It was windier than usual outside, and Josie wrestled her hair up into a knotted bun on top of her head. “Message received, but if you change your mind…”
“I won’t,” I assured her as we approached Break Zone. Kenna was leaning against the side of the building, talking to two guys. Just like in high school, she was more often than not surrounded by the opposite sex.
A smile started on my lips, but as I happened to glance to the side, my gaze was interrupted by a laugh that was carried by the breeze, and the beginnings of that smile died. I faltered, my feet coming to an abrupt halt.
Sterling finally emerged from his frat house, and unlike me, having my world flipped upside down, he looked… happy. Fucking happy! Where I’d been miserable. In a span of seconds, my shock and alarm moved straight into reckless fury.
I should stay away. I should keep going and walk into the café with my friends and forget I ever saw the devil. I shouldn’t make a scene.
But why the fuck not?
At this point, a scene was expected from me, and I couldn’t stand by while he laughed with his frat losers. “You have got to be kidding me,” I grumbled, tossing my cigarette to the ground.
Josie’s eyes found the source of my agitation, her body stiffening. From the side of my eyes, I noticed her reaching for her phone, but I was on a rant.
“How the hell can he show his face after what he did?” I demanded, talking out loud. “I’m starting to think the douche has no conscience.” My feet were moving. Unfiltered rage poured through me, and all I could see was a red figure of Sterling. Everyone else became muted background.
“Fuck,” Josie muttered, but it didn’t stop me. Couldn’t. “Kenna!” I heard her shout.
With purposeful strides, I crossed the courtyard, Josie and Kenna hot on my heels.
“Mads, think about this,” Kenna called from behind me as she scrambled to catch up.
“Do you really want to confront him so publicly?” Josie asked, Kenna’s counterpart, finishing each other’s thoughts and shit. And the fucked-up part was that neither of them was aware that they’d started doing that.
I ignored them both.
Sterling had his back to me, still laughing with a group of guys. Each chuckle hit me like a slap in the face, memories of being backhanded, the tiny prick on the nape of my neck, the smoke filling my nostrils, and its putrid smell. The tiny cut on my lip had mostly healed, and the bruise on my cheek had faded, the discoloration nearly gone, but you know what hadn’t faded? The internal scars. The memories. The aftermath of his actions lived with me every day.Hehad done that to me.
Hehad drugged me. It didn’t matter that I had the most incredible sex of my life, not when he’d taken away my choice. Or that he’d probably planned for it to have been him, not Micah, bringing me to heavenly peaks of ecstasy.
Hewas responsible for mybreakwith Micah. My heart still ached. My soul splintered. I felt incomplete. Despite my anger, I missed Micah, even when I didn’t want to.
Hehad made what was supposed to be the best time of my life hell. My life was crumbling and falling down around me, and Sterling was to blame.
Each dilemma was like an electric shock that recharged the rising pain and storm of rage. By the time I was behind Sterling, my arms and legs shook. No voice in my head warned me this was a bad idea. Only the deafening throb of anger echoed in my mind.
I tapped his shoulder and waited for him to spin around. A flash of surprise encompassed his amber eyes, but it didn’t last long. A smug smile curled on his lips right as I snuck my fist into Sterling’s gut with all my might, enhanced by a clusterfuck of emotions seething within me. A satisfied grunt of both startlement and pain expelled from his mouth as he doubled over.
I wasn’t done yet.
Bringing my knee up quickly before he could grab me, I sank it into his junk, fucking hard. The response was better than the punch. He sucked in a breath, holding it as pain rocked his precious manhood.
I’d just assaulted Sterling. And it had felt fucking good.
“Bring that to the school board, asshole.” My jaw clenched, teeth pressing together. “Never again lay a fucking hand on me.” I didn’t give a shit about the mumbles that set off around us.
“Is this the chick? Damn, man, she really laid into you,” one of his idiot friends joked, grinning widely at him.
Sterling straightened up fully. “Shut the fuck up, Mav.” He turned to me then, lips splitting into a smile I recognized as unfriendly and scary, but I lifted my chin. “I might have deserved that, but remember, Splash, no deed goes unpunished.”
Josie and Kenna flanked me now, subtly telling me they had my back. “Let’s fucking hope not,” I spat. “Because I think your luck is about to run out. Brace yourself.”
On the outside, Sterling kept his composure except for a tiny twitch of his left eye. “Is it true that Micah cut you loose? His damn loss if you ask me.”
He was good at getting under my skin, I’d give him that. “No one fucking asked you. And I’m not a caged tiger being released into the wild. My relationship is none of your business. Find another bitch to torment.” With that said, I whirled and walked off with my head high, feeling damn good about myself. Powerful. In control. And less like a victim.
I didn’t know how much I needed that.