Slade and Damian chuckle right along with Ben while Shay and I look at him as though he’s lost his mind.
“Okayyyy,” I say, drawing it out. “Well, don’t wait up.”
With that, we walk out the door just as Blake is coming through it and without a single pause, he turns on his heel and follows us right back out.
Chapter 9
I walk through the cafeteria on Monday afternoon, more than happy to be having lunch. My stomach has been growling for the last hour after I slept through my alarm and skipped breakfast.
I’ve been waiting for this moment for hours and I’m going to do it right.
I wonder what they have on offer today. A lasagna? Maybe a few different selections of pasta? I’m freaking hungry so I hope there’s a shitload of carbs for me to load up on. My mouth begins watering at the thought.
I put myself at the end of the line, wishing I could bowl all these fuckers down and get to the front. I swear, if there’s nothing good left for me, then I’m going to be pissed.
Slade walks through the door and just like always, his eyes find mine. I’ll never get over this. I don’t know how this even happened, but part of me is wondering if I’m starting to fall for him. He’s so damn…I don’t know, he’s everything. I simply can’t get enough. And good God, when he smiles…damn.
He strides past the line and heads for his usual table. He’s not one to do cafeteria food. Despite not needing it, he’s put himself on a strict diet. When he first told me, I scoffed. He explained it was for basketball and if Blake wanted to succeed he’d be smart to do the same.
Damian follows up behind him and where Slade drops down to the seat, Damian has to take things a step further by sitting on the table, and I can happily bet my last pencil that he’s probably talking shit too.
I get to the front of the line and my hopes plummet as I find nothing but a cheap chicken salad with most of the chicken pieces already gone. Just my luck. Who wants to willingly eat a boring salad? Couldn’t they have even jazzed it up a little, made it a bit exciting? A rabbit would even turn his nose up at this shit.
Usually, I’d leave the salad and cut with my losses, but I’m so damn hungry that I’ve got no other choice. I’ll just pick at the soggy lettuce and hopefully, it’ll be enough to get me through to the end of the day, then I can go and get a nice juicy hamburger while the boys are training and watching their figures.
I turn to head back to my table with my lousy salad when the snickering starts around me.
Great. What now?
Have I sat in shit or got something on my face? Or has someone started some bullshit rumor about me again? Actually, it could very well be the first option, I’m not known for being over-cautious about where I drop my ass.
By the time I get to Slade, the snickering has turned into whispers, gasps, and laughs, and when I look up at him, his jaw is clenched, eyes dark, and has fury pouring out of him in waves. Whatever is going on here, he knows and it’s clear that he doesn’t like it. Though there’s one bonus, I’m positive that I haven’t done anything to piss him off which could only mean that his fury is about to be unleashed on the culprit and I can’t wait. I love seeing this guy in action, it’s so raw and thrilling.
I’m just about to ask him what’s up when the whispers turn into taunts and the word that’s being hurled at my back is ‘slut.’ My shitty salad is thrown on the table and I turn to face them, letting them see the old me, the me who held onto the anger and resentment, the me that they clearly haven’t had the pleasure of meeting in a while.
Well, guess what, bitches? It’s time to get reacquainted.
There’s a lot of bullshit that I can put up with, but petty name-calling doesn’t work for me, especially when they’re trying to slut-shame me for something I probably didn’t do. I’m all for girls getting their rocks off just like the guys, so why should we be shamed for it? But in this case, I have a boyfriend and I’m damn sure that I haven’t been skanking around with anyone else.
I’m about ready to unleash my fury when Damian’s hand curls around my arm and pulls me back to the table. “Cool it, Sky. Maybe you should know what they’re bitching about before you go all out on their asses and end up blindsided.”