His fingertips trailed gently over my tender skin and he sighed.
“Let me talk to Mom about it. Maybe…”
Fuck no.
I yanked back from his grip and scowled.
“Leave it, Caden. Seriously.”
His face hardened as he took one of my hands in his.
“Rory…”
The door opened and Max and Josie walked in, Max’s face instantly becoming upset and distraught.
I knew it was fake and so did Caden, but that didn’t stop him from having his fake meltdown to make it look like he gave a shit about me in front of Josie.
“What the hell did you do to her?”
Hold up, what?
Caden’s eyes shot daggers at him, his voice lethal.
“The fuck are you talking about? I didn’t do shit, you fucking prick.”
Josie gasped, looking horrified at her son’s attitude.
“Caden!”
“Look at what he did to her face!” Caden shouted suddenly, my hand tightening in his as the anxiety started racing inside me.
I was frozen, which made me feel weak.
Caden shuffled closer to try and comfort me, but Max threw his hands in our direction with anger.
“I find you in here, trying to apologize for hurting her, and you blame me? I’d never hit my own child!”
“You lying piece of shit!” Caden bellowed, causing me to jump at the volume.
Josie watched as her son pulled me under his arm despite how tense I was, and when I winced slightly as he kissed the top of my head, she sighed.
“Caden Holloway, kitchen now.”
“But Mom, she…”
“Kitchen. Now,” she repeated, waiting for him to give in and follow her without further argument.
Max smirked before leaving the room, and I knew it would only be the beginning of trouble.
Caden didn’t come back that night, and for once I craved to be held.
I just hoped Josie didn’t believe my father’s lies about her own son.
Chapter three
Rory
“The hell happened to you?” Lukas asked at school on Monday morning as he reached my locker, making me roll my eyes.
The bruises were throbbing, but I ignored them and opened my locker to grab my books.
“None of your business.”
“Like, how it’s not my business that you and Caden are messing around?” He asked dryly, a snort of irritation leaving me.
“Yep. Exactly like that.”
He watched me silently as I closed my locker and turned to him, keeping my voice low.
“You and I aren’t friends, Lukas, and I don’t have to tell you shit. Stop trying to make it seem like you actually give a fuck about me.”
He followed me as I turned and walked to class, his voice gentle as he replied.
“Aurora, I do care. You don’t understand…”
Rage coursed through me as I shoved him hard into the lockers beside us, ignoring everyone gawking at me as I got in his face.
I assumed no one got to push the kings of the school around, verbally or physically, but I wasn’t going to take anyone’s shit.
Fuck the system that they had in place.
“I don’t have to understand shit. I fucking hate you, so stop trying to play nice with me.”
Asshole.
I’d never forgive him.
He genuinely looked upset but sighed, putting his hands up in defeat.
“Okay, I’m sorry.”
I snorted as I turned and walked away from him.
“So you keep saying.”
I’d just sat down in class when Claire sat her prissy ass beside me with a grin.
“Where’s your guard dogs today? I see you and Lukas are on the outs, so have they already lost interest in the pathetic charity case?”
A shadow fell over us, and Jensen’s voice calmed me slightly as he spoke.
“How about you try swinging a punch at her and fucking see?”
She gritted her teeth and glared up at him with irritation.
“Are you taking Caden’s place while he’s absent today?”
He chuckled. “Rory would kick your ass in a fight, and you know it. She’s got more fucking mean in her than you do, so I wouldn’t even try it. Now, get the fuck out of my chair.”
Claire was fuming, and that made me smile a little as she snapped, “How the fuck is this…”
“I’ll let Rory remove you if you really want?” He cut her off, waiting for her to growl and storm across the room to her regular table before he sat down in the vacated seat and leaned back to get comfortable.
I raised an eyebrow, grateful that he’d gotten rid of her.
“Thanks, but I can take her on, Jense.”
He gave me an amused smile before putting his arms behind his head lazily.
“You thought I was saving you? I was saving her, Rory. I know you’d beat her to a fucking pulp.”
I grinned as I opened my book and read over my notes, but after a while I noticed him still watching me out of the corner of my eye.
I put my pen down and turned in my chair to look at him, my voice sarcastic.
“Something you wanna ask, Gilbert?”
He chuckled, leaning forward and resting his arms on the desk.
“It’s not some tough girl act you’ve got going on, is it. You literally don’t give a fuck about anything, and you’ll throw punches whenever the fuck you think you need to.”
I shrugged one shoulder and smiled slightly.
“I like to fight. You guys thought I was all bark and no bite? Cute.”
“Yeah, you are,” he grinned, making me snort.
“Oh, fuck off. You know I can hold my own.”
“I mean you’re cute,” he replied more quietly, my body becoming warm at his tone.
My face heated at his words, but I managed to speak through my embarrassment.
“Ah, thanks. I guess.”
“So, since you live with Holloway, where the hell is he today?” He continued as if the conversation hadn’t turned awkward a second ago.
Boys were weird.
Hang on, what?
I frowned, cocking my head slightly.
“You mean you haven’t spoken to him?”
“Not since Saturday morning. We left after your dad dragged you out,” he replied, looking right at the bruise I was still sporting, question in his eye that he thankfully kept to himself.
“I haven’t seen him since he came and checked on me after that,” I mumbled, his eyes narrowing on me as he sat up straight.
“The fuck do you mean you haven’t seen him? You live in his fucking house.”
People were listening in on our conversation now, so I leaned closer to talk.
“We had a problem after you guys left, okay? Can we talk after class?”
“No, let’s go and talk now,” he replied bluntly, casually standing up as if we weren’t in the middle of fucking class, giving me a frown when I didn’t move. “Coming?”
Was he fucking serious?
I gave him an unimpressed look, speaking in a hushed voice to avoid getting into trouble.
“It’s class time, and unlike some, I need to pass because I don’t have money to fucking bail me out.”
“You’ll pass, promise. C’mon, don’t make me drag you. I know you don’t like being manhandled,” he sighed impatiently, causing me to hesitate before deciding he would definitely throw me over his shoulder and drag me out if I didn’t.