“Just waiting on Maddox,” Scarlet says, batting her eyes and taking Maddox’s arm in both hands as if to make sure he can’t escape her clutches.
“Of course you are,” the coach mutters, pulling the door closed behind him. He steps around us and strolls off across the gym, probably happy to be done with his day early now that all the sports seasons are over.
“So, Maddy, what are we doing after school today?” Scarlet asks, leaning into Maddox’s side. “Maybe we could hang out at your house?”
I wait for him to tell her she’s nothing, like he did when she stole my clothes, or at least to snap at her not to call himMaddy. But his cool green eyes meet mine, and his jaw tenses.
“Sure,” he says to Scarlet, his gaze still on me like a chokehold.
“Is it still your house?” I ask lightly, though my hand squeezes into a fist, my nails digging into my skin. “I hadn’t seen you in so long I thought maybe you moved.”
“It’s notyourhouse,” he drawls, sliding an arm around Scarlet’s slender middle. “Just because our mom takes in strays on occasion doesn’t make it your home.”
“Noted,” I say. “So, want to give me a ride back toyourhouse?”
“Don’t you have Lennox for that?” he asks, his words iced with bitterness.
“Nothing happened between us,” I say quietly, darting a glance at Scarlet. I know she’s drinking it all up, ready to spread gossip and try to ruin me further in our last few weeks of school. I wish she wasn’t here, but not because I give a shit about my reputation. I just want to talk to Maddox without an audience.
He lets out a quiet snort of breath, the corner of his lips twitching. “I know.”
The way he says it, like it’s glaringly obvious, like his brother couldn’t possibly want me, cuts through my defenses and feigned indifference and slices straight to my heart.
“You do?” I ask, searching his dark eyes for signs of the boy who lay on the roof with me until sunrise, who makes me feel so good I think I’ll expire every time he touches me.
“Yeah,” he says, swinging his gym back over his shoulder and heading for the door. Scarlet scampers after and dives under his arm, pulling it around her and casting me a triumphant smile over her shoulder. As much as I want to let them go, I can’t stand the thought of him leaving with her. Of her winning by default. At the very least, I should try, tell him…
What?
I accidentally told him I loved him, and that’s how this whole shit-show started.
Still, some fucked up part of me can’t let him go without a fight.
I follow them, which earns me another of Scarlet’s glares. But Maddox doesn’t even acknowledge her, which gives me enough satisfaction to lure me to the parking lot with them. Besides, the bus is already gone, and it’s pouring rain out. The trees at the edges of the lot toss and bend with the force of the wind, and we’re all instantly drenched when a sheet of rain hits us.
Only a dozen or so cars remain in the student lot. Lennox’s car is among them, but I know he stays late for art sometimes. If I’m not waiting at his car, he’ll assume I took the bus.
“Lennox isn’t going to fuck with you any more than I am, little girl,” Maddox says, opening the door of a shiny new Cadillac. “He’s a good guy, and he knows you’re not experienced enough to handle him. Go find some nerd-boy virgin to knock the cobwebs off for you. I told you. I don’t care what you do with your cunt as long as it doesn’t fuck up my family.”
Scarlet tosses her head and gives me a look that’s pure savagery as she climbs into the passenger seat after Maddox tosses his bag in the back seat. He closes the door behind her, cocooning her in the dry safety of the car. I wonder if he even remembers I’m edgy during storms. I’m tempted to crawl under the nearest car just to get out of it.
Maddox turns to me, his thick arms bare below the sleeves of a wet black tee that stretches over his massive pecs, tight abs, and broad shoulders. He has new ink on his bicep, and his neck tattoo is on full display, up front and center, the way he said he likes it.
“Consider that your last warning,” he says coolly, looking down at me through hooded eyes, his arm muscles bulging against the sleeves of his tee, which is practically painted onto his sculpted body from the rain. I have to fight not to watch the water running down the bulging muscles in his arms.
Anyone in Faulkner would quake at the threat from this gangster who looks like a straight up hitman, but I don’t back down. Not this time. I’m tired of him pushing me around.
“You’re wrong,” I say. “Lennox does want me. He basically asked me to be his girlfriend already. Guess that’s what happens when he has a week to breathe without worrying about what you’ll think of him for going after a girl you think is beneath y’all.”
Maddox’s nostrils flare, and his eyes narrow to slits. “You better be fucking kidding me.”
“Where’d you get the car?” I ask, raising my chin and smirking up at him. “Is that how much Scarlet thinks your dick is worth?”
Maddox’s hand reaches for me, and I flinch despite myself. His eyes catch on the movement. He doesn’t miss anything. He told me as much one time—that you could learn a lot about people just by watching. His hand wraps around the back of my neck, his fingers digging in painfully as he drags me flush against him.
My toes barely skimming the slick pavement, I have to bite down on my lip to keep from crying out. Turns out poking the beast wasn’t such a good idea after all.
“I told you, I’m not a nice guy,” he growls. “You want to fucking try me, little girl? Find out the hard way? I may have gone easy on you because you were an innocent bystander, but you fuck with my family, and you’ll meet the Maddox North everyone else knows.”