I started to turn around and do just that.Fuck this. She was the last person I wanted to deal with. A part of me wished I was seeing shit.
She made a throaty noise of indignation. “Classy. Perhaps I should see if Brock is around or what’s her name? The newest standby girl you’re all obsessed with? Josie, is it? I heard you pass her around from week to week.”
Freezing, I waited for a heartbeat before I whirled. “Fuck off, Kate,” I growled, my shitty-day scowl deepening. She knew precisely what buttons to hit. Today was not the day to screw with me. If it had been Mads and not Josie she’d chosen to insult, I might have broken my cardinal rule to never hit a girl.
Though in my book, Kate McGuire wasn’t a girl. She wasn’t even fucking human; therefore, did the rule really apply?
The Elite’s biggest mistake. We didn’t make them often, but when we did, they tended to be what I referred to as the three Cs: crazy, cunning, and clingy. Girls who didn’t know how to move on. Kind of like Ava.
But Kate was way worse.
When she moved our junior year, I’d hoped to never see her vile face again. It didn’t surprise me one bit that the obsessed princess kept tabs on us, particularly Brock. He’d been the brunt of her fixation, along with Grayson.
I’d never fallen for her bullshit, which had only infuriated the devious bitch.
She might look like a sweet peach with creamy skin, rosy cheeks, and sun-kissed blonde hair, and I could see why a guy might find himself captivated by her, but I knew what evil festered underneath the beauty.
I wanted her nowhere near me, Mads, or Josie for that matter. I wanted her off campus. Now.
Like the witch she was, Kate batted her fake eyelashes at me. “Micah,” she purred and proceeded to wrap herself around me like a cat in heat with a suggestive smile that I’d seen plenty of times before… just normally not aimed at me. Kate usually reserved her seductive charm for Brock or Grayson, and I wondered if either of them knew what shady mayhem had blown into town. “It’s been too long. Is that any way to greet an old friend?”
“What are you doing here?” I snapped, removing her spider-monkey arms from me and taking a step back. I needed the space before her perfume choked me to death.
She slipped her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose, peering at me from over them with coppery eyes that reminded me of a lioness on the prowl. “I’m just as surprised as you are.”
“My ass. Don’t play dumb. You forget that your pussy never enticed me,” I stated like I was bored out of my mind.
Her laugh was as fake as the rest of her. She flipped her hair. “As crude as ever.”
The sound of her voice, her laugh, basically everything about her grated on my nerves. “And you’re still a fraud. How many friends did your parents buy you this time?”
She scrunched her face at me. “I’d like to say it’s been a pleasure, but it hasn’t.”
“Wow, something we can agree on. If you’re here for Brock, he isn’t interested.”
“Believe it or not, I didn’t know that either of you was attending Kingsley.”
“Bullshit,” I coughed. “You expect me to believe that? If you know about Josie, then it only makes sense that you’re still stalking my boys.”
Her lips curved into a viper smirk, cruel and poisonous. “The world doesn’t revolve around the Elite.”
A harsh laugh bubbled out of me. “You should try listening to your own advice.”
Fire flashed in her eyes. “Go fly a kite.”
She and Ava were two peas in a pod. We should have been grateful that they’d never joined forces and couldn’t stand each other. Kate and Ava considered one another a threat—competition. “Gladly, if it meant I never had to see your face again.”
She touched my arm, her long white-painted nails trailing over my muscles. “You, Brock, and I should get together for a drink, catch up.”
“Kate,” I said, matching her fake sweetness, “I’m going to kindly ask that you remove your hand before I snap it in two.”
Her giggle was forced. “You always were funny.”
From the other side of the bleachers, my teammates began to hustle onto the field. I would for sure be doing some extra laps because of this unwanted pit stop. “Want to hear something funny? Stay the fuck away from Brock and Josie.”
Everything I said seemed to bounce right off her like she was made from rubber ball materials. She cocked her head to the side with a befitting cruel smile. “Your father might be disappointed to hear how you’re treating an old family friend.”