“Good to know,” a familiar deep voice said from behind me.
I completely froze, as a cold sweat broke out.
Horrible timing.
The worst.
I pasted on a smile and turned. “Hey, Levi. Good to see you.”
“Weak!” He stared down at my outstretched hand. “Only a handshake for the guy who bailed you out of this place?” He pulled me in for a hug before I could stop him, and that was about the same time Jason walked up looking hot-as-sin in a pair of fitted jeans, a tight black shirt, and a pair of Ray-Bans that made him look like a rock star.
“The hell!” he roared, lunging forward then jerking Levi away from me.
I was so thankful I could have cried. Levi and I didn’t talk anymore, and to be honest, he’d only made me feel awkward after that day, as if somehow, I’d helped him screw over one of his best friends. It was a gross feeling, one I’d tried to forget until now.
“Whoa!” Levi held up his hands and laughed. “What are you gonna do, Officer? Arrest me for hugging a sexy piece of ass?”
Liza gasped and mouthed, “Sorry,” to me.
She left out the part that her brother had turned out to be a giant jackass. From the bits and pieces she’d given me since I’d been back, I’d gathered that he’d been dropped from two Canadian football teams early on, before coming back home with his tail between his legs and working at one of the prestigious car lots that only dealt in foreign cars.
He had quit school.
Quit everything.
And was clearly bitter.
“I’d watch what I say,” Jason growled, still fisting Levi’s shirt between his fingers.
A few people started whispering and walked closer to us.
The very last thing I needed was a scene.
“Jason, let him go,” I pleaded.
“Yeah, Jason, let me go, like she let you go,” he sneered.
I covered my eyes, but peeked through, as Jason swung. His fist connected with Levi’s jaw, and then his nose, and then a good stomach punch, before Reid and Colt pulled him off.
Levi lunged, just as Max stepped in front of him.
Max swore as he stumbled backward after earning a punch to the face, then cracked his knuckles and whispered, “Oh, this is gonna be fun. Haven’t been in a brawl in so long. Come at me again, and I’m going to make you feel me in a way that nobody wants to be felt, got it?”
Levi just sneered and tried again.
Max not only blocked the punch, but snapped Levi’s arms to the side and threw a kick to his stomach, sending him crashing against the cement.
The guy ran his mouth as if he was afraid one day he’d be given a limit on words. Who knew he could fight?
Levi stood up again just as Reid stepped forward and earned a, “Pretty boy,” comment that had another punch being thrown. Reid somehow fell against a bystander, who shoved him, and with all the testosterone flowing, the skirmish had turned into a giant fistfight that was only stopped seconds later by sirens.
“Well, well,” Jason said as one of his police friends — by the looks of his smirk — handcuffed Levi. “It’s not detention when you’re not in high school anymore.”
And then I was arrested right along with Levi, Milo, and Becca — who had just arrived and seen Max throw a kick and had assumed we were getting attacked.
Our classmates stared at us in horror as we were shoved into cop cars, and I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or pissed.